Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Tag: fables

Did the Axis Have Any Funny Animals? – WWII history from Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.  

  • SEE BOTTOM: At Fred’s request, a gallery of rare book illustrations from Van den Vos Reynaerde was scanned for this post by the UCRiverside Library.
  • Animal fables traditionally tell morals – this article shows a historically fascinating misuse of anthropomorphism for fascist and Social Darwinist goals.
  • “Dear Patch; This is basically rewritten from my article for Flayrah, Retrospective: Talking Animals in World War II Propaganda.

Did the Axis Have Any Funny Animals?

Yes. Whether the Nazis and Italians did is technically debatable, but the Japanese certainly did.

(Oops! I am reminded that many younger people today do not know what “the Axis” was. “The Enemy” during World War II. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy signed a mutual defense treaty on October 25, 1936 that Italy’s Benito Mussolini described in a speech on November 1 as putting Europe on a Rome-Berlin axis. Imperial Japan joined in 1937. On September 27, 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a Tripartite Pact and formally declared themselves the “Axis powers”. They were joined during the next month by Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. “The Axis” during World War II meant Germany, Italy, Japan, and their allies.)

There were more funny animals assigned to them by American cartoonists for anti-Axis propaganda than there were of their own. The best-known today are probably the Leon Schlesinger/Warner Bros. animated short cartoons The Ducktators and Scrap Happy Daffy, and MGM’s Blitz Wolf.

In The Ducktators, directed by Norm McCabe and written by Melvin Millar, released on August 1, 1942, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis are ducks, Benito Mussolini is a goose, and “the Jap” (a stereotypical “Jap”) is presumably also a duck (although he looks more like a coot).

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News of the week: Furries and rare books (8-6-14)

by Patch O'Furr

In this week’s feature of news bites and links:
Furries and rare books – Pacific Anthropomorphics Weekend set for November – Rocket Raccoon – Furry music vids by Megan Lane, Sheppymomma
And more… Tips welcome- I’d love to post yours!
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spacecat

– Cats on Science Fiction Book Covers

Reddit furries enjoyed the topic. (A “Kzin” book cover led me to find furry on the 90’s internet!) It reminded me of a pleasing find: the 1950’s kid’s book series “SPACE CAT”. It’s full of vintage charm- see the book covers. Here’s a cool fact: author Ruthven Todd had serious credit in poetry, and was good buddies with the O.G. 1930’s Surrealist movement. Look out for this neat collectible, because used copies run for $50 and up online.

– Rare book dealers discuss “talking animal” fables from the Middle Ages

A question was recently raised in a rare books group on a social network: are fables featuring animals for kids? Yes, they are—but of course, not only.

Of Goupils and Men, or the Bestial Condition of Man” is an article in dealer journal Americana Exchange. Author Thibault Ehrengardt shares his find, a 1743 book about classical character Reynard the Fox:

Quite a disturbing reading… a vicious creature who never pays for his crimes; on the contrary, he is eventually appointed to the highest position of the kingdom — a bloody and immoral tale… For kids?

– Pacific Anthropomorphics Weekend announced: November 14-16, 2014.

The newly planned event intends to be at San Jose, CA’s Airport Garden Hotel – two months before Further Confusion, the second largest con by attendance. This follows internal controversy about organizing, possibly resolving a few private issues. Can it make San Jose the first city to have two cons a year?

This year’s “PAWCon” is a fall festival fundraiser with a focus on a social weekend with great music, games, and more. Visit pacanthro.org for more details. Registration will open soon, and hotel reservations open next week.

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