Victory Garden promotional material

One of the most successful wartime civilian participation programs was the Victory Garden, where Americans were encouraged to grow and preserve their own fruits and vegetables. The Secretary of Agriculture initiated the program after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Factory workers tended crops for use in their cafeterias, while homeowners grew crops in their backyards, vacant lots and on boulevards in front of their homes.

Disney licensee W.L. Stensgaard produced a Victory Garden sign that featured Donald Duck chasing pests from his garden. The sign was available in two sizes and was sold in five and dimes, hardware and grocery stores.

Masonite version of the Donald Duck Victory Garden sign.

One version of the sign featured the illustration printed on a masonite board attached to a 24-inch long stake. This sign was produced in six oil colors and had a wholesale price of $10.80 per dozen. The suggested retail was $1.69 each.

The second version was printed on 100-point fiberboard, was produced in four oil colors and was mounted on an 18-inch stake. The fiberboard signs wholesaled at $7.80 per dozen with a suggested retail of $1.00 each.

A promotional flyer sent to retailers stated: "Everybody will want to identify their victory garden with this colorful, durable, outdoor marker. Creates a new spirit for gardens. Thousands will buy for own use, also gifts and prizes."

When interest in the Victory Garden program began to wane, State War Councils sponsored growing contests. In 1944 Disney artist Hank Porter designed the cover illustration for the National Victory Garden Institute's Green Thumb Contest Record Book.

Cover of the 1944 Adult Contest Record Book.

The May 22, 1944 edition of the Dixon Evening Telegraph reported in part:

"Any adult home gardener, city or farm, is eligible to enter the contest. A champion Victory Gardener in each classification...will be selected in this community to enter the county contest. The county winners will then enter the state competition. Each entrant will receive a contest record book with a cover especially designed by Walt Disney to be used for keeping a record of planting and harvesting."

Cover of the 1944 Youth Contest Record Book.

Two versions of the record book were printed. The book created for adults pictured Mickey Mouse as a farmer. The book created for youth gardeners, used the same illustration with added text that read, "The Green Thumb 3-V's. Vegetables. Vitamins. Vitality."

In Illinois, adult first place winners received a $100 bond, while the state winner claimed a $200 bond and the chance to be judged against other state winners in a national showdown. The winner of the national contest won a $1,000 bond. Youth winners could win $10 in war savings stamps for a fifth place finish and up to a $100 bond for a first place showing.

The Youth record book was featured in the July 1, 1944 edition of the Illinois War Council's Illinois Mobilizes newsletter.

Cover of the 1945 Youth Contest Record Book.

All of the items shown in this post, with the exception of the newsletter, are from my collection. I purchased the Victory Garden sign from a good friend several years ago, while the three Victory Garden Contest Record Books were a recent internet purchase.

Red Cross promotional pamphlet

Another piece that escaped my grasp while I was sick. This pamphlet was created for the Red Cross in 1945. The material was originally distributed to school children. Just a great little promotional piece.

Click here and here to see other Red Cross illustrations created by Disney artists during the war.

Third War Loan

This piece of original art escaped my grasp but I thought I'd share its history and an image of the art with the readers of my blog.



This piece of original art was created by the Disney Studio in 1943, specifically for the state of Connecticut. The art was used in promotional material during the federal government's Third War Loan drive. The Disney design is based loosely on the official Navy Submarine insignia

The Third War Loan generated at estimated $42,400,000 in Connecticut. The money was used to pay for the construction of six submarines at the Electric Boat Company's facility in Groton.

The Third War Loan was launched by President Roosevelt via a nationwide radio broadcast on the evening of September 8, 1943. The President stated in part:

"This Third War Loan, which we are starting tonight, will...succeed - because the American people will not permit it to fail. Success of the Third War Loan will be the symbol that America does not propose to rest on its arms - that we know the tough, bitter job ahead and will not stop until we have finished it."

There were a total of eight war loan drives over the course of the war. The Third loan's final sales totaled almost $19 billion.

Posts

I was quite sick for two weeks with the flu and a couple of other related ailments - never been that sick before. Anyhow, I have recovered and will now resume my regular posting.

unidentified Helicopter Squadron - insignia

This piece of original art is currently for sale on eBay. The widow claims she saw Walt Disney create the sketch. A neat design created in the early 1950s. Click here for the link to the auction.

Walt Disney's Comics & Stories - part 3

This cover of the July 1945 issue featured a great Revolutionary War scene with Mickey, Donald and Dopey carrying a flag imprinted with a message signed by several of America's military leaders.


The message on the flag stated:

TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Your sons, husbands and brothers who are standing today upon the battlefronts are fighting for more than victory in war. They are fighting for a new world of freedom and peace.

We, upon whom has been placed the responsibility of lending the American forces, appeal to you with all possible earnestness to invest in War Bonds to the fullest extent of your capacity.

Give us not only the needed implements of war, but the assurance and backing of the a united people so necessary to hasten the victory and speed the return of your fighting men.

The above message featured the facsimile signatures of several important war leaders including:

George Marshall: the first American Army General to be promoted to 5 star rank, Marshall was the Army Chief of Staff and was once referred to as "the organizer of victory" by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Marshall selected Dwight Eisenhower as Supreme Commander. As Secretary of State he developed the so-called Marshall Plan which helped rebuild European countries devastated by war. He was twice named TIME magazine's "Man of the Year" and he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

William Leahy: the first American Naval Officer to hold the rank of Fleet Admiral and the first to hold 5 star rank. Leahy had an amazing career that included service in the Spanish-American War, Chief of Naval Operations during World War II, Chief of Staff to President Roosevelt (effectively the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), Governor of Puerto Rico and Ambassador to France.

Douglas MacArthur: General of the Army and Field Marshall of the Philippine Army. As the Allied commander in the Philippines at the start of World War II, he was later evacuated aboard a patrol torpedo boat from his headquarters on Corregidor. MacArthur triumphantly returned to the Philippines in October 1944 and eventually accepted Japan's formal surrender aboard the mighty battleship USS Missouri.

Ernest King: was the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was the second most senior officer after William Leahy. King was also the second Naval officer to be promoted to 5 star rank.

Dwight Eisenhower: in February 1944 Eisenhower became the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, where he planned the Allied invasion of France (D-Day). He was eventually elected President of the United States serving in that role from 1953 to 1961.

Chester Nimitz: Commander-in-Chief of Pacific Forces, Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Navigation and a foremost expert on submarine warfare. Nimitz signed for the United States during Japan's formal surrender ceremony.

Henry "Hap" Arnold: aviation pioneer who flew with the Wright Brothers. Arnold was the only American to achieve 5 star rank in two of the services. Arnold advocated the creation of an independent air force, which until that happened, was part of the Army.

ATR-50 insignia

The insignia design in this post comes our way courtesy my good friend Sam Grabarski. Sam has an outstanding collection of Hank Porter insignia art, as well as a very large collection of World War II era patches featuring Disney designs.


This particular design was created by Hank Porter in the summer of 1944 for ATR-50, an ocean going rescue tug. The tug was launched May 05, 1944 at the Colberg Boat Works, in Stockton, California.

ATR-50 under construction.

This class of wooden-hulled and steam powered tugs measured 165 feet long, were armed with one 3 inch / .50 caliber dual-purpose gun and two sets of 20mm anti-aircraft guns. The boats were staffed by a compliment of three officers and 50 sailors and by some accounts the tugs possessed exceptional firefighting qualities.

Another construction shot of ATR-50.

Background on ATR-50 is somewhat sketchy, but I have managed to locate a few interesting details. After her launch and commissioning, ATR-50 made her way to the South Pacific. The earliest mention of ATR-50 I have located stated the tug operated in waters near the Marshall Islands.

On September 28, 1944, ATR-50 towed dry dock AFDL-32 and oil barges YO-93 and YO-95 to the Eniwetok Atoll. The following month the tug participated in a rescue mission during the Battle of the Formosa Sea, in which several ships were damaged.

In the fall of 1944, Admiral Halsey's Carrier-based Task Force 38 attacked enemy installations on Formosa (present day Taiwan). The goal of CTF 38 was to destroy the island's garrison of Japanese war planes, which the Americans feared could wreak havoc on the U.S. planned liberation via invasion of the Philippine Islands.

On Friday October 13, 1944, USS Canberra, (a Baltimore-class cruiser named in honor of an Australian warship), was crippled by a Japanese aerial torpedo. The resulting explosion ripped a gaping hole in the side of Canberra that flooded her two engine rooms. Twenty-three sailors died in the explosion.

As Canberra lay dead in the water, help arrived on-scene in the form of several tugs. USS Houston was also severely damaged during the attack and she too required assistance. ATR-50 and civilian tug Watch Hill assisted Canberra. ATR-50 eventually towed the stricken cruiser to Ulithi Atoll, where the damaged ship received temporary repairs. The trip from waters off Formosa to the Atoll took a full two weeks to complete.

ATR-50 in the foreground tows the stricken cruiser USS Canberra, while in the background USS Houston is under tow.

Not much else is known about ATR-50 at this time. The rest of her war record and final disposition remains unknown at this time.

I love how Porter showcased the tug in silhouette and of course, Donald, being a sailor himself, was a very appropriate choice of character.

Death of an American President

The two images in this post come our way courtesy my friend Are Myklebust.

The first image Are sent me is a copy of a Donald Duck newspaper strip, which appeared on April 5, 1945. In the strip Donald's nephews ask their uncle to explain the war to them. Donald tries to answer their question through a novel idea: the nephews become the three Allied leaders: Louie is American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Huey is British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Dewey is Russian leader Josef Stalin. Donald assumed the role of German dictator, Adolf Hitler.


The interesting point about this strip is the change that occurred when the art was reprinted in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories comic book #60, dated September 1945.


On the afternoon of April 12, 1945, exactly one week to the day after the newspaper strip was published, President Roosevelt died of a massive cerebral brain hemorrhage at his vacation retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia. When the strip art was reprinted in the comic book, a name change was made to reflect the change in American leadership, when Harry Truman stepped in to replace Roosevelt.

The newspaper strip story was originally written by Bob Karp and was drawn by the great Al Taliaferro.

My thanks to Are for providing this interesting bit of history. Please click on the images to see enlarged versions.

Victory Through Air Power storybaord art

This fantastic sequence of pastel storyboards was created during production of Walt Disney's Victory Through Air Power. They are courtesy the outstanding collection of my friend Dennis Books.

This set of pastels follows an American dive-bomber during its attack on a Japanese aircraft carrier, from approach under heavy anti-aircraft fire, to the end result.

USS Narragansett AT 88 - insignia

The USS Narragansett was a Navajo class tugboat that was laid down in January 1942, launched in the fall of 1942 and commissioned in January 1943. After shakedown the tug departed for the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where she began her war service performing salvage operations off the Algerian coast.

I acquired the original art for the Narragansett several months ago. The design was created by Hank Porter in the spring of 1945 and features the likeness of Disney's Little Hiawatha.

The 205 foot long tug was powered by four General Motors diesel main engines. She was armed with one 3 inch / .50 caliber duel-purpose gun, two twin 40mm anti-aircraft guns and two single 20mm anti-aircraft guns.

AT-88, USS Narragansett

At the Casablanca conference Allied leaders agreed the invasion of France was not feasible. Instead, top military planners opted for an amphibious landing on the Italian island of Sicily. Fighting forces from America, Canada and Britain took part in the mission, which began on the evening of July 9, 1943 and ended in mid-August.

Dubbed Operation Husky, Narragansett contributed to the success of the invasion by assisting landing craft in distress. On August 10th she towed the USS Mayrant to Malta for repairs. Thirteen days later, while in Palermo Harbor, Narragansett was damaged during a raid by German bombers that resulted in two of her crew being wounded.

USS Mayrant was towed to Malta for repairs by the Narragansett. The destroyer suffered damage to her engine room during a German air attack that also resulted in the deaths of five of her sailors. Franklin D,. Roosevelt Jr. was the ship's Executive Officer at the time of the attack. Roosevelt was later awarded the Silver Star for his heroic efforts in keeping the ship afloat.

In September the fleet tug took part in the invasion of Italy, where she came to the aid of a sister tug, USS Nauset, as well as various landing craft. In mid-September Narragansett towed the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Uganda to Malta for repairs. The tug remained in Italian waters where she assisted in salvage operations.

In June 1944 Narragansett was reclassified ATF-86. In August she took part in Operation Dragoon, the codename assigned to the invasion of Southern France, where she helped in salvage and resupply missions. In the fall Narragansett returned to the United States for overhaul.

In January 1945 the tug was transferred to the Pacific Fleet. Narragansett suffered severe hull damage off the coast of Central America when a floating dock she was towing broke free and smashed into her. After repairs the tug continued on her journey to the South Pacific.

During the summer of 1945 the tug operated in waters off Eniwetok, Saipan, Guam and the Philippines. Narragansett returned to Pearl Harbor on October 25, 1945 and was eventually decommissioned in December 1946.

I love both the expression on Hiawatha's face and the nickname "Nasty Narry" the crew gave to their boat. Based on the art, there is no doubt the men and their machine meant business.

Donald Duck bond poster

Donald Duck bond poster, circa 1943.

The illustration was created by Hank Porter and while not a direct copy of the Scottish Spendthrift character found in The Spirit of '43 income tax film, some of the design elements are similar.

Meet the Spandules

The whimsical training booklet in this post was created in June 1943 for the United States Army Air Force, Safety Education Division, Flight Control Command. The concept behind the booklet was simple: create a manual that would hold the attention of an airman, while teaching him the basic principles of cold weather flying in a fun manner.


The booklet measures 6 by 4 1/2 inches and numbers 28 pages, including the front and back covers. The introduction states in part:

"In this book for the first time is pictured a close relative of the Gremlin, the 'Spandule.' These little fellows inhabit the air space above 30,000 feet except in the winter time, when they come down to lower altitudes and have been known to play around on the ground. Although not mean at heart, these little guys are forced by their very nature to do a lot of things to get a pilot in trouble.

Whenever an airplane enters their domain they pounce aboard. They like to test a guy out. If he is on his toes they probably won't bother him much, but if he looks sound asleep or a little thick between the ears they are almost sure to plaster his wings with ice, load down his propeller, and do all sorts of tricks that can be real serious.

If you know where to look for Spandules and if you keep a close watch for the first evidence of their handiwork, you can usually avoid a run-in with them. This book will help you do that.

The life-like pictures of Spandules which appear in this book were created by Walt Disney at the invitation of the Flight Control Command."

The booklet details through humorous sketches the perils Allied airmen could face while flying at high altitudes and in cold weather conditions. The characters featured in the manual are Spandules, the winter cousins of author Roald Dahl's Gremlins. Gremlins were adult males, Fifinella their female companions and Widgets were their offspring.

In a June 3, 1943 Inter-Office Communication sent to Walt Disney regarding ideas for the Gremlins cartoon under development, artist Hal Adelquist referred to Spandules as "the dopes of the group." He added, "The Spandules are assigned to the Stratosphere and we develop a very interesting sequence of the Spandule's song as they go about coating the wings of the Spitfires [with ice]."

The booklet's illustrations were created by artist Bill Justice, who also did the black and white drawings found in The Gremlins Random House book.






















And finally, the back cover:

If anyone has any of the above art for sale, or has ever seen this art for sale, I'd be interested in hearing from you. I'd like to add this art to my collection.

I'd also like to hear from any airmen who were given this booklet while in training.

Liberty magazine patriotic cover - original art

Courtesy the Porter family, the original art for the July 1940 cover of Liberty magazine. Over the course of his 15 year career at Disney's, Hank Porter created dozens of illustrations for magazine covers, advertisements and articles.


The conceptual art and the illustration that was actually used are pretty much the same with one exception - the positioning of Donald's head has been moved forward in the final art used on the magazine's cover. Otherwise, the two pieces are pretty much identical.


The image is loaded with patriotic American symbols, befitting the fact this particular issue appeared on newsstands the same month Americans celebrated their Independence Day. The iconic symbols include the torch from the statue of Liberty, the Scales of Justice, the Liberty Bell, reference to the year 1776 when the colonies declared their independence, and of course, an American eagle, who happens to be sporting an "Uncle Sam" stovepipe hat, beard and trousers.

And while that eagle was lashed to Donald's radiator in the illustration, less than a year and half after this magazine hit the newsstands, the might of that eagle would be unleashed as America declared war on the governments of both Japan and Germany.

USS Mercy AH-8 - insignia

The insignia in this post was created by Hank Porter in the spring of 1944 for the Comfort-class hospital ship USS Mercy. The USS Mercy was launched on March 25, 1943, was converted on the west coast from a cargo ship to a hospital ship and was commissioned on August 7, 1944.

Detail from a piece of stationary dated January 1945. In the letter the serviceman informed his mother his stateside girlfriend had accepted his proposal of marriage and that the ceremony would occur at war's end.

After her shakedown cruise, Mercy was staffed by servicemen attached to the Army's 214th Hospital Ship personnel. The vessel had a crew compliment of just over 500 and had the capacity to treat upwards of 400 patients. As she was a hospital ship, she was fitted with no armament.


Mercy and her crew operated in the South Pacific as part of the U.S. Navy's 5th and 7th Fleets. The vessel saw action and provided medical care during the invasions of both the Philippines and Okinawa.

Mercy was decommissioned in May 1946 and was transferred to the U.S. Army as a hospital ship in June of that year.

USS Mercy offloads wounded at Guam after the invasion of Okinawa.

According to my records, this is the only insignia design Snow White appeared in, while Dopey can be found in just two others.

YMS-41 - insignia

The insignia design in this post was created by Hank Porter in the winter of 1942 for the crew of YMS-41, a Class Auxiliary Motor Minesweeper. I acquired this piece of insignia art earlier this year.

The graphic design of this insignia really appeals to me and I love all of the elements Porter used - the broom, the gun, the expression on the turtle's face and even the beads of sweat as he performs his assigned duty of clearing a mine.


The YMS minesweepers were built at almost three dozen different shipyards located on the east and west coasts and on the shores of the Great Lakes. The wooden-hulled ships measured 136 feet in length, were powered by two 500-horsepower diesel engines and were armed with one 3"/.50 calibre dual purpose gun located on the foredeck and two single mount 20mm anti-aircraft guns, on the port and starboard sides of the pilot house.

The only known photo of YMS-41 at this time.

Over 500 YMS class minesweepers were built during the war. Some 235 served under the flags of foreign navies. Thirty-two of the ships serving in the U.S. Navy were lost over the course of the war.

The YMS minesweepers were used as a counter measure against enemy magnetic mines. Two buoyant electrically charged cables of different lengths were deployed into the water off a large drum located aft of the ship. The magnetic field emanating from the cables triggered the magnetic mines.

While not a photo of YMS-41, I have included this image, of YMS-52, to give an overall impression of how the minesweeper looked.

These ships saw action in all theaters including the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Pacific and took part in the invasions at Sicily, Anzio, Normandy and Guadalcanal. The men and their machines cleared sea lanes, harbors and invasion assault paths and were often subjected to enemy shore battery fire.

YMS-41 was laid down June 28, 1941, was launched April 14, 1942 and was completed on May 12, 1942. As production methods improved, a YMS vessel could be built in approximately four months.

YMS-41 was struck from the Naval Register June 19, 1946. The history of YMS-41 has been lost - unfortunately the service record of the minesweeper and her crew and the ship's postwar fate is unknown at this time.

Chesty and His Helpers - Los Angeles War Chest

This small promotional booklet featured in this post was published by the Los Angels War Chest in March 1943. The booklet folds open to six double-sided pages. There are cartoons on 10 of the 12 pages. Each page with cartoons contains six panels.

Two children look at their copy of the Los Angeles War Chest booklet.

The booklet tells the story of Chesty, his two helpers Polly and Paul and their helicopter Coptie. Coptie looks some somewhat like the airplane Pedro, from Disney's 1943 South American film, Saluldos Amigos. The booklet measures 5 1/2 by 7 1/4 inches. Besides my copy, I know of only one other at this time and it has red pencil crayon on the front cover.

One interesting item of note is the fact a squadron of P-40 Flying Tigers fighters, (piloted by a group of American volunteer pilots who fought alongside Chinese Nationalist forces), is shown coming to the aid of Chesty and his friends. In real life, the insignia for the Flying Tigers was created by Disney artist Hank Porter.

A second version of this booklet, published in 1944, can be seen by clicking on this link. What follows are scans of the entire story. I'm not sure which Disney artist created the art - perhaps Bob Moore, or Manuel Gonzales?

Liberty magazine tax cover - original art

Courtesy the family of Diane Porter, the original art for the March 14, 1942 issue of Liberty magazine. In this first draft Dumbo sports a perplexed look on his face. Compare this pose with the finished cover, in which Dumbo is handling a rather long piece of adding machine tape held in his trunk. Other than the change to Dumbo, the finished cover is pretty much identical to this initial draft.

To read more about the history of this piece and to see the finished cover, click here to view a previous post.

U.S. Navy Airborne Electronics

Christmas has come early this year. The mailman delivered a HUGE parcel to my p.o. box today. The contents included an amazing array of dozens of images of Hank Porter art, sent to me by the family of Porter's now deceased daughter. The archive is just as amazing as the ones forwarded to me by two of Porter's other children two years ago. There are dozens of examples of Porter's work, including many examples of his contributions to the war effort, including some images I have never seen before.


Here is one item that was in the package - the December 1945 cover of Digest, a publication of the U.S. Navy Airborne Electronics division. The design on the cover of the magazine was created by Porter in the fall of 1945. Records at the Walt Disney Archives indicate this design was created for the Airborne Coordinating Group, Naval Research Lab, Washington, D.C.

If you look close you'll see that Goofy and Donald are looking at a head and shoulder shot of a pretty girl, who bears a striking resemblance to one of the Centaurettes from Fantasia.

Victory Beer - insignia

Unfortunately this gem escaped my grasp on eBay recently. I wasn't prepared to bid any higher than I did and I subsequently lost.


This is a label from the Detroit-based Koppitz-Melchers brewery. To get additional information about the brewery and one of their labels I did manage to add to my collection, click on this link.

The beer label in this post features Disney-designed insignia for the Alaska Defense Force, 69th Quartermaster Battalion, and a Bombardment Training Unit stationed at Ellington Field in Texas. The last design features the stork from Dumbo. All three designs were created in 1941.

Stensgaard insignia posters

W.L. Stensgaard and Associates of Chicago held a Disney merchandise license in 1938 and then again between between the years 1941 to 1962. During the war years the company produced two versions of the great Donald Duck Victory Garden sign (click here), as well as a series of home front posters that promoted savings, bonds and scrap salvage.

The company also produced this great brochure in 1942, which contained information on the line of 54 posters the company also produced. The insignia posters were sold to retail establishments, which in turn, used them for display purposes.


The posters listed were available in either a horizontal or vertical format and were sold individually or in s