Oddball Films presents Political Party Animals: Bizarro Politics and Propaganda, a night of the most strangest electoral eccentricities of the archive. On the week of the most controversial presidential election of the century, we're tapping into the historical and hysterical vaults of the collection with tons of politically themed cartoons, commercials, spoofs, propaganda and musical numbers from the 1930s-1980s. All- American cheesemaster Jerry Fairbanks brings us patriotic talking animals with Speaking of Animals - In Current Events (1940s). Tiny Shirley Temple tarts it up and tries to cheat an honest man in the "Baby Burlesk" Polly Tix in Washington (1933). Betty Boop sings for your vote in Betty Boop for President (1932). Escalation (1968) an animated anti-war short from Academy Award-winning Di$ney animator Ward Kimball is jam-packed with a montage of everything from erotic imagery to commercial mascots to skewering LBJ's policies on Vietnam. Fictitious candidate Roy Hardale preens and poses like a model while spouting his campaign promises in the hilarious spoof Political Posture (1984). Ford Motor Company sponsors the vintage voter guilt trip Where Were You? (1960). Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda and more celebrities urge you to buy war bonds while singing and dancing for the troops (with a surreal sequence of pin-ups coming to life) in All-Star Bond Rally (1945). Take a feminist musical break with Schoolhouse Rock and Sufferin' till Suffrage (1974). Porky Pig reveals all America's goofiest secrets when he presents a faux-propaganda satire in Meet John Doughboy (1941). Humor meets education in the US Army’s cartoon propaganda short Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike (1944) written by Theodore "Dr. Seuss" Geisel which shows Snafu (Situation Normal All F*cked Up) learning the hard way about the consequences of not protecting himself from malaria infection. Ladies, it's time to sign up for the coast guard and free a man for combat in the propaganda recruitment film Coast Guard Spars (1942). Plus, the Action Faction dancers get groovy at the capital, the wacky patriotic Soundie I Want to Foof on a Fife (1940s), a 1958 puppet-animation Voting PSA and more surprises. Everything screened on 16mm film from our massive stock footage archive.
Schoolhouse Rock: Sufferin' Till Sufferage (Color, 1974)
Line up for the voting booth with this super groovy musical break for the ladies from the iconic cartoonucational show Schoolhouse Rock about the women's suffrage movement.
One of the weirdest things to come out of the depression, this “Baby Burlesk” casts a group of toddlers in adult roles, including Shirley Temple starring as a prostitute who discovers her heart of gold in the face of on honest politician. The result is cringe-worthy, but gives an honest glimpse of the laissez faire attitude towards censorship in the pre-code era.
Shirley Temple later called this film "a cynical exploitation of our childish innocence." In her autobiography Shirley Temple Black recalls the plot:"I was a strumpet on the payroll of the Nipple Trust and Anti-Castor Oil Lobby. Mine was the task of seducing a newly arrived bumpkin senator." Shirley’s mother designed the black lace undergarments and bra her daughter wears on screen.
Betty sings: “Oh, when I'm the president, When I'm the president, I'll give you all a great big kiss, When I'm the president!” We see Times Square with billboards proclaiming that Betty Boop has been elected; there are fireworks and a tickertape parade.
Where Were You?(B+W, 1960)
Ford Motor Company sponsored this campy long form PSA on why everyone needs to do their part in participating in elections or we'll all end up with somebody nobody really wanted. This pro-voting propaganda will surely guilt you all the way to the polls. With a cameo performance by John Fiedler, the voice of Piglet from the beloved animated Winnie the Pooh series.
All-Star Bond Rally (Michael Audley, B+W, 1945)
In recent years, the nation has proven it can wage war without Bob Hope, but for decades it seemed unthinkable! Here Hope does his best to get Mr. and Mrs. America to invest in freedom at a hundred bucks a pop as he's joined by Frank Sinatra, Betty Grable, Harpo Marx, Bing Crosby and more in this musical propagandatainment spectacular. Hollywood pinups such as wacky Carmen Miranda and luscious Linda Darnell come to life to flirt with shocked servicemen in a saucy montage sequence.
200 (Color, 1975)
“Join the Spars and release a man for sea.”
Curator’s Biography
Kat Shuchter is a graduate of UC Berkeley in Film Studies. She is a filmmaker, artist and esoteric film hoarder. She has helped program shows at the PFA, The Nuart and Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater and was crowned “Found Footage Queen” of Los Angeles, 2009. She has programmed over 250 shows at Oddball on everything from puberty primers to experimental animation.About Oddball Films Image
Oddball Films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like The Nice Guys and Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Transparent and Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.
Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.