Baloney

Favourite Private Snafu cartoon? I love the flying baloneys in the Leon Schleinsger-produced “Rumors” (1943). Why? Eh, it’s just something about the idea of flying baloneys that I like.

Baloney is an easily grasped synonym for rumours. Propaganda cartoons (even aimed at your own army) are never subtle.

The baloneys wing their through Private Snafu’s camp, passing over a tent with two soldiers who sound like writers Tedd Pierce and Mike Maltese.



The rumours slowly drive Snafu mad. His baloney sandwich talks to him.



He’s chased by baloneys and some Seussian-like creatures.



He rides a baloney that woo-hoos like Daffy Duck (and is played by Mel Blanc).



Snafu is locked away in a padded cell. A crazy baloney (you can tell by the Napoleon hat) bounces around with him to almost end the cartoon.



The short ends with a play on the old newsreel ending with the grinding camera and the words “Sees all, hears all, knows all.” This camera is grinding a baloney.



The Friz Freleng unit was responsible for this cartoon.

Note: E.O. Costello, in the comments, corrected a mistake in the original version of the post. The Paramount News was being parodied in this short. Carl Stalling even does a mock variation on the newsreel’s march theme. Thanks for the correction, Eric. We don’t want to feed anyone any baloney around here.