• In What Makes Us Tick, 1952, John Q. Public lives in a modern home with his typical American family. He learns how the stock market works including the steps taken to get a stock listed. Made for the New York Stock Exchange, the associate producer was George Gordon, Carl Urbano was the animation director and the art directors were Gerald Nevius and Edger Starr. The music was by Eugene Poddany and the animation was by Arnold Gillespie, Emery Hawkins and Bill Higgens.
  
  
• A is for Atom, 1953, sponsored by the General Electric Co., explains how the atom works and what makes uranium so special (it can be used for the good of mankind). There are great images of a giant with arms folded representing atomic power, but the long explanations of the mysteries of U-235 and U-238 are somewhat dull.

More moments from Sutherland Productions' animated propaganda shorts (clockwise from top left): What Makes Us Tick, A is for Atom, Destination Earth and It’s Everybody’s Business.

• Destination Earth, 1956, is a thinly disguised anti-Communist film about life in a poorly run dictatorship on Mars. The great leader Ogg sends Colonel Cosmic to earth to find out if there is a better way to run his limo. Cosmic learns about how Americans use oil to power cars and to lubricate things to prevent friction. He steals a book from a public library about business competition and capitalism. By introducing the American way of life on Mars, we are led to believe Ogg’s days are numbered. Directed by Carl Urbano. Animated by George Cannata, Ken O’Brien, Bill Higgins and Tom Von Neida. Written by Bill Scott, Michael Amestoy and George Gordon. Production design by Tom Orb and Vic Habough. Sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute.
  
  
• It’s Everybody’s Business, not dated, but probably about 1956, tells about the building blocks of freedom and it warns us about the destructive forces of war. The lessons learned from WWII (rationing, frozen wages, fixed prices, shortages, etc.) should help us to avoid evil forces in the future. In the film a hat maker learns about free enterprise. Maurice Noble, art director, created the film’s modern look. George Gordon was the associate producer, Carl Urbano was the animation director and the script was by Bill Scott and George Gordon. The animators were , Emery Hawkins and Abe Levitow. The narration was by Macdonald Carey and the music was by Lex Baxter and Eugene Poddany.

Warner Bros.
In the mid-1950s the Sloan Foundation funded three theatrical cartoons made by Warner Bros. that have heavy-handed economic messages within them. Heir Conditioned (Freleng, 1955) has Elmer Fudd trying to convince Sylvester to invest his inheritance rather than spend it. In By Word of Mouse (Freleng), we are taught the benefits of mass production and consumption, and Yankee Dood It (Freleng, 1956) presents capitalist theory on how to run a profitable factory. It is somewhat amusing to see Elmer Fudd waxing poetically about “mass pwoduction” and “pwofits.”

Jerry Beck, co-author of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, 1989, says the Sloan Foundation paid the studio $25,000 to produce each cartoon and each was produced with a $23,000 budget resulting in a profit before the films were even shown to the public. The films are still shown on TV by the Cartoon Network. Fans rarely say anything nice about them and all three made it onto an Internet list of “politically incorrect stereotypes that seem to offend just about everyone.” They are listed under a special category, “capitalist propaganda (Sloan Foundation cartoons),” at www.nc.rr.com/tuco/looney.lists/politically.