Controversial toon Duck and Cover, a nine-minute civil defense film, was added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in 2004. All images courtesy of CONELRAD Collection.

In my time, I have seen some tremendous animation — given seven lifetimes, I could never aspire to that level of creativity. I have seen prodigious amounts of mediocre animation that comprise the very definition of “time-filler.” I have seen my share of bad animation. Some of these regrettable artifacts were incomprehensible, poorly made independent films accessible to no one but the creator. Others were (and are) soulless corporate products seemingly designed to sully viewing screens both large and small.

Still, even the worst animated dross has something uplifting about it. The fact that any animation exists is still a tribute to human cognition and creativity, however skewed or flawed it may be. There really was a time when an entire network somehow believed that Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch was a terrific concept. Thus, I can never bring myself to the point of actual hatred for any piece of animation. With one exception.

Bert the Turtle (right) the film’s star, is seen here with Bert the Monkey.

The toon I despise beyond all was actually ensconced in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry on Dec. 8, 2004. Despite this singular honor, it is doubtful that many of you have actually seen him. Better known to historians than animation fans, Bert the Turtle was the “star” of perhaps the most unsettling film I saw in my childhood, a nine-minute civil defense film called Duck and Cover. This film, produced in order to teach schoolchildren the basics of civil defense in the atomic age, terrified me to the point of nightmares, sparked apocalyptic daydreams and caused me to pummel my parents with anguished questions that no young kid should have been asking.

Sometime during 1948, ex-Disney animator Lars E. Calonius formed an advertising agency called Archer Productions Inc. in New York City. By May 1950, the new studio was a successful venture, and Colonius’ brother-in-law, Leo Langlois, joined Archer as exec producer/vp. Langlois, already an experienced advertising exec, was on board when the studio made the decision to bid on civil defense motion pictures in 1951. The Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) granted the studio two films in April.

The following month, Langlois and a screenwriter named Ray Mauer met with officials of the National Education Administration to discuss the topic of civil defense for schools. There they met up with an assistant headmistress from Virginia by the name of Helen Seth-Smith, who spoke of the “duck and cover” drills conducted at her school. Langlois and Mauer now had a theme.

In October, Langlois became president of Archer, and pre-production of the film Duck and Cover was underway. Mauer decided that since the audience was composed of children, the film might have greater appeal if some of it were animated. Lars Colonius set to work designing Bert the Turtle and his antagonist, a skunk. Veteran Hollywood animator Emery Hawkins was on hand to assist Colonius. At roughly the same time physicist Edwin Teller and crew, with the blessing of President Truman, were designing a thermonuclear fusion weapon called “the Super” — the hydrogen bomb.