Herbie and Friends: Cartoons In Wartime

By Barry D. Rowland

Clearly the favourite character of Canada’s overseas troops during World War II, "Herbie" had a penchant for getting into some of the most bizarre predicaments imaginable. With feet that generally led to trouble and a nose like a disillusioned banana, Herbie provided Canadian soldiers with a daily ration of laughter at a time when humour was often at a premium. No figure before or since boosted so effectively the spirit of Canadians overseas.

As J.D. MacFarlane, Editor of The Maple Leaf, stated so aptly: "War can be funny as hell. Things happen to soldiers that shoudn’t happen to a human – crazy situations that add touches of humour to an otherwise grim business … Herbie helped to win the war with laughs."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dundurn
• Release date: May 15, 1990
• ISBN: 9781459713819

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THE CARTOON

The cartoon is generally defined as a preparatory design drawing or painting . . . usually commenting on public and political matters. In essence then, the cartoon is a vehicle of communication -an art form - that has evolved from its simplest beginnings in the Stone Age to the complexities of the present day.

As one examines the culture of early civilizations, it becomes quite evident that cartooning was extensively used. Prehistoric man, with his crude and primitive tools, meticulously designed and drew on the walls of caves in order to communicate his thoughts and ideas. Simple pictography enabled early man to tell his story and preserve it for all time. Cartooning played an integral part in the Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures. In these societies, entertainment and enjoyment began to be the focus of cartoons and caricatures. The depiction of animals to deride mankind, the ridicule of gods and goddesses through art and the half-animal half-human drawings all provided an early foundation for the evolution of the cartoon as a tool for social commentary.

With the onset of the Middle Ages and the subsequent Reformation and Puritan periods, the cartoon and caricature seemed headed in a somewhat different direction. Although the foibles and follies of society, particularly as they applied to those in authority, continued to be fair game, the focus and parameters associated with cartooning began to expand. The leading institutions of the time - the Government and the Church - fell victim to the cartoonist’s brush. Clearly defined thematic shifts occurred with religion, politics and social concerns, each spending time in the limelight before giving way to the next. From the sixteenth century onward, cartoons and caricatures became more sophisticated. The age of social satire was born.

The cartoon made its first public appearance in America in 1754 with Ben Franklin’s most famous political cartoon Join or Die depicting the colonies as segments of a large snake requiring union to fight against a common foe. This cartoon became a widely distributed handbill and was subsequently often used as a newspaper heading. Early American patriots like Franklin, in the face of British colonial rule, required an appropriate and relevant vehicle to influence public opinion in a society where a majority of the people were uneducated and could not read. The cartoon and caricature became the tool and was used extensively to both shape public opinion and influence public policy. Among many other advancements, nineteenth century America