15. Dr. Seuss’s work on film was not subject to the film censors of the day
When Dr. Seuss was writing the Private Snafu and other films for the military the resulting work was not subject to the film censors which held rigid control over what the public was allowed to see in the movies. The resulting films were viewable by only active duty military personnel, and the army wanted them to be as entertaining to the troops as possible. The result was he was allowed a bit more leeway in the production of the films, and innuendo and sexual references which would never have passed the civilian censors were found in the movies, which the troops enjoyed even as they were being subjected to military training. Several of the Private Snafu films used double entendre in their presentation, such as the reference to well-endowed female enemy spies being referred to as booby traps.
Private Snafu’s animated bare rear end was depicted in one film swimming in a river, and was a target for a female mosquito which bit him there in a lesson about the perils of malaria. Malaria was a serious problem for troops serving in the South Pacific and other areas which featured a tropical climate during the war, such as the Canal Zone. Some profanity also was featured in the animated training films, though not to the level that profanity was featured in the everyday conversations of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines throughout the course of the war. With Dr. Seuss writing the majority of the twenty-seven Snafu films (26 of which survive today) the military was able to present each branch of the service facing perils and problems equally, with none of the branches having it easier than any of the others, and all sacrificing for a common cause.