The Devil & John Q. (1952)

After World War II a series of educational cartoons were created by John Sutherland Studios for Harding College. Initially Walt Disney had been approached to make these cartoons but referred them to Sutherland who'd been a former Walt Disney employee. Sutherland, son of a Midwestern bank president, had been worked on the story for Bambi and voiced the adult version of the title character himself. His wife was Paula Winslowe who had voiced Bambi's mother. Over the next several years, Sutherland produced this series as Fun Facts About American Business in order to convey complex economic concepts in a direct entertaining way.

At the time these cartoons were distributed by MGM and shown in movie theaters before mainstream feature films. Afterward they had a life in the school educational film market. These cartoons also featured a voice cast of prominent cartoon voice actors and were created by a group of golden age animation veterans. In recent years, animation "experts" and "academics" have condemned, dismissed, and smeared these cartoons as "anti-communist propaganda" when, in reality, they only seek to discredit them because they're just as relevant and effective today as they were at the time. Many of these cartoons feature the same cast of characters.

This cartoon is inspired by the Stephen Vincent Benet short story The Devil & Daniel Webster. Here, we see the character of John Q. Public, established in Make Mine Freedom, confront satan on inflation as these concepts are conveyed in an entertaining way.

These cartoons have never been collected together in one place and we are doing so here. They should not be forgotten.

Original release date 1952

This page is not affiliated with Harding College or John Sutherland Studios.