WWII CHUCK JONES CARTOON "POINT RATIONING OF FOODS" 77354

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Made in 1943 and animated by Chuck Jones under the Leon Schlesinger Unit, this very serious animated documentary short film demonstrating the reasons and methods of the point system of wartime food rationing. In the face of wartime demands and agricultural personnel shortages during World War II, food rationing was necessary. This film explains the US Government's answer of of these wartime realities, point based rationing. Furthermore, the system's application is illustrated as we follow a typical grocery shopper at the store who learns to use it in her favor.

Ask anyone who remembers life on the Home Front during WWII about their strongest memories and chances are they will tell you about rationing. WWII caused shortages of all sorts of things: rubber, metal, clothing, etc. But it was the shortages of various types of food that effected just about everyone on a daily basis.
Food was in short supply for a variety of reasons: much of the processed and canned foods was reserved for shipping overseas to our military and our Allies; transportation of fresh foods was limited due to gasoline and tire rationing and the priority of transporting soldiers and war supplies instead of food; imported foods, like coffee and sugar, was limited due to restrictions on importing. Because of these shortages, the U.S. government’s Office of Price Administration established a system of rationing that would more fairly distribute foods that were in short supply. Every American was issued a series of ration books during the war. The ration books contained removable stamps good for certain rationed items, like sugar, meat, cooking oil, and canned goods. A person could not buy a rationed item without also giving the grocer the right ration stamp. Once a person’s ration stamps were used up for a month, she couldn’t buy any more of that type of food. This meant planning meals carefully, being creative with menus, and not wasting food. More than 8,000 ration boards across the country administered the program.

The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA were originally to control money (price controls) and rents after the outbreak of World War II.


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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com