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= Drafty, Isn't It? = Drafty, Isn’t It? is a 1957 American Army recruitment animated short written and directed by Chuck Jones, and jointly produced by The United States Army and Warner Bros. Pictures.

In the mid-1950s, all male U.S. citizens aged 18-25 were still required to register for the draft as part of the Selective Training and Service Act and could be conscripted to fill vacancies in the United States Armed Forces that could not be filled through voluntary means. This 10-minute Technicolor propaganda film was created to be shown to high-school students at school assemblies and in classrooms to present military service as both a patriotic obligation and an appealing option for career training. Per a Department of the Army catalog, Drafty, Isn’t It? is “A color film, utilizing the full animation technique, which points up the common misconceptions of Army life and the advantages of voluntary service over involuntary service. The subject is presented in a humorous vein, designed to retain attention and interest.”

During World War II, between 1943 and 1946, Jones had previously directed a series of humorous, animated black-and-white Private Snafu shorts, written by Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel, which were shown to members of the United States military to teach everything from basic hygiene to national security. Drafty, Isn’t It? is the second post-War recruitment film Jones made with the U.S. Army. In 1956, he directed the animated short 90 Day Wondering, about an ex-soldier, disenchanted with civilian life, considering the benefits of re-enlistment.

As a member of Warner Bros.’ Termite Terrace stable of animators, Jones is known for directing Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner and Porky Pig cartoons, but Drafty, Isn't It? is not a Merrie Melodies nor a Looney Tunes release.

Plot
The short takes place in the drafty bedroom and in the sleeping mind of Ralph Phillips, a graduating high school senior whose messy room is decorated with sports trophies, team photos and a picture of his girlfriend. It’s the middle of the night, and Ralph is curled up in his pajamas, happily asleep in bed. He’s dreaming about his future career as a research scientist on the brink of curing the common cold when a dark towering figure darkens the room and beckons him with a crooked finger, turning his happy fantasy into a momentary nightmare. As Ralph shakes off this bad dream, a uniformed inch-tall soldier pixie, District Representative Willie N. List, sneaks into Ralph’s house lugging an Acme brand Anti-Nightmare Machine and starts to scale the staircase up to Ralph’s second-floor bedroom. Ralph is now dreaming about being an astronaut in a rocket about to blast off into space when the looming, shadowy figure once again appears overhead and beckons Ralph to come with him. As Willie tiptoes into the bedroom, a dog sleeping at the door pops open its sleepy eyes, so Willie crawls under its floppy ear and sings Rock-A-Bye Doggie until the dog returns to sleep. Ralph now dreams of a future as a bon vivant, a rich quiz-show winner about to embark on a steamship cruise around the world, when the menacing, silhouetted figure appears above the steamship, crooking the come-here finger. Ralph shudders in bed and gathers his blanket.

Willie, now atop the bedside dresser, fires up his Anti-Nightmare Machine to get inside Ralph’s racing mind, first capturing the boy’s attention by projecting a billboard of an alluring pinup model. Then he speaks into Ralph’s ear saying, “Lets straighten out a few facts about you and the Army.” Willie explains that high schoolers fear that their new buddies in the service will be a bunch of Lower Slobbovians, that their uniforms won’t fit, and that basic training is nothing more than KP duty and getting chewed out by sadistic sergeants. Ralph dreams of a rogues gallery of twitchy goons and rubes at basic training who then morph into plain characters like himself. He dreams of himself stumbling around in a comically oversized Army uniform and helmet and of an Army barber clipping a recruit’s elaborate Rockabilly pompadour into a high and tight. Willie narrates at Ralph’s ear that at basic training, he’ll actually learn how to handle weapons, to use a compass and a map, and to pitch camp and give first aid, while developing muscles he didn’t know he had, while Ralph dreams in flash-forward of his future civilian self, showing off his Army-honed skills to admiring young ladies and fixing a boo-boo for his future son on a camping trip. Now Ralph dreams of himself looking and acting like a real soldier.

Willie N. List then puts on the hard sell for enlisting, touting “Choice, Not Chance.” If Ralph calls on the Army before the Army calls on him, he can choose the job training he wants through the Reserved for You program, with options including the medical laboratory, the armor division, guiding missiles and traveling to Europe where he’ll meet fetching demoiselles at cafes. But Ralph can only grab this deal before he receives his induction notice. As Ralph mulls his future options with a military career in his dreams, the dog awakens, espies little Willie on the pillow, jumps on the bed and wakes up Ralph. The menacing, beckoning figure appears in the window, outside of Ralph’s dreams. In the bright light of day, Ralph sees that the figure is actually a billboard of a friendly U.S. Army recruiter.

Home media
This short is available on the DVD Private Snafu Volume 2. It can also be found as bonus features on the DVDs Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1 and Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4; and as bonus material on the Blu-rays Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 and Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2.