The 1961 winner of the Academy Award for Animated Short Film, Munro is a brilliant send-up of governmental red tape, of adult’s unwillingness to see what’s right in front of them, and of fussy little boys. The short was written by Jules Feiffer (playwright and Comic Book Hall of Fame staff cartoonist for The Village Voice), directed by Gene Deitch (animator of Tom Terrific, Popeye, and Tom and Jerry), and produced by William L. Snyder (producer of Tom and Jerry and Popeye).

The story, adapted from Feiffer’s book of short stories, Passionella and Other Stories, was inspired by his time in the U.S. Army:

“I came up with the story of Munro because I understood that if you’re really in a rage and really want to attack someone in cartoon form, the least effective way is to jump up and down and scream and yell and to be polemical—something a lot of cartoonists have never learned. The best way is to go in the other direction and feign innocence, and bring the reader along in a quiet way. And so Munro tells this savage story but tells it entertainingly and sweetly and builds it up and gets the reader stressed, and as you read it, and particularly when you see the film, you feel your stomach knot up because of the obvious abuse and ignorance of authority. And people connected to their own situations with authority in or out of the Army when no one listens, no one believes you. They know, you don’t, and they may even start to convince you, as they do Munro, that they’re right and you’re wrong.” -Jules Feiffer interview by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art