Dicky Dee's Cartoons No.3

An edible bomb is cooked by the Kaiser in this fun WWI cartoon, which mixes propaganda with fantasy as a boy's dreams turn into nightmares.

Children living through WWI must have had many a nightmare about 'The Kaiser', portrayed in contemporary propaganda as either the personification of evil or a blithering buffoon. This innovative cartoon, bringing a boy's dream to life, cleverly pitches the German King squarely between the two. The second part is a more conventional 'lightning sketch' of Lord Kitchener and Admiral Jellicoe.

Anson 'Dicky' Dyer was a 40-year old stained glass window painter with a passion for amateur dramatics until WWI brought a change of careers, and he became one of the more innovative of the first wave of British animators. He would continue to be a leading figure in the industry into the 1950s.