Music and Sound Design as Propaganda in Hell-Bent for Election

Though political television and film commercials may be thought of as a recent phenomenon, these have in fact existed for a number of years. Consider, for example, the animated two-reel film Hell-Bent for Election from 1944. Created by the left-leaning studio Industrial Film and Poster Service (later UPA) for the United Auto Workers union, the cartoon pushes for the re-election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt over Thomas Dewey. The film is a metaphor where the two candidates are represented by trains. Joe Worker represents the voter, who must let the “Win the War Special” (Roosevelt) through the station rather than the “Defeatist Limited,” despite the obstacles put in Joe’s way. As with many propagandistic and political messages, the symbolism is not subtle, and the cartoon certainly gets the message across. This chapter examines how Earl Robinson’s music, along with the lyrics of Yip Harburg, works with the other aspects of the film to accomplish the mission of getting out the vote. Robinson, a classically trained composer who is best known for his pro-labor songs, uses a variety of musical styles to convey the message in the animated film, from classical modernist to popular song quotation to agitprop mass song, each of which is designed to appeal to the primary audience: the working class and union members.