Disney Catalog - WWII Gremlin Insignia Pin

Disney Trading Pin

29993 Disney Catalog - WWII Gremlin Insignia Pin

During World War II, The Walt Disney Studio was swamped with requests from the military to use Disney characters in creating distinctive unit insignia. Over a five-year period, the Studio contributed over 1,200 designs to the war effort. Disney presents part of a relatively forgotten body of Disney art that helped boost morale during the war years. One of five pins in pin set #29354. This pin depicts a gremlin wearing a red kamikaze helmet holding on to a beige plane that appears to be in a dive bomb. The gremlin depicted on this pin is Gus the Gremlin. He's from a movie that was never made, based on Gremlins by Roald Dahl (it's Roald Dahl's first book and the only one that Disney owns the rights to). Though the movie was never made, it was heavily marketed through comics and plushes of the characters as well as appearing on military insignia, such as the one on this pin. This pewter-finished, textured-back pin measures 1 3/8" tall by 1 9/16" wide. The back of the pin has the Disney Catalog Exclusive Pin Collection logo and, "China (C)Disney-L.E. 1500". The fighter plane may be a P-51 Mustang or a P-40 Warhawk of Flying Tigers fame.