Three cartoon heads sweat and wail in a black frying pan over a bed of yellow flames: Japan’s leader in a red cap, Hitler with his moustache and Mussolini in his fez-like cap. The pan’s handle is held by a hand in a Stars and Stripes cuff. Above, in red capitals: Keep ’Em Frying! To the side: Make it hot for the Axis! And in an orange band below, the reason: Kitchen grease contains 10% glycerin. Glycerin makes nitro-glycerin. Give to local charity or sell to butcher.
Grease goes to war
Glycerin was a key ingredient in explosives, and much of America’s supply of fats and oils had come from the Pacific before Japan cut off the trade. In 1942 the government launched a national fat salvage drive, asking households to save the grease left from cooking. Families poured drippings into a tin can, kept it cool, and took it to the butcher, who passed it on to rendering plants. From 13 December 1943 every pound brought four cents and two red ration points, valuable for buying meat and butter. The campaign slogan claimed that a tablespoon of kitchen grease could fire five bullets.
A local poster
This poster was not a national campaign design. It was made by the Work Projects Administration in Southern California for the Los Angeles County Defense Committee on Consumers’ Interest, around 1942. The WPA, created in the Depression to put people back to work, ran poster studios that turned out thousands of public information posters for local government, usually unsigned. As the country moved onto a war footing, those studios switched from health and travel posters to salvage, rationing and defence.
Keep ’Em Flying, Keep ’Em Frying
The title plays on “Keep ’Em Flying”, the Army Air Forces recruiting slogan heard everywhere in 1941 and 1942. The cartoon style, with grotesque caricatures of the enemy leaders, is typical of homemade wartime propaganda and reflects the attitudes of its day, including the racial caricature of the Japanese figure.
A record at auction
Cheaply printed and meant to be thrown away, few copies survive. In June 2026 a copy sold at Heritage Auctions for $26,250, which Antique Trader reported as the house’s record for a twentieth-century propaganda poster.
The restored edition
Our edition was restored from a photograph of an original print. The colour was cleaned and brought back, with folds, stains and wear removed, and the lettering and credit line kept from the original. It is a landscape poster, wider than it is tall, available as a paper print in three sizes or framed in black, white or natural wood, printed to order in the USA.
Frequently asked questions
Who made the Keep ’Em Frying poster?
The Work Projects Administration in Southern California, for the Los Angeles County Defense Committee on Consumers’ Interest, around 1942. Like most WPA posters it is unsigned.
Why did people save kitchen grease in the war?
Fats contain glycerin, which was used to make explosives such as nitroglycerin. From December 1943 each pound of saved fat earned four cents and two red ration points.
Who is in the frying pan?
Caricatures of the three Axis leaders: Japan’s leader, Hitler and Mussolini.
What sizes are the prints?
The poster is landscape. Paper prints are 16.5 × 11.7, 28 × 20 or 33.1 × 23.4 inches; framed prints are 17 × 12, 28 × 20 or 33 × 23 inches.