So Dear To My Heart

Release Date: November 29, 1948

This movie was a personal favorite of Walt Disney's. He once said, "So Dear was especially close to me. Why, that's the life my brother and I grew up with as kids in Missouri." 

Bobby Driscoll and Luana Patten were reunited in this movie after appearing together in Song of the South. Bobby plays Jeremiah in this story and Luana plays his cousin Tildy. Jeremiah is a young boy living with grandmother in a small town. One day, a train stops in their town bearing the famous racing horse Don Patch. Jeremiah gets very excited about the famous race horse and dreams of owning his own champion animal. That night, he and his grandmother check on the ewes and find they have given birth to lambs, one of which is a little black lamb who is rejected by its mother. Jeremiah chooses to care for it himself and names the lamb Danny.

Unfortunately, as he grows, Danny is more than Jeremiah can handle, and more than his grandmother could stand. She wants to get rid of him, but when she sees how much Jeremiah loves the sheep, she can't quite bear to do it. Jeremiah continues to dream of his black sheep becoming a champion and wants nothing more than to take him to compete in the county fair.

Jeremiah's grandmother tells him that they can't go to the fair because they don't have the money to pay for the train ride or anything else once they get there, and their family doesn't spend money they don't have. Determined to go to the fair, Jeremiah works hard to earn the money. But just as he makes enough, Danny runs away! While Jeremiah is forced to wait out a storm to look for his prize lamb, his grandmother teaches him the importance of faith and putting God first no matter what. 

The movie is framed through a family scrapbook, which contains memorabilia from the movie, along with wise sayings from a cartoon owl. Throughout the movie, the owl becomes animated and teaches lessons of morality. He quotes wise sayings, and also uses both biblical and historical figures to teach a point. As Jeremiah grows and cares for Danny, he learns just how true these sayings are, and he also learns to respect and trust in the faith of his grandmother and the things she has taught him. These lessons come full circle at the end of the movie when Jeremiah recognizes the reward that comes from following these wise sayings.

This movie also features actors such as Harry Carey (who sadly passed away before the film's premiere), Beulah Bondi and Burl Ives. Today, people young and old all over the country know Burl Ives's voice as Sam the Snowman in the 1964 film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but at the time of this movie, Burl Ives was relatively new to the world of film. The song Lavender Blue (Dilly, Dilly), performed by him in this movie, was nominated for Best Song at the 1949 Oscars and became one of the most popular songs of the year. 

I saw this movie for the first time a couple of years ago, and I fell in love with it! I wish it were more well known and more available. In the Disney catalog, this is definitely a gem worth discovering! It's no wonder to me that this film was dear to the heart of Walt Disney.

Fun and Fancy Free

Release Date: September 27, 1947

Since 1928, Walt Disney had provided the voice for Mickey Mouse. But by 1946, Walt had grown very busy running the studio, and he realized he did not have the time to keep voicing the beloved character he brought to life. One day Walt asked Jim Macdonald to do a test recording of Mickey's voice. Jim already worked in the sound effects department and Walt knew he could expertly recreate all kinds of sounds and voices. Honored by Walt's request, Jim provided the recording. Walt gave it his stamp of approval, and with one exception, Walt never voiced Mickey Mouse again.

The big debut for Jim Macdonald as the new voice for Mickey Mouse was in the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" short in the movie Fun and Fancy Free. This movie continues the trend at the time for the Walt Disney Company to release a collection of shorts as a full-length movie. This particular movie features two shorts: "Bongo," and the previously mentioned "Mickey and the Beanstalk."

Fun and Fancy Free opens with Jiminy Cricket singing a song about his own fun and fancy free attitude. He introduces us to the first story, told by Dinah Shore. You may recall she previously provided her voice for a segment of Make Mine Music. In this movie, she tells the story of Bongo, an abused circus bear who escapes the circus train and learns to live in the wild. At first the going is rough, until he meets Lulubelle and they instantly fall in love. However, Bongo has competition with a brute of a bear, and it's only by using circus tricks that he is able to overcome his rival.

After the story ends, Jiminy Cricket spies an invitation to a party at the house across the street. He shows up to the party, where he finds Edgar Bergen, with his dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, entertaining a young Luana Patten at a birthday party. Edgar Bergen tells the story of "Mickey and the Beanstalk," with Charlie and Mortimer interrupting the story with their comments.

Interestingly, the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" short has been re-done a couple other times with the narration performed by other people. The two most popular alternate editions have Sterling Holloway and Ludwig von Drake narrating the story. I'm not sure why Edgar Bergen was replaced. Walt clearly enjoyed him because he was invited back to the studio for other projects.

The different narrations of this short cartoon speak to how much it has been loved and enjoyed throughout the years. "Bongo" has not enjoyed the same popularity, and has been forgotten for the most part. "Mickey and the Beanstalk," on the other hand, has been re-released multiple times on television shows, video cassettes of Mickey Mouse cartoons, and even as a bonus feature on some DVD releases. These re-issues are responsible for my familiarity with the short.

That being said, I highly recommend watching Fun and Fancy Free to see how the short was originally intended to be seen. Not only that, it is fun to experience some of the talent of that era in both cartoon shorts. I think Edgar Bergen's act with Charlie and Mortimer (and young Luana) enhance the story in a way that is never quite duplicated with any alternate version.