by The Disney Purist

#6 Saludos Amigos (1942)

  1. BACKGROUND
  2. STORY #1: LAKE TITICACA
  3. STORY #2: PEDRO
  4. STORY #3: EL GAUCHO GOOFY
  5. STORY #4: AQUARELO DO BRASIL
  6. PRODUCTION
  7. RECEPTION
  8. LEGACY
  9. FINAL THOUGHTS
  10. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

Saludos Amigos, or, “Greetings, Friends”, as the phrase literally translates to from Spanish to English, was the first of the Disney Wartime Era of movies and the first “package feature” to be released by the Disney Studios. It is also the shortest of the Disney Animated Classics, with a runtime of only forty-odd minutes.

Unlike many of the “package features” that came after it, Saludos Amigos was not created from bits and pieces of previously abandoned or shelved concepts and ideas, but was specially created with a specific purpose.

Saludos Amigos was actually requested by the US Government as a way of fostering and improving relations between the US and the countries of Central and South America. At the time of initial production on the movie, the US had not yet entered World War II, but they still wanted South America to align themselves with the US and the Allies. By the time Saludos Amigos was released in 1942, the US had formally joined World War II, making the movie even more important for military efforts.

Saludos Amigos consists of four separate sequences.

These four sections are:

  1. “Lake Titicaca”
  2. “Pedro”
  3. “El Gaucho Goofy”
  4. “Aquarela do Brasil”

Previously, I thought I liked Saludos Amigos, with the short runtime being part of that reasoning, but going back to it this week, I didn’t enjoy it much at all! Don’t get me wrong, I did like the four shorts, however, the narrated live-action footage that came before each one began to grate on me quite early on. Whether that was just the mood I was in when I watched it, I don’t know, but for some reason the narration made me feel really agitated, so it took away my enjoyment of even the shorts, as he narrated three of those four. Luckily, the movie ends with the calming song “Aquarela do Brasil”, so I did at least like the final section.

STORY #1: LAKE TITICACA

Saludos Amigos begins with the usual Opening Credits, at least, usual for the earlier Disney animated releases. The Opening Credits aren’t the most exciting; the credits appear over the top of a section of map featuring Central and South America, where some familiar names, such as Mary Blair, Ward Kimball, Milt Kahl, and Wooly Reitherman, are visible. A “thank you note” from Walt Disney, thanking South America for their hospitality, is shown on screen just before the movie begins.

The credits use the title song, “Saludos Amigos”, a relatively catchy and upbeat song to start the film. The song’s music was written by Charles Wolcott, also the Musical Director for Saludos Amigos, with lyrics by Ned Washington. Wolcott wrote music for other Disney productions, including The Reluctant Dragon (1941); The Three Caballeros (1944); and Make Mine Music (1946). Washington wrote the lyrics for such Disney songs as “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio (1940), which happened to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1940, becoming the first Disney song to win an Oscar, and “Pink Elephants on Parade” and “Baby Mine” from Dumbo (1941), with the latter being nominated for Best Original Song at the 1942 Academy Awards.

We then move into the actual film, which begins with a clip of Disney Studios’ staff boarding a plane. The narrator explains that the staff are flying to South America to find new material and inspiration for further Disney projects, saying “It’s adiós, Hollywood, and Saludos, amigos”. This narrator is Fred Shields, who narrated some Disney shorts during the 1940s, as well as “The Flying Gauchito” segment in The Three Caballeros (1944), and was the uncredited voice of the Great Prince of the Forest in Bambi (1942). I did learn that the footage of Walt and the team boarding this plane was actually shot after returning from their trip as boarding of the plane had not been filmed at the time. To make it as authentic as possible, though, the group all wore the same outfits as they would’ve had on for that first boarding[1]! An animated plane then flies over an animated map of South America, detailing the countries that the Disney team explored, and ones that we will be viewing as part of the film. Then, we are shown real-life footage of Bolivia, such as their marketplaces, their musicians, their animals, and, of course, their people. This is supplemented with images of Disney artists’ concept art and sketches.

After this footage, the animated segment “Lake Titicaca” begins, with Donald Duck looking at Lake Titicaca, located on the Bolivian-Peruvian border, and being warned that because the lake is situated almost 13,000 feet above sea-level that Donald may experience some symptoms of altitude sickness. Donald is then told of the fishing boats made of reeds that are important to the locals’ lifestyle. The boats are controlled heavily by the wind, which surprises Donald, leading him to be thrown from the boat into a baker’s dough! The narrator tells the viewer about the terrain and the music of the area. We then see a llama’s movements being controlled by a pipe player; Donald asks to have a go, and after some time, seems to get the hang of it, riding the llama up the mountains and over a suspension bridge, high above the ground. Donald has some difficulty with this bridge when the planks begin to fall off and the ropes start to snap. Though the llama gets across safely, Donald falls, right on to the pottery market and bounces back into the lake. The llama character in this short is one of the more memorable in the film, and his interactions with Donald are funny. Clarence Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck, continues to reprise his role here.

For their inspiration, the Disney team viewed many interesting parts of Bolivia, Peru and Lake Titicaca. They enjoyed the colourful marketplaces, and the handmade garments, like hand-woven woollen hats. They saw many llamas who it turns out are only used to carry small, less heavy items as llamas are “too proud” to move anything too heavy, which the donkeys end up having to do! This gave the team the thought that a llama would have great screen value because of its attitude, and felt it would be a good opportunity to use the llama and the musical rhythm of the area together. The Disney staffers sailed over Lake Titicaca in reed-woven boats, and learnt the amount of skill needed to handle them in the wind. They made models of the boats and sketches, with this element also ending up in the short[2].

STORY #2: PEDRO

Saludos Amigos then moves into its second section, which is linked via footage from the Disney staffers on a plane to Santiago, Chile, in which they flew over the Andes. We see the team sketching the mountains and landscapes that they see from the aeroplane windows. They started to think about the pioneer mail planes that would’ve flown over these same areas, where a sketch of a small, young mail plane begins to take shape, which leads us into the animated short “Pedro”.

In a little airport near Santiago, Chile, there are three planes, a large plane which is the father, a middle-sized plane which is the mother, and a little boy plane called Pedro. He wants to grow up to be a big mail plane like his dad, who flies the Santiago to Mendoza route. Pedro goes to school where he learns about sky writing, reading, history, geography etc., ready to take over his father’s mail route when he is older. One day, his father is ill, and his mother cannot fly the route due to her high oil pressure, so Pedro must do it. After a difficult take-off, Pedro seems to be ok, and picks up the mail easily enough from Mendoza, though there is a snow storm and he has to calm himself when he first sees the terrifying rockface of the Aconcagua Mountain in the Andes. Soon, he is on his way home and ahead of schedule; Pedro is having so much fun, darting in and out of the clouds and chasing a condor, that he doesn’t realise he is right by Aconcagua, which is not only scary for its menacing rockface, but also for its reputation for having strong, sudden storms nearby. Pedro struggles against the strong winds and rain, even dropping the mail bag. He flies down to retrieve, despite the narrator telling him to save himself. Pedro flies high enough to get out of the storm clouds but runs out of gas, and starts to fall. Back at the airport in Santiago, his parents wait anxiously, but there is no sign of Pedro’s return. As they start to think he’s lost forever, Pedro crash-lands into the airport, but he’s ok, and he’s got the mail! Though it turns out this “important” mail was only a postcard, Pedro is still happy that he successfully completed his job. That postcard is addressed to Jorge Delano, the cartoonist who was the Disney group’s guide whilst in Santiago; it was from Juan Carlos, who hosted a party for Walt and the team in Mendoza before they flew to Santiago[3]. I do like “Pedro”; it’s a nice story and feels very much like a typical Disney short story.

The original idea for “Pedro” came from a draft short story concept about a small aeroplane that acted like a young boy, devised by Disney staff members Joe Grant and Dick Huemer. Their plane was called P.T. or “Petey”, with the narration to be provided by Sterling Holloway. It followed a mail plane taking over his father’s route, and having to go by “Old Thunderhead”, a tall, unfriendly mountain, with this “important” mail being revealed to only be a postcard. Concept art was created by Mary Blair and Hardie Gramatky, who wrote the children’s book, Little Toot, which was published in 1939 and was made into a short for the Disney “package feature” Melody Time (1948); it’s actual quite a similar story.

Disney story man Bill Cottrell worked on developing this story to become a part of Saludos Amigos, as he was also on the South American tour. The group only spent a week in Chile, a third of the time they’d spent in Brazil and Argentina, so they struggled to come up with a concept piece around Chile, but the plane ride they took over the Andes to Santiago was thrilling and they passed close to Aconcagua, the 22,500-foot-high mountain. They even saw a crashed plane on the mountainside nearby. Cottrell remembered the P.T. plane story and felt it could be reconfigured easily to fit into the Chilean area. Pedro became the new name for the plane, it being the Spanish equivalent of Pete, and Aconcagua replaced the fictional mountain. Some of Disney’s best animators worked on the short, with Ward Kimball animating Pedro’s encounter with the condor, and Bill Tytla animating the storm. Though many viewers liked “Pedro”, the Chilean audience didn’t feel that the story represented them at all, not how the other shorts represented their respective countries anyway. In response, a Chilean cartoonist by the name of Rene “Pepo” Rios created a comic strip about a small condor called Condorito, living in a small Chilean town. It mimicked Disney’s animation style, and showed just what Disney could’ve done for Chile[4].

From Chile, the movie moves over to Argentina, specifically Buenos Aires, where footage of the city and its landmarks are shown, including the Congress Building and the Kavanaugh Building, the tallest building in Latin America. Though the team liked the city, they were drawn to the grasslands of Argentina and the gauchos of the area. The group met gauchos and saw them handle their horses in person, and learnt of their way of life, including the equipment, music and dance, and the food, where they saw firsthand how food is traditionally cooked, via a barbeque or “asado”. Argentine painter F. Molino Campos told the team stories of gauchos and painted numerous scenes, becoming their artistic consultant.

STORY #3: EL GAUCHO GOOFY

From here, we go into the animated “El Gaucho Goofy”, where cowboy Goofy is flown from Texas to Argentina and dressed in the appropriate dress of the Argentine gaucho. Goofy meets his sassy, untrained horse, which Goofy tries to lasso, except he’s the one who is tied up, not the horse, in typical Goofy style. Goofy is then taught how to correctly saddle the horse, and how to barbecue and eat his traditional steak for dinner. Next, Goofy tries to capture an ostrich with bolas, but once again, clumsy Goofy does not succeed and instead flies off his horse, leading to Goofy, his horse, and the ostrich being tied up! Then, Goofy learns about traditional Argentine guitar music and dance moves, such as the “pala-pala”, before being flown back to his home of Texas. I found this short to be just ok; I’m not a big fan of the Disney “How-To” style of shorts, and unfortunately, Goofy is not my favourite Disney character – sorry, he’s too clumsy for me! Pinto Colvig, the original voice of Goofy, continues to reprise his role in this short.

STORY #4: AQUARELO DO BRASIL

For the final section of Saludos Amigos, we are taken to Brazil and Rio de Janeiro. We see footage of Sugarloaf Mountain and Copacabana beach, as well as views of the city streets, with its mosaic pavements, and the local people. Concept art and sketches by Disney artists are also shown, with one of those being a “papagaio”, or parrot, which becomes José, or Joe, Carioca, a new character who will encapsulate the Brazilian culture. They also learn about the samba and Brazil’s carnival, full of music, dancing, and laughter.

“Aquarelo do Brasil” begins with the opening of a book of sheet music, telling us about the song that will be used in the short, and the casting for it, much like how all of the shorts in other “package features” like Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948) are introduced. We then see an animated paintbrush begin to paint a rainforest landscape, which comes alive; the same happens with flamingos and various plants and flowers. One of those flowers turns into Donald Duck, who returns to the film after his appearance in “Lake Titicaca”. Donald is introduced to the new character of José Carioco, a well-dressed green parrot; José is very excited to be meeting the famous Donald Duck from Hollywood! José decides to teach Donald how to dance the samba, and begins to play a tune on his umbrella, which has somehow become a flute, and Donald’s hat, which has become an accordion. They samba over to a bar, where Donald is given some very strong alcohol to drink! From Donald’s hiccupping, José begins to orchestra a new samba tune for them both to dance to, alongside a mysterious silhouetted woman. They dance the night away together.

This is my favourite short of the four, mostly because I like the song, but I do also like Donald and José together; it was a good introduction to the new character. The artistic style is more vibrant and expressive than the other three, so it feels more exciting and interesting to watch. The song “Aquarela do Brasil” was composed by Brazilian composer and pianist Ary Barroso in 1939, and became one of the most famous Brazilian songs ever after appearing in this film. Apparently, Walt Disney and his team listened to a band while having dinner one night during their stay in Brazil, and this song they played piqued Walt’s interest. Walt had the song personally performed for him again whilst in Rio de Janeiro by Ary Barroso and decided it must be used in Saludos Amigos[5]. The song was performed by Aloísio de Oliveira here. The piece of music heard at the end of the short is an instrumental version of “Tico-Tico no Fubá”, which was written by Brazilian musician Zequinha de Abreu. The voice of José Carioca is provided by José Oliviera, a Brazilian musician who directed Carmen Miranda’s orchestra for ten years. The word “Carioca” means native of Rio[6]. Clarence Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck, reprised his role again in this short.

PRODUCTION

As far back as 1890, the United States of America were trying to strengthen the understanding and friendship between all the countries within North, Central and South America. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted the importance of the USA’s relations with the countries south of it. In the years leading up to World War II, this became even more important as the US feared that as the Nazis gained more and more ground in Europe, that their propaganda would also take hold in Central and South America, with Argentina being of particular concern. The US wanted their own campaign to strength their support to South America, so that those countries would be on the side of the Allies. Therefore, a new agency, the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, was formally established by President Roosevelt, with Nelson Rockefeller appointed as its head[7]. 

The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs began this campaign in 1940 by asking Hollywood studios to visit Latin American countries and use their findings from the area and its people to come up with new movie ideas. Unfortunately, some of these films had the opposite effect, being so stereotypical to the South American people that instead of alleviating tensions between the areas of the Americas, they actually caused more conflict.

In Spring 1941, the Office looked to Walt Disney and his studios instead. Walt originally thought it was a diplomacy tour, and was reluctant to agree to it, as he “wasn’t good at just shaking hands”, but when it was suggested that he use the trip as a focus for research and new content for his next Disney projects, he agreed. World War II had cut off film profits from the Disney releases of the early 1940s in the European markets, and due to the Disney animators’ strike, which ended up lasting from May to September 1941, the Studios were struggling, as was Walt’s reputation with his workers.

So, it was decided: Walt would take himself plus 15 studio employees, and two wives, one of which was Lillian Disney, Walt’s wife, to South America for this “goodwill tour”. The group arrived in Rio de Janeiro in August 1941, though the group didn’t travel together all of the time; after visiting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, the team split into four groups, who went to different locations, with some heading to countries like Bolivia and Peru, and others exploring different parts of Argentina, to gather more material. The majority of the team reunited at the end of September 1941 in Santiago, Chile, with the whole group heading home on 4th October 1941.

Though the press and the people loved Walt, including hordes of local children who would come to see him and ask for autographs, Walt had some difficulties during this tour. Whilst in Argentina, Roy O. Disney, Walt’s brother, told Walt that the animators’ strike had been settled but not in the studio’s favour. Walt’s father also passed away on 13th September 1941, during the tour, however, Walt stayed in South America to continue with his commitments[8]. Furthermore, by December 1941, the US was fully engaged in World War II.

Whilst Saludos Amigos only details what the Disney employees experienced in the countries of Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, to link in with the background of the four shorts, there is actually much more behind-the-scenes footage of the Disney team visiting other countries, such as Uruguay, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico. Ideas and research from these areas would be used for the “sequel” to Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros (1944), released two years later. This extra footage is detailed within the thirty-minute documentary, South of the Border with Disney (1942).

The film was originally meant to be twelve separately released shorts, with each short being dedicated to a specific country the Disney group had visited. Producer David O. Selznick felt that releasing one short based on one country would only make that short popular in that specific area, whereas by packaging a few together, it would make the movie as a whole more universally appealing. It also made sense to put shorts based on different cultures together to fit with the overall message of the goodwill tour; cooperation and understanding between all countries of the Americas.

RECEPTION

Saludos Amigos was the first Hollywood movie to premiere in all Latin American countries before it did in the US; it was released in South America in August 1942, with its premiere being held in Rio de Janeiro on 24th August 1942. It was later released in the United States in February 1943. The movie was incredibly popular in South America. In the US, many critics also liked the film, with the colourful animation, the relatively authentic music, and fun-filled familiar cartoons being the highlights. Even new characters, such as the llama in “Lake Titicaca” and José Carioca were singled out as being plus points. It was a different type of film, due to the travel documentary footage, and was not deemed to be entirely factual, but it succeeded in showcasing the areas of South America, as it was intended to do, though negative critique of the film called it “self-interested”. Nowadays, parts of the film are considered to be culturally insensitive, with some of the narration standing out to me as being “not very P.C.”

But at the time, Saludos Amigos was so popular, both critically and commercially, that The Three Caballeros (1944), a sequel of sorts, was released two years later, with it using the same “package feature” format as Saludos Amigos, but basing their shorts on different South American countries. These two films were a good way for the Studios to produce new feature-length movies, as World War II had caused the studio to lose staff and at this point, the Disney staffers who remained were primarily creating training films for the military to keep the Studios afloat financially; they did not have the budget to make the “big“ movies they had been, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Pinocchio (1940)[9].

Saludos Amigos was nominated at the 1943 Academy Awards for Best Score, Best Sound Recording, and Best Original Song for “Saludos Amigos”, but sadly, did not win any of these. It did, however, win the Best Documentary award at the 15th National Board of Review Awards in 1943.

All four of the shorts featured within Saludos Amigos were released as standalone shorts in 1955, to be used on television shows and within compilation shows. It is worth mentioning that for many home releases of the film, including my 2002 UK DVD release, Goofy’s smoking is edited out of “El Gaucho Goofy”, which makes for a very strange cut if you watch the original version. Yet, later on in the film, during “Aquarela do Brasil”, Donald is seen lighting up José’s cigar after drinking some very strong alcohol; so that scene of smoking is apparently ok, as it was not cut or edited out, but seeing Goofy smoke isn’t ok? The unedited version returned to home releases from 2018, and is uncut on Disney+.

LEGACY

Apart from these two documentary films and The Three Caballeros (1944) sequel, there is very little else in the way of representation for Saludos Amigos, both on-screen and off-screen. At the Disney Parks, there are predominantly mentions of The Three Caballeros and its three main characters, not anything specific to Saludos Amigos. As this piece is about Saludos Amigos specifically, I will not be talking about rides and attractions that reference The Three Caballeros (1944), so there is not too much to talk about.

At Walt Disney World, the recently closed Epcot nighttime show, Harmonious, did use a snippet of the “Saludos Amigos” opening song within its soundtrack, during the Latin America section. It was played after “Remember Me” and before “The World Es Mi Familia”, both from Coco (2017). During Wonderful World of Animation projection show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, a scene from Saludos Amigos can be seen. It is from “El Gaucho Goofy” and shows him and his horse dancing; it is on the screen to the left of the Chinese Theater.

At Tokyo Disneyland, there is a meet-and-greet location for Duffy the Disney Bear at Tokyo DisneySea. It is called ¡Saludos Amigos! Greeting Dock, with stalls showcasing South American ornaments, instruments, etc. surrounding the bear, who is dressed in a small poncho and sombrero, with Latin American-inspired prints. Duffy is nicknamed “Sombrero Duffy” for this reason. South American-inspired music plays throughout the area. But even this area is not specific to Saludos Amigos, as the bunting that is strung across the ceiling depicts the faces of the Three Caballeros trio of characters.

In terms of meet-and-greets, you cannot see Donald and José without Panchito, as they clearly have more worth as the trio, the Three Caballeros, so I will not be mentioning those, nor can you meet Pedro or Gaucho Goofy, the other characters from Saludos Amigos.

The only other thing to mention is that, in 2023, to celebrate the film’s 80th anniversary, Disney honoured the occasion by releasing an ornament of Donald Duck and José Carioca in the Brazilian rainforest.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Saludos Amigos is one of the lesser-known Disney animated feature films, partly for its age, partly for its “package feature” status, and partly because its popularity has been dwarfed by The Three Caballeros (1944). Yet Saludos Amigos was just as important to fostering good relations between the US and its neighbours to the south, even more so to some extent as the response to this film proved to be the first success within this campaign overseen by the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. It allowed for The Three Caballeros (1944) to be created afterwards; if Saludos Amigos had not proved popular, then the sequel could not have existed.

Saludos Amigos will forever be known as being the movie that did more for cooperation between the countries of the Americas in just a few months than the Government had managed to achieve in decades – by using Disney for a vital strategic campaign, which ended up being fronted by none other than those great diplomats, Donald Duck and Goofy… Only Disney!

REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Saludos Amigos’, pp. 16-18.

[2] Credit: Disney, “South of the Border with Disney (1942)”, from Saludos Amigos (1942) 1-Disc DVD (2002).

[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Saludos Amigos’, pp. 16-18.

[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Pedro and Planes’, MousePlanet.com, 7th August 2013.

[5] Credit: Keith Gluck, ‘Walt and the Goodwill Tour’, The Walt Disney Family Museum Blog, 8th September 2016.

[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Saludos Amigos’, pp. 16-18.

[7] Credit: Melodie Sweeney, ‘Donald Duck: An American Diplomat?’, National Museum of American History Blog, 12th April 2019.

[8] Credit Keith Gluck, ‘Walt and the Goodwill Tour’, The Walt Disney Family Museum Blog, 8th September 2016.

[9] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 5 (2016), ‘The Disney Package Features’, pp. 65-73.

Leave a comment