BACKGROUND
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) proved to the world that good stories could be told in the form of animation. Pinocchio (1940) is remembered for its impressive visual effects and detailed artwork. Fantasia (1940) pushed boundaries by perfectly synchronising classical music with differing animated sequences. Bambi (1942) painstakingly recreated natural landscapes and realistically animated animals.
Dumbo, on the other hand, released a year prior to Bambi, is not known for its artistic merits, not as much as the other four movies in Disney’s “Golden Age”. Instead, it is seen as one of the most emotional and heartfelt movies to have ever come out of the Disney Studios.
It is also known for being the film that managed to lift the Disney Studios out of financial difficulty, and for recapturing audience attentions again. Pinocchio and Fantasia had not been successful at the box-office. This was due, in part, to World War II disrupting their movie distribution. Fantasia had also not interested the general public, and even managed to anger some music critics for its rearrangements of classical music pieces.
The Disney Studios needed a guaranteed hit, and one that wouldn’t cost nearly as much as their previous movie releases. They needed to find a story with a simple plot, something that would be easy to adapt, and they couldn’t have as much focus on the artistry of animation; that would cost too much.
Luckily, a short story about a small elephant with big ears overcoming self-doubt would prove itself to be a great movie for Disney Animation’s next movie. With its heart-breaking moments and relatable troubles, it touched viewers who even today continue to name Dumbo as one of Disney’s best ever movies.
Dumbo has never been one of my favourite Disney movies though. I think Dumbo is a very cute character, but it’s not nice to see something so little and cute being bullied because of its appearance. The story has some surprisingly dark and sad moments, so it’s not exactly light-hearted entertainment by today’s standards, when Disney’s most treasured animated movies these days tend to be those musicals of the 1990s, or even more recent ones of the 2010s and 2020s.
Still, Dumbo was a milestone moment for Disney Animation, and its success helped the Disney Studios to stay afloat during a particularly difficult decade for the whole world.
PLOT
The story of Dumbo begins with baby animals being delivered by stork to animals in a travelling circus in Florida during wintertime, through storms and blustery weather. Sadly, one of these animals, Mrs. Jumbo the elephant does not receive her baby at this time.
The next spring, after the animals have been herded onto the circus train for their next set of engagements, one of the storks arrives late to deliver Mrs. Jumbo’s baby. After signing for her “package”, the customary “Happy Birthday” song is sung by the stork. Mrs. Jumbo opens up the bundle and sees her baby, which she has named Jumbo Jr. The other female elephants are eager to see, and at first, find it to be a cute little thing. But when little Jumbo sneezes, he reveals his huge ears. At this point, the female elephants all start to make fun of Jumbo, giving him the cruel nickname of “Dumbo”. Mrs. Jumbo doesn’t care what they think though, and vows to protect her baby no matter what.
Once the circus arrives at its next stop, it soon becomes clear that Dumbo’s large ears cause him to be quite clumsy, as he constantly trips over them. A group of teenage boys come to the circus and mock Dumbo, and despite Mrs. Jumbo’s attempts to shield him from view, one of the boys continues to torment Dumbo, to the point where Mrs. Jumbo picks up the boy and spanks him in front of all of his friends. Good for her, you might think, but the Ringmaster doesn’t see it that way, and begins to whip her in an attempt to stop this. Instead, Mrs. Jumbo throws the Ringmaster into a bucket of cold water, and is then locked up in a tiny cage and labelled a “mad elephant”.
This leaves Dumbo alone with the horrible female elephants who ignore him. But not for long, as a little mouse, Timothy Q. Mouse, arrives to stop these elephants from being cruel to Dumbo, telling them not to pick on little guys. Timothy scares the elephants away, as only a mouse can do, and tells Dumbo he’ll look after him, and that he could be a great circus star. That night, Timothy whispers into the Ringmaster’s ear whilst he’s sleeping, telling him to make a finale act of a pyramid of elephants where Dumbo will stand on top.
The next day, this pyramid of elephants is shown to a paying audience. After some difficulty, the pyramid, albeit a less than steady one, is complete and Dumbo, with his ears tied up, goes out to do his act, however, he gets stage-fright and tries to walk away. Timothy forces him to go out there, but as he runs towards the springboard that will catapult him to the top of the pyramid, his ears become untied and he trips, bouncing into the bottom of the pyramid, causing all the elephants to fall. The audience runs away in fear and the circus act is ruined. Because of Dumbo’s clumsiness, he is then demoted to being a clown instead.
As a clown, Dumbo is made a laughing stock, forced to ascend a high platform and then jump down into a bucket of pie filling. Dumbo is a hit as a clown, but he hates his new job. Timothy tries to convince him that this success is a good thing, but it doesn’t work; nothing will cheer Dumbo up. So, Timothy takes him over to Mrs. Jumbo’s cage so he can see his mother for a little while, except the cage is so tall that Dumbo can only interact with his mother’s trunk, in one of Disney’s most heart-breaking movie moments.
We then hear that the clowns want to raise the height of the platform to crazy levels so that their act can be even better, and they deduce that Dumbo won’t care because “elephants don’t have feelings”, since they are made of rubber… The clowns then proceed to accidentally poison Dumbo by carelessly allowing a bottle of champagne to fall into his water. After Dumbo gets hiccups from crying, Timothy leads Dumbo over to his tainted water supply, and the two become drunk, hallucinating about weird pink elephants.
The next day, the two find themselves waking up in a tree next to a gang of crows. That must have been some wild night! Timothy deduces that Dumbo must have flown them up to that tree, but the crows laugh at this theory, finding it absurd. After hearing that Dumbo was torn away from his mother, that everyone has isolated him because of his big ears, and that the circus has made him into a clown, the crows feel bad about what they have said and decide to help. They give Timothy a “magic feather” to give Dumbo the confidence to fly. Sure enough, it works – Dumbo can fly! Timothy plans for Dumbo to surprise everyone at the circus that night with his new talent.
As Dumbo is placed on the high platform as part of the clown act, due to jump down to the bucket below, Dumbo is ready to show he can fly – but he drops his feather midway down and loses all of his confidence. Timothy quickly tells him the feather wasn’t actually magic and that he can fly without it. At the last moment, Dumbo has faith and opens his ears, and flies all across the circus tent, terrorising the clowns below and blasting peanuts into the faces of the elephants that tormented him. Serves them right.
The movie ends by saying that Dumbo has become a major celebrity, with his ears even being insured for $1 million. Timothy becomes Dumbo’s manager and gets him a Hollywood contract. We then see the circus train going to its next stop. Dumbo flies behind it with the crows, before reuniting with his mother in their own private coach on the train.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Dumbo is a cute little elephant with big ears who becomes a huge star. Dumbo is an incredibly sweet character, and I think his hiccups are adorable. However, nobody else seems to see it that way because he’s “different”. I can definitely relate to Dumbo as a character, as I’m sure many people can. It’s not easy growing up when there’s something about you that makes you different from everyone else. I was the short kid with big ears and funny teeth at school. And kids can be cruel – but in this case, it’s not just the kids; the adults do it too. Although all the other female elephants initially think he’s the sweetest little baby they’ve ever seen, the minute his ears are revealed, they bully and tease him. It’s awful to see this, and then it gets worse, when the teenage circus-goers begin to torment him, which leads to Mrs. Jumbo attacking the kids. Who can blame her really? No-one dies, it’s not a big deal. Yet the Ringmaster locks up Mrs. Jumbo, separating Dumbo from his mother. If it weren’t for Timothy Q. Mouse, I don’t know how Dumbo would have survived all that. But luckily, that’s not the case and Timothy gives him the confidence to believe in himself that he can fly, which certainly shuts everyone up in the end. The movie has a nice message about accepting yourself as you are and showing that everyone has a talent.
The character of Dumbo was designed by animator Bill Tytla, who was best known for animating Stromboli in Pinocchio (1940) and Chernabog in Fantasia (1940). Since Dumbo does not speak at all in the movie, it was incredibly important that his thoughts and feelings were able to be read purely through his facial expressions. Tytla used his two-year-old son Peter as inspiration for this aspect of the character, giving Dumbo that innocent quality to him. In the 29th December 1941 edition of Time magazine, there was an interview with Tytla about the fact he used his son as inspiration for the design of Dumbo, however, people seemed to take this fact literally, which led to Tytla’s wife, Adrienne, writing a letter to Time, which was published in their 2nd February 1942 edition of the magazine. She said that she did not enjoy the jokes about how her son must resemble an elephant to have been the design inspiration for Dumbo, and included a picture of her son to prove he did not. After this, Peter received many fan letters, but it also got the attention of Walt Disney, who visited Adrienne to not-so-subtly, but kindly, inform her that she should ask permission the next time she wishes to discuss Disney matters with the press[1].
Dumbo has remained a popular character with Disney fans for decades now, but there is something a bit problematic about this. Although the main character is referred to as Dumbo for most of the movie, it’s his name on the title of the movie after all, and it’s the name we all know the character as, in actual fact his name is Jumbo Jr. If you think about it, aren’t we continuing the elephants bullying by calling him this? It’s been over eighty years now, so I guess that ship has sailed.
Similarly to Jiminy Cricket’s role in Pinocchio (1940), Timothy Q. Mouse is the confidante of Dumbo, and, since Dumbo does not talk, Timothy becomes his voice, standing up for him against the bullies. He takes Dumbo under his wing and plans to make him a big star, so that no-one will ever laugh at him again. Timothy Q. Mouse is the eternal optimist, determined to make the world a better and more understanding place. What a dream that would be… Disney’s Dumbo is based on an original story written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl. The biggest difference between the two stories is that there is no mouse named Timothy. Instead, Dumbo is helped to stardom by a little robin named Red[2]. Animator Fred Moore did much of the animation work on Timothy, managing to mix the comic and the more sympathetic scenes well. Moore had animated most of the character of Lampwick in Pinocchio (1940) before this.
Edward Brophy voiced the character of Timothy. Brophy worked with Buster Keaton on a few of his movies, like The Cameraman (1928), Doughboys (1930) and The Champ (1931). later appeared as the sidekick, Goldie Locke, in a couple of movies within The Falcon film series, which starred Tom Conway.
Although not hugely present in the movie, Mrs. Jumbo is a major supporting character for Dumbo. She is protective of him right from the outset, shielding him from the comments of the other elephants, and then beats up the horrible kids that start to make fun of Dumbo, which unfortunately means that she is taken away from her son and locked up…It’s a difficult series of events to watch, and you can feel how depressed both Mrs. Jumbo and Dumbo are at being separated from each other. It’s just good that they are reunited at the end of the movie.
Verna Felton voiced the characters of both Mrs. Jumbo, who only has the one line in the movie, when she names her son, and Elephant Matriarch, the leader of the other elephants who makes many of the nasty jokes and comments about Dumbo and his ears. Felton went on to voice characters for other Disney animated movies: wholesome, helpful ones, like The Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (1950) and Flora, one of the Good Fairies, in Sleeping Beauty (1959), as well as cruel, villainous ones, including the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Aunt Sarah in Lady and the Tramp (1955).
Another voice actor who first appeared in Dumbo and later voiced other beloved Disney characters is Sterling Holloway, who voiced Mr. Stork. Holloway went on to voice the characters of Adult Flower in Bambi (1942), the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (1951), Kaa in The Jungle Book (1967), and Roquefort in The Aristocats (1970). He was also the original voice of the lovable Winnie the Pooh.
Now for the last set of characters to mention. Let’s talk about the crows. The crows have come under a lot of scrutiny in recent years, due to some seeing the characters as perpetuating stereotypes of Black people. According to Disney, the crows were meant to accurately portray the “backchat” and “back and forth” between band leaders and their performers, which is frequently heard on band recordings of this era, including those of Louis Armstrong. It was never intended to be seen as stereotyping, with the only intention being to faithfully recreate the spirit of that type of music, as the crows’ main role in Dumbo is to perform the song “When I See An Elephant Fly”. They are also quite a sympathetic group of characters, who come to identify with Dumbo and help him to succeed.
Mainly because of the crows’ sequence, Dumbo on Disney+ begins with a warning message, highlighting the potential negative stereotypes within the movie. As time goes on, there will always be parts of “older” movies that do not age well. Providing we know the context of the time, I do not personally take issue with it, but I can see why others would. The only issue I have with this scene is that Cliff Edwards, a white performer and original voice of Jiminy Cricket, provided one of the crows’ voices, which doesn’t sit well in today’s world. The other crows were performed by Hall Johnson, who was a highly regarded African-American choral director, and members of his Hall Johnson Choir. Johnson didn’t seem to find anything racist in the work they were doing for Dumbo and was happy to continue his involvement in the movie[3]. Others, including Disney animator Floyd Norman and Whoopi Goldberg, have previously come out in defence of the crow characters.
The animation of the crows was completed by animator Ward Kimball, who had previously animated the character of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio (1940). To help with capturing realistic movements, live-action recordings were taken of the Jackson Brothers, a vaudeville act, dancing and these were used as inspiration for some of the sequence[4].
MUSIC
The score for Dumbo was written by Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace. Churchill had worked on the soundtrack for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and had also contributed to the music on many other Disney projects from the time he joined the Studios in 1930, such as the song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf” for the Silly Symphony short Three Little Pigs (1933). After his work on Dumbo, Churchill composed music for Bambi (1942) and the song “Never Smile at a Crocodile”, which is a deleted song from Peter Pan (1953) and was co-written with Jack Lawrence. Churchill sadly passed away from suicide in May 1942, just three months before the release of Bambi.
Wallace joined the Disney Studios in the 1930s, composing the film scores for many of the Disney animated films, and some live-action ones, until his death in 1963. These included Cinderella (1950), Peter Pan (1953) and Lady and the Tramp (1955), as well as Dumbo. Churchill and Wallace won the Academy Award in 1942 for Best Original Score for their work on Dumbo. Some standout pieces from the score in my opinion are the “Main Titles”, which sounds just like the music you’d hear at a circus, and “The Dumbo’s Triumph”, which plays as Dumbo finally shows everyone just what he can do and gives those that bullied him their “just desserts”; it really is a triumphant ending to the movie.
Then there are the seven songs that make up the rest of the music on Dumbo. These were written by Churchill and Wallace, with lyrics from Ned Washington. Washington contributed the lyrics to songs in Pinocchio (1940), winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song along with Leigh Harline, and after Dumbo, went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song again for “High Noon” from the 1952 film High Noon.
The first song is a bouncy little tune called “Look Out for Mr. Stork”, as all the circus animals, except Mrs. Jumbo, receive their babies from the storks. It’s not a big moment in the movie, so it’s not overly memorable but it’s not a bad song. Another similar song is “Casey Junior”, which plays as the circus train heads to its next stop, going through rain, storms, and hilly terrain to get there. These two songs were performed by The Sportsmen, who also performed one more song in Dumbo: “Pink Elephants on Parade”.
There are two remaining “small” songs in Dumbo to mention. The first is “Song of the Roustabouts”, which is another quite troublesome song, as it seems to feature Black railroad workers putting up the circus tent in an awful storm, with a couple of the lyrics seeming to reference that this is in fact slave labour… It is not clear what ethnicity the workers are, as the scene takes place in darkness and shadow, but it’s not a nice scene to watch anyway, as the animals are also being forced to put up this tent in the pelting rain and slippery rain. The song was performed by The King’s Men singing group. Finally, we have “The Clown Song”, which is just a few lines about how the clowns want a raise from their boss.
“Pink Elephants on Parade” is one of the bigger songs in Dumbo, and one of the most memorable, not even for its music, but for its abstract, bizarre animation. Within this scene, a drunk Dumbo hallucinates about all these strange elephants. They change shape and colour quickly and without warning. It’s quite disturbing, but this style of animation was ahead of its time in terms of colour, form, and surreal imagery, with surrealism being popular in the USA around the 1930s, when Dumbo was being made[5]. This is probably the stand-out part of Dumbo in terms of its artistic style, with the rest of the movie seeming less sharp and detailed in places, and backgrounds being simple watercolours. I don’t know how Dumbo wasn’t completely traumatised by having these images in his mind; I would’ve been!
“Baby Mine” is the most memorable song within Dumbo without a doubt. It’s the emotional tear-jerker moment of the movie, as we see Dumbo trying to spend some time with his mother after being separated from her. Since the cage Mrs. Jumbo is locked in is so high up, Dumbo can only interact with her trunk, and the moment when she rocks him is the sweetest part. It is incredibly sad to see Dumbo this upset and confused about why he can’t be with his mother. You wouldn’t believe it but actually in this scene Timothy Q. Mouse says “I hope she’s in” when they go to visit Mrs. Jumbo. He has no tact. Hello, she’s locked in a cage; of course she’s in! “Baby Mine” was sung by Betty Noyes, who ironically dubbed two of Debbie Reynolds’ numbers in Singin’ in the Rain (1952). “Baby Mine” went on to win the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 14th Academy Awards in 1942. It has been covered by artists such as Michael Crawford, Bette Midler, for the movie soundtrack of Beaches (1988), and Sharon Rooney and Arcade Fire for the End Credits of the live-action Dumbo (2019).
The other most popular song in Dumbo is “When I See An Elephant Fly”, which is sung by the crows as they laugh about how an elephant couldn’t possibly fly. It has some very nice harmonies, and it is incredibly catchy, although the controversy surrounding the characters of the crows has somewhat tainted this song. It was performed by Cliff Edwards and The Hall Johnson Choir. A reprise of the song also comes at the end of the movie.
PRODUCTION
The original story of Dumbo was first written by Helen Aberson with illustrations by Harold Pearl in 1938. It was intended to be used for a novelty toy called a “Roll-A-Book”. These Roll-A-Books featured a few illustrations which appeared on a short scroll inside a box. By twisting a wheel on the box, it would reveal the next drawing, however, there are no known copies of this Dumbo Roll-A-Book, presumably because only a prototype was made before the rights were purchased by Walt Disney in 1939, having been brought to his attention by Kay Kamen in Disney merchandising who had seen the prototype. It was not unusual for Disney to purchase the rights to an unpublished story. The story was then passed over to Disney story men Joe Grant and Dick Huemer to adapt it for the screen. At some point around 1939, a 36-page book of the Dumbo story was published, with only a mention of Disney on the copyright page. It only sold just over 1,000 copies.
At the time of Disney’s development on Dumbo, Aberson and Pearl were a married couple, however, they later had a troublesome divorce, which led to Pearl attempting to claim that he was the sole creator of the Dumbo story years later. In actual fact, it is unclear exactly what Pearl contributed to Dumbo as it soon became clear that artist Helen Durney completed the original illustrations, not Pearl. It is possible Pearl had made rough sketches that had been enhanced by Durney. Pearl never wrote another children’s book, instead choosing to go into journalism; he died in 1975. Helen Aberson died in 1999 and did write more children’s books during her lifetime, though seemingly none of them were published. Aberson felt that proper credit for her contributions on Dumbo were not given by Disney[6].
With the rights to Dumbo in the hands of the Disney Studios, Joe Grant, one of Walt Disney’s most trusted story men, and Dick Huemer set to work on adapting the story for their next animated movie in early 1940. Grant had been brought to the Disney Studios in 1933 to work on the short Mickey’s Gala Premier (1933) and later worked on Fantasia (1940) along with Dick Huemer, who had worked on the Silly Symphonies prior to that. They made some early changes to the original short story, such as deciding to make Dumbo’s sidekick a mouse instead of a robin since elephants are meant to be scared of mice. Supposedly, the two wrote their story treatment and gave Walt just one chapter of the story at a time to keep him interested and wanting more.
Also around this time, the Disney Studios’ operations were moving into their newly built studios in Burbank, which had been built using the extraordinary profits from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). This makes Dumbo the first Disney animated feature film to have been solely produced at the Burbank Studios.
After a month of development, Walt looked at progress on the story and knew it would work. It was a simple story, and one that could be developed easily and for less money. With World War II raging on in Europe, cutting off around three-quarters of Disney’s overseas income, Walt Disney knew they needed a lower budget movie to hopefully bring them financial success after the box-office disappointments of Pinocchio (1940) and Fantasia (1940). By Autumn 1940, the movie had begun animation, and it was fully completed by the time of the infamous Animators’ Strike in May 1941, whereby the Studios lost many major animating staff including Bill Tytla and Art Babbitt. The strike was later settled in September 1941, but the controversy surrounding it had damaged Walt Disney’s reputation somewhat.
Luckily, Dumbo was not an expensive movie to make. It benefitted from having simple backgrounds, bright colours, a short, easy-to-adapt story, and less detailed animation. Disney’s next animated release, Bambi (1942), would be the complete opposite of Dumbo, with the animators focused on realistically recreating nature in the artwork. Many of the animators who had worked on the original Silly Symphony series of shorts, those who were more “cartoony”, therefore ended up on Dumbo. This turned out to be most of the “Old Guard”, like Art Babbitt and Bill Tytla, with many of those who would become known as the “Nine Old Men” working on Bambi, except for Ward Kimball, whose artistic style was better suited to Dumbo[7]. The animators spent time studying real elephants though, to understand how the animals move. There was also some research on circus attractions of the time, with traditional graphic posters being seen frequently within the movie, as well as during its opening titles. Mrs. Jumbo, Dumbo’s mother’s name, although originally Ella in Aberson’s story, is a reference to the famous Barnum and Bailey African elephant who was the largest elephant in captivity and became an international star. Disney were also inspired by the Ringling Bros. circus attractions, with John Ringling’s Greatest Show on Earth being based in Sarasota, Florida in the winter, as Dumbo’s circus also is[8].
In terms of the story, unlike many other Disney animated films that have numerous deleted sequences, Dumbo had very few story changes during its eighteen-month production. However, one of these was later discovered in Disney’s Animation Research Library. It was a small sequence where Timothy explains to Dumbo why elephants are scared of mice: because back in prehistoric times, mice were huge and used to torment the elephants constantly. Despite elephants now being bigger than mice, their trauma has stayed with them since an elephant never forgets[9].
RECEPTION
With Dumbo’s final budget being less than $1 million, Dumbo stood to make big financial gains at the box-office, although it took some convincing for Disney’s Dumbo to be released just as it was. RKO, the distributor of Disney’s movies at the time, complained about the length of the movie, since Dumbo was only just over 60 minutes long. Walt refused to lengthen the story to satisfy their demands, not wanting to pad out the story with unnecessary plot points, so RKO had to distribute the movie as it was[10].
Luckily, the audience didn’t seem to mind that, and Dumbo did in fact do well at the box-office when it was released on 31st October 1941. Considering much of the world was in the midst of war, it seemed to be the perfect way to escape from the horrors of realities for a while. Dumbo made around half a million dollars in profit, which helped to ease some of the Disney Studios’ financial difficulties.
The story of Dumbo was praised for its moral message, about not judging by appearances and not letting your circumstances determine your life choices. It was also found to be endearing and compassionate, with bright colours, humour, good music, and memorable characters. This type of movie was more what the people had come to expect and love from Disney, unlike Fantasia (1940).
Sadly, the celebrations didn’t last long. After the attack on Pearl Harbour on 7th December 1941, the US were compelled to join World War II. The US Army moved into the Disney Studios lot, and asked Disney to contribute to the war effort by making propaganda films. Some of the staff obviously enlisted in the army as well.
Time magazine had planned on putting Dumbo on the cover of one of their December 1941 editions, after the successful theatrical release of the film in October. A black-and-white portrait of Dumbo had been drawn, ready for Dumbo to be the first non-human cover model for the magazine, which would have proclaimed him “Mammal of the Year”. This magazine was scheduled for 29th December 1941. However, after joining the war, it was seen that having Dumbo on the cover of Time would not be fitting for the new world that the US had just found themselves in. Instead, on 29th December 1941, a portrait of General Douglas MacArthur appeared on the cover, although a story was still printed in the magazine about the development of Dumbo[11].
LEGACY
Dumbo was later re-released into theatres in 1949, 1959, and again in the 1970s. In 1955, Dumbo was also aired as part of the Disneyland television series, albeit in an edited form. It has been shown on television in full as well.
A television series that used the movie Dumbo as a basis was the Disney Channel series Dumbo’s Circus. It was not an animated series, but used human-sized puppet suits of Dumbo and other circus animals, including a lion, a koala, and a dog. Dumbo could now speak and had started his own circus with these other talented animals. The show aired from 1985 to 1986. Dumbo as a character has also made cameo appearances in the movies The Great Mouse Detective (1986) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).
Because the animated version of Dumbo will remain a beloved addition to the Disney animated classics for many more decades to come, as well as being remembered as the most financially successful Disney animated movie of the 1940s and potentially the most emotionally touching movie to come out of the Disney Studios, that made Dumbo the perfect candidate to get the live-action remake treatment.
Tim Burton directed the 2019 live-action remake of Dumbo, starring a CG elephant as the title character of Dumbo, who appeared alongside human actors such as Michael Keaton and Colin Farrell in new roles, and Danny DeVito as the Ringmaster. There are no talking animals here whatsoever, and the plot features a strong message around the poor treatment of animals in the circus. It also involves more historical context to the location and setting of the movie, unlike the animated Dumbo. New music was written for the movie, although “Baby Mine” did still feature in the 2019 remake. Dumbo (2019) was not a successful movie, critically or financially.
Outside of this, there was going to be a Dumbo II, which probably would have been a direct-to-video sequel. A sneak peek of this movie featured on the 2001 DVD release of Dumbo; however, the movie was ultimately cancelled in 2006. After Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, John Lasseter became the Chief Creative Officer of both Pixar and Disney Animation, and at this point he cancelled many sequels to Disney animated movies. The direct-to-video sequels have never had a good reputation, for story or animation quality. But this bonus feature on the 2001 DVD clearly shows that Dumbo II was in development, with animators informing the viewer that the sequel was to be set soon after the original movie, with the plot following the circus animal children, including Dumbo, becoming separated from their circus home and ending up lost in New York City. Timothy Q. Mouse was set to return, along with a number of new animal characters.
At the Disney Parks, Dumbo the Flying Elephant is a very famous and beloved Disney attraction, with a version still operating at all six of the Disney Resorts. It features elephants attached to mechanical arms that spin around a hub section, whilst guests control the height of their vehicle. The original version obviously appeared at Disneyland. It was supposed to be an opening day attraction, however, the ride had many mechanical issues meaning that it could not open on 17th July 1955. It opened almost a month later on 16th August 1955. The original ride featured ten elephants, all with hinged ears that were supposed to move but they never worked properly. In 1983, the attraction was moved from its initial location to become part of New Fantasyland. Unfortunately, two mechanical issues with the ride caused two separate guest injury incidents in 1989 and 1990 which led to Disney wanting a new updated version of the ride. Luckily, one had already been built for Euro Disneyland, but since the opening of that park was still two years away, this ride was instead taken to Disneyland and installed there. This update increased capacity by adding six more elephants. Fun fact: President Harry S. Truman reportedly refused to ride Dumbo the Flying Elephant in 1957 due to the elephant being a symbol of the Republican Party[12].
Apparently, the original concept for Dumbo the Flying Elephant was for the ten flying elephants to be ten pink elephants, as per the movie, however, it was decided that perhaps using Dumbo’s drunken hallucination as the basis for a children’s ride wasn’t the best idea! The ride later opened at Walt Disney World Resort for its opening day on 1st October 1971, though the elephants had no hats, and Timothy Q. Mouse standing on his disco ball was not there either; these features were added two years later. In 1993, Walt Disney World’s Dumbo the Flying Elephant increased capacity from ten to sixteen vehicles. It was then moved in 2012 to the new area called Storybook Circus, as part of the New Fantasyland expansion, taking the over the area once known as Mickey’s Toontown Fair. Timothy now sits above the entrance to the ride[13]. Storybook Circus is meant to resemble a travelling circus, with the pavement complete with animal footprints and even some faux peanut shells stamped into it to really give that circus feel. As well as the Dumbo attraction, where a second identical attraction was added, along with an indoor play area in the queue, this area has the Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station; a new interactive experience called Smellephants on Parade, which consists of a short trail of elephant statues with different scents on them; the Barnstormer coaster; and Pete’s Silly Sideshow character meet-and-greet location.
The concept for Storybook Circus was originally proposed as part of an expansion to Disneyland’s Fantasyland in 1976. The proposal involved show buildings decorated with striped circus tent awnings, and bunting and posters everywhere. There would have been a clown-themed restaurant, a small merry-go-round called Circus Parade, using circus animals instead of the classic horses, as well as Dumbo the Flying Elephant and Casey Jr. Circus Train being relocated there. Other attractions such as Mickey’s Mad House, a Wild Mouse coaster, and an Audio-Animatronics show on a moving track called Circus Disney, did not appear. Finances for the land had been diverted to other Disney Park locations, such as Epcot and Tokyo Disneyland, which both opened in the early 1980s[14].
At Disneyland Paris, they have also had Dumbo the Flying Elephant since their park opening on 12th April 1992, which had sixteen elephant Dumbos from the start. There is a Casey Jr. Circus Train here, based on the one in Dumbo, called Casey Jr. – le Petit Train du Cirque, giving guests a view of what can be seen on Le Pays des Contes de Fées, their version of the Storybook Land Canal Boats. Disneyland also has the Casey Jr. Circus Train, which takes guests on a tour of the fairy-tale sights that feature on their Storybook Land Canal Boats. You can also find Dumbo the Flying Elephant at Shanghai Disneyland, again with sixteen elephants and as an opening day attraction, although this is the only version of the attraction not to be found in Fantasyland; it is actually situated at Gardens of Imagination. There is also the circus-themed snack bar Timothy’s Treats here.
At Hong Kong Disneyland, another sixteen-vehicle Dumbo the Flying Elephant has been found here since opening day on 12th September 2005. Tokyo Disneyland has also had Dumbo the Flying Elephant since its opening day on 15th April 1983, but this version is different to all the rest – and that is because it is the version of Dumbo that existed in 1983. It only has ten Dumbos and still features Timothy Q. Mouse spinning on his disco ball.
In terms of meet-and-greets, Dumbo has surprisingly been seen in recent years, though only at Disneyland as part of their Disneyland After Dark: Throwback Nite in April 2023. Dumbo had been a meet-and-greet character many years before, but is now an incredibly rare character to see. Dumbo is still a frequent character used within Disney merchandise lines, and songs or characters from the movie can be seen in some parades and nighttime shows such as the Festival of Fantasy Parade at Walt Disney World
Dumbo also made appearances in experiences that now no longer exist. During Magical: Disney’s New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations which ran at Disneyland from 2009 to 2014, Dumbo could even be seen flying over Sleeping Beauty Castle as the song “Baby Mine” played. There was also a series of floats in the Main Street Electrical Parade for Dumbo, with Dumbo even riding on one, and Dumbo began the Flights of Fantasy Parade at Hong Kong Disneyland. Dumbo and Timothy Q. Mouse were also seen playing the tuba as part of the Disney character orchestra during the Mickey Mouse Revue, which ran at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom from 1971 to 1980, before moving to Tokyo Disneyland, where the show ran from 1983 to 2009.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Dumbo’s constant presence in the Disney Parks in the form of Dumbo the Flying Elephant in particular has given countless children and adults memorable experiences of what it feels like to actually fly, remaining a very popular attraction all over the world.
Thanks to a touching message about accepting others for how they are and believing in the “underdog”, Dumbo has remained popular ever since its release dates, despite Dumbo being quite a sad film. It highlights the importance of family, and most importantly that unbreakable bond between parent and child.
Dumbo has become a quintessentially Disney story, one that helped families at a time of great distress and uncertainty in the 1940s, as well as continuing to be watched by families over the decades simply for its comforting nature.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 10: Final Edition (2021), ‘Dumbo’s Mothers’, pp. 234-241.
[2] Credit: Wade Sampson, ‘The Original Story of Dumbo’, JimHillMedia.com, 27th December 2004.
[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Debunking Meryl Streep, Part Two’, MousePlanet.com, 26th February 2014.
[4] Credit: Disney, Taking Flight: The Making of Dumbo (2010).
[5] Credit: Jim Fanning, The Disney Book: A Celebration of the World of Disney (2016), ‘Little Elephant, Big Heart’, pp. 48-49.
[6] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 10: Final Edition (2021), ‘Dumbo’s Mothers’, pp. 234-241.
[7] Credit: Disney, Taking Flight: The Making of Dumbo (2010).
[8] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘Dumbo (1941), pp. 10-12.
[9] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Dumbo (1941) 70th Anniversary DVD (2011).
[10] Credit: Jim Korkis, The Vault of Walt Vol. 10: Final Edition (2021), ‘Dumbo’s Mothers’, pp. 234-241.
[11] Credit: Andrew R. Chow, ‘How Dumbo Almost Ended Up on the Cover of TIME’, TIME (online), 29th March 2019.
[12] Credit: Werner Weiss, ‘The Original Dumbo Flying Elephants’, Yesterland.com, 17th December 2021.
[13] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Dumbo at the Magic Kingdom’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.
[14] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Dumbo’s Circusland at Magic Kingdom’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.
The Disney Purist 