Dumbo Production Drawings

A baby circus elephant is born with huge ears and named Dumbo. He and his mother suffer humiliation from the other elephants and from children visiting the circus. But humiliation turns to triumph as Dumbo is surprised to discover through the help of his faithful mouse friend, Timothy, that he can use his over-sized ears to fly.

From the time that Walt first read the galleys for the story, he knew it would make a fine film. Coming after two expensive movies ("Fantasia" and "Pinocchio") the previous year, "Dumbo" was made for only $812,000, partly because it was able to move very quickly through the animation department given its succinct story and clearcut characters. With such a low cost, the film made a welcome profit for the Studio. "Dumbo" had been scheduled for the cover of "Time" magazine at the time of its general release in December 1941, but a much more momentous event occurred -- the bombing of Pearl Harbor -- and poor "Dumbo" was supplanted by Japanese General Yamamoto.

Directed by Ben Sharpsteen. From a story by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl. Animators: Vladimir "Bill" Tytla, Wolfgang Reitherman, Fred Moore, John Loundsbery, Hugh Fraser, Milt Neil, Les Clark, William Shull, Harvey Toombs, Sandy Strother, Don Towsley, Paul Kossoff, Don Tobin, Claude Smith, Franklin Grundeen, Berny Wolf, Steve Bosustow, Ed Fourcher, J. Brown, and W. Schoalte. Starring: the voices of Edward Brophy (Timothy), Sterling Holloway (stork), and Cliff Edwards (Jim Crow). 64 min. Among the songs are "Baby Mine," "Pink Elephants on Parade," and "When I See an Elephant Fly." The film won an Academy Award® for Best Scoring of a Motion Picture (Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace), and was nominated for Best Song ("Baby Mine"). The movie was rereleased in theaters in 1949, 1959, 1972, and 1976. It was shown on the Disney television series in 1955; it was released on video in 1981 and kept in release.