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Dumbo Overview:

Dumbo (1941) was a Animation - Family Film directed by Samuel Armstrong, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts and Ben Sharpsteen and produced by Walt Disney.

Academy Awards 1941 --- Ceremony Number 14 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Music - ScoringFrank Churchill, Oliver WallaceWon
Best Music - SongMusic by Frank Churchill; Lyrics by Ned WashingtonNominated
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Dumbo BlogHub Articles:

Classic Films in Focus: DUMBO (1941)

By Jennifer Garlen on Dec 2, 2013 From Virtual Virago

Disney classics are probably the one group of “old” movies that many people see even if they aren’t particularly enthusiastic about film. After all, these movies surround us throughout our lives, thanks in part to relentless Disney marketing. They inspire theme park rides and count... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: DUMBO (1941)

By Jennifer Garlen on Dec 2, 2013 From Virtual Virago

Disney classics are probably the one group of “old” movies that many people see even if they aren’t particularly enthusiastic about film. After all, these movies surround us throughout our lives, thanks in part to relentless Disney marketing. They inspire theme park rides and count... Read full article

Classic Films in Focus: DUMBO (1941)

By Jennifer Garlen on Dec 2, 2013 From Virtual Virago

Disney classics are probably the one group of “old” movies that many people see even if they aren’t particularly enthusiastic about film. After all, these movies surround us throughout our lives, thanks in part to relentless Disney marketing. They inspire theme park rides and count... Read full article

March to Disney: What Bolt and Dumbo Share

By Bernardo Villela on Mar 12, 2013 From The Movie Rat

This is a series of posts this month wherein I will focus on Disney films. For more on my background with Disney films and about the timing of this focus please read the introductory post here. What’s been great is that I have through sheer luck managed to come across titles I had previously ... Read full article

Dumbo (1941)

By Kristen on Sep 22, 2012 From Journeys in Classic Film

Back with another edition of Journeys in the Disney Vault.  I should mention we’ll see this series next week but once October hits we’ll only see it once as there’s a Halloween themed Disney animated film I’ll be including (astute viewers should know what it is).  After Oct... Read full article

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Dumbo Quotes:

[last lines]
Jim Crow: [as Dumbo rides off on the train] Boy, I wish I'd have got his autograph.
Crow: Here, man, I've got his autograph.
Jim Crow: Well, so long, glamour boy!
Jim Crow: [as Timothy and Dumbo walk away sadly] Hey brother, now wa-wa-wait a minute. You don't hafta leave feelin' like that. We done seen the light. You boys is okay.
Timothy Q. Mouse: Please. You've done enough.
Jim Crow: But we's all fixin' to 'hep ya. Ain't that the truth, boys?
[the other crows fly down, all agreeing happily]
Jim Crow: You wanna make the elephant fly, don't ya? Well, you gotta use a lot of 'chology. You know, *psy*-chology. Now here's what you do. First, you'll uh...
Jim Crow: [all the crows whisper]
Jim Crow: And then right after that, you'll uh...
[whispers continue]
Jim Crow: [plucks a feather from the youngest crow's tail; he yelps] Use the magic feather. Catch on?
Timothy Q. Mouse: [accepting the feather] The magic feather?
[smiles, now getting the secret, then winks as he gives Jim an elbow in the wing]
Timothy Q. Mouse: Yeah! I gotcha.
[rushes joyfully to Dumbo, then places the feather at the end of his trunk]
Timothy Q. Mouse: Dumbo! Look! Have I got it! The magic feather! Now you can fly!
Crow #1: Well, looky here, looky here.
Crow #2: My, my. Why, this is most irreg-lar.
Crow #3: [rubbing his eyes] Well, I just can't believe my eyes.
Crow #1: They ain't dead, is they?
Crow #4: No. Dead people don't snore... or do they?
Jim Crow: [all the crows whisper until he flies down, then gestures for them to move aside] Uh, what's all the ruckus? C'mon, step aside, brother.
[pacing the branch]
Jim Crow: Uh, what's cookin' 'round here? C'mon, what's the good news? What's fryin', boys?
Crow #1: Just look down there, brother.
Crow #4: And prepare yourself for a shock.
Timothy Q. Mouse: [after Dumbo pelts the other elephants with peanuts; shouts joyfully] You're makin' history!
Crow #1: Why, he flies just like an eagle.
Crow #2: Better than an airplane.
Jim Crow: Brother, now I've seen everything!
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Dumbo Facts
While trying to comfort Dumbo, Timothy says, "Lots of people with big ears are famous!" According to animation historian John Canemaker on the 2001 DVD release commentary, the line was recognized by audiences of 1941 as a reference to Clark Gable. The line was also featured in the original theatrical trailer.
A very tightly budgeted, scripted, and produced film, because Walt Disney needed the film to bring in much-needed revenue after the expensive failures of Pinocchio and Fantasia. Final negative cost of Dumbo was $813,000 (making it the least expensive of all Disney's animated features), and it grossed over $2.5 million in its original release (more than Pinocchio's and Fantasia's original grosses combined).
During production there was a long and bitter animators strike, in which half of the studio's staff walked out. Some of the strikers are caricatured as the clowns who go to "hit the big boss for a raise".
The only Disney animated feature film that has a title character who doesn't speak.
The shadow that Timothy Mouse casts on the ringmaster shortly before he turns himself into a ghost was inspired by Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens.
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