Fun and Fancy Free

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Fun and Fancy Free
Directed by	Jack Kinney (animation) Bill Roberts (animation) Hamilton Luske (animation) William Morgan (live-action)
Produced by	Walt Disney
Written by	Homer Brightman Eldon Dedini Lance Nolley Tom Oreb Harry Reeves Ted Sears Sinclair Lewis (original author of "Bongo")
Starring	Cliff Edwards Edgar Bergen Luana Patten Walt Disney Clarence Nash Pinto Colvig Billy Gilbert Anita Gordon Dinah Shore
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Release date(s)	September 27, 1947
Running time	73 min.
Language	English

Fun and Fancy Free (first released on September 27, 1947) is a feature film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. It was one of the "package films" (feature-length compilations of shorter segments) that the studio produced in the 1940s. It is the ninth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, and it's the fourth package film by Disney.

Plot

This film features two segments:

• Bongo: The story of a circus bear cub, who runs away from the circus to the wild and the adventures there that follow. This was based on an original story by Sinclair Lewis.
• Mickey and the Beanstalk: An adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as peasants who discover temperamental Willie the Giant's castle in the sky through the use of some magic beans.

Jiminy Cricket of Pinocchio first appears inside a large house, exploring it and singing "I'm a Happy-Go-Lucky Fellow" (originally written for the 1940 classic), until he happens upon a record player and some records, and sets it up to play the story of "Bongo", as told by Dinah Shore (however, in the re-release of Bongo, Cliff Edwards narrates the story).

In the second featurette, the story of "Mickey and the Beanstalk" is narrated by Edgar Bergen in live-action sequences, who, with the help of his ventriloquist's puppets Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, tells the tale to child actress Luana Patten at her birthday party.

Mickey, Donald and Goofy live in a place called "Happy Valley" which is plagued by a severe drought, and they have nothing to eat except one loaf of bread; in a memorable scene the bread is cut into paper-thin slices. After Donald attempts to kill their cow with an axe, Mickey trades in their beloved animal for magic beans. Donald throws the beans in a fit of rage, and they fall through a hole in the floor. That night, the beanstalk sprouts and it carries their house upward as it grows. Climbing the gigantic beanstalk they enter a magical kingdom of equal scope, and entering the castle, Mickey, Donald and Goofy help themselves to a sumptuous feast. This rouses the ire of Willie the Giant, who captures Donald and Goofy and locks them in a box. It's up to Mickey to find the key and rescue them, with the help of a singing golden harp. The harp, in happier times, played a song that kept the land prosperous and fertile – until the giant stole her. Once freed, the hapless heroes return the golden harp to her rightful place and Happy Valley to its former glory.

Voice cast

• Edgar Bergen - Himself, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd.
• Luana Patten - Herself
• Cliff Edwards - Jiminy Cricket
• Walt Disney / Jim MacDonald - Mickey Mouse
• Clarence Nash - Donald Duck
• Pinto Colvig - Goofy
• Billy Gilbert - Willie the Giant
• Anita Gordon - Singing Harp
• Dinah Shore - Singer/Narrator of Bongo

Directing animators

• Ward Kimball (Jiminy Cricket, Donald Duck)
• Les Clark (Singing Harp, Lulubelle)
• John Lounsbery (Willie the Giant)
• Fred Moore (Mickey)
• Wolfgang Reitherman (Goofy)

Worldwide release dates

• September 27, 1947 USA, Canada
• October 17, 1947 Brazil
• December 25, 1947 Argentina
• January 22, 1948 U.K.
• May 27, 1948 Australia
• December 16, 1948 Mexico
• May 14, 1949 Denmark
• March 29, 1950 France
• May 15, 1950 Sweden
• June 14, 1951 Hong Kong
• February 22, 1952 Italy
• December 19, 1952 Finland
• May 22, 1953 Austria
• August 9, 1954 Japan

TV broadcast and home video release

Although they were not made into individual full-length features, they did air as individual episodes on Walt Disney's anthology TV series in the 1950s and 60s. "Mickey and the Beanstalk" in particular aired on a 1963 episode with new introductory segments, and Ludwig Von Drake's narration replacing Edgar Bergen (and the sassy comments of his ventriloquist dummy, Charlie McCarthy). Another version of "Beanstalk" replaced Bergen with narration by Sterling Holloway, which was used as a stand-alone short in such venues as the 1980s TV show, Good Morning, Mickey!. They were also released on VHS cassettes, individually as well as together, and in 2000, Fun and Fancy Free was released on VHS and DVD. In 2004, "Mickey and the Beanstalk" was released on the Walt Disney Treasures line as a bonus feature for "Mickey Mouse In Living Color, Volume Two".

The video release of Mickey and the Beanstalk was edited in many parts:

The dragonfly scene was shortened to the fish eating it. The reason is not known, but probably due to WWII references.

The clip of Goofy diving into the Gelatin, trying to retrieve his hat was shortened to him diving into the walnut bowl.

This short was one of the many featured in Donald Duck's 50th Birthday.

Trivia

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• In a deleted scene, it was revealed that Gideon and Foulfellow from Pinocchio were the ones who swindled Mickey. Another version has Mickey stumbling into the nearly abandoned castle, where Princess Minnie sits. She thinks the cow is a gift and, in turn, gives Mickey the magic beans, the last of the royal heirlooms.

• The Bongo segment was originally planned to be a full-length prequel movie to Dumbo, featuring reused backgrounds and the original characters. But WWII held back the production.

• Billy Gilbert, who played Sneezy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, played Willie the Giant; it is easy to notice this due to them having similar sneezes.

• The the two story segments feature reused animation from Pinocchio, Dumbo, Fantasia, Bambi, and various Silly Symphony shorts.

• In the '"Bongo" sequence two chipmunks that are laughing at Bongo are similar to Chip and Dale.

• "Gesundheit, heh-heh.", the line from The Brave Little Tailor, was recorded when Mickey sneezed in Willie the Giant's sandwich.

• This was the last time Walt Disney played Mickey Mouse due to his belief that he was too busy to continue doing it (not to mention his smoking habit weakened his vocal cords) and Jimmy MacDonald had to do some of the last remaining voicework.

• The '"Bongo" sequence features an instance of the "Goofy holler".

See also

• List of animated feature films
• List of package films

External links

• Disney.com
• Fun & Fancy Free at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Fun and Fancy Free at the Internet Movie Database