Fun and Fancy Free facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fun and Fancy Free
Original theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jack Kinney (animation) Bill Roberts (animation) Hamilton Luske (animation) William Morgan (live-action)
Produced by	Walt Disney
Story by	Homer Brightman Eldon Dedini Lance Nolley Tom Oreb Harry Reeves Ted Sears
Narrated by	Dinah Shore (Bongo) Edgar Bergen (Mickey and the Beanstalk)
Starring	Cliff Edwards Edgar Bergen Luana Patten Walt Disney Clarence Nash Pinto Colvig Ruth Clifford Billy Gilbert Anita Gordon
Music by	Oliver Wallace Paul Smith Eliot Daniel Charles Wolcott
Editing by	Jack Bachom
Studio	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s)	September 27, 1947 (1947-09-27)
Running time	73 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Money made	$3,165,000 (worldwide rentals)

Fun and Fancy Free is a 1947 American animated musical fantasy package film produced by Walt Disney and released on September 27, 1947 by RKO Radio Pictures. It is the ninth Disney animated feature film and the fourth of the package films the studio produced in the 1940s in order to save money during World War II. The Disney package films of the late 1940s helped finance Cinderella (1950), and subsequent others, such as Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Peter Pan (1953).

The film is a compilation of two stories, the first of which, Bongo, is hosted by Jiminy Cricket and narrated by Dinah Shore. Based on the tale Little Bear Bongo by Sinclair Lewis, Bongo tells the story of a circus bear cub named Bongo who longs for freedom from captivity. Bongo escapes the circus and eventually forms a romantic relationship with a female bear cub named Lulubelle in the wild, realizing that he must prove himself in order to earn Lulubelle as his mate. The second story, Mickey and the Beanstalk, is narrated by Edgar Bergen and is a retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk" featuring Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as three peasants who discover the temperamental Willie the Giant's castle in the sky through the use of some magic beans. They must battle the greedy but lovable giant in order to restore peace to their valley. Though the film is primarily animated, it also uses live-action segments to join its two stories together. Mickey and the Beanstalk was the last time Walt Disney voiced Mickey Mouse, because he was too busy on other projects to continue voicing the character. Disney replaced himself with sound effects artist Jimmy MacDonald.

Plot

Bongo

Jiminy Cricket first appears inside a large plant in a large house, exploring and singing "I'm a Happy-go-Lucky Fellow", until he happens to stumble upon a doll, a teddy bear, and a record player with some records, one of which is Bongo, a musical romance story narrated by actress Dinah Shore. Jiminy decides to set up the record player to play the story of Bongo.

The story follows the adventures of a circus bear named Bongo who longs for freedom in the wild. Bongo is raised in captivity and is praised for his performances, but is poorly treated once he is off stage. As such, while traveling on a circus train, his natural instincts (the call of the wild) urge him to break free. As soon as he escapes and enters a forest, a day passes before his idealistic assessment of his new living situation has been emotionally shattered, and he experiences some hard conditions.

The next morning, however, he meets a female bear named Lulubelle. The two bears immediately fall in love, until Bongo soon faces a romantic rival in the brutish, enormously-shaped bear named Lumpjaw. Bongo fails to interpret Lulubelle slapping him as a sign of affection, and when she accidentally slaps Lumpjaw, he claims her for himself, forcing all other bears into a celebration for the "happy" new couple. Bongo comes to understand the meaning of slapping one another among wild bears and returns to challenge Lumpjaw. He manages to outwit Lumpjaw for much of their fight until the two fall into a river and go over a waterfall. While Lumpjaw is presumably swept away by the river and never seen again, Bongo's hat saves him from falling down, and he finally claims Lulubelle as his mate.

Mickey and the Beanstalk

This segment is narrated by Edgar Bergen in live-action sequences, who, with the help of his ventriloquist dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, tells the tale to child actress Luana Patten at her birthday party, with Jiminy listening in after having read an invitation shortly after the previous story ended.

A jovial countryside land called Happy Valley, kept alive at all times by a singing harp, is suddenly plagued by a severe drought and falls into turmoil and depression after the harp is stolen from the castle by a mysterious assailant (and also nicknamed "Gruesome Gulch"). The residents are driven into poverty and have no choice but to leave in order to avoid death by starvation. Eventually, only three residents are left: Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. The trio have but just one loaf of bread and a single solitary bean to eat. During this time, Mickey has no choice but to cut the bread into paper-thin slices for the three friends to eat. Driven insane by his hunger, Donald goes into a rage, complaining that he cannot stand it anymore. He makes a sandwich out of plates and silverware, but Mickey and Goofy stop him and manage to calm him down. He then sees an axe and attempts to kill their pet cow for beef with an axe, but Mickey and Goofy manage to stop him again. Mickey then decides to sell the cow for money to buy food.

Goofy and Donald are excited about eating again and begin to sing about delicious dishes (to the tune of Funiculi Funicula) until Mickey comes back and reveals that he sold the cow in exchange for a container of beans that are said to be magical. Thinking that Mickey had been tricked, an enraged Donald throws the beans down the floor, and they fall through a hole. However, it turns out that the beans are truly magical after all as later that night, the light of a full moon causes a beanstalk to sprout from under the house and lift it far up into the sky.

The next morning, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy find themselves at the top of the gigantic beanstalk and in a magical kingdom of enormous scope, where they appear to be tiny creatures compared to their surroundings. They eventually make their way to a huge castle, where they help themselves to a sumptuous feast. There, they stumble across the harp locked inside a small box, and she explains that she was kidnapped by a "wicked giant". Immediately after, a giant named Willie emerges from the shadows, grunting angrily while simultaneously breaking into a happy song ("Fe Fi Fo Fum") and bouncing a ball about while demonstrating his powers of flight, invisibility, and shapeshifting.

As Willie prepares to eat lunch, he catches Mickey hiding in his sandwich after Mickey sneezes when Willie pours pepper onto the sandwich. Mickey tries to run away, but Willie catches him. Mickey then plays palm reader and gains the childish giant's trust. Willie offers to show off his powers, and Mickey, spotting a nearby fly-swatter, requests that he change himself into a fly. However, Willie suggests turning into a pink bunny instead, and as he does he sees Mickey, Donald, and Goofy with the fly-swatter. Angry, Willie captures Mickey, Donald, and Goofy and locks them in the harp's chest so as to keep them from pulling any more tricks.

In order to escape, Mickey must find the key and rescue his friends. He does so with the help of the singing golden harp, who begins singing Willie to sleep. Mickey almost alerts Willie to his presence by sneezing after falling into a box of snuff powder in Willie's pocket, but the same powder makes Willie sneeze and he loses sight of Mickey. Mickey frees his friends and they make a break for it with the harp. However, Willie wakes up from his sleep and spots them, giving chase all the way to the beanstalk. Mickey stalls him long enough for Donald and Goofy to reach the bottom as they begin to saw down the beanstalk. Mickey arrives just in time to finish the job of sawing down the beanstalk, and Willie, who was climbing down, falls to his apparent death.

Back at Edgar Bergen's home, he finishes his story, saying that with the return of the harp, Happy Valley returned to prosperity. He then cheers up Mortimer Snerd who was crying about Willie's death, saying that Willie was a nice giant who did not deserve to die. Just as Edgar says that Willie is a fictional character and not real, Willie himself appears, alive and well, tearing the roof off his house. Willie inquires about Mickey's whereabouts, but Edgar faints in shock while Mortimer tells Willie goodnight. The scene closes with Jiminy leaving the house into the night and Willie noticing the Brown Derby restaurant and putting it on like a hat before stomping off to find Mickey, with the HOLLYWOOD lights blinking in the background.

Cast

• Edgar Bergen – himself, Charlie McCarthy, and Mortimer Snerd
• Luana Patten – herself
• Dinah Shore – singer, narrator of Bongo
• Cliff Edwards – Jiminy Cricket
• Walt Disney – Mickey Mouse
• Clarence Nash – Donald Duck
• Pinto Colvig – Goofy
• Ruth Clifford - Minnie Mouse
• Billy Gilbert – Willie the Giant
• Anita Gordon – Singing Harp
• The King's Men – Happy Valley crows

Songs featured in the film

Bongo

Mickey and the Beanstalk

Directing animators

• Ward Kimball (Bongo segment: Bongo Meets Lumpjaw)
• Les Clark (Animation supervision: Bongo)
• John Lounsbery (Willie the Giant)
• Fred Moore (Bongo Meets Lullabelle, Mickey Mouse)
• Wolfgang Reitherman (Goofy, Mickey and Donald, Starvation sequence)
• Art Babbitt (Bongo)

See also

In Spanish: Fun and Fancy Free para niños