Dumbo

Dumbo is a 1941 American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures. The main character is Dumbo, a semi-anthropomorphic elephant who is laughed at by the other circus elephants, but in fact is capable of flying by using his ears as wings. Throughout most of the film, his only true friend aside from his mother, Mrs. Jumbo is the mouse Timothy Q. Mouse, a relationship parodying the stereotypical animosity between mice and elephants.

Directed by Ben Sharpsteen. Written by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer.

The One...The Only...The FABULOUS... taglines

Train

• [whistling]: Well Let’s Get Ready For The Prosecution Strike Calms We Better Call To The President!
• [Puffing up the hill] DVDs Can Be Ordered Individually Or As A Part Of A Pack There Is A Preschool Prep Pack That Is Right For Everyone!

Squeak

• [To the elephants, while scaring them] Oh Well That’s Not So Bad What’s On The Menu I Love Food Are There Friends Around Do I Look Happy?!
• [To Jumbo] Well, that's more like it! Y'know, your mother ain't crazy; she's just broken-hearted. Ain't nobody's fault you got them big ears… oops, I stepped in the mud that time. Aw, gee, Jumbo! I think your ears're beautiful! Sure! 's a matter of fact, I think they're decorative! Y'know, lots of people'd think your ears're famous! All we gotta do is build an act! Make y' a star! A headliner! Jumbo the Great! [Beat] The Great What? [Beat] Y'know, Jumbo, we gotta think of an idea. Not just any idea; something colossal!
• Why You Stupid!
• [As Jumbo falls off the platform, losing the feather on the way] Jumbo! C'mon, fly! Open them ears! The magic feather was just a gag! You can fly! Honest, you can! Hurry, open them up! PLEASE! [At the last moment, Jumbo opens his ears and soars over the crowd] WHEE! We did it! We did it! Let's show them, Jumbo! Power dive!

Other

• Narrator: As Maleficents Powers Proclaim The Forbidden Mountain With Her Rath & Frustration Her Evil Prophecy Had Not Yet Been Foolfilled!

• Lion: [yawning] Good Night Dear...

Dialogue

Ringmaster: [in a tent, talking to Joe the janitor] Have I got an idea! What an idea!

Timothy: [to Dumbo, amused] Huh! He never had an idea in his life.

Ringmaster: Just visualize: one elephant climbs up on top of another elephant, until finally, all seventeen elephants have constructed an enormous pyramid of pachyderms! I step out! I blow the whistle! The trumpets are trumpeting!

Timothy: [smiling eagerly] Yeah!

Ringmaster: AND NOW COMES THE CLIMAX...!

Joe: [after a short silence] Yeah? What is the climax?

Ringmaster: [chuckles and shrugs] I don't know.

Timothy: I knew he never had nothin'.

Ringmaster: [getting into bed] Well, maybe it comes to me in a vision while I dream. Good night, Joe.

Joe: Good night, boss.

---

Ringmaster: Ladies and gentlemen, we will now present for your entertainment, the most stupendous, magnificent, super-colossal spectacle! On this tiny, little, insignificant ball, we will construct for you: a pyramid! Not of wood, not of stone...

Catty: To hear him talk, you'd think he was going to do it.

Elephant Matriarch: The stuffed shirt!

Ringmaster: ...a pyramid of ponderous, pulsating, PULCHRITUDINOUS PACHYDERMS! [his shirtfront rolls up, and he pushes it back down] I give you: the elephants.

---

Ringmaster: [After the elephant pyramid has been built] Ladies and gentlemen, you have now seen the impossible accomplished in front of your faces. Seven jungle giants, each one weighing...

Matriarch: [straining under all the other elephants] That windbag! Why doesn't he come to the point?!

Ringmaster: And now, I present the world's smallest little elephant, who will spring, from this springboard, to the top of the pyramid, in a grand climax! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Dumbo!

---

[after the pyramid collapses]

Matriarch: Oh, I never thought I'd live to see the big top fall.

Prissy: Because of that Dumbo, I never can show my face there again.

Giddy: Oh, look at my beautiful tail!

Matriarch: I just like to spank the daylights out of him, I... [raises her trunk from her cast, but the pain stops her, and she groans as she lowers her trunk back into the cast]

Catty: Oh, that won't be necessary, dearie. They fixed him good.

Matriarch: What do you mean?

Prissy: What did they do?

Giddy: Did they beat him?

Prissy: What is it, Darling?

Giddy: Tell us!

Matriarch: Come, come, I demand to know!

Catty: Oh, well... they've gone and made him... oh, dear, I just can't say it--

Matriarch: Out with it!

Catty: Made him a clown.

Giddy: A clown?

Prissy: No!

Catty: Yes!

Matriarch: Oh, the shame of it. Let us take the solemn vow. [all the elephants raise their trunks] From now on, he is no longer an elephant.

[they touch trunks together]

---

[The five crows find Dumbo and Timothy asleep in a tree]

Specks Crow: Well, looky here! Looky here!

Deacon Crow: My, my! Why, this is the most irregular sight I've ever seen!

Dopey: [rubbing his eyes] Well, I just can't believe my eyes!

Specks: They ain't dead, is they?

Fats: [smirks] No. Dead people don't snore... [looks unsure] Or do they?

[The crows quietly confer with each other; enter Dandy Crow, their leader]

Dandy: What's all the ruckus? C'mon! Step aside, brother! Mmm...What's cookin' 'round here? What's the good news? What's fryin', boys?

Specks: Just look down there, brother!

Fats: And prepare yourself for a shock!

Dandy: [looks down and sees Dumbo and Timothy] OHO! Well, hush my beak!

Dopey: Go ahead. Wake 'em up, brother.

Specks: Yeah, find out what they're doin' up here.

Deacon: Yeah.

Fats: And ask 'em what they want.

Dandy: Okay, boys. Leave it to me.

---

Timothy: [groaning] Oh, those pink elephants...

Dandy: Ah! Pink elephants! Mmmm-mm! [the crows laugh]

Timothy: What's so funny? What are you birds doin' down here, anyway?

Dandy: What are we doin' DOWN here?! Well, hear him talk! [the crows laugh again]

Timothy: Fly up a tree where you belong. [the crows laugh again]

Dandy: Say, look here, Brother Rat!

Timothy: [springs up in fury] BROTHER RAT?! Now listen! I ain't your brother and I ain't no rat! See?!

Dandy: Uh-huh. And I suppose you and no elephant ain't up in no tree, either! [the crows laugh again]

Timothy: [angrily] No! No, me in no tree and I'm no... Huh? Tree? [does double-take and panics] Dumbo! Dumbo, wake up! Wake up, Dumbo! Don't look now, but I think we're up in a tree! [they fall. The crows laugh].

---

Timothy: I wonder how we ever got up in that tree, anyway. Now, let's see...Elephants can't climb trees, can they? Nah, nah, that's ridiculous. Couldn't jump up? Mm-mm; it's too high.

Dandy: Hey there, son! Maybe y'all flew up?

Timothy: Maybe we flew up. Yeah, maybe we- [excited] That's it! Dumbo! You flew! Boy, am I stupid. Why didn't I think of this before?! Your ears! Just look at 'em, Dumbo- why, they're perfect wings! The very things that held ya down are gonna carry ya UP and UP and UP! I can see it all now! DUMBO! THE 9TH WONDER OF THE UNIVERSE! THE WORLD'S ONLY FLYING ELEPHANT!

[The crows laugh]

Specks: Did you ever see an elephant fly?

Deacon: Well, I've seen a horse-fly...

Fats: Ah, I've seen a dragonfly...

Dopey: [giggling] I've seen a housefly!

Dandy: I've seen all that, too! [singing] I seen a peanut stand, and heard a rubber band! I seen a needle that winked its eye! But I be done seen about everything when I see a elephant fly!

---

Timothy: [After the crows sing "When I See an Elephant Fly"] Alright, you wise birds! This has gone far enough!

[The crows are still laughing]

Dandy: Quiet, gentleman! The Reverend Rodent is gonna ad-dress you.

Timothy: You ought ta be ashamed of yourselves! A bunch of big guys like you, picking on a poor little orphan like him. Suppose you was torn away from your mother, when you was just a baby? Nobody to tuck you in at nights. No warm, soft, caressing trunk to snuzzle into. How would you like to be left out alone, in a cold, cruel, heartless world? And why, I ask ya? Why?!? Just because he's got those big ears, they call him a freak! The laughingstock of the circus! And when his mother tried to protect him, they throw her into the clink! And on top of that, they made him a clown! Socially, he's washed up! Oh, but what's the use of talking to you cold-hearted birds? Go ahead! Have your fun! Laugh at him! Kick him now that he's down! GO ON! We don't care. [He turns away and blows his nose. The crows cry] Come on, Dumbo. [they walk away]

Dandy: Hey, brother! Wait up! Don't go 'way feelin' like that. We've done seen the light. You boys is okay.

Timothy: Please. You've done enough.

Dandy: But we's all fixing to help you. Ain't that the truth, boys? [The other crows agree] You wanna make the elephant fly, don't you? Well, you have to use a lot of 'chology. You know, psy-chology. Fellas, gather round... [They huddle up] First you, uh... [Whispering] Then after that, you... [He plucks a feather off Specks’ tail, and gives it to Timothy] Use the magic feather! Catch on?

Timothy: The magic feather? [looks at the feather, which briefly glows] Yeah, I gotcha. Dumbo! [rushes to Dumbo, giving him the feather] Look! Have I got it! The magic feather! Now you can fly! [Dumbo looks at the feather, puzzled]

Taglines

• Walt Disney's Latest...Most Lovable...Funable Characters!
• The One...The Only...The FABULOUS...

Cast

• Dumbo is the mute title character
• Edward Brophy - Timothy Q. Mouse
• Sebastian Cabot - Timothy Q. Mouse
• Corey Burton - Timothy Q. Mouse
• Margaret Wright - Casey Junior
• Sterling Holloway - Mr. Stork
• Cliff Edwards - Jim / Dandy Crow
• Verna Felton - Elephant Matriarch / Mrs. Jumbo
• James Baskett - Fats Crow
• Nick Stewart - Specks Crow
• Hall Johnson Choir - Crows
• John McLeish - Narrator

External links

• Dumbo quotes at the Internet Movie Database

Feature films	Dumbo  (1941) · Dumbo  (2019)