And With the Wolf At the Door

Peter and the Wolf
Walt Disney Productions retells Sergei Prokofiev's fairy tale
Random House, 1974

The story is a bit like The Penguin That Hated the Cold in that it was a film first. Walt Disney produced an animated version of the work in 1946, with Sterling Holloway providing the voice of the narrator. It was released theatrically as a segment in Make Mine Music, then re-issued the following year accompanying a re-issue of Fantasia (as a short subject before the film), then separately on home video in the 1990s.

I love the names of the characters: Peter, Sasha, Ivan, and Sonia. I was planning to feature this book soon, but for some reason it seemed appropriate today. In this story a young boy disregards the advice of his grandfather and with the help of some friends manages to catch a dangerous wolf with only a toy gun and his wits. It's a dangerous game and some might say it's a foolish one that almost cost Peter his friend. Still, it is also a story of a boy who is underestimated,and the odds were not in his favor and yet he never wavers and in the end he comes out on top.

On this inauguration day, we say hello to a new President and somehow, despite the dire forecast, the disastrous state of our nation, I have hope. I am counting on him and those in this new administration to be like Peter and to boldly venture out, to use innovation and intellect, and even a bit of bravado to get the job done. I am hoping we can banish those wolves in our midst.

How Pablo, The Penguin Who Hated the Cold, Warmed a Heart

Walt Disney Studios, illustrator, Simon & Schuster, 1946

Meet Pablo the Penguin. An Antarctic penguin, living in an Eskimo-style igloo from the other end of the world, whose major motivation was to find warmth. This little book is the result of a little film made by Walt Disney in the 40s.

The telling of Pablo's story took place in The Three Caballeros, released Feb. 3, 1945. Like most Disney features of the 1940s, this wasn't a true feature, but consisted of several unrelated segments, of which Pablo starred in one.

Unlike other such features, however, this one had a tenuous plot thread tying it together, in which the caballeros of the title (Donald Duck, José Carioca and Panchito Pistoles) had an adventure together and unrelated tales, without which the story wouldn't have been nearly long enough to stand as a feature, got told as they did so. One of them introduced Donald to a recurring pestiferous antagonist, The Aracuan bird. Another was about an Argentine boy and his winged burro. Pablo's, inserted as a movie Donald watched, was titled The Cold-Blooded Penguin.

Rather than being acted out the regular way, this segment used only voice-over narration to accompany the animation. Thus, Pablo didn't speak, so nobody did his voice. The narrator was character actor none other than, Sterling Holloway.

The character of Chilly Willy, more or less a clone of Pablo, was later created by Walter Lantz of Woody Woodpecker fame.

Info taken and somewhat modified from Toonopedia.
Read the full article here.

The Little Golden Book version of this story was written by Robert Edmunds. It had alternating black and white and color pictures and much more text than the version I grew up knowing. I had a copy of The Penguin That Hated the Cold which was a board book produced in the 1970s as part of the Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Reading series.

All of this matters, at least a little, because about a week ago in our staff lounge Deb, our art teacher, was part of a discussion on beloved children's books and she mentioned a story about a penguin who wanted to be warm. She thought his name was Pablo. And instantly I knew. She told a story about how her sisters fought over the book and her middle sister won. Yes, even at 60, these books matter!

On the way back to class, another colleague suggested we try to find the book and so this celebration of Pablo began. I immediately ordered a copy of the book I had as a child but then we figured out that she probably had the Little Golden Book since that was the series we were discussing when she had her Pablo moment. So, to be safe, we ordered both. The look on her face when we presented her with her choice of books yesterday was priceless.


The Penguin That Hated the Cold,
adapted by Barbara Brenner,
Random House, 1973

This video cuts off the intro, but the other one can't be embedded. If you'd like to see the bits with Donald Duck at the very beginning click here.

An Unforgettable Voice, Unforgettable Verse

Walt Disney Productions, 1964

Why not make this a Mother Goose day? I love the rhymes. It blows my mind to discover there is an entire generation of children who don't know them. Which leads me to wonder how did I learn them? Was it from the books? From this record? Did we read them or recite them in school? Was it my mother's influence? I have no idea. I just know that I am very familiar with Little Bobby Shaftoe, Wee Willie Winkie, and Georgie Porgie.


On this record, my favorite verse is the Misty Moisty Morning one.

The very best part of this recording, though, is Sterling Holloway (1905-1992). You might remember him for his Puppy Chow commercials or as the voice of Winnie the Pooh. But he is soooo much more than that. He was named a Disney legend in 1991. He has a Hollywood street named for him. He is the voice of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, Kaa in The Jungle Book, Mr. Stork in Dumbo, and the narrator in Peter and the Wolf. Those are only a few of his voice gigs and those are just the ones for Disney. He also acted. Ironically, his first film was a silent one, in 1927.