March 3, 1950 – The Special Cartoon, The Brave Engineer, is Released to Theaters
“Ah, ‘tis morning, and all the trains in the railroad yard are fast asleep. All except Casey’s. His engine is slow asleep.”
On March 3, 1950, The Brave Engineer, a special short subject cartoon, was released to theaters. Based on the “Ballad of Casey Jones,” by T. Lawrence Seibert and Eddie Newton, the short tells the story of engineer Casey Jones, who will stop at nothing to deliver the mail on time. The ballad was based on a real-life engineer, John Luther “Casey” Jones, who died stopping a train and saving many lives in the process. The story was adapted by Dick Kinney and Dick Shaw, with the musical score by Ken Darby, and stars the vocal talents of Jerry Colonna (also known for playing the March Hare in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland) and The King’s Men singers.
Casey checks his watch for the time, only to realize he's already late
The sun rises over the railroad yard, and the camera zooms in on Casey Jones’ engine, as Casey slowly wakes up, and is alarmed by the time shown on his stopwatch. Once signaling he’s ready, Casey takes off like a shot, with the track switches moving as rapidly as possible to match Casey’s speed. Casey’s many close calls cause his poor brakeman to collapse in exhaustion and nerves.
Casey first problem on his route to deliver the mail is a flood that has been building up for five or six weeks. Considerably slowed by the rain, Casey climbs on the roof of the train and paddles with a shovel, but despite his efforts, the western mail is “exactly eight hours late.” When the train emerges from the flood, it is covered by the roof of a house, with an attached laundry line, but it quickly rids itself of the burden and the excess water, and immediately speeds ahead to its next destination.
Close call for the cow
Unfortunately, it is not smooth sailing for Casey, as there is a cow standing in the middle of the tracks. Casey brakes hard, and the train stops just inches from the cow. Casey screams at the cow to move, pulling out his stopwatch and proclaiming that he’s late. Offended by Casey calling her “old cow” and “bossy,” the cow saunters off as slowly as she possibly can. Casey barely waits for her to clear the tracks before he speeds past her, leaving the cow clutching a telephone pole for dear life.
Casey is feverishly shoveling coal into the engine when his next problem arises: a bandit has just tied a helpless maiden onto the tracks. Casey climbs out to the front of the engine and scoops up the girl, with the bandit cursing him. Casey continues to up his speed, although he realizes, as he travels around a mountain track, he’s going too fast. As he travels through a tunnel, the audience sees another bandit getting ready to blow up the train tracks. The dynamite explodes just as Casey travels over the bridge, but Casey’s engine doesn’t give up, and just climbs up the steep sides of the mountain.
A gang of bandits, lurking in the shadows, watching Casey's train
As the train speeds through a tunnel, a gang of bandits lurk in the shadows, ready to jump the train and rob it. Still shoveling coal, Casey doesn’t notice that the robbers are now in the engine, guns drawn, until one is nearly shoveled into the furnace. Angered by this new interruption, Casey attacks the gang with his shovel. He continues to battle the bandits almost nonchalantly as he keeps on shoveling more coal into the engine. He successfully beats the gang, but he’s alarmed to see how late he is when he looks at his watch.
Desperate to make it on time, Casey shovels the coal into the furnace crazily, causing the engine to overheat. After running out of coal, Casey throws anything he can into the furnace, still overheating until gears and gauges explode. The train begins to fall apart, with Casey trying to hold it all together, and the tracks melt. While otherwise occupied, the brave engineer doesn’t notice another train coming toward him on the same track. Casey’s train is heading toward it like a bullet, and the conductor of Casey’s train runs to warn Casey, but Casey can’t hear him, and the trains collide in a cloud of black smoke.
Casey makes it through his sheer determination...and a lot of luck
The mailman waiting at the station thinks Casey is not going to make the stop today, when all of a sudden, the last remaining pieces of Casey’s train appear, with Casey holding the mail. According to Casey’s watch, Casey made it “On Time…Almost.”
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