July 27, 1956 – The Special Short Film In the Bag Premieres in Theaters
“First you stick a rag, put it in the bag, bump bump, then you bend your back, put it in the sack, bump bump.”
On July 27, 1956, the special short film In the Bag was released to theaters. This short was the second of what was to be a potential series for the character Humphrey the Bear, but the series was canceled when the Disney Studios stopped making short films. Humphrey was introduced in the 1950 Goofy short Hold That Pose; he then was an antagonist for Donald Duck in several shorts. In the two shorts released, Humphrey’s foil was a good-natured park ranger named J. Audubon Woodlore. The short, filmed in Cinemascope, was directed by Jack Hannah, with the story by Dave Detiege and Al Bertino. Humphrey was voiced by James MacDonald and Ranger Woodlore by Bill Thompson. Smokey the Bear also makes a cameo in this short.
The guests are leaving the campgrounds, and Ranger Woodlore steps out of the ranger station, perturbed at the mess the guests have left behind. He begins to clean, when he realizes he has all the help he needs. He calls over Humphrey, who gathers all the other bears when Woodlore offers a surprise. He tells them that they’re going to play a game, and the bears are all excited. Woodlore sets up the playing field, and has Humphrey hand out the equipment to pick up the trash.
The bears seem to enjoy their “game,” dancing to the little ditty that Ranger Woodlore invented
Ranger Woodlore begins to sing a song to inspire the bears, and they pick up trash with vigor, until they notice they’ve just been doing the ranger’s chores. They angrily dump out the trash and storm away. Woodlore has an idea to get them back – he makes his special batch of chicken cacciatore, but tells them “He who does not clean up his section of the park does not get any supper.” The bears race to put all the pieces of trash in Humphrey’s section, leaving him as the dupe. He races to clean, but his bag snags on a branch and rips open, sending trash flying everywhere.
Humphrey is sent once again to clean, but is struck by misfortune at every turn. He finds an unused match in the trash, and sets to light the pile of trash on fire, when Smokey the Bear steps on it and warns the audience that only they can prevent forest fires. Desperate, Humphrey sees a hole in the ground, shoves the trash in there, then triumphantly skips to get his supper. Just as he’s about to reach for the plate, the “hole” starts to shake, and a sign reveals that it’s actually the geyser Old Fateful. It erupts, sending trash flying all over the park. Ranger Woodlore apologizes, but reminds him that rules are rules, and Humphrey once again dances as he picks up trash around the park.
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