November 14, 1936 – The Silly Symphony Mother Pluto is Released to Theaters
On November 14, 1936, the Silly Symphony Mother Pluto was released to theaters. It is the only short film in Pluto’s filmography that is listed under the Silly Symphonies banner. The short was directed by Wilfred Jackson.
A butterfly is flying around the farm, and one chicken abandons her eggs to chase after it. Pluto returns to his doghouse through a hole in the fence, not realizing that the chicken had been roosting in his doghouse, and is shocked when the chicks start to hatch. Thinking Pluto is their mother, they follow him, even when he jumps over the fence. They manage to leave him to chase after a cricket, though they end up following him again after a cricket mishap. One of the chicks starts to cry after being beaten about by the cricket, and Pluto suddenly feels the urge to comfort it. Seeing him be motherly, Pluto gives in to his instinct and adopts the entire group of chicks. Pluto digs out a caterpillar for their food, but when it tries to torment the chicks, Pluto scares it away. The chicken returns to her nest to find broken shells, and is shocked to find her chicks have disappeared. She spots them with Pluto, and demands them back from the dog, but Pluto refuses to let them go. She calls for the rooster to get her chicks back, and Pluto and the rooster start fighting. The chicks flee back into the doghouse during the fight, and when Pluto makes it back to the doghouse, he starts mourning the chicks, thinking he’s lost them. He is then happy to discover the chicks waiting for him and leaping into his open paws.