Tag Archives: 1940s

July 27, 1945 – The Pluto Short Film Canine Casanova is Released to Theaters

“Hey you…!”

On July 27, 1945, the Pluto short film Canine Casanova was released to theaters. It was directed by Charles Nichols, with story by Harry Reeves, Jesse Marsh, and Rex Cox.

Pluto is skipping through the park, when he passes by a beautiful dachshund. Immediately smitten, he turns around and follows her, making a fool of himself as he does so. She rebuffs his attention every time, leaving him more determined than ever. He finds a large bone buried in the ground, and uses it to steal a kiss from her, which only makes her angry. She stops to admire her reflection in a window, and finds Pluto has followed her once again, nearly getting the two in trouble when he breaks the window. Pluto slinks away sadly as she tells him off, and as she walks away, she is snatched up by the dog catcher. She calls out for Pluto’s help as she is driven away.

Pluto sneaks into the dog pound to rescue the cute dachshund

Pluto tracks her scent to the dog pound, and quietly peers in, seeing the poor dachshund being courted by scoundrels. He rushes to her rescue, narrowly missing the sleeping guard and his shotgun. He crawls around the back to open her pen, and she is surprised to see Pluto as her rescuer. As the two look for a way out, they realize the only opening is past the sleeping guard and his shotgun. Pluto quickly formulates a plan, and the two almost make it out, except that the guard’s foot drops right as the dachshund is about to crawl underneath his legs. Pluto manages to keep his leg propped up long enough for her to escape, but accidentally hits the butt of the shotgun, slamming it to the ground and setting it off. The two race away as the guard quickly pursues them in his truck. Pluto accidentally sends three barrels of nails flying down the path, which stops the truck in its tracks. The dachshund returns home, giving Pluto a kiss before she does. Pluto follows her, only to find that she has a litter of puppies waiting for her return.

July 3, 1942 – The Pluto Short Film The Sleepwalker is Released to Theaters

On July 3, 1942, the Pluto short film The Sleepwalker was released to theaters. It was directed by Clyde Geronimi.

Pluto is sleeping in his doghouse, with a large bone sitting in his food bowl. From a hole in the fence nearby, a female dachshund observes the bone, drooling. She wanders in and tries to take it from the sleeping Pluto, and as he wakes, he growls and chases after the hungry female. He returns home after chasing her away, and she begins to cry. Once again, Pluto falls asleep, but begins to sleepwalk, taking the bone over to the dachshund. She is surprised to see him, but happy to receive the bone. Later, when Pluto wakes up (with no recollection of giving away his bone), he finds it missing, and angrily goes to retrieve it, breaking her food bowl in the process.

Pluto has several angry confrontations with the dachshund, unaware that he is the one giving her the bone

As he walks away, he falls asleep and sleepwalks back to her, dropping off the bone again. She happily begins to dig a hole for the bone, but when Pluto wakes up again, she quickly digs it back out and hands it back. In a fit of rage, Pluto destroys her doghouse, and in the destruction, finds that the hungry dachshund has a litter. The puppies play with Pluto, and he realizes with guilt what he has done, particularly when it starts to rain. He offers them his doghouse and his collection of bones, which they accept happily. The dachshund gives Pluto a large kiss for his kindness, and he curls up under some newspapers to keep dry, happy about his good deed.

June 23, 1944 – The Pluto Short Film Springtime for Pluto is Released to Theaters

“Spring! Spring! Sweet, scented spring! Loveliest time of year!”

On June 23, 1944, the Pluto short film Springtime for Pluto was released to theaters. This was the first short directed by Charles Nichols, who would go on to have a long history of directing at the Disney Studios, including many of the Pluto shorts. Pluto’s allergy to goldenrod is seen here, which was used as a major plot point in the 1948 short film Bone Bandit (see April 30^th entry for more details). The story for this short was written by Nick George and Eric Gurney.

The Spirit of Spring, appearing in the guise of a faun, skips through the winter surroundings, changing them into spring as he plays his panflute. He tries to wake Pluto, who follows the spirit in a dreamlike state, before realizing that spring is indeed there, and decides to explore the area. He watches as all signs of spring appear, including bluebirds and lambs, and hears the caterpillar sing a song about spring. The caterpillar then uses Pluto’s tail as a perch for his cocoon, and when she emerges as a beautiful butterfly, Pluto blushes at how beautiful she is. Unfortunately, as he tries to imitate her dancing, he disturbs a bee hive, and the entire swarm of bees chase after him, only stopping after Pluto dives into a patch of poison ivy to escape them.

Just as things couldn’t get worse for Pluto, it begins to rain heavily

When Pluto realizes what he’s jumped into, he starts writhing around as he starts to itch, sneezing when he ends up in a patch of goldenrod. It then begins to rain, and as Pluto tries to find shelter, he continues to sneeze so violently that he is thrown back several paces. It then begins to hail just as Pluto makes his way back to his doghouse. Pluto and his house have been ravaged by the time the storm ends, and as the Spirit skips by, Pluto stalks out of the broken shack, chasing after the fleeing Spirit.