Disney

Here’s Kevin Shortsleeve to celebrate the birthday of a great, early animator: Rudolf Ising.

When was the last morning you heard a Saturday morning cartoon open with background music from Leo Delibes’s opera Lakme?

That’s the voice of Sterling Holloway (who later would play Winnie-the-Pooh) here as the stork who’s delivering a big bundle of joy to Mrs. Jumbo on the circus train. Today’s the birthday of Walt Disney’s “Dumbo” which had its premier in 1941.

The Mickey Mouse Club marched into the consciousness of American children on October 3rd, 1955, when it first appeared on  national television, and millions of middle schoolers, myself included, tuned in.

The multiplexes are already filled up with this year’s family films for the holidays, and Elaine Needelman has some suggestions that just might save you some time in line.