Fun and Fancy Free (1947)

I got Fun and Fancy Free out from netflix in order to show the kids, but they rebelled and refused to even consider watching it: they would rather see YouTube videos of stop-motion Lego Star Wars projects.  I watched it after they went to bed; they were proven right in their choice.  I had fond memories of "Mickey and the Beanstalk", but had never seen the entire Fun and Fancy Free offering.  It begins with Jiminy Cricket singing and telling us not to think ahead and worry about the future, poking fun at eggheads who think too much (the anti-intellectual movement in the U.S. has always been alive and well!).  Then he introduces us to a short called "Bongo", which I had never heard of... and this should have remained locked in the vaults**.  Fast-forward, fast-forward, to the next host segment, featuring Jiminy party crashing Edgar Bergen's telling of "Mickey and the Beanstalk".  My recollection is that when Disney used to show this segment on TV, outside the context of Fun and Fancy Free, that Edgar Bergen's narration was cut.  I definitely don't remember Charlie McCarthy's remarks.  This was still fun to watch, but not as good as I remember it being -- or maybe I'm conflating it somewhat with "The Brave Little Tailor".

** The plot is essentially, "Bear escapes from circus, falls in love, and learns he needs to slap his woman around in order to achieve happiness,"*** thus pre-dating I Love Lucy in this regard by 4 years.  Reading the production description reveals some interesting ideas that make it clearer why this project was greenlighted, and also why it ultimately fails.  In the end, it either needed the longer treatment or needed to be cut further.

*** I kid you not.  At least she also slaps him around; it's a bear cultural thing!  Some humor just doesn't hold up over time.  In one of the host segments, Jiminy downs an entire cocktail.  Binge drinking is fun, kids!