A few months ago.
[5:00 am, phone ringing off the hook]
FTG: [Wakes up, groggily answers ringing phone] Hello.
Chirpy PR Person: Hello!
Am I talking to Adam Hoffman, the administrator of Fairy Tale Fandom Dot
Com, also known as the self-professed Fairy Tale Geek?
FTG: Yeah, that would be me.
I was trying to sleep. Why are
you calling me so early?
Chirpy PR Person: Oh, I’m sorry to wake you. I didn’t think of what time it is over
there. Well, I’m a public relations
agent representing a major Hollywood studio and boy do I have an offer for you.
FTG: Look, I don’t really think . . . Wait a minute. Hollywood?
[Does some quick math] It’s 5 am
here. If you’re in California, it should
be 2 am there.
Chirpy PR Person: That late already? I prefer to get an early start to my
day. The early bird gets the worm and
all that. But anyway, let’s talk Dumbo!
FTG: Wait, I know who you are! You’re that PR lady who called Gypsy about
the Tim Burton Dumbo movie!
Chirpy PR Person:
That’s right, and I am here to get you involved in promoting Disney and
Tim Burton’s next big blockbuster film.
I know you’re not as picky as some people about the whole fairy tale
thing. So, a little PR from a blog like
yours could be the cherry on top for this campaign. I’ve been authorized by my agency and the
studio to offer you the use of promotional images, press releases, quotes from
the cast and the director and all sorts of other things. So, what do you have planned for our big new
movie and its big little star?
FTG: Nothing.
Chirpy PR Person: Nothing?
What do you mean, nothing? I’ve
read your blog. You’ve done all sorts of
stuff to tie into Disney movies before.
And it’s clear you’re not so hung up on what’s technically a fairy tale.
FTG: Not all of them.
And you are right. I also do
stuff based on classic children’s books and legends, however . . .
Chirpy PR Person: [Gasp] Is it because it’s a Disney
original story?!
FTG: What? No. That’s barely even a thing. 90% of Disney movies are based on other
works.
Chirpy PR Person: Oh, that can’t be true? What about The Rescuers?
FTG: It was a children’s book by Margery Sharp.
Chirpy PR Person: Bambi?
FTG: A novel by Felix Salten. One originally meant for adults, actually.
Chirpy PR Person: The
Great Mouse Detective?
FTG: The Basil of
Baker Street children’s book series by Eve Titus.
Chirpy PR Person: Big
Hero Six?
FTG: It was a Marvel comic.
Chirpy PR Person: Really?
Then why didn’t Marvel Studios make that movie?
FTG: I don’t know.
Chirpy PR Person: Zootopia?
FTG: That one is.
Congratulations, you found one original.
Look, I’ll explain to you why I have no plans for Dumbo. Then, it will all be clear. But first, can I ask you one little question?
Chirpy PR Person: Shoot!
FTG: How many cups of coffee have you already had today?
Chirpy PR Person: Oh, about five or six. Any more than that and I get jittery.
FTG: Of course. Anyway,
you ready?
Chirpy PR Person: I’m all ears. Get it?
FTG: <Groan>
Look, the way I’ve been approaching this stuff with one exception is
that I review the film if it’s a movie based on a fairy tale and I spotlight
the book if it’s based on a literary work.
Now, the book that would become Dumbo is a special case. So, get comfy because here comes a history
lesson. Okay?
Chirpy PR Person: Okay.
FTG: The original story of Dumbo, The Flying Elephant was written by a married couple from Syracuse, New York named Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl in 1938. It originally appeared as a story for a
gimmicky device called a Roll-a-Book. A
Roll-a-Book was like a scroll that was built into a box and you could turn the
pages by turning a wheel . The
Roll-a-Book didn’t exactly take off and no known copies of this version of Dumbo are still in existence. Follow me so far?
Chirpy PR Person: Yup.
FTG: The rights to the Roll-a-Book story were then sold to
Disney by publisher Everett Whitmyre.
This was handy for Disney because they needed to make a cheap but
profitable movie. They were losing money
because Pinocchio hadn’t made much money overseas because of World War 2 and
Fantasia was expensive, had a very limited release and neither critics nor
audiences knew what to make of it.
Luckily, this plan worked. Still
with me?
Chirpy PR Person: Uh-huh.
FTG: The thing is, the story isn’t so happy for Aberson and
Pearl. Despite newspapers in their
hometown claiming they were headed for fame and fortune, it never
happened. The couple divorced after only
a year of marriage. Neither of them ever
published another book, though Aberson kept writing into the ‘60s. Dumbo,
The Flying Elephant was only ever published as a regular book once, in a
print run of no more than a thousand copies.
It has never been in print since.
That’s why I have nothing planned.
I can’t spotlight the book if I can’t get the book! I can’t make something out of nothing!
Chirpy PR Person: So, the book is just gone? That’s it?
FTG: Effectively, yes.
Near as I can tell, Disney owns all the rights to the story and they’ve
never shown any interest in republishing it.
Some copies of that one thousand copy print run are out there and when
they sell it’s for a fair chunk of change.
I know there’s a Disney historian named Jim Korkis who has a copy. The story from his copy was pretty much
transcribed onto the Jim Hill Media website.
There are some interesting details that differ from the Disney
version. Dumbo’s mother is named Mother
Ella in the book. Also, his friend is a
robin named Red rather than a mouse named Timothy. He’s also not a baby elephant so much as one
that didn’t grow all the way. Oh, and he
gets the confidence to fly by talking to a owl psychiatrist! As much as I’d like to trust what’s been
transcribed, I still feel iffy about working from a second hand source like
that.
Chirpy PR Person: So, that’s it? Disney’s big circus spectacular directed by
the one and only Tim Burton and you’re going to skip writing about it because
you can’t find a children’s book!?
FTG: Yeah. I’m going
to skip it. Just like I skipped Pete’s
Dragon and The BFG and A Wrinkle in Time and how I’m probably going to skip
Lion King. I do look forward to watching
Dumbo. It looks interesting to say the least.
Chirpy PR Person: I still can’t believe a book can just
disappear like that!
FTG: A lot of them do.
You know how many books fall into obscurity? Thousands.
Maybe millions. In the case of
Aberson and Pearl, it might be fortunate that Disney got involved. Their work will be remembered through the
movie they made, even if they don’t want to publish the original again. There is one other thing. Syracuse University back in their hometown
has worked to preserve their creation.
Their archives house some original illustrations from the book. Though, they’re apparently really rough-looking
things. The characters are practically
stick figures.
Chirpy PR Person: Hmm . . .
FTG: “Hmm”, what?
Chirpy PR Person: Well, you’re in New York State, right?
FTG: Yes, but I don’t like where you’re going with this.
Chirpy PR Person: And you have a car, right?
FTG: No! I’m not
driving halfway across the state for Dumbo!
Chirpy PR Person: But just hear me out!
FTG: No!
Chirpy PR Person: But-
FTG: Hanging up now! [hits end call]
[FTG collapses back onto his bed.]
FTG: Huh. How the
hell did she get my number?
Walt Disney’s new take
on Dumbo hits theaters March 29.
Chirpy PR Person character created by Gypsy Thornton.