Comics-Dumbo TB

This trackable has the goal to circulate more than five years and to be moved by at least 25 cachers. That is a rate of five drops per year for five years, or a drop every 73 days.  As of 13-Sep-20 it had survived for 4.7 years and had been moved by 21 cachers, for an average release every 81 days. 

No permission is needed to leave the U.S.  While in the U.S., please drop it in a Premium Member only OR a rural cache near a busy trail or road. Do not place it in an urban cache or abandon it at a caching event where there is no security.  Transport the bug in the original plastic bag for as long as the bag lasts; the bag keeps the trackable clean, protects the number and prevents tangling with other items.  Otherwise, take the trackable anywhere you wish.

Trackable photos are appreciated, but do not show the tracking number. The images will be re-posted here.

My youth was in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  Drawing from that period, this is one of a series of travel bugs made to commemorate favorite characters from comic books, comic strips, movie cartoons, B-movies and animated feature-length movies.  Some of the characters had only a brief existence, some survived as radio and early TV programs and some have been digitally-modernized into some of the blockbuster movies of today.  There were many other characters, but these are the ones on which I was willing to spend my dimes (comic books) and quarters (movie and popcorn).  However, I didn’t pay for the daily comic strips or Sunday funnies that came with the newspaper.

Dumbo is an American animated film produced by Walt Disney which premiered in 1941.  It is the fourth animated feature in the Disney Animated Classics series and is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a novelty toy.  The main character is Jumbo Jr., a semi-anthropomorphic elephant.  He is ridiculed for his big ears, but in fact he is capable of flying by using his ears as wings. Throughout most of the film, his only true friend, aside from his mother, is the mouse, Timothy, a relationship parodying the stereotypical animosity between mice and elephants.

A flock of storks deliver babies while circus animals are being transported by train from their winter quarters.  Mrs. Jumbo receives her baby who is soon tormented by the other female elephants because of his large ears and they nickname him Dumbo.

Once the circus is assembled, Mrs. Jumbo loses her temper at a group of boys for tormenting Dumbo, and is locked up and deemed mad. Dumbo is shunned by the other elephants and with no mother to care for him, he is now alone. Timothy Q. Mouse, who feels sympathy for Dumbo and becomes determined to make him happy again, appoints himself as Dumbo's mentor and protector.

The circus director makes Dumbo the top of an elephant pyramid stunt, but Dumbo trips over his ears and misses his target, injuring the other elephants and bringing down the big top. Dumbo is made a clown as a result, and plays the main role in an act that involves him falling into a vat of pie filling. Despite his newfound popularity and fame, Dumbo dislikes this job and is now more miserable than ever.

To cheer Dumbo up, Timothy takes him to visit his mother. On the way back, Dumbo cries and then starts to hiccup, so Timothy takes him for a drink of water from a bucket which, unknown to them, has accidentally had a bottle of champagne knocked into it. As a result, Dumbo and Timothy both become drunk and see hallucinations of pink elephants.

The next morning, Dumbo and Timothy wake up in a tree. Timothy wonders how they got up in the tree, and concludes that Dumbo flew up there using his large ears as wings. With the help from a group of crows, Timothy is able to get Dumbo to fly again, using a psychological trick of a "magic feather" to boost his confidence.

Back at the circus, Dumbo performs a stunt which involves jumping from a high building, this time, from a much higher platform. On the way down, Dumbo loses the feather; Timothy quickly tells him that the feather was never magical, and that he is still able to fly. Dumbo is able to pull out of the dive and flies around the circus, finally striking back at his tormentors as a stunned audience looks on in amazement.

After this performance, Dumbo becomes a media sensation, Timothy becomes his manager, and Dumbo and Mrs. Jumbo are given a private car on the circus train.