The Three Caballeros in Comics: Part One
Feb. 17th, 2011 12:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyOK, so a little explanation is required here. A few months ago, someone posted a screencap from 'The Three Caballeros', one of my favorite old Disney movies, which I hadn't seen for years. This got me thinking about it again; I re-watched it (and if anything, I like it more now than I did then), and afterwards, as is my habit, did a quick Google search on it.
Well, as it turns out, 'Three Caballeros' also has a foot in the door when it comes to comics. Not a big one - rather a small one, in fact - but a foot. And some of these comics are really quite good. So, having searched them out for my own enjoyment, I am going to share my obsession with you, and see if you agree.
So that being said, who ARE the Caballeros, and what makes them so memorable? Read on, MacDuff!
Historically speaking, 'The Three Caballeros' is a result of Walt Disney's attempts to buddy up to Latin America during WW2. The reasoning for this, if I recall correctly, is that the US was getting worried about what might happen if Mexico and South America got involved in the war on the side of the Nazis. So Disney Studios, which had already helped out the government through the production of training films and the like, made two movies devoted to just how peachy-keen our good freedom-loving pals to the south were - 'Saludos Amigos!', and 'The Three Caballeros'. So technically speaking, 'Caballeros' is a sequel, but plot-wise, it's a stand-alone film.
OK, so enough with the history lesson; what makes it watchable?
Well, to start with, here's the title song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGWOY8nPCMw
(I hope I did that right - I've never embedded a YouTube video before, and I have no clue how to go about it. If anyone has any tips for me, I'd appreciate it.)
I know that they're inevitable, this being the board that it is, but please keep 'gay Caballeros' jokes to a minimum, all right? It was another time, the word meant another thing, and the Cabs love them some senoritas, so the modern usage doesn't apply to them.
I won't go into plot details - for one thing, I don't want to spoil the movie for you, and for another, the plot is almost nonexistent. Basically, it consists of Donald Duck and his friends Jose Carioca (his parrot friend from Brazil, who he met in 'Saludos') and Panchito the Mexican gunslinger rooster careening from one hallucinatory Latin-themed set-piece to another, mixing in live-action sequences with lots and lots of beautiful senoritas. Lots and LOTS of senoritas. I mean LOTS of them. If you have a secret desire to watch Donald become an unbridled figure of only barely G-rated lust, the film will scratch your itch, but good - he goes CRAZY in it. In between, we get brain-melting sequences that challenge 'Pink Elephants on Parade' for freakiest Disney stuff ever, all jazzed up with a Latin American flavor and plenty of catchy music. If any of you are fans of classic Disney, I urge you to check it out.
In any case, I hope these posts will at least make some of you curious about it, even they bear little relation to the actual movie itself. The only way to do THAT was if they printed acid on the pages.
Let us start things off with the earliest Three Caballeros comic I could find. This is from back in the days when adaptations of their movies in comic book form was a regular part of the Disney marketing machine. This is the official adaptation comic, done by Walt Kelly, of 'Pogo' fame. (This was, I believe, early in his career.)
I won't beat around the bush - this is not a very good adaptation. In fact, if this was your introduction to the Three Cabs, you probably wouldn't bother seeing the movie. That being said, it's still vintage Kelly, and it's not easy to find, so I'm going to post the bits that are A: spoiler-free, and B: interesting, which coincidentally works out to about a third of it (out of two 25-page chapters, 8 and 1/3 from the first, and six from the second).
The story begins as Donald is roused from slumber:
YAAY, IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday, Donald!
The mailman has a parcel for him, marked as from his 'good friends in Latin America'. Donald is terribly excited about this:
"Oh, boy! Maybe it's a set of silver-studded tortillas, or a double barreled bolero..."
Uh, yeah.
What it is, it turns out, is a rug. But not just ANY rug...
I like Donald's logic there, although I doubt he got good grades in Geography. Anyway, WELCOME TO MEXICO!
Panchito is ever so humble and retiring a fellow.
This may be the skimpiest outfit that Donald has ever worn, and considering that his normal one is just a jacket and a hat, that's saying something. This one isn't even a SHIRT and a hat. I mean, he was better dressed in his nightshirt.
Anyway, I'm going to skip over the next bit because of movie spoilers, such as they are. Suffice it to say, Donald and Jose get separated from Panchito and the serape, and then this happens:
*sigh* Donald, Donald, Donald... There's a time and a place for everything.
Unfortunately, the turtle does NOT appreciate stowaways, so:
Yes, kids, hijacking a train is FUN! Yay crime!
So the Caballeros are together again, and after another movie spoiler-y section, they embark on a tour of the local wildlife:
This goes on for another few pages, and it's really kind of boring, so I'll skip it. (I just thought the Surinam Toad bit was kind of an interesting zoological tidbit.) Fast-forward to where the flying serape saves the day:
I think we all know what a pinata is, so let's skip that bit, too.
That's right, Donald, jump on the FIRST HORSE YOU SEE. I'm sure everything will be just peachy.
So that's it. Overall, not a terrible comic for what it is, and a nice vintage piece. No one would exactly call it high adventure, though.
For THAT, we must wait until Part Two. That's where things really start a-poppin'.
Well, as it turns out, 'Three Caballeros' also has a foot in the door when it comes to comics. Not a big one - rather a small one, in fact - but a foot. And some of these comics are really quite good. So, having searched them out for my own enjoyment, I am going to share my obsession with you, and see if you agree.
So that being said, who ARE the Caballeros, and what makes them so memorable? Read on, MacDuff!
Historically speaking, 'The Three Caballeros' is a result of Walt Disney's attempts to buddy up to Latin America during WW2. The reasoning for this, if I recall correctly, is that the US was getting worried about what might happen if Mexico and South America got involved in the war on the side of the Nazis. So Disney Studios, which had already helped out the government through the production of training films and the like, made two movies devoted to just how peachy-keen our good freedom-loving pals to the south were - 'Saludos Amigos!', and 'The Three Caballeros'. So technically speaking, 'Caballeros' is a sequel, but plot-wise, it's a stand-alone film.
OK, so enough with the history lesson; what makes it watchable?
Well, to start with, here's the title song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGWOY8nPCMw
(I hope I did that right - I've never embedded a YouTube video before, and I have no clue how to go about it. If anyone has any tips for me, I'd appreciate it.)
I know that they're inevitable, this being the board that it is, but please keep 'gay Caballeros' jokes to a minimum, all right? It was another time, the word meant another thing, and the Cabs love them some senoritas, so the modern usage doesn't apply to them.
I won't go into plot details - for one thing, I don't want to spoil the movie for you, and for another, the plot is almost nonexistent. Basically, it consists of Donald Duck and his friends Jose Carioca (his parrot friend from Brazil, who he met in 'Saludos') and Panchito the Mexican gunslinger rooster careening from one hallucinatory Latin-themed set-piece to another, mixing in live-action sequences with lots and lots of beautiful senoritas. Lots and LOTS of senoritas. I mean LOTS of them. If you have a secret desire to watch Donald become an unbridled figure of only barely G-rated lust, the film will scratch your itch, but good - he goes CRAZY in it. In between, we get brain-melting sequences that challenge 'Pink Elephants on Parade' for freakiest Disney stuff ever, all jazzed up with a Latin American flavor and plenty of catchy music. If any of you are fans of classic Disney, I urge you to check it out.
In any case, I hope these posts will at least make some of you curious about it, even they bear little relation to the actual movie itself. The only way to do THAT was if they printed acid on the pages.
Let us start things off with the earliest Three Caballeros comic I could find. This is from back in the days when adaptations of their movies in comic book form was a regular part of the Disney marketing machine. This is the official adaptation comic, done by Walt Kelly, of 'Pogo' fame. (This was, I believe, early in his career.)
I won't beat around the bush - this is not a very good adaptation. In fact, if this was your introduction to the Three Cabs, you probably wouldn't bother seeing the movie. That being said, it's still vintage Kelly, and it's not easy to find, so I'm going to post the bits that are A: spoiler-free, and B: interesting, which coincidentally works out to about a third of it (out of two 25-page chapters, 8 and 1/3 from the first, and six from the second).
The story begins as Donald is roused from slumber:
YAAY, IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday, Donald!
The mailman has a parcel for him, marked as from his 'good friends in Latin America'. Donald is terribly excited about this:
"Oh, boy! Maybe it's a set of silver-studded tortillas, or a double barreled bolero..."
Uh, yeah.
What it is, it turns out, is a rug. But not just ANY rug...
I like Donald's logic there, although I doubt he got good grades in Geography. Anyway, WELCOME TO MEXICO!
Panchito is ever so humble and retiring a fellow.
This may be the skimpiest outfit that Donald has ever worn, and considering that his normal one is just a jacket and a hat, that's saying something. This one isn't even a SHIRT and a hat. I mean, he was better dressed in his nightshirt.
Anyway, I'm going to skip over the next bit because of movie spoilers, such as they are. Suffice it to say, Donald and Jose get separated from Panchito and the serape, and then this happens:
*sigh* Donald, Donald, Donald... There's a time and a place for everything.
Unfortunately, the turtle does NOT appreciate stowaways, so:
Yes, kids, hijacking a train is FUN! Yay crime!
So the Caballeros are together again, and after another movie spoiler-y section, they embark on a tour of the local wildlife:
This goes on for another few pages, and it's really kind of boring, so I'll skip it. (I just thought the Surinam Toad bit was kind of an interesting zoological tidbit.) Fast-forward to where the flying serape saves the day:
I think we all know what a pinata is, so let's skip that bit, too.
That's right, Donald, jump on the FIRST HORSE YOU SEE. I'm sure everything will be just peachy.
So that's it. Overall, not a terrible comic for what it is, and a nice vintage piece. No one would exactly call it high adventure, though.
For THAT, we must wait until Part Two. That's where things really start a-poppin'.
Whoops, sorry about the delay!
Date: 2011-02-23 04:04 am (UTC)Excellent scans! And yes, I watched "The Three Caballeros" on VHS as a kid. How did you know I would enjoy this stroll down Memory Lane to my childhood? =)
Believe it or not, my first viewing of Jose Carioca wasn't in "The Three Caballeros" movie. It was in the musical short "Blame it on the Samba" where Jose and Donald were being cheered up by the crazy bird with the spiky hairdo called the "Aracuan Bird" in the Disney special Melody Time. It was only afterwards when I saw "The Three Caballeros" that I was excited and said "That's the parrot guy with Donald!" (I was five years old at the time)
I dunno about hijacking the train. Mean turtle or not, that was kind of a dickish move right there. XD
Although I smiled when it showed Panchito taking a siesta and waiting for Donald and Jose to arrive as they crashed the train.
And I have to confess something: i'm not particularly fond of the way the artist drew the Hispanic people, especially the adults. It does seem a little too caricaturish, you know?
Re: Whoops, sorry about the delay!
Date: 2011-02-23 07:30 am (UTC)It gets better - the way they got separated in the first place was when a strong crosswind caused the other two to do a highdive into the sea. So Panchito isn't just unworried about their surviving the train crash; he just cheerfully assumed that yes, of COURSE they survived, no worries, and then went and found a nice spot to take a nap while they caught up with him. So either he's incredibly optimistic or incredibly lazy, or both.
And yeah, they're kinda caricatured, but remember, this was the '40's. By the standards of the time, this was a pretty benign depiction of them - at least they're friendly and enthusiastic. Most depictions of Mexicans back then didn't go much further than 'lots of guys in sombreros fast asleep against a sunny wall'.