Play Safe (1936 cartoon)
Play Safe is a 1936 animated short film produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. This film was part of Max Fleischer's Color Classics series.[1] The film follows the story of a boy who has a dream about being on a real train (and learns a lesson about train safety).
| Play Safe | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Dave Fleischer |
| Produced by | Max Fleischer Adolph Zukor (executive) |
| Starring | Jack Mercer Mae Questel |
| Music by | Sammy Timberg Vee Lawnhurst (music) Seymour Tot (lyrics) |
| Animation by | David Tendlar Eli Brucker |
| Color process | Cinecolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 8 minutes |
| Language | English |
Plot
In the back yard, a little boy dressed like an engineer is reading a book about trains while at the same time playing with a toy train. He has a brief thought about what it would be like to operate a real train, and at that moment, he hears a real freight train approaching. He opens the gate to see the train stop, but his dog Rover grabs him before he can get far. Still wanting to get a hands-on experience, the boy attaches Rover's collar to a nearby tree. He then makes his way toward the train and climbs on board the boxcar at the end. Rover frantically tries to get free of the rope, fully aware of the dangers at hand. As the train starts moving, the boy ends up falling off, knocking his head against the rails and sending him into Dreamland.
Upon entering the subconscious, the boy finds himself in an enormous train yard packed with odd-looking steam engines. Excited, he looks around and boards a shiny blue streamlined engine. He then hops in the engine's seat, pulls the brake lever backwards, and starts fiddling with the rest of the valves and levers. The engine starts moving, slowly at first, then at rapid speed. Suddenly, the gauges on the dashboard start scolding the boy to "play safe". Frightened, the boy reaches for the levers, but they all disappear before he can grab them. With no way of stopping the train now, the boy finds himself trapped on the runaway train, which passes along the tracks leading around treacherous mountains and into a cavernous tunnel. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a red streamliner accelerating just as fast as the blue one appears on the same track, headed in the opposite direction. The two engines blow their whistles at one another, regardless of the inevitable collision course. Both trains scream when they meet face to face.
However, the boy is still not fully awake, and Rover hears another train coming down the tracks. Rover finally manages to break free from his collar, and the dog rushes to the boy's rescue. As the train speedily approaches the boy laying on the tracks, Rover finally manages to outrun the locomotive. The dog dips his tail in some red paint and waves it like a flag, hoping to stop the oncoming train. Alas, the engineer doesn't notice, and the engine runs into Rover, sending the dog speeding along the tracks toward the boy. Rover grabs the boy in his teeth and pulls him out of danger, just as the train speeds right past. Once the train has gone, Rover licks the boy's face to wake him up. The boy happily hugs and kisses the dog.
References
- Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 66–67. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.