Channel Frederator Blog

Everyone knows Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, but what about Humphrey?

via 2719 Hyperion
While some say that Humphrey got his start as the cantankerous bear that is Goofy’s foil in the 1950 cartoon “Hold That Pose”, he doesn’t really look or act too much like his later self. Disney historians claim they are one in the same.

The “real” Humphrey would not appear until three years later in the Donald Duck short “Rugged Bear”. His frequent co-star, Ranger J. Audubon Woodlore and the setting of Brownstone National Park would not arrive until the 1954 cartoon “Grin and Bear It”. Humphrey would solo in his own two shorts in 1956–”Hooked Bear” and “In the Bag”.

In this cartoon, keep an eye out for Smokey the Bear. He shows up, stiff animation and all. This is interesting, as initially the Forest Service used Bambi, from the Walt Disney film, on its posters, but Bambi was only loaned to them by Disney for one year, so a new animal mascot had to be created. Ultimately a bear was selected to be that new mascot. Smokey the Bear was what they came up with in 1944.

The 1956 short “In the Bag” is also significant because it was the last theatrical short created by the Disney short films crew.

Humphrey turned up again, almost forty years after his final screen appearance. When the Wilderness Lodge Resort opened in 1994, there was Humphrey, carved into the lodge’s character totem pole icon, and featured on numerous merchandise and souvenir items. A few years later, he was a frequent player on both the Mickey’s MouseWorks and House of Mouse television programs.

-Floyd Bishop