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Susie the Little Blue Coupe

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Susie the Little Blue Coupe
Title Card
Directed byClyde Geronimi
Story byBill Peet (story & adaptation)
Don DaGradi (adaptation)
Produced byWalt Disney
StarringStan Freberg
Clark Lagerstrom
Bob Jackman[1]
Narrated bySterling Holloway
Music byPaul J. Smith[a]
Animation byBob Carlson
Ollie Johnston
Hal King
Cliff Nordberg
George Rowley (effects)
Layouts byHugh Hennesy
Don Griffith
Backgrounds byRalph Hulett
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • June 6, 1952 (1952-06-06)
Running time
7:36
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Susie the Little Blue Coupe is an animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and originally released by RKO Radio Pictures on June 6, 1952.[2][3] The eight-minute film was directed by Clyde Geronimi and based on an original short-story by Bill Peet. The story was adapted for the screen by Peet and Don DaGradi.

Plot

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A screenshot of the titular character, Susie.

Susie is a small blue coupe on display in a dealer showroom. She eventually is bought by a well-to-do man who is instantly smitten with her. Thrust into high society, she finds herself surrounded by much larger, faster and more luxurious cars, but eventually makes do. Her owner treats the car well but neglects to maintain her, and after years of wear and tear, the car stops running properly; the man, informed by his mechanic that Susie will need a massive overhaul, abandons her for a new vehicle. At a used car lot, Susie is purchased again, but the new owner, a cigar-smoking drunk who lives in a seedier part of town, does not treat the car with the same fondness as the first owner and leaves her on the curbside at night.

One night, the coupe is stolen, chased by the police and crashed; presumed "dead", she is sent to a junkyard. Susie is sad and broken down, but she shows stirrings of life, even in her wrecked state. A young man notices and buys her at a bargain price. With the help of his friends, the young man completely restores and revives Susie as a brand new hot rod. An overjoyed and like-new Susie rides off.[4]

Home media

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The DVD release of The Love Bug featured this short as a special feature.[5] The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad DVD also features the short as a bonus episode on the DVD's trivia section.[6]

It also appeared on the It's A Small World of Fun Vol. 2 DVD.[7]

Legacy

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Susie made cameo appearances in the House of Mouse episode, "Max's New Car" and in the 2023 animated short film Once Upon a Studio.[8]

The film's method of anthropomorphizing the cars, using the windshield for the eyes and eyelids, served as a stylistic inspiration for the Disney-Pixar Cars franchise.[9]

[edit]
The short (no audio).

While the animated film's copyright was not renewed, the music within it was.[10] Effectively, this means that the film's images are public domain, but the short in full won't enter the public domain until 2048 under current United States copyright law.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Not to be confused with the animator of the same name.

References

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  1. ^ Scott, Keith (3 October 2022). Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. BearManor Media.
  2. ^ Susie the Little Blue Coupe is Released - D23
  3. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 153. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  4. ^ Internet Archive
  5. ^ The Love Bug: Special Edition on DVDizzy
  6. ^ The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad on DVDizzy
  7. ^ Walt Disney's It's a Small World of Fun! Volume 2 on DVDizzy
  8. ^ The making of the emotional 'Once Upon a Studio' Disney short - Attractions Magazine
  9. ^ Wallis, Michael (2015). The Art of Cars. Suzanne Fitzgerald. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books LLC. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-4521-4722-2. OCLC 927106064.
  10. ^ "U.S. Copyright Public Records System". publicrecords.copyright.gov. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
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