Not Just Any Disney Joke Book

Get ready for some big time comedy, folks! This isn't just any ol' joke book - this is The ULTIMATE Disney Joke Book by Chip Lovitt (1995, Disney Press). I dug this out of a used book store this weekend. It's 64 pages of zingers and puns featuring a who's who of Disney animated characters. Most of these jokes have probably been printed 1,000 times before in slightly different forms in books like 101 Best Hamburger Jokes and Super Silly Sports Riddles. But ya gotta give this book credit for including characters from just about all the classic Disney animated features. A good deal of Disney's output in the mid-90's centered on "the new Disney" characters from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. You'll find all them here along with Mickey and the gang, Snow White, Pinocchio and even Prince Philip.

Get ready to dust off your funny bone for a sampling of comedy Disney-style:

What's Mickey's favorite type of TV show?

A Minnie-series.

Why is the movie Bambi like ninety-nine cents?

Both are about a buck.

Why won't Cinderella ever be a great soccer player?

She runs away from the ball.

One more...

What has sixteen legs and catches flies?

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs playing baseball.

You can go get a tissue now to wipe the tears of laughter from your eyes.

Sneak Peak of Cinderella

The 1948 book Walt Disney's Mother Goose uses the Disney cannon of characters to illustrate classic nursery rhymes. In addition to Mickey, Donald and Goofy, the likenesses of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Bambi are used several times thoughout the book. But tucked away inside the pages next to the rhyme Little Betty Blue is an illustration featuring a much younger, cartoonier looking Cinderella than the Cinderella we've all come to know and love from the 1950 animated classic. The dress appears to be close to the one she wears to the ball in the movie, but Cindy herself has a more rounded look, a little more youthful. It looks as if the studio snuck in this sneak preview of their newest star even though she still had some evolution to go through before she hit the big screen. It's the one picture in the book that sticks out from all the other traditional looking characters. Everytime I read the book to my kids I start wondering what the story behind this version of Cinderella is.

Check out this other great picture from the same book. It features stars from almost every Disney animated film to have been released at that time. (I don't see Fantastia represented.)