The Princess and the Pauper
About The Princess and the Pauper
A king promises his daughter to the richest suitor. The wizard Ali Kazam courts her with jewels, but she prefers a pauper boy whose only toy is a yo-yo. The king's men throw the boy out of the palace. Nicky Nome appears, gives him a flying carpet, and sends him to a valley of jewels. When Ali Kazam attacks on a vulture, Nicky turns the carpet, piece by piece, into a Chevrolet.
Cast & crew
More about The Princess and the Pauper
The Jam Handy Organization made the Technicolor short for Chevrolet and also distributed it. F. Lyle Goldman and Jam Handy are credited as producers. Vincent Pelletier narrates. It was released in the United States on January 10, 1939. Nicky Nome had already appeared in the Chevrolet films A Coach for Cinderella and A Ride for Cinderella.
Themes
Background
Nicky Nome had already appeared in the Chevrolet shorts A Coach for Cinderella and A Ride for Cinderella, made by the same Jam Handy unit.
Making
Handy, whose animation unit grew out of the Bray studio, was making fairy-tale commercials for Chevrolet while Ford kept an in-house film department. This one puts the product reveal at the end of an Arabian Nights plot.
Technique
The short is in Technicolor. The carpet is redrawn, section by section, until it is a Chevrolet automobile.
Preservation
The short is in the public domain. A Technicolor print is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- The Internet Archive copy runs 9 minutes 52 seconds. Wikipedia's table lists 7 minutes and the article text says about ten.
- It is in the public domain.
- Nicky Nome is the small magical helper, not the pauper.
- The carpet's last transformation is a current Chevrolet, the sponsor's car.
- Ken Smith, cataloguing the short, noted the caricature of Arab figures common in cartoons of the period.
Scenes
- The king's men kick the yo-yo boy out of the palace.
- Nicky Nome hands him a flying carpet bound for the valley of jewels.
- The carpet changes into a Chevrolet while Ali Kazam dives on a vulture.
Also available
- Internet Archive (Princess1939)
