''Ben and Me'' is a 1953 American animated two-reel short subject produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

and released theatrically on November 10, 1953. It was adapted from the

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

written by author/illustrator Robert Lawson and first published in 1939. Though both book and film deal with the relationship between a mouse and American

Founding Father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, the book, with illustrations by Lawson, focused more heavily on actual historical events and personages, and included incidents from Franklin's French career at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

. The short received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for Best Short Subject, Two-reel. This short was also notable for being the second release on the Buena Vista Distribution label, with the first being ''

Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom ''Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom'' is a 1953 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and directed by Ward Kimball and Charles A. Nichols. A sequel to the first ''Adventures in Music'' cartoon, the 3-D short '' Melody'' ( ...

'', released on the same day. On its release, ''Ben and Me'' was packaged with the True-Life Adventure documentary ''

The Living Desert ''The Living Desert'' is a 1953 American nature documentary film that shows the everyday lives of the animals of the desert of the Southwestern United States. The film was written by James Algar, Winston Hibler, Jack Moffitt (uncredited) and T ...

''. When Disney's regular distributor

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

resisted the idea of a full-length True-Life Adventure, Disney formed his own distribution company to handle future Disney releases. In DTV, the short was set to Stevie Wonder's ''

For Once in My Life "For Once in My Life" is a song written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown Records' Stein & Van Stock publishing company, and first recorded in 1965. It was written and first recorded as a slow ballad. There are differing accounts of ...

''.

Plot

At a statue of

, the leader of a tour group of mice reveals the contributions of a mouse named Amos to Franklin's career, reading from Amos' diary, titled ''Ben and Me''. After describing the exploits of some of his ancestors, Amos tells his own story: The eldest of 26 siblings living in the

Christ Church, Philadelphia Christ Church is an Episcopal church in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia. Founded in 1695 as a parish of the Church of England, it played an integral role in the founding of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. In 178 ...

, he sets out on his own in 1745 to find work. Having no luck, he takes shelter in Ben's shop and befriends the beleaguered printer. Amos invents bifocals for Ben and inspires him to create the Franklin stove. Amos also helps Ben turn his dry publication, ''

Poor Richard's Almanack ''Poor Richard's Almanack'' (sometimes ''Almanac'') was a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin, who adopted the pseudonym of "Poor Richard" or "Richard Saunders" for this purpose. The publication appeared continually from 1732 to 1758. ...

'', into a successful newspaper, the ''

Pennsylvania Gazette ''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' was one of the United States' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the several years leading up to the American Revolution the paper served as a voice for colonial opposition to British colonial rule, ...

''; Amos acts as journalist and helps Ben operate the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

. As the years pass, Amos helps Ben advance socially and build his reputation. Ben makes Amos an unwitting test subject in his experiments with

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

, sending him into the air as part of his

kite experiment The kite experiment is a scientific experiment in which a kite with a pointed, conductive wire attached to its apex is flown near thunder clouds to collect electricity from the air and conduct it down the wet kite string to the ground. It was p ...

. Amos is nearly killed when the kite is struck by lightning and crashes to the ground. Furious, he leaves Ben and moves back in with his family. Years later, during the early stages of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, Ben is sent to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to try to reason with the king, but the mission is a failure. In 1776, Ben begs Amos for help. Amos agrees on the condition that Ben sign a contract agreeing to his terms. As Ben is reading the contract,

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...

comes by, struggling with writing the introduction to the

United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ( ...

. The language in Amos' contract inspires Jefferson, and becomes the Declaration's introduction. Amos accompanies Ben to the signing of the Declaration.

Voice cast

Sterling Holloway Sterling Price Holloway Jr. (January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was an American actor and voice actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He did voice acting for The Walt Disney Company, playing Mr. Stork in '' Dumbo'', A ...

as Amos Mouse *

Charlie Ruggles Charles Sherman Ruggles (February 8, 1886 – December 23, 1970) was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the e ...

* Stan Freberg as mouse guide * Bill Thompson as Governor Keith, and as the human tour guide *

Hans Conried Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's ''Peter Pan'' (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's '' Dud ...

, and as a criminal * Jimmy MacDonald as miscellaneous men

Home media

The short was released on December 6, 2005 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s''. Additional releases include: *On VHS under the ''Walt Disney Mini-Classics'' label in 1989 *On DVD in 2012 under the ''Disney Generations Collection''

References

External links

* * *
"Ben and Me"
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on April 4, 2012. {{Hamilton Luske 1953 short films Works about Benjamin Franklin 1950s Disney animated short films Animated films about animals Animated films about mice American Revolutionary War films Films set in Pennsylvania Films set in Philadelphia Films set in the Thirteen Colonies 1953 animated films Films directed by Hamilton Luske Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Oliver Wallace Films set in 1745 Films set in 1776 Cultural depictions of Benjamin Franklin Cultural depictions of Thomas Jefferson Secret histories Animated films based on children's books Animation based on real people 1950s English-language films American animated short films Films with screenplays by Winston Hibler