''In the Bag'' is a 1956 American animated short comedy film 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 ...

, directed by

Jack Hannah John Frederick Hannah (January 5, 1913 – June 11, 1994) was an American animator, writer and director of animated shorts. Biography Hannah was born on January 5, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona. He moved to Los Angeles in 1931 to study at the Art ...

, and featuring park ranger J. Audubon Woodlore and his comedic foil

Humphrey the Bear Humphrey the Bear is a cartoon character created in 1950 at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He first appeared in the 1950 Goofy cartoon '' Hold That Pose'', in which Goofy tried to take his picture. After that he appeared in four classic Donald ...

. This was the last Disney theatrical cartoon short subject distributed by

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 ...

Plot

Tourists have departed Brownstone National Park where Humphrey lives, leaving trash everywhere, despite signs asking tourists not to litter the park. The park ranger initially starts to pick it up himself, but then decides that he should not have to do it because he is the boss. He then calls Humphrey and the other resident bears and asks them to "put it in the bag", while singing and dancing to a catchy song. The bears happily collect the trash, bouncing and jouncing until they discover the ranger's actual motivation. With Humphrey dropping the ranger into a garbage can, the bears angrily dump their bags of refuse on the ground. Realizing that he should at least reward the bears for their assistance, the ranger prepares some chicken

cacciatore Cacciatore (, ; ) means "hunter" in Italian. In cuisine, ''alla cacciatora'' refers to a meal prepared "hunter-style" with onions, herbs, usually tomatoes, often bell peppers, and sometimes wine. Cacciatore is popularly made with braised chicke ...

, but says that he will only give it to the bears on the condition that they clean up their sections of the park. All of the bears then move their garbage into one section, leaving Humphrey to clean it all up himself. He does this quickly by stuffing the garbage into a bag, but as he is returning to receive his dinner, the bag gets caught on the twig of a tree stump and rips apart, letting the garbage out. The ranger then gives him a new bag and Humphrey follows the garbage down the line all the way to a cliff, but falls off as he puts the last scrap in the bag. Next, he attempts to conceal the garbage under a bush, but the bush turns out to be the home of a rabbit, who disgustedly pushes it back out. Humphrey then tries to burn the garbage with a match, but is stopped by

Smokey Bear Smokey Bear is an American campaign and advertising icon of the U.S. Forest Service. In the Wildfire Prevention Campaign, which is the longest-running public service announcement campaign in United States history, the Ad Council, the United St ...

, who reminds him that "only you can prevent forest fires." Finally, Humphrey puts all of the trash into a hollow stump, which is actually a geyser named "Ol' Fateful". The ranger prepares to reward Humphrey with a dish full of cacciatore, but before Humphrey can take it, the geyser suddenly erupts, spouting the garbage everywhere, resulting in Humphrey having to start all over again at cleaning up the park.

In the Bag song

The song featured in ''In The Bag'' was so popular that Disney released a version of it (with similar instrumentation and different vocals) as a single, "The Humphrey Hop". The song was sung again by Woodlore to his Brownstone Bears in a 2002 episode of Disney's ''

House of Mouse ''Disney's House of Mouse'' (or simply ''House of Mouse'') is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation that originally aired for three seasons on ABC and Toon Disney from January 13, 2001, to its final ...

'', where they serve as the House's "clean-up crew". The song later appeared in ''

Cars 3 ''Cars 3'' is a 2017 American computer-animated sports comedy-adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The sequel to ''Cars 2'' (2011) and the third installment of the ''Cars'' film series, the ...

'' with different lyrics performed by Mater (

Larry the Cable Guy Daniel Lawrence Whitney (born February 17, 1963), known professionally by his persona Larry the Cable Guy, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, country music artist, and former radio personality. He was one of the members of the ...

Voice cast

: Jimmy MacDonald * J. Audubon Woodlore: Bill Thompson *

: Jackson Weaver

Home media

The short was released on December 6, 2005 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s''.

References

External links