Traveling along the Disney Canon, we have to embark at the 15th stop: “Lady and the Tramp”. Yes, released in 1955, the love story about two dogs of different statuses has made its way into the hearts of many! The story is an interesting one: it’s based on a story man’s dog, based on a short story in “Cosmopolitan Magazine”, inspired by an actual event involving Walt Disney and his wife, and/or possibly plagiarized from feminist María Lejárraga.
Whatever the main inspiration of the film, we all have to agree that this movie is pretty much perfect! I personally have no problems with it. The animation, backgrounds, and character designs are perfect and beautiful. The characters are lovable. The voice acting is admirable (even if including, arguably, the first use of a celebrity voice in animated films),
the story is precise, and the movie keeps you entertained. I honestly wouldn’t consider it to be one of my favorite Disney films, but it’s still an amazing work of art!
With that said, let’s focus on the…umm…well…the …focus of this project: the forgotten/minor characters! This case was similar to “Peter Pan” in which my choice of forgotten/minor character was one I really didn’t want to go with; but in the end I gave in.
After Aunt Sarah takes Lady to get muzzled due to a misunderstanding of intentions between the two, Lady escapes and runs into the Tramp. The Tramp decides to help her by taking her to a zoo and asking various animals to help take off Lady’s muzzle. His first choice of assistance is quite a stupid one,
but Lady’s muzzle finally gets off with the aid of Gopher!
(Well, umm…a beaver really, but they ended up using the same design and voice for Gopher!)
Now, my forgotten/minor character today is seen before the dogs enter the zoo. Seeing as no dogs are allowed in, the Tramp causes some mischief between an Irish policeman and our person of interest so that they can sneak in unnoticed.
Since much is not given about our friend, how do we know that he is a British Polyglot Professor? Well, let’s put on our Sherlock Holmes deerstalkers
(that some of us would rather not use),
and go through the deduction process that arrives at the aforementioned conclusion.
Well, first of all, the character is quite snappily dressed, so one can assume that he is a man of high position and/or status in society. And based on Wikipedia and IMDB’s reports of a character named “Professor” voiced by Dallas McKennon, I think we’re safe to assume that our suspect is indeed a professor!
Secondly, the man is carrying an umbrella which means one of three things: It’s raining outside (which it isn’t), he’s in Seattle (which he isn’t), or he’s in England (Bingo!). And his accent is further proof of his British citizenship. So we are safe to assume that he is in fact British!
Thirdly, the man is carrying and reading a book without paying attention to anything else, and when sarcastically asked if he can read, the man replies that he can read several languages actually. So, assuming that he can speak the languages that he can read, we are safe to assume that he is a polyglot!
“Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary!”
And lo, and behold, we deduce that he is a British Polyglot Professor! And all it took was to observe in the manner of the greatest detective ever…
Umm, I meant the second best detective ever!
Summing up, in a beautifully made film about dogs, our forgotten/minor character is a multilingual English educator!
The Animation Commendation 
I love this post!!! and thanks for including Poirot in it =D
Lol you’re welcome 🙂 ! And thanks for reading it!