Dumbo of the Circus

First page of the story.

***Dumbo of the Circus*** is the first comic adaptation of  *Dumbo*. It was released prior to the film's release and was both penciled and inked by Irving Tripp. It features the titular character, Dumbo, as well as Timothy Mouse, Mrs Jumbo, Mr Stork, the  Ringmaster,  Rajah, the Crows, including  Jim, and others.

## Plot

Many of the animal performers at  the circus are having their children delivered to them via stork. Among these is Mrs. Jumbo, who receives hers, a baby boy, from Mr. Stork while on the circus's train,  Casey, Jr. Unfortunately, her child, Dumbo, is ostracized due to his oversized ears. While trying to defend her son from a childish bully, Mrs. Jumbo lands herself in solitary confinement, leaving Dumbo to be cared for by his new friend and defender, Timothy Q. Mouse, who tries to convince the Ringmaster to make Dumbo a star. When his plans fail, it may be up to a group of crows to help teach Dumbo how to use his ears to help him soar to new heights.

### References

* The name of the elephant matriarch is revealed to be Rajah.
* The Ringmaster is said to wear "false teeth."
* It is stated to have been spring when Dumbo was delivered.
* Timothy Mouse is called "Tim" several times throughout the course of the story, indicating that this is a nickname for him.
* The name of Dumbo's circus was changed to the *Dumbo Flying Circus* at the end of the story.

### Continuity

* The comic story is a direct adaptation of the animated film,  *Dumbo*, but shares many differences including, but not limited to, the following:
	+ In the film, Dumbo was initially named "Jumbo, Jr." and was given his more well-known name as an insult. The "Jumbo, Jr." name is not mentioned at all in the comic, which has Mrs. Jumbo herself referring to her son as "Dumbo."
	+ The comic completely omits the scene with Dumbo and Timothy drinking spiked water as well as its followup scene, the famous  "pink elephants" sequence. Instead, after visiting with his mother in solitary confinement, Dumbo "frolics around the countryside" while Timothy sleeps in his hat, with the two, as in the film, waking up in a tree the next day.
	+ Whereas the film has Timothy signing a Hollywood contract, the comic has him signing "a nice fat contract for Dumbo with a pension for his mother and all sorts of special extras."
	+ Instead of losing the magic feather while falling, the comic has him losing it after he had already begun flying.
	+ The comic features sequences of the crows trying to teach Dumbo to fly that were not present in the film.
	+ Some of the dialogue is different and, notably, Mrs. Jumbo speaks more in the comic than in the film, where she only had one line.
* A remake of the story was released in 1954, entitled *The Flying Elephant*.

## Behind the scenes

The comic was penciled and inked by Irving Tripp and written by an unknown author ahead of the release of *Dumbo*. It was written as an adaptation of the film, which, in turn, was based on the 1939 story, *Dumbo the Flying Elephant* by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl. Its initial release was in *Large Feature Comics* #19, which had a cover date of January the 1st, 1941.

### Notes & References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 W OSI *Dumbo of the Circus* on *INDUCKS*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Large Feature Comics #19* on *Comic Vine*