Mrs. Jumbo is a major character in Disney's 1941 animated feature film Dumbo. She is a maternal circus elephant who had long-awaited for the opportunity to have a child of her own. Mrs. Jumbo’s pleas were answered upon the stork’s delayed delivery of her son, Dumbo, who was born with abnormally large and floppy ears.
Appearances
Dumbo
Mrs. Jumbo is first seen one night awaiting a stork, but starts to lose patience when she doesn't receive her baby, unlike the other circus animals. The next morning, she enters the circus train but stops on the footbridge to look out for the stork. However, an impatient Matriarch forces her to move on to the train by nudging her backside and finally ends Mrs. Jumbo's lookout by insensibly pushing her up the ramp and into the car. During the train ride, she is visited by Mr. Stork, who had apparently become lost. She names her new baby Jumbo Jr. The stork leaves after singing "Happy Birthday" to the baby and the other elephants compliment the baby elephant. However, when the baby sneezes and reveals oversized ears after being tickled by the Matriarch on the trunk, they immediately begin teasing him. Mrs. Jumbo responds by slapping one of the elephants, who was touching and mocking her son's ears at the time, prompting them to give him the cruel nickname of "Dumbo." A furious Mrs. Jumbo closes the stall door in their faces, allowing her and Dumbo to rest peacefully.
When the circus stops, Mrs. Jumbo assists in the setup of the tent with the kind help of her son as well. The next morning, she and Dumbo walk in the circus parade. Dumbo trips over his ears and falls into the mud, and so Mrs. Jumbo bathes him when they return to the circus. Soon after having spent a moment of playing a game of tail-pulling, a group of boys enters the tent and they begin teasing Dumbo. When one of the boys enters the pen (which is off limits), pulls Dumbo's ears, and blows in them, Mrs. Jumbo reacts by spanking him and throwing bales of hay at the other bullies whom loudly scream for help. Drawn in by the noise, the Ringmaster arrives and tries to calm her down with his whip but to no avail.
Due to the circus not knowing Mrs. Jumbo was provoked by the rowdy boys breaking the rules and bullying her baby, she is assumed to have gone mad and is held down with ropes by the circus employees as well as having chains locked around her legs while others try to stop her with catch poles. When one of the circus employees takes her son away from her and the Ringmaster whips her again, she trumpets in pain, grabs him with her trunk, and throws him in her drinking tub. She is then locked up in solitary confinement to keep her away from circus gusts.
After Dumbo becomes a clown in the circus, his friend, Timothy Q. Mouse brings him to visit Mrs. Jumbo in her cage. Though her shackles prevent her from moving much, she is able to use her trunk to caress and swing her son with her trunk. However, the visit is all too short, and Mrs. Jumbo sadly waves goodbye.
At the end of the film, Dumbo has become famous for his ability to fly. As a result, Mrs. Jumbo is released from solitary confinement and she and Dumbo receive a private train car. She is last seen caressing and hugging her son and waving goodbye to Dumbo's new friends, the Crows, who had earlier taught Dumbo how to fly.
Other appearances
Mrs. Jumbo can be easily spotted leaving toward Toontown in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
In the series finale of At Home With Olaf, a short clip of Dumbo featuring Mrs. Jumbo and the film's title character as her son appears during a montage of heartwarming moments from Disney films playing in Olaf's song "I Am with You".
Gallery
Trivia
- Mrs. Jumbo remains largely mute throughout the film, with the only exception being a single line of spoken dialogue, “Jumbo, Jr.”.
- The line was recorded by the late Verna Felton, who also voiced the Elephant Matriarch.
- The animation of her caressing Dumbo during the "Baby Mine" song was recycled for use in Goliath II.
- Joe Grant and Dick Huemer changed Dumbo's mother's name from "Mother Ella" to "Mrs. Jumbo" as a reference to the famed Barnum & Bailey circus pachyderm.
See also
