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The Sea Circus Animals are characters from the 1938 Silly Symphony animated short Merbabies.
Background[]
Several of these animals are of marine animals that substitute animals commonly found in the circus. Such animals that appear throughout the circus sequence can include substitutions for mammals, such as octopi substituting elephants, seahorses substituting terrestrial equines (such as horses and donkeys), eels substituting camels, predatory fish substituting felines (such as lions and tigers), or snails substituting pinnipeds (such as sea lions). In addition to these said substitutions, some of the animals also have anthropomorphic characteristics, such as fish, starfish, or crabs serving as acrobats, musicians, or other circus performers.
Appearances[]
Merbabies[]
As the Merbabies begin a parade across the seafloor, a chariot of seahorses are seen being pulled while the bandleader blows his whistle to mark the start of a circus parade while conducting a band. During the parade, another Merbaby bangs an pufferfish, using it as a drum. As the parade occurs throughout the sea, a large group of octopi substituting elephants known as octopus elephants walk across the street and hold each others' tentacles, which they use them as tails and trunks respectively. Amongst one of them is a smaller octopus elephant following the other adult octopus elephants. As the parade continues, caged creatures consisting of sea creatures substituting terrestrial animals are seen throughout the parade. One of the cages shows a tiger fish ferociously roaring in its cage carried by four snails. More seahorses, a snail substituting a giraffe, and two round fish with long tails are seen throughout the parade, followed by other Merbabies riding on sharks, an angelfish pulling a Hawaiian-themed parade float and a jellyfish substituting a palm tree. Another Merbaby also rides on an eel substituting a camel, as the parade continues with more sea creatures on their way to the circus just before the camera zooms into a grotto where the circus show begins.
After the parade, a circus performance occurs inside the grotto where everyone is gathered to watch the show. During an animal taming act, a Merbaby as an animal tamer instructs an octopus elephant standing on a blowfish using it as a ball, followed by more Merbabies riding on seahorses galloping across the ring equivalent to a horse-riding act at a circus resembling that of a Wild West show. Elsewhere in a cage, another Merbaby as an animal tamer trains several carnivorous fish substituting big cats - like sharks and catfish substituting lions and tigers; a shark opens its mouth while the tamer swims inside the mouth, impressing the crowd. Back with the other Merbaby as an animal tamer, the octopus elephant standing on the blowfish accidentally slips, flattening the fish, much to the octopus' worry of what he did to the fish. Meanwhile, an eel transforms into the shape of hoops where the Merbabies and their respective seahorses leap over the eel while two starfish clowns are pulling another seahorse substituting a donkey that refuses to jump over a hoop.
Later, another Merbaby interacts with snails substituting sea lions bouncing pearls on their heads while another one conducted by another animal tamer blows on shells used as trumpets throughout the show. The distracted baby snail becomes attracted during the performance, as he leaps onto one of the trumpets, causing the big snail to be trapped in a bubble. The bubble accidentally lands on the spot where the clowns are trying to handle the donkey, causing him to run in fear, just as he and the two clowns find themselves clinging onto a pole held by a turtle. Afterwards, the crowd cheers for a performance while the baby snail happily reacts with feedback from the crowd.
The baby snail then sees the Merbabies interacting with bubbles, unaware that there is a whale behind him. Just as the whale wakes up, the sea creatures and the Merbabies retreat in fear, only for the whale to sneeze (which ends the presentation), but not before the snail notices the Merbabies floating up to the surface of the ocean, followed by the Merbabies later dissolving back into foam.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Clips of the sea circus animals in the parade sequence from Merbabies were later used for the "At the Codfish Ball" segment in the Disney's Sing-Along Songs volume of Under the Sea, showcasing clips of fish and aquatic animals from various Disney cartoons.
- If one looks closely in the circus where the Merbabies are watching the show, they can see some fish sitting with some Merbabies, showing that some of the audience members not only include Merbabies, but also fish as well.