Baby Mine: Mrs. Jumbo (Dumbo)

Baby Mine: Mrs. Jumbo (Dumbo)

Mrs. Jumbo is perhaps the greatest mother in the history of animation. She wants nothing but to protect her son, who due to the unfortunate size of his ears, is subject to ridicule from just about everyone who sees him. She is utterly maternal, and her pride sometimes demands retaliation for this treatment, slamming the elephant-cage door in the faces of the snide circus elephants who jeer and gossip cattily. Like hard-working blue-collar humans, Mrs. Jumbo is made to perform menial tasks in order to provide for her son. She is subjected to degrading circus performances which give new meaning to the phrase “working for peanuts”. When Dumbo is guffawed at by the circus spectators, an irate Mrs. Jumbo loses her patience. She goes on a rampage, scaring clowns and stomping flats. The circus officials rush in with ropes and proceed to tie her down like Kunta Kinte being captured by the slave traders. The anguished mother is caged in solitary confinement, torn from her baby and abused as a “mad elephant”. Timothy Q. Mouse, a brassy rodent in a shiny marching bandleader’s uniform, empathizes with the elephant calf hiding pathetically under a mound of hay and offers to help him see his mother. Thus comes what is one of the most moving scenes in filmdom, animated or live-action: Dumbo being rocked in his mother’s trunk to the croon of “Baby Mine”, a love song/lullaby so tear-jerking that Michael Crawford included a rendition of it on his CD of his personal favorite Disney songs. Like all unfairly-accused victims locked up and tied down, saddled with the epithet “mad”, Mrs. Jumbo is simply exerting her opinion and her rights when she frantically tries to keep her son with her. Her ‘crime’ was an act of passion, that of a mother protecting her child. Human or elephant, the instinct to shield and defend is second nature to parents, and should be revered.

Dumbo Quotes
Mr. Stork: Oh, one moment, please. This is still part of the service. [blows tuning whistle] Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear...uh--dear... Dear me, what's his name?
Mrs. Jumbo: Jumbo...Junior.
Mr. Stork: Oh, Jumbo Jr. Right, Jumbo Jr. [blows whistle again] Happy birthday, dear Jumbo Jr., happy birthday...to-hooo-oooo...[he is suddenly snagged on the mail hook at the train station and yanked off the train)...you!