Pluto the Dog's first film appearance came in the 1930 short The Chain Gang. In fact there were two identical dogs in the film. It is not known what happened to the other pup, but Pluto went on to stardom in a very short time. His second appearance was in The Picnic where he appeared as Minnie Mouse’s dog, Rover. It was not until The Moose Hunt in 1931 that the pup was named Pluto and he became Mickey Mouse’s pet.
After appearing in a number of shorts with Mickey, he finally got his own series in 1937. The first Pluto cartoon was Pluto's Quin-Puplets. Pluto's final appearance for many years was in the TV composite The Coyote's Lament, theatrically released in 1968. With the disappearances of shorts from theater programs Pluto did not make another appearance until his cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, followed by The Prince and the Pauper in 1990 and Runaway Brain in 1995. Today he frequently appears in TVs House of the Mouse and in person (in dog?) at the Disney theme parks around the world.
Pluto on Stamps
To celebrate Pluto's 50th anniversary, six postal administrations issued stamps between November 1980 and March 1982. Each offered a Pluto birthday stamp in an eight-stamp sheetlet, although Turks and Caicos offered two stamp values and Togo first released its stamps in sheets of 25 and later in a sheetlet of eight. Additionally, each issued a souvenir sheet depicting a scene from a Pluto short, plus a two-colour cachet portraying Pluto at his birthday party.
All the depictions were drawn expressly for the 50th anniversary series by Disney artists. The art of the souvenir sheets is taken directly from the motion picture film, from which colour balanced duplicate transparencies were made to maintain the best quality for colour replication. The other countries to issue were: Dominica (#2 below), Grenada (#1 and 3 below); Grenada Grenadines and Maldives (#4 below).
Specifications
The sheetlets are all horizontal (5 ½" x 7"), consisting of two rows of four vertical stamps each, and bordered on three sides with legends that mark the anniversary. "First Appearance 1930 The Chain Gang" on the left; "Happy 1980 Birthday" on the right; and "1930 Pluto's 50th Anniversary 1980" on the top. Every stamp in the sheetlet is made unique with a different perforated tab which cites a Pluto movie title and its release year (Togo's are in French). With the titles on the sheetlet tabs and those on the bottom borders of the souvenir sheets, the collector gets a comprehensive, though not complete, Pluto filmography.
For more information of Disney Stamps go to Collecting Disney Stamps and Collecting the First Disney Stamps. For a complete listing of all of the Disney stamps issued between 1968 and 2008, see Disnemation, the Disney on Stamps website.
Sources:
- Handbook of Disney Philately - Wonderful World of Stamps – 1990
- Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters – John Grant – 1998
