Johnny Appleseed (film)

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Johnny Appleseed
Directed by Wilfred Jackson
Produced by Walt Disney
Written by Winston Hibler
Joe Rinaldi
Erdman Penner
Jesse Marsh
Starring Dennis Day
Music by Paul J. Smith
Cinematography Hal Ambro & Harvey Toombs (animators)
Release date(s) May 27, 1948
Running time 19 minutes
Country USA
Language English
IMDb profile
Johnny Appleseed
Johnny Appleseed

Johnny Appleseed is a bio-fiction animated feature from Walt Disney, using the nickname of Johnny Appleseed, a real-life American frontiersman born as John Chapman.

In the movie, Johnny Appleseed is a farmer, watching others go west, and wishing he could, too. In real life, Johnny Appleseed was apprenticed as a teenager to an orchardist, but is footloose and fancy-free; he heads for the frontier, and his parents and siblings follow later. In the movie, Johnny Appleseed is inspired by an angel to abandon his farm, go west, and plant apple seeds everywhere he goes. In real life, Johnny Appleseed's angel was a young woman he befriended and supported financially, who he caught romancing another man. In real life, Johnny is a commercial nurseryman, planting nurseries where he believes families will settle in a year or two, so that he will have young trees available for sale when the settlers arrive. In the movie, Johnny Appleseed befriends a skunk, and thereafter, all animals instinctively trust him. In real life, Johnny Appleseed is known to have been attacked by bears and snakes. In the movie, Johnny is clean, and walks easily through a well-manicured parklike frontier in beautiful weather. In real life, Johnny was barefoot and wore rags in blizzards, and braved disease-ridden swamps.

[edit] Prior release

The film was originally a sequence in Disney's Melody Time. It was originally released May 27, 1948.

[edit] Cast

Dennis Day performed all roles.

[edit] External links