Horton Hatches the Egg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Horton Hatches the Egg | |
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| Author | Dr. Seuss |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Publication date | 1940 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| OCLC | 189245 |
| Preceded by | The Seven Lady Godivas |
| Followed by | McElligot's Pool |
Horton Hatches the Egg is a children's book by Dr. Seuss, first published in 1940. The book, along with Horton Hears a Who later provided the thrust of the plot for the Broadway musical Seussical. The character Horton appeared again in Horton Hears a Who!, published in 1954.
Plot summary
The book concerns an elephant named Horton, who is convinced by an irresponsible bird named Mayzie to sit on her egg while she takes a long "break", which proves to last for months. Naturally, the absurd sight of an elephant sitting atop a tree makes quite a scene. Horton is laughed at by his jungle friends, exposed to the elements, captured by hunters, forced to endure a terrible sea voyage, and finally placed in a traveling circus. When the egg hatches, the creature that emerges is a cross between Horton and Mayzie, and Horton and the baby are returned to the jungle.
[edit] Merrie Melodies adaptation
Horton Hatches the Egg was adapted into a ten-minute animated short film by Leon Schlesinger Productions in 1942, released as part of Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes series. The short was directed by Bob Clampett.
In producing the cartoon, Clampett's unit did not use a storyboard, as was the customary practice; instead, they sketched and wrote additional ideas for the cartoon in Clampett's copy of Seuss' book. Several elements not in the original book were added to the cartoon, including a fish caricature of Peter Lorre who shoots himself in the head after seeing Horton on the boat (a common, darkly humorous gag that has been edited out when shown on most television channels, particularly Cartoon Network, TBS, and TNT), a breathy Katharine Hepburn impersonation by Mayzie, and a popular nonsense tune of that era, "The Hut-Sut Song" by Horace Heidt, sung by Horton and his son.
[edit] Soyuzmultfilm adaptation
In 1966, Soyuzmultfilm released an 18-minute Russian film adaptation called I Am Waiting for a Nestling.[1] It was directed by Nikolai Serebryakov and won the Silver Medal for Best Children's Film at Tours in 1967.
[edit] Random House Video
In 1992, Random House released "Horton Hatches the Egg" in their series of Dr. Seuss videos. Billy Crystal narrated the video. It's in the same style as all of the other Random House / Dr. Seuss videos. "If I Ran the Circus" is second in the double feature video.
