The peaceful young bull who, since he first appeared in Munro Leaf's book in 1936 (LIFE, Feb. 21), has become Animal No. 1 of the publishing world, is now in color on the screen. To Robert Lawson's celebrated drawings have been added Walt Disney's sly and cock-eyed genius at caricature and a hilariously purring sound track by Radio Announcer Don Wilson. What emerges from this combination is a completely charming creature with a benign white nose who threatens to supplant Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Lone Ranger's Silver as the most beloved animal of the movies.
Ferdinand's debut as a movie star coincides roughly with the sale of the 200.000th copy of his book. Simultaneously, he becomes an important personage in the U.S. industrial world. He is appearing in 56 different forms, including $50 brooches by Cartier, $5 scarves for women, dolls. toys, soap, prints on cotton and silk, pajamas, shirts, ties, umbrellas, raincoats, balloons and stationery. In Paris a new chenille material with a Ferdimnd motif has been brought out, and in the U.S. the gentle bull will sniff flowers on 3.000.000 packages of Post Toasties. Ferdinand runs second only to Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs, whose images have been licensed by Disney for 100,000 different products. […]
