Everyone knows Mickey and Minnie and Donald and Daisy. There’s Belle and the Beast and Lady and Tramp, but what about Peter and Polly Penguin? These two early Disney sweethearts appeared in the Silly Symphony Peculiar Penguins, which first waddled into theaters on this day in 1934. This full-color tale of the black and white creatures seemed like a perfect topic for an animated short. After all, as the lyrics in the film’s song state, “For the penguin is a very funny creature. After seeing one, I know you can’t deny. For there’s nothing so peculiar than a penguin, unless it’s you and I.” Out of the 50 million penguins in this colony, this story focuses on Peter and Polly and their wintry antics on Penguin Island. The adorable couple, who wed by the film’s end, never received another starring role, but if you take a close look at the audience in the 1936 cartoon short Mickey’s Polo Team, you’ll see the newlyweds observing the game.
