So Dear to My Heart (film) Jeremiah Kincaid lives on his grandmother’s farm, adopts a baby black lamb, and names him Danny. When Uncle Hiram tells him of the prizes sheep can win at the fair, Jeremiah begins to train Danny to be a champion, although once too often the sheep runs afoul of Granny because of his destructive tendencies. But they do go to the fair where the lamb wins a special award. Contains several animated sequences that teach Jeremiah lessons such as “It’s Whatcha Do with Whatcha Got” and “Stick-to-it-ivity.” Released on January 19, 1949. Directed by Harold Schuster. 82 min. Stars Burl Ives (Uncle Hiram), Beulah Bondi (Granny Kincaid), Bobby Driscoll (Jeremiah Kincaid), Luana Patten (Tildy). Ives sings the famous “Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)” by Larry Morey and Eliot Daniel (adapted from a folk song) nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. Bobby Driscoll, the young lead, received a special outstanding juvenile Oscar for his movies that year (which included the non-Disney film, The Window). Filmed in Sequoia National Park and the San Joaquin Valley of California. The train station used on the set had another life after the film was shot. Disney artist Ward Kimball was given the station by Walt Disney to install at his Southern California home. Kimball was an avid railroad buff who had railroad tracks running down his driveway, and he enjoyed surprising new neighbors by stoking up his full-size locomotive on a Sunday afternoon. The film was reissued in 1964 and released on video in 1986 and 1992.
