Q: Dave, in a recent answer to a question about the actors who provided voices for the Dumbo animated feature, you mentioned the elephants Matriarch, Fidgity, Giddy, and Prissy, and then said, “good luck to anyone who knows which elephant is which.” That answer, of course, begs the question: Do you know which is which?
Jim, Cape Canaveral, Florida
A: In doing more research, I see that the elephants have not always been referred to by the same names. Fidgity and Giddy were also called Catty and Giggles. According to John Grant in his Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters, at the beginning of the film, Matriarch has the pink-violet headdress, Catty has the yellow, Giggles the blue, and Prissy the red. Matriarch is the leader of the group; when the stork asks if she is the one receiving the baby, she haughtily replies, “Certainly Not.” Prissy’s reply is “The very idea!” Later on, when the elephants first see Dumbo’s huge ears, Catty is the one who says in an undertone, “Just look at those E.A.R.S.,” with Giggles responding, “Those what? Oh, ears!”
Dave Smith