Saludos, amigos! It was on this day in 1942 that the 16 mm film South of the Border with Disney was delivered to the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.
That’s my business, I can do that.
As Walt Disney once explained, “I was asked by the government to go to South America . . . and I went down with a staff to see if I couldn’t make a film about the ABC countries down there. There’s Argentine, Brazil and Chile. They first wanted me to go on a hand-shaking goodwill tour and I said, ‘I don’t go for that, I’m not a good hand shaker’ and everything, and then they came back and said, ‘Will you go down and make some films about these countries?’ I said, ‘Well, that’s my business, I can do that.'”
The first film to come out of that historic trip was Saludos Amigos, but another film, South of the Border with Disney, was also created under the auspices of Coordinator of Intern-American Affairs and was delivered to them on this day in 1942. The half-hour documentary details the inspirational trip and is described in the film as “a camera record of a survey trip through all of the Americas by Walt Disney and a group of 18 artists, musicians and writers.
“The visit resulted in a better understanding of the art, music, folklore and humor of our Latin American friends and a wealth of material for future cartoon subjects.”
