# Old cartoon aficiandos: poor kids go to heaven?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 5, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843 "2008-12-05T13:58:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843/1 "2008-12-05T13:58:29Z")

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My wife tells me there was an old, old cartoon she once saw when she was little, maybe old Disney or Max Fleischer style. It was about two little kids, a brother and a sister, who were very poor but one night (Christmas Eve?) settled down to sleep, and then dreamed that they went to some kind of fantasyland where cornstalks yielded ice cream cones.

Any ideas? Sounds vaguely familiar to me as well, but I can’t put my finger on it.

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**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843/2 "2008-12-05T14:03:53Z")

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> [@Koxinga](#):
>
> My wife tells me there was an old, old cartoon she once saw when she was little, maybe old Disney or Max Fleischer style. It was about two little kids, a brother and a sister, who were very poor but one night (Christmas Eve?) settled down to sleep, and then dreamed that they went to some kind of fantasyland where cornstalks yielded ice cream cones.
> 
> Any ideas? Sounds vaguely familiar to me as well, but I can’t put my finger on it.

I’m pretty sure I know the one you mean. When they wake up in the morning, they find that the local baker, butcher, what have you have taken pity on them and brought an amazing feast? I’m think it was Fleischer, and is the kind of thing you get on those public domain cartoon DVDs.

ETA: Here we go, “Somewhere in Dreamland”:

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028277/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028277/)

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843/3 "2008-12-05T15:11:39Z")

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The first cartoon I thought of was **The Little Match Girl** (I think this is Ub Iwerks, but the credits missing), which is a maudlin and tragic little piece. The Match Girl dreams she’s in a Heaven full of all the things she needs. Then she dies:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jNxQcIZ6ji4/hqdefault.jpg "THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNxQcIZ6ji4)

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**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843/4 "2008-12-05T16:41:47Z")

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> [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](#):
>
> I’m pretty sure I know the one you mean. When they wake up in the morning, they find that the local baker, butcher, what have you have taken pity on them and brought an amazing feast? I’m think it was Fleischer, and is the kind of thing you get on those public domain cartoon DVDs.
> 
> ETA: Here we go, “Somewhere in Dreamland”:
> 
> [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028277/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028277/)

That’s incredible, thanks! Thanks also to CalMeacham. – Koxinga

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**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843/5 "2008-12-06T06:50:19Z")

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From my wife’s description, I was sure that was it, but . . . she says it’s _very, very similar_ but still not the cartoon she remembers. She says the style was a bit more modern, and the kids weren’t as poor, so I’m guessing after the Depression. Was there maybe a remake or knockoff by another studio later on?

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**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843/6 "2008-12-06T07:01:26Z")

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I think I saw it, too. Does it end with the little boy eating his whole dish of ice cream and then for some reason poking himself in the butt with his fork?

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843/7 "2008-12-06T22:19:08Z")

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He wanted to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw20NxGJg4A](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw20NxGJg4A)

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**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843/8 "2008-12-06T22:21:01Z")

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> [@rowrrbazzle](#):
>
> He wanted to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw20NxGJg4A](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw20NxGJg4A)

Ah! There it is.

Their mom looks suspiciously like Olive Oyl.

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**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-cartoon-aficiandos-poor-kids-go-to-heaven/475843/9 "2008-12-08T18:41:06Z")

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> [@Koxinga](#):
>
> From my wife’s description, I was sure that was it, but . . . she says it’s _very, very similar_ but still not the cartoon she remembers. She says the style was a bit more modern, and the kids weren’t as poor, so I’m guessing after the Depression. Was there maybe a remake or knockoff by another studio later on?

I got nothin’, I’m afraid. Paramount, which came to own the rights to the Fleischer cartoons, sold them to companies that treated them brutally, so I suppose someone could have re-drawn and softened “Somewhere in Dreamland”, but I’ve got no evidence to establish that.
