Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.

June 16, 2007 2:49 AM

The Unicorn In The Garden by James Thurber, a Columbia Pictures short from 1953. [YouTube, approx. 7 mins.] Original text here. Read all about the life and times of James Thurber at the Thurber House. More information here and here.
posted by amyms (19 comments total)

The YouTube link was found via Jewaira's Boudoir.
posted by amyms at 2:51 AM on June 16, 2007

Note: After exploring Jewaira's Boudoir further, I should mention that some things there might be NSFW, but the Thurber cartoon and the related links in the FPP are perfectly safe. lol :)
posted by amyms at 3:05 AM on June 16, 2007

You've been in my house, haven't you? In my house and at my BOOKSHELF. And even in my wardrobe. I have a Thurber T-shirt. OOH why I... OOOHH!!
posted by louche mustachio at 3:15 AM on June 16, 2007

So...um... what hatches out of boobies, anyway?
posted by louche mustachio at 3:22 AM on June 16, 2007

Don't forget the TV show.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:32 AM on June 16, 2007 [2 favorites]

!!!
I need to remember something to forget it. Cool.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:37 AM on June 16, 2007

louche mustachio's link includes a use of the word jejune too.

James Thurber, we salute you.
posted by imperium at 4:44 AM on June 16, 2007

Apologies, it's doctor_negative's link. You knew what I meant, perhaps.
posted by imperium at 4:44 AM on June 16, 2007

I did a little more research on the cartoon... It's from United Productions of America (UPA, under contract to Columbia Pictures), an animation studio which was founded after the Disney writers' strike of 1941. The UPA has a really interesting history (and a great body of work).
posted by amyms at 6:32 AM on June 16, 2007

I love this! For some reason they used to show this to us when it rained and we couldn't go outside to recess. Late 1970's, Urbana Illinois.

They also used to show Winter of the Witch, which is just as bizzare.
posted by dirtdirt at 6:39 AM on June 16, 2007

My high school performed this, along with other Thurber craziness.
posted by oaf at 7:49 AM on June 16, 2007

I live right down the street from the Thurber House, and own most of his works - I think we should have a Thurber meetup!
posted by Liosliath at 8:22 AM on June 16, 2007

I found this depressing!
posted by niccolo at 9:26 AM on June 16, 2007

Nobody did misanthropy, and misogyny, like Thurber. Great post, I didn't know there was such a film!
posted by everichon at 9:33 AM on June 16, 2007

Oooh. This is my favourite Thurber story. I also had no idea this short existed, yay, thanks.
posted by routergirl at 9:45 AM on June 16, 2007

Nice find, and thanks! The story is from Thurber's Fables For Our Time (an earlier, hipper, cleverer, better version of the kind of thing Politically Correct Fairy Tales wanted to be). Now we just gotta look for cartoons of The Little Girl and the Wolf and The Very Proper Gander....
posted by JHarris at 12:24 PM on June 16, 2007

Ah -- brings to mind Thurber's wall drawings.

"James Thurber originals -- pencil on aging plaster. Rarely seen. Transported from the old New Yorker building on 43rd Street to the Conde Nast building."

Growing up in the next town over, I recall hearing that folks found other wall drawings/murals that had been wall-papered over in his West Cornwall, Connecticut home.
posted by ericb at 1:16 PM on June 16, 2007

What about the unicorn in Blade Runner?
posted by Joeforking at 3:13 PM on June 16, 2007

This reminds of my favorite unicorn short.

That fucking cunt got what she deserved. Great story.
posted by subaruwrx at 8:29 PM on June 16, 2007