Dumbo was based on a 36-page book called Roll-A-Book by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl.

It was one of the lowest-cost budget movies for Disney ever, coming in just under one million to make. It’s also the shortest Disney feature at 64 minutes. Walt Disney was asked to make it longer, but he felt it was perfect as it was. It created a strong profit for Disney.

Frank Churchill and Oliver Wallace won the Oscar for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture for their work on Dumbo.

Before home releases, the film was re-released in theaters first in 1949, then 1959, then 1972, and finally 1976. It was shown on TV via the Disneyland show in 1955 but only in black and white.

It was also the first Disney film clearly set in the United States rather than Europe or something generically fictional or presumably European.

Dumbo the Flying Elephant, the ride, was obviously based on the film and was made for Disneyland in 1955 and eventually for Disney World in Florida. After his presidency, Harry Truman apparently did not take the chance to ride it, as he was a Democrat and elephants were the symbol of the Republican Party.

During the entire movie, Dumbo doesn’t say a single word or line.

Finding a cel of the movie is quite valuable, as most of the film’s cels were tossed and thrown away since they were considered disposable.

The pink elephants bit is literally caused by Dumbo drinking water tainted with champagne.

In the movie, his sidekick is Timothy Q. Mouse, but in the book his sidekick is Red Robin. Timothy Q. Mouse had a scene called Sing a Song of Cheese, which was cut because it had nothing to do with the plot.

Dumbo was going to be on the cover of Time until the events of Pearl Harbor changed everything.

Walt Disney included a scene mocking animators who had gone on strike, which had happened to him for real.