''Ben and Me'' is an American animated two-reel short subject produced by Walt Disney Productions and released theatrically on November 10, 1953. It was adapted from the book of the same name written by author/illustrator Robert Lawson and first published in 1939. Though both book and film deal with the relationship between a mouse and American Founding Father

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

, the book, with illustrations by Lawson, focused more heavily on actual historical events and personages, and included incidents from Franklin's French career at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

. The short received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

nomination for Best Short Subject, Two-reel. This short was also notable for being the second release on the Buena Vista Distribution label, with the first being '' Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom'', released on the same day. On its release, ''Ben and Me'' was packaged with the feature-length '' True-Life Adventures'' nature documentary film '' The Living Desert''. When Disney's regular distributor RKO Radio Pictures resisted Disney's idea of releasing a feature-length ''True-Life Adventures'' nature documentary film, Disney formed his own distribution company to handle future Disney releases. A '' D-TV'' music video was created in which the short was set to

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

's '' For Once in My Life''.

Plot

At a statue of

, a tour group leader is discussing to a group of children Franklin's great impact in American history. At the same time on the Franklin statue's head, the leader of a tour group of young mice reveals the contributions of a mouse named Amos (also immortalized as a statue on Franklin's hat) to Franklin's career, reading from Amos' diary, titled ''Ben and Me''. After describing the exploits of some of his ancestors, which includes one sailing on the Mayflower to come to America, Amos tells his own story. The eldest of 26 siblings living in the Christ Church, Philadelphia, Amos sets out on his own in 1745 to find work and help his large family. Having no such luck, he takes shelter in Ben's shop from the bitter cold and snow and befriends the beleaguered printer, who is grave danger of having his press and all he owns repossessed by bill collectors. Amos invents bifocals for Ben from his two broken pairs of glasses, and inspires him to create the Franklin stove. Amos also helps Ben turn his dry publication, '' Poor Richard's Almanack'', into a successful newspaper, the ''

Pennsylvania Gazette ''The Pennsylvania Gazette'' was one of the United States' most prominent newspapers from 1728 until 1800. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the newspaper served as a voice for colonial opposition to Kingdom of Great Britain, ...

''; Amos acts as journalist to gather good stories and helps Ben operate the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

. As the years pass, Amos helps Ben advance socially and build his reputation. Unfortunately, Ben makes Amos an unwitting test subject in his experiments with

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

, culminating in him sending the mouse into the air as part of his kite experiment. Amos is nearly killed when the kite is struck by lightning and crashes to the ground. Furious, he leaves Ben and moves back in with his family. Years later, the early stages of the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

take place. Ben travels to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to try to reason with the king and persuade an end to the taxes, but this proves a failure. When Amos sees Ben returning in despondence, one part of him has pity and wants to help, while the other part still unforgiving. In 1776, Ben finds Amos' hole at the church and begs him for his help. Amos agrees on the condition that Ben sign a contract agreeing to his terms. As Ben is reading the contract,

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

comes by, struggling with writing the introduction to the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

. The language in Amos' contract inspires Jefferson, and it becomes the Declaration's introduction. Amos accompanies Ben to the signing of the Declaration. The short ends with both tour groups stating how both man and mouse were truly great figures in American history.

Voice cast

* Sterling Holloway as Amos Mouse * Charlie Ruggles as

* Stan Freberg as mouse guide * Bill Thompson as Governor Keith, and as the human tour guide * Hans Conried as

, and as a criminal * Jimmy MacDonald as miscellaneous men

Home media

The short was released on December 6, 2005, on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s''. Additional releases include: * On VHS under the ''Walt Disney Mini-Classics'' label in 1989. * On DVD under the ''Disney Generations Collection'' in 2012.

References

External links

* *
''Ben and Me''
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on April 4, 2012. {{Hamilton Luske Works about Benjamin Franklin 1950s Disney animated short films Animated films about animals Animated films about mice American Revolutionary War films Films set in Pennsylvania Films set in Philadelphia Films set in the Thirteen Colonies 1953 children's films 1950s children's animated films Films directed by Hamilton Luske Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Oliver Wallace Films set in 1745 Films set in 1776 Cultural depictions of Benjamin Franklin Cultural depictions of Thomas Jefferson Secret histories Animated films based on children's books Animation based on real people 1950s English-language films American animated short films Films with screenplays by Bill Peet English-language short films 1953 animated short films