Susie the Little Blue Coupe

Susie the Little Blue Coupe is a 1952 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and originally released by RKO Radio Pictures on June 6, 1952.[1][2] The eight-minute film was directed by Clyde Geronimi and based on an original short-story by Bill Peet. The story was adapted for the screen by Peet and Don DaGradi.

Susie the Little Blue Coupe
Directed byClyde Geronimi
Produced byWalt Disney
Story byBill Peet (story & adaptation)
Don DaGradi (adaptation)
StarringStan Freberg
Narrated bySterling Holloway
Music byPaul J. Smith
Animation byBob Carlson
Ollie Johnston
Hal King
Cliff Nordberg
George Rowley (effects)
Layouts byHugh Hennesy
Don Griffith
Backgrounds byRalph Hulett
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • June 6, 1952 (1952-06-06)
Running time
7 min. 36 sec.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Susie is a small blue coupe on display in a dealer showroom who is bought by a well-to-do man who is taken with her. Thrust into high-society, she finds herself surrounded by much larger, more luxurious cars but eventually makes do. He treats the car well but neglects to maintain her; after years of neglect, wear and tear, the car no longer runs properly and the owner, when informed that Susie needs a massive overhaul, abandons Susie for a new vehicle. At a used car lot, Susie is purchased again, but the new owner, a cigar-smoking man who lives in a seedier part of town, does not treat the car with the same fondness as the first and leaves her on the curbside at night.

One night, she is stolen, chased by the police and is wrecked; presumed "dead", she is sent to a junkyard. She shows stirrings of life, even in her wrecked state, and a young man notices and buys her at a bargain price. With the help of his friends, the young man completely restores and revives Susie as a brand new hot rod. An overjoyed and like-new Susie rides off. [3]

Home media

The DVD release of The Love Bug featured this short as a special feature.[4] The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad DVD also features the short as a bonus episode on the DVD's trivia section.[5]

It also appeared on the It's A Small World of Fun Vol.2 DVD.[6]

Legacy

The film's method of anthropomorphizing the cars, using the windshield for the eyes and eyelids, served as a stylistic inspiration for the 2006 Disney-Pixar animated feature, Cars and its sequels and spin-offs.[7]

References
  1. Susie the Little Blue Coupe is Released - D23
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 153. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  3. Internet Archive
  4. The Love Bug: Special Edition on DVDizzy
  5. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad on DVDizzy
  6. Walt Disney's It's a Small World of Fun! Volume 2 on DVDizzy
  7. "Cars Production Notes" (PDF). Disney. Archived from the original on March 8, 2007. Among the biggest design inspirations for Lasseter and his team was the classic 1952 Disney short, “Susie the Little Blue Coupe.”CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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