Somewhere In Dreamland (1936) | Kids Escape Poverty

Produced by Paramount Pictures and directed by Dave Fleischer and Seymour Kneitel, Kids Escape Poverty is an animated short that was Fleisher Studios’ first technicolour animation. A part of the Color Classics series, the short was produced and set during the Great Depression and portrays childhood poverty and community. The story follows two siblings, a boy and a girl. The short opens with the siblings collecting firewood in town. Along their way, they pass by a tailor, a baker, and a toy maker, then stop by the bakery to admire the treats inside. The baker rushes out to offer them a treat, but the children have already moved on. The towns folk take note of the children’s situation and gather to make a plan. The children make it home, to a broken-down cabin made of wood. Their mother offers them dinner, a hardened piece of bread. The children must think with ingenuity to eat their dinner, dunking it in water. The mother does not eat. At the proclamation that the young boy is still hungry, his mother bursts into tears, and the boy comforts her by saying he was only “foolin.” While getting ready for bed, the children sing the song “Somewhere in Dreamland” and tuck themselves in under hole-riddled blankets. The children fall asleep and enter Dreamland, a nonsensical world that contains a bounty of things, including new clothes, giant presents, ever-growing ice cream cones and comfortable beds. There is a lovely three-dimensional shot between 6:22 – 6:29, that depicts the children riding on a chocolate cake-animal cracker merrie go-round. Waking up, the children are surprised by their neighbors, who have rallied together to provide them with food, presents, and festive decorations. 

(Duration: 9:06)