Directed by: George Scribner
Written by: Mark Twain
Music by: Nicholas Pike

Released on: November 16, 1990
Running Time: 24 minutes

Budget: $
Box-Office: $ in the U.S., $ million worldwide
 
 

CAST

Mickey/the Prince... Wayne Allwine
Donald Duck... Tony Anselmo
Goofy/Horace/Weasel #1/Pluto... Bill Farmer
Pete... Arthur Burghardt
Narrator... Roy Dotrice
Archbishop/Dying King... Frank Welker
Clarabelle... Elvia Allman
 
 

STORY

Long ago in a land with an ailing king, there was a pair of boys who looked exactly alike, a pauper called Mickey and the other, the Crown Prince. Mickey dreamed of plenty and an easy life as Royalty and the Prince dreamed of the freedom as a subject. Happenstance throws them together and their mutual resemblence inspires the pair to switch identities to see how the other lives. To their surprise, Mickey learns of the duties and responsibilties of royalty while the Prince learns to his horror that the Royal Captain of the Guard has taken advantage of the existing power vacuum to inflict brutal tyranny on the subjects. Now the Prince must react to this evil, unaware that the Captain knows about the identity swap and is using it to his own advantage while dominating Mickey who play the Heir to the Throne.
 

INTERESTING FACTS

  The Prince and the Pauper was released in 1881.  Not satiric and comic like his earlier books, it was Mark Twain's stab at respectablity; a book to get him accepted by the genteel Hartford society that he was living among. Twain, aka Clemens, researched thoroughly the history of the 16th century, when the book takes place; he read English history books and wrote long lists of words commonly used during the period, often turning to Shakespeare and Walter Scott for reference.

  Susy Clemens wrote of the book: "I have wanted papa to write a book that would reveal his kind sympathetic nature, and the 'Prince and Pauper' partly does it. The book is full of lovely charming ideas, and oh the language! it is perfect, I think."

  Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper tells of the real-life events of 1547 England, when King Henry VIII died and his son, Edward VI, took over the throne. Added to this historical fact is the fantastic story that shortly before the death of the king, Edward inadvertantly switches places with Tom Canty, a pauper. The eye-opening experiences of both boys in their new roles comprise the bulk of the book.

  The real-life Edward VI (the "Prince" of the title) was the son of Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour; he ascended to the throne upon his father's death on Jan. 28, 1547, at the age of nine years, reigning for only five and a half years; he died of measles, tuberculosis, and smallpox.  Edward VI in the book is a few years older than the real one at the time of his becoming king; also, the real-life Edward was a sickly child, unlike the healthy, courageous boy in the book.

  The Rescuers Down Under being short at 76 minutes, it was released accompanied by another animated feature, The Prince and the Pauper, starring Mickey Mouse in a dual role based on the Mark Twain classic.
 
 
 

MARK TWAIN

Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri in 1835, grew up in Hannibal. He was a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. Throughout his career, Twain served as a writer, lecturer, reporter, editor, printer, and prospector. Twain took his pen name from an alert cry used on his steamboat - "by the mark, twain".

In 1835, the small town of Florida, Missouri's most famous son was born. On November 30, Samuel Langhorne Clemens was welcomed into the world as the sixth child of John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton Clemens. Little did John and Jane know that their son Samuel would become known as Mark Twain, one of America's most famous writers.

Four years later, the Clemens family moved 35 miles east to Hannibal, a growing port city with steam boats arriving day and night from St. Louis and New Orleans.

Samuel's father was a judge, and he built a two-story frame house at 206 Hill street in 1844. As a youngster, Samuel was kept indoors because of poor health. However, by age nine, he seemed to recover from his ailments and joined the rest of the town's children outside. He then attended a private school in Hannibal.

When Samuel was 12, his father died, and at 13, Samuel left school to become a printer's apprentice. After two short years, he joined his brother Orion's newspaper as a printer and editorial assistant. It was here that young Samuel found he enjoyed writing.

At 17, he left Hannibal behind for a printer's job in St. Louis. While in St. Louis, Clemens became a river pilot's apprentice. He became a licensed river pilot in 1858. Clemens' pseudonym, Mark Twain, comes from his days as a river pilot. It is a river term which means two fathoms or twelve feet when the depth of water for a boat is being sounded. "Mark twain" means that is safe to navigate.

Because the river trade was brought to a stand still by the Civil War in 1861, Clemens began working as a newspaper reporter for several newspapers all over the United States. In 1870, Clemens married Olivia Langdon, and they had four children, one of whom died in infancy and two who died in their twenties. Their surviving child, Clara, lived to be 88, and had one daughter. Clara's daughter died without having any children, so there are no direct descendants of Samuel Clemens living.

Twain began to gain fame when his story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras County appeared in the New York Saturday Press on November 18, 1865. Twain's first book, The Innocents Abroad, was published in 1869, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1876, and The Prince and the Pauper in 1881. He wrote 28 books and numerous short stories, letters and sketches.

In November 1835, at the time of Clemens' birth, Halley's Comet made an appearance in the night sky. Strikingly, the comet's next appearance came during April 1910, the period of Clemens' death. Throughout his life, Clemens said that he would "go out with the comet," knowing the 75-year span between the comet's appearances. His prediction was amazingly accurate.

Mark Twain has a following still today. His childhood home is open to the public as a museum in Hannibal, Missouri and Calavaras County, California holds the Calavaras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee every third weekend in May. Walking tours are given in New York City of places Twain visited near his birthday every year.

Some random quotes from Mark Twain

"Something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read." - his definition of a classic.

"All you need is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure."

"It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt."

"When in doubt, tell the truth."

"Always do right. That will gratify some of the people, and astonish the rest."

"Where prejudice exists it always discolors our thoughts."

"Comedy keeps the heart sweet."

"The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are in the wrong. Nearly anybody will side with you when you are in the right."