An animated short Bill Peet wrote and designed about Goliath II, a tiny five-inch-tall elephant who proves his worth despite his size. It grew out of one of Bill's own stashed-away stories, sacrificed when he needed a project after Walt punished him with a stint on peanut butter commercials. Bill also wrote and illustrated the Goliath II book, published by Golden Book.
Walt had accused Bill of having a mental block and punished him by sending him downstairs to work on peanut butter commercials. As Bill recalled in his autobiography: "I toughed it out for about two months on peanut butter commercials, then stubbornly decided to return to my room, 3B8, on the third floor, whether Walt liked it or not. The room was undisturbed, my desk cluttered with a mess of paper and miscellany, just as I had left it. But now that I was back, I was in need of a job. And out of desperation I decided to sacrifice one of my stories I had stashed away at home, the story of Goliath II, the tiny five-inch-tall elephant."
His contribution
Goliath II was wholly Bill's creation: he wrote the story, designed the characters, and boarded the film. The "misfit who triumphs" theme, a miniature elephant scorned for his size, prefigures the central concern of his picture books. In addition to the film, Bill wrote and illustrated the Goliath II book, published by Golden Book, the first of his work to reach print in tandem with a Disney production.
Story sketches
- RELEASED
- January 21, 1960
- DIRECTOR
- Wolfgang Reitherman
- BILL'S ROLE
- Writer, Story, Character Design
- RUNTIME
- 15 min