The Baby is the main character from the 1933 Silly Symphony short Lullaby Land.
Background[]
Personality[]
The Baby, hence his name is an infant boy who finds himself in a dream world known as Lullaby Land. He is shown to have a curious personality in experiencing of what it is like in Lullaby Land. As he explores, he goes further to encounter dangers of what dangerous objects that babies should not touch or interact with, which it is believed that the Boogeyman will stalk him for his disobedience. However, in spite of having a fearful personality of dangers, he is occasionally shown to be a little shy at first, such as the case during his encounter with the Sandman. However, he is shown to have a like for the Sandman who gives him good dreams thanks to his bag of magic sand.
Role in the short[]
The Baby is first seeing being rocked to sleep while his mother sings him the lullaby "Rock-a-bye Baby", putting him to sleep. As he falls asleep, he finds himself with his plush toy, the Toy Dog, sleeping on a treetop, continuing the visual interpretation of the song just as he, his dog, and his cradle land into an interpretation a dream land known as "Lullaby Land", the place where he can find everything nice within it while an owl watches him explore the dream world. As he explores, he encounters sentient flowers whose anthers are in the shape of powder and pacifiers. Later, he and his dog hear a parade nearby. Amongst the members of the parade are dishes, baby bottles, brushes and combs, diaper pins, pieces of cloth carried by clothespins, castor oil bottles, and a highchair and a cup, which all march together across the landscape. The Baby and the Toy Dog follow them across the landscape; however, they suddenly find another area known as the "Forbidden Garden", unaware of the warning signs outside, which he doesn't pay attention before entering.
Amongst the objects the Baby and the Toy Dog encounter are various objects that are dangerous to young children - namely bottles, garden pliers, scissors, fountain pens, and pincushions. As the Baby enters, he grabs a hammer and smashes various clocks on a tree full of clocks, unaware that he is using the stuff that he shouldn't interact with. As he smashes all the clocks, a cuckoo clock bird becomes mad at him for smashing the clocks, just before he encounters a box of matches. The Baby later grabs a match, unaware of the Toy Dog feeling worried that more bad things could happen the more he continues interacting with objects in the Forbidden Garden and not dealing with his temptations. Just as he lights a match, he becomes aware that the Boogeyman might stalk him for his disobedience. Chased by a group of ignited matches, he and his dog escape from them where they leap into the water, causing the smokes from them to form into a group of creepy monsters known as the Boogeymen who dance as they stalk him across the landscape. Noticing that he must be right all along, he becomes fearful of the Boogeymen stalking him. However, the Boogeymen all suddenly disappear, causing them to no longer stalk the Baby.
Later, the Sandman approaches the Baby who is hiding behind a tree. As he introduces himself to him and the Toy Dog, he tells the Baby that he will sprinkle a bag of sand so he can have good dreams. Feeling shy about this, the two attempt to run away, but the Sandman puts him and the Toy Dog to sleep, as they find themselves back home. The Baby's mother puts a blanket on his crib, just as the Baby happily falls asleep in his crib with his dog.
Trivia[]
- While he does not appear in Storybook Land Canal Boats in Disneyland, the giant patchwork quilt (the area where the Baby arrives) was stitched together using more than twenty real plants and flowers, which is inspired by the one from Lullaby Land.