Joey Hippo is a character who was featured in the 1936 Silly Symphony short Elmer Elephant.
Background[]
Personality[]
Joey is one of the few named friends of Elmer Elephant. During his first encounter with Elmer, he was one of the children who made his life miserable by taunting him about his unusual appearance when a jealous tiger started this incident at first. However, when a fire broke out at Tillie Tiger's house, Joey and the other children were the victims during the fire, leading Elmer to return to Tillie's house; Elmer even managed to extinguish the fire, thanks to his trunk. In spite of the actions he did earlier, Joey even noticed Elmer's deed in being a hero who saved Tillie from the fire.
Physical appearance[]
Joey is a gray diminutive-sized hippo calf wearing a sailor outfit with a red bowtie on his neck as well as wearing a white sailor hat on his head. As a hippo, Joey has four buck teeth located inside his mouth.
Role in the short[]
Joey is first seen celebrating Tillie's sixth birthday outside her house where he celebrates with the other children. After the celebration, Tillie offers Joey to blow out the candles for her after she was unable to blow them out. However, as Joey blows the candles, he blows the cake frosting onto Elmer's face instead, covering him with cake frosting. Joey is later seen playing with Tillie's friends where he and the other children started taunting Elmer, thanks to a jealous tiger boy who started this. After Joey pulls Elmer's trunk, he and the other children taunt him for his unusual appearance, insulting Elmer for describing his nose like a rubber hose.
Later, when a fire broke out at Tillie's house, Joey and the other children started panicking during the fire, trying to get Tillie out of her house. Joey gestures to Tillie to jump so he and the other children safely. After Elmer manages to extinguish the fire, Joey and the other animals praise Elmer for his heroic deeds.
Trivia[]
- Joey is the only member of Tillie's friends who speaks in an adult-sounding baritone voice, despite Joey himself being a kid.