Penguins

Penguins
Background information
Short films	Peculiar Penguins
Group information
Members	Peter Penguin Polly Penguin Various unnamed penguins
Home	Penguin Island, Antarctica
Status	Active

The Penguins are the titular characters from the 1934 Silly Symphony animated short Peculiar Penguins. They are a colony of penguins that live in Penguin Island in Antarctica.

Background

Personalities

These penguins live in a place named after them called "Penguin Island", a snowscape located in the continent of Antarctica, where most of the inhabitants living there are penguins. They are shown to live in a playful environment in playing together with each other and are rarely found alone as well as bringing each other presents such as giving them ice cream cones made from snow and icicles. They also occasionally have a vain personality when they look at themselves on ice formations resembling mirrors - especially when there are other penguins nearby. In addition to this, they are also shown to have a carefree yet serious personality, albeit timid and mostly in a peculiar manner.

Physical appearances

Most penguins are identical to each other - each having a white plumage on their front side with black plumage located at their back side as well as each having a pair of black flippers. They are also shown to have pale orange beaks, as well as a pair of pale orange feet.

Appearances

Peculiar Penguins

At the start of the short, a colony of penguins are seen inhabiting on an island named after them called "Penguin Island". Some of them are seen walking in the background while others preen, as the song "The Penguin Is a Very Funny Creature" plays in the background. During the scene, a penguin bumps into another one, staring at him to watch where he is going. While no other individual penguins appear again afterwards, Peter Penguin, an individual male penguin, tries to attract Polly Penguin, attempting to get her attention by giving her an ice cream cone made from snow with an icicle, which she becomes impressed of the gift he gave to her. Just as Peter catches a blowfish underwater for Polly who later consumes the fish, he inflates Polly, just as Peter helps Polly spit out the blowfish.

Polly later becomes furious that she could have eaten this dangerous fish, just as she swims away from Peter. However, while drifting away, a large shark emerges from the water and chases Polly across the ocean, attempting to eat her; this leads Peter to save Polly from the shark, determined to rescue his love interest. Throughout the chase, Peter pulls a branch from a cliff to drop a large boulder onto the shark, causing him to swallow it and be stuck underwater, being unable to move.

Afterwards, Polly praises Peter for being a hero who saved her from being eaten by the ferocious shark. As the two penguins fall in love with each other, they form the shape of a heart to symbolize their love for each other.

Printed material

The penguins appear in the titular book Peculiar Penguins (and in the two-story collection book Elmer Elephant plus Peculiar Penguins), a book inspired by the short itself. Unlike in the short, the penguins besides Peter and Polly have a prominent role throughout the story, appearing in more parts of the story's plot, making them supporting characters throughout the story.

In the story, the penguins are first seen having fun sliding, swimming, fishing, and going out on a ride, which they are comfortable of the cold weather. It is also said that whenever a penguin has a birthday, the penguins would wear their birthday clothes all the time - the Gentlemen Penguins (and Boy Penguins) wearing white shirts and black tail coats and the Lady Penguins (and Girl Penguins) wearing white feathered bibs and black tuckers during a party. Despite their inability to fly like penguins in real life, it is also said that the penguins having flightless wings become proud of their appearance, making themselves look peculiar. Furthermore, the penguins begin to fear when they encounter a predator - a shark, getting Peter and Polly's attention. During the chase, the shark hits himself on an iceberg while chasing Peter, causing him to be unconscious, while the other penguins make a sailboat for the shark to leave Penguin Island, never to return. Afterwards, the penguins all praise Peter for being a hero who saved them from the shark.

Trivia

• Prior to their actual debut in the short Peculiar Penguins, the penguins appeared in an August 1934 edition of a Good Housekeeping magazine as a preview to promote the upcoming short, where they appeared in the Peculiar Penguins section of the magazine.
• During development of Peculiar Penguins, real live penguins were brought to the Disney studios for the animators and artists to take pictures of the penguins and study their movements, especially when it came to designing the penguin characters appearing in the short (including Peter and Polly). The moment of the penguins at the Disney Studios was publicized, where photographs of these moments appeared in certain periodicals such as the New York Times and Woman's Home Companion.
• One year after the short Peculiar Penguins was released, Walt Disney himself visited the London Zoo to see the penguins at the Penguin Pool exhibit, on June 13, 1935, to remind him of the penguins from Peculiar Penguins. The Penguin Pool exhibit that Disney visited during his trip to the London Zoo served as the former exhibit for penguins prior to the penguins themselves moving to the Penguin Beach exhibit which opened on May 26, 2011 and the Penguin Pool exhibit being vacant since its closure in 2004.