Whale

Whale
Background information
Short films	Merbabies
Animators	Tom McKimson Mike Lah
Character information
Home	The ocean
Likes	Sleeping
Status	Active

The Whale is a character featured in the 1938 Silly Symphony animated short Merbabies.

Background

Personality

The whale is shown to be sleeping most of the time. In addition to sleeping, he is shown to spout bubbles through his blowhole, as a common characteristic of cetaceans when they need to breathe when they reach the surface for air. He is also shown not to mind those who interact with the bubbles being spouted from his blowhole such as the Merbabies playing with the bubbles around him.

Physical appearance

The whale has a large black body resembling a sperm whale, although not much of his full body is seen, as only his head and flipper are visible. When awake, the whale is shown to have a wide eye located between his mouth. He is also shown to have a wide mouth with sharp teeth when his mouth is open, although he opens it rarely.

Role in the short

The whale appears at the end of the short, where he is seen sleeping outside the grotto after the circus sequence. When a group of Merbabies swim around the whale, he begins spouting bubbles from his blowhole, while the Merbabies interact with the bubbles in a happy, playful manner. However, one of the bubbles the Merbabies was dancing on pops, causing her to fall onto the whale's blowhole, as he begins spouting bubbles on her, blasting her upwards. Later, the distracted baby snail from the circus begins playing with a bubble and using it as a ball, unaware that the whale is behind him, just as he and another Merbaby continue playing with the bubble. However, the snail inadvertently wakes up the whale, causing him to feel ticklish as he prepares to inhale the snail, almost swallowing him. As the whale continues to inhale, the other Merbabies cling onto seaweed tight, also causing the other fish and a turtle to retreat from the whale. The whale opens his mouth very wide and then sneezes, causing the snail to retreat from him. The whale's sneeze also sends the Merbabies to the surface of the ocean via bubbles, causing them to dissolve back into foam.

Trivia

• The only scenes the whale is seen awake with an open eye are the ones where the whale wakes up and the one where the whale prepares to sneeze, as most scenes where the whale appears show him with his eye closed. During the scene where the whale wakes up, his eye is colored yellow but in the next shot where he is awake, his eye is colored white, which is likely an animation error.
• This character appears to be a prototype of Monstro from Pinocchio (which would come out two years later after Merbabies was released), due to his similar-looking design.