Ben and Me is an American animated two-reel short subject produced by Walt Disney Productions and released theatrically on November 10, 1953. It was adapted from the book of the same name written by author/illustrator Robert Lawson, which was first published in 1939. Although both book and film deal with the relationship between a mouse and American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, the book, with illustrations by Lawson, focused more heavily on actual historical events and personages, and included incidents from Franklin's French career at Versailles.
The short received an Academy Award nomination for Best Short Subject, Two-reel.
This short was also notable for being the second release on the Buena Vista Distribution label, with the first being Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom, released on the same day. On its release, Ben and Me was packaged with the feature-length True-Life Adventures nature documentary film The Living Desert. When Disney's regular distributor RKO Radio Pictures resisted Disney's idea of releasing a feature-length True-Life Adventures nature documentary film, Disney formed his own distribution company to handle future Disney releases. When aired on television as part of a Disneyland episode titled The Liberty Story, a prologue detailing Amos's family history was added to the film.
A D-TV music video was developed in which the short was set to Stevie Wonder's For Once in My Life.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
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