Word: mule
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Francis (Universal-International) is the name of a talented Army mule (already celebrated in David Stern's 1946 comic novel) who not only talks but makes more sense than the whole chain of command. By confiding Japanese secrets to a bewildered Burma campaign shavetail (Donald O'Connor), Francis throws the enemy for a loss and the U.S. brass into a tizzy...
When Lieut. O'Connor bags a Japanese observation post on information supplied by the mule, his colonel (Ray Collins) treats him like a hero. When he tries to share the credit with Francis, he is put to weaving baskets in the neuropsychiatric ward. Released, O'Connor goes on heroically fighting the one-mule war; as his coups get bigger, so do the baskets...
Francis, who could have settled the Army psychiatrists' problem with a few words, lets them stew in their conferences, finally speaks up to a three-star general (John McIntire). After resuming his silence long enough to cast doubt on the general's sanity, the mule tells off a roomful of war correspondents and wins his own hero's reward...
Legrand had never been there* but for 15 years he had lived in French Morocco. His house in the city of Rabat (pop. 160,800) had a cellar studio where he worked through the heat of the day. It served as a base for sketching trips made by horse, mule and camel across Morocco's stony plains and into the Atlas Mountains. Swathed in a burnoose, Legrand often camped with Berbers, used them as models for such prophets as Joshua and Jeremiah (see cut). Once in his travels, he says, a Berber witch whose advances he repulsed...
Cummings, with his ninth straight recording on the turntable, relented. "I never went for Mule Train" he explained mildly. "The only way to get my fans around to my way of thinking was to play the tune to death...