Father Noah's Ark

Did You Know?

• Two skunks are purposely left behind when the animals are summoned to the ark.
• The short was released on December 4, 2001, on Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics.

Plot

The cartoon opens with the ark under construction. Father Noah draws up the blueprints and directs the work. His sons Ham, Shem, and Japheth, along with the animals, hammer and saw noisily from morning until night. Their wives stockpile food for the coming flood, while Noah’s wife does the laundry. When the storm arrives, the animals are called aboard two by two, though two skunks are deliberately left out. The ark is tossed by the tempest, and those inside pray. At one point, rainwater drips through the ceiling into Noah’s mouth; he opens a porthole to spit it out, then is chased by a rogue lightning bolt, which he finally releases through another porthole. After forty days, the storm ends. A dove returns with an olive branch, signaling that land has been found. The gangway is lowered, and the animals, along with their young, emerge onto dry ground—the ark having come to rest on top of a tree.