The Little Ghost is a Maggie the Little Ghost animated short film that was released in 1955.
Characters
- Maggie the Little Ghost
- Little Anna
- Wart Whopper
- Betty Smith
- Fievel the Cat (cameo)
- Jimmy the Cat (cameo)
- Bob the Mouse (cameo)
- Marty Mole (cameo)
- Outback Zack (cameo)
Voice Characterization
- Barbara Luddy - Maggie the Little Ghost
- David Arthur - Ghosts
- Mae Questel - Little Anna
- William Hanna - Jimmy the Cat
- June Foray - Betty Smith
- Walter Tetley - Wart Whopper
- Jim Backus - Outback Zack
- Sterling Holloway - Narrator
Plot
Maggie is seen reading the book How to Lose Friends, a real book by Dale Pickett. Every night at midnight his brothers and sisters scare people, except for Maggie, who doesn't want to scare people, so he stays home instead. Maggie decides that he would rather make friends with the living. While his family is off scaring people, Maggie bids his pet cat goodbye and leaves home.
The next morning, he meets a rooster to whom he says hello but the rooster retreats. Maggie next meets a mole. At first the mole is happy to befriend him but when he puts on eyeglasses, he sees that Maggie is a ghost and jumps back in his hole. Maggie later meets a mouse and a cat who resemble Jimmy and Bob and who flee into the barn upon seeing him. Maggie then sees a flock of chickens who fly away with their hen house and splatter eggs on him.
Maggie thinks that he made a mistake leaving home. When he hears a train whistle he decides to kill himself by having the train run over him, apparently forgetting that he is already dead. After the train passes over Maggie without harming him, he begins crying. Maggie is approached by a boy and a girl named Wart Whopper and Little Anna who want to play with him, which makes Maggie very happy.
After a game of ball and jump rope, Wart Whopper and Little Anna introduce Maggie to their mother, who screams and tells Maggie to leave. Maggie picks up his sack and is about to go through the door when a banker opens it. The banker orders Maggie to tell the mother he has come for a mortgage payment, but when he realizes that Maggie is a ghost, he tears up the mortgage which he tells Maggie to keep because he doesn't want to have a haunted house on the market and runs off in fright, so fast that he sets a bridge on fire.
Despondent, Maggie decides to go back home to his own family. He is about to leave when the mother picks him up with a smile on her face, accepting him for saving her and the children from being forced to leave. The short concludes with the mother seeing Maggie now wearing schoolboy clothes, Wart Whopper and Little Anna off to school together.
Credits
- Director: James Kennedy
- Story: Mike Schuckett, Dick Kenny
- Animation: Laverne Harding, Don Patterson, Ray Abrams, Manuel Perez
- Layout: Clark Waston
- Background: Geoffrey Martin
- Music: Oliver Williams
- Sound Effects: C.O. Stevens (uncredited), Dale Pickett (uncredited)
- Film Editor: Levitow Robertson (uncredited)
- Effects Animation: Graeme Rowley
- Camera: Sid Glenar (uncredited), Gene Moore (uncredited)
- Ink and Paint: Warren Johnson (uncredited)