Western Animation: The Unicorn in the Garden

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"I'm absolutely certain you're going to need a strait-jacket."

"The unicorn is a mythical beast."

"The Unicorn In The Garden" is a 1953 animated short directed by William T. Hurtz, produced by UPA and released through Columbia Pictures. The short is based directly on James Thurber's short story of the same name, originally published in The New Yorker magazine on October 21, 1939, and later collected in Fables For Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated (1940). The short closely imitates the style of the author's own illustrations and cartoons. Like many of Thurber's fictions, "The Unicorn in the Garden" deals with the fundamental conflict between men and women, and the romantic vs. practical mindset represented by each, respectively.

Tropes:

Animated Adaptation: Inverted. There is a live-action rendition of this short, which cleverly chooses not to show the unicorn itself. Watch it here.
Aside Glance
Cassandra Truth: The husband telling his wife about the unicorn, and later what the wife tells the psychiatrist and the police.
Catch Phrase: The unicorn is a mythical beast.
Have a Gay Old Time: Some younger viewers may not realize that "booby" here has nothing to do with breasts, but refers to the mentally ill: the "booby-hatch" is an insane asylum.
Henpecked Husband
Limited Animation: The 'toon is extremely stylized, as was typical of all UPA animation. In this particular case, this may be because the style is that of the original story's author.
Lohengrin and Mendelssohn: Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" plays — as the wife is being carried off to the asylum, no less!
Spoof Aesop: Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.
Unicorn: Which is, of course, a mythical beast.

Alternative Title(s):

The Unicorn In The Garden

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Western Animation: The Unicorn in the Garden

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