The Small One (also known as A Christmas Miracle in the UK) is a 1978 American animated featurette produced by Walt Disney Productions and released theatrically by Buena Vista Distribution on December 16, 1978, with a re-issue of Pinocchio (1940). The story is based on a 1947 children's book of the same name by Charles Tazewell and was a project for the new generation of Disney animators including Don Bluth, Jerry Rees, Henry Selick, Gary Goldman, and John Pomeroy.
The story tells of a young boy outside Nazareth, who must part with his best friend, an old donkey named Small One. He brings it to market, but no one is in need of a "scrawny donkey", except for a tanner.
In the Galilean countryside near the city of Nazareth, Herodian kingdom, a young boy and his father own four donkeys. One donkey, Small One, is so old and weak, he cannot adequately do his job of carrying the wood collected by the boy's father. The boy loads Small One with the smallest sticks, and helps him to carry them. One evening, the boy's father says that he has to sell Small One because he cannot do enough work to cover the cost of his care. Devastated by the news, the boy volunteers to take the donkey to be sold so that he can try to find him a caring master. The father agrees and tells him that he has to sell him for one piece of silver.
The next morning, the boy takes Small One to the market. At first they are tricked into visiting the local tanner by a Roman guard at the city gates. Terrified, they run out of the shop when they discover he only wants the donkey's hide. As they wander the streets looking for a buyer, they encounter several townspeople, shop owners, and merchants, none of whom want to buy. At last, the boy leads Small One onto the stage at a horse auction. The auctioneer has no interest in selling a "scrawny donkey", which causes the boy to insist that Small One is "good enough to be in a king's stable". This prompts the auctioneer and the crowd to laugh and poke fun. When the auctioneer attempts to sit on Small One, shoving the boy out of the way, Small One rouses the strength to buck and kick the auctioneer off him, sending him crashing into the stage and knocking it over.
The boy and Small One run away, and sit at a street corner hopelessly weeping. At this moment, a compassionate man comes up to the boy and asks if Small One is for sale. He needs a gentle donkey to carry his wife to Bethlehem, insists he will take good care of him, and offers one piece of silver. The boy accepts, says goodbye to Small One, and watches as the couple and Small One leave on their journey as a bright star appears in the sky.
By the early 1970s, several of Disney's senior animators had either died or retired, but the continuous success of their recently released animated films convinced studio executives that the animation department was still lucrative but in desperate need for new talent.[1] Veteran animator Eric Larson (of Disney's Nine Old Men) was selected to head the training program, in which he selected and trained graduates from colleges and art schools across the United States.[2] Eventually, 25 new artists were hired between 1970 and 1977.[3] Ron Husband was promoted to Disney's first African-American animator while working on the project.[4][5]
The idea for The Small One originated from Pete Young, then an apprentice story artist, who found the book among the studio's optioned properties in their library. He developed the initial storyboards at home, and pitched it to Ron Miller who claimed it to be a story with "heart". To help polish the storyboards, Miller selected Vance Gerry, a veteran storyboard artist, to collaborate with Young.[6][7] Larson had assumed he would be directing the film and brought Burny Mattinson to help reboard the story, as well as veteran animator Cliff Nordberg to help assist on the animation. According to Mattinson, the team left on Friday for the weekend, and returned on Monday to have their work tossed out because studio management had selected Don Bluth to direct.[1] Then-animator Betsy Baytos claimed Larson, in reaction to the news, "just shook his head and knew that he wasn't being appreciated. He felt the old days were gone".[3]
In retrospect, Bluth stated that "Small One was something I directed to get the crew busy until Pete's Dragon ... [Larson] might have [been involved] in the storyboard area. [But he] didn't get to direction. I think he elected to [teach]".[3] Bluth supervised all aspects of the production, including heavily revising the storyline that it frustrated Young. His friend Steve Hulett remembered: "He thought they had missed a lot of the points that he and Vance had made in their original boards." Young left the production and worked on The Fox and the Hound (1981).[8] Given the allotted production budget, Bluth composed two songs himself with a third song composed by assistant director Richard Rich.[6] Animation of the Laughing Men from The Sword in the Stone (1963) and Mowgli from The Jungle Book (1967) was recycled for the short film.[9]
The Small One was released on December 16, 1978, accompanying a reissue of Pinocchio (1940). Charles Solomon, in his Los Angeles Times review, wrote: "The film has its flaws: The script and the songs are a bit saccharine, and the human characters, except for the boy, are far less interesting in their design and movements than the animals, but The Small One is characterized by the same qualities of light, perspective and atmosphere that made the great Disney films so vivid."[10] That same year, on December 23, the film had its television premiere on HBO.[citation needed]
On September 27, 2005, Disney released The Small One for the first time on Region 1 DVD as part of Walt Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites: Volume 9: Classic Holiday Stories. This DVD also featured Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952). The short is edited in two places:
This short is also featured on the DVD Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films: Volume 7: Mickey's Christmas Carol released on September 29, 2009. It was also released on Region 2 on the 2002 UK DVD Walt Disney Presents Countdown to Christmas.
The title was also made available for streaming and download in the digital format.[11] It is also available on the Disney+ streaming service.