The Boy Who Owned a Melephant

Shortly after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, future feature-film director-producer Saul Swimmer directed the half-hour^[3] children's short The Boy Who Owned a Melephant. Co-written by Swimmer and Tony Anthony, and adapting a story by Marvin Wald, it was produced by a team credited as Gayle-Swimmer-Anthony,^[4] which included frequent collaborator Peter Gayle.^[5] It was released by Universal Pictures on October 6, 1959^[4] or November 9, 1959^[1] (sources differ). Narrated by actress Tallulah Bankhead, it starred her godson, Brockman Seawell (who was also actress Eugenia Rawls' son) and was shown at the Palace Theatre in New York City.^[4]

The film screened at the 1959 San Francisco International Film Festival^[6] and won a 1959 Gold Leaf award at the Venice International Children's Film Festival.^[4] On March 19, 1967, it was paired with the 1952 French short White Mane as an episode of the television anthology series CBS Children's Film Festival.^[2]

• The Boy Who Owned a Melephant at IMDb
• "Universal Pictures Co. Inc., 'The boy who owned a melephant' motion picture pressbook". Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1959: July-December. (listing) The Library of Congress. 1960.