Disney’s 1960 film, Swiss Family Robinson, follows the adventures of a family of five who are ship-wrecked on a deserted island. Through teamwork and ingenuity, they manage to build a tree house full of clever contraptions. All is well until a band of pirates threaten to destroy the Robinson’s paradise.
The movie was filmed on location in Tobago, an island in the Caribbean. It was a pricey venture, with a five-million-dollar budget. In addition to a shipwreck and a tree house, Disney built a complete film studio in Tobago. Nearly a thousand people comprised the cast and crew.
Disney flew a whole menagerie of animals to Tobago for filming. The cast included a tiger, a baby elephant, and 34 spider monkeys. A zebra named Kitty, also featured in the film. Kitty had a fondness for tobacco, so animal trainers mixed a pack of cigarettes into her feed each day. But that wasn’t enough to satisfy Kitty. She begged for cigarettes on the set.
See the Pete Martin papers at UW’s American Heritage Center to learn more.