Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel: the musical

Notes

Virginia Lee Burton's timeless tale is retold in this animated musical version. Mike Mulligan is exceedingly proud of his steam shovel, Mary Anne, and boasts that "she could dig as much in a day as a hundred men could dig in a week." Indeed, the more people watched her, the harder and faster she dug. Sadly, when the new gasoline, electric and diesel shovels came along, no one wanted the old-fashioned steam shovels any longer; many were abandoned or sold for scrap iron. Mike couldn't do that to his Mary Anne. One day, Mike Mulligan heard that the town of Popperville was building a new town hall and a huge cellar had to be excavated. Mike begged the curmudgeonly selectman for the job saying that if Mary Anne could not dig the hole in one day, the town would not have to pay. Starting at dawn, Mike and Mary Anne dug nonstop and as more of the townspeople gathered to watch, they dug quicker and quicker. They dug so quickly and neatly that they forgot to provide a opening so that Mary Ann could get back out. Today, Mary Anne is the furnace that keeps the Town Hall comfortably warm and Mike is the janitor that keeps her in good working order

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