Summary
Walter Lantz's early animated short, "Dinky Doodle in Egypt," playfully blurs the lines between creator and creation, and reality and fantasy. The narrative opens with Lantz attending a masquerade, while his titular cartoon hero, Dinky, and his canine companion succumb to a nap. From this slumber, Dinky is thrust into a vibrant, anachronistic dreamscape of ancient Egypt. Here, he swiftly falls for a princess, prompting a comedic quest for her hand from her pharaoh father. This pursuit is complicated by a poker-playing mummy who also lays claim to the princess, leading to a pharaonic decree: a chariot race. Dinky’s contest is fraught with slapstick peril, particularly concerning his wooden-legged steed and its peculiar habit of unwrapping his mummified rival, revealing a surprisingly whiskered old man underneath. The dream culminates in Dinky's triumph, a victory that coincides with Lantz's return, pulling Dinky from his fantastical slumber.
The artist, Walter Lantz, goes to a masquerade ball and Dinky and his dog take a nap. Dinky dreams he is a cartoon character in Egypt where he falls in love with a princess. He goes to her father to ask for her hand but the old mummy playing poker with the father claims the girl, but the pharaoh degrees it must be settle by a chariot race. Dinky has trouble with his chariot-horse as it has a wooden leg, and insists on chewing on the old mummy in the other chariot, making the wrapping unfold and disclosing an old man with long whiskers. Dinky wins the race just as the artist returns and wakes him from his nap.
