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The Athlete (1932 film)

1932 film by Walter Lantz

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ19363545 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Athlete is a 1932 short animated film by Walter Lantz Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is the first of a film series featuring Pooch the Pup, the first star character created by Walter Lantz.

Plot

Pooch is a participant in a number of track and field events. Throughout these, a cameraman is following Pooch around, filming him.

His first event is a sprinting competition involving hurdles. Pooch reaches the finish line but fails to come across as the tape slings him back to the starting line. The signal man restarts the race, which is a simple dash this time, and Pooch again reaches the finish line but again gets slung back by the tape. His second flight also causes him to push back the other runners.

The second event involves long jumps. A kangaroo begins, and upon landing, a joey jumps from the kangaroo's pouch.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Athlete (1932 film)” as 1932 film by Walter Lantz. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Athlete, film and Walter.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1932—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1932-08-29. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Athlete, film and Walter providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Athlete (1932 film)”, the useful work is to connect “1932 film by Walter Lantz” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19363545. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1932.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Athlete (1932 film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Athlete (1932 film) primary sources, The Athlete (1932 film) archive and Athlete research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Athlete (1932 film)”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Athlete (1932 film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.