Classic Disney Films About Avoiding the Common Cold

In 1951, Walt Disney made a film entitled “How to Catch a Cold” in which an animated “common man” falls prey to the common cold, while a little version of himself named “Common Sense” badgers him to remember where he was and what he could have done to avoid his current predicament.

…the man still wants to go to work, arguing that his cold will run its course eventually. But Common Sense warns him that it could actually be the first symptoms of something more serious than a cold and then says that if this were a football game to protect the man, his team would be weak, while the disease’s team is strong and has influenza, laryngitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia as allies.

35 years later in 1986, Disney put out a newer, more modern version of the film in which a young boy encounters an animated Goofy explains to the curious boy how to actually catch a cold.

From a Disney book on his shelf, the voice of Goofy, assuming the role of Common Sense here, tells the boy how one can catch a cold. Along the way, Goofy dispels the myths that colds can be caused by being in a draft or out in the rain, as the original short claims (along with claims that colds can be caused by being out in snow or from overwork); the truth is, colds are caused by germs known as viruses.