The "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" sequence was the first of many newspaper comic strip adaptations of newly-released Disney animated features. The film's general release in February 1938 came in the middle of the newspaper continuity, which was published from December 1937 to April 1938. The strip used a number of story ideas that were ultimately abandoned in the film, including a more elaborate and comical meeting between the Prince and Snow White (in which Snow White creates a "dummy" of her dream prince, which the real Prince sneaks into), and an entire storyline in which the Evil Queen kidnaps the Prince to prevent him from saving Snow White. After the "Snow White" adaptation in 1938, the strip featured a mix of the three established motifs -- further adaptations of "Silly Symphony" shorts ("Farmyard Symphony", "The Ugly Duckling") and animated features ("Pinocchio" and "Bambi") and several runs of gag strips featuring a popular character, Pluto. Pluto was given star billing in a five-week run of strips titled "Pluto the Pup", which ran from February 19 to March 19, 1939. The dog's owner, Mickey Mouse, was already featured in the other cartoon on the "Mickey Mouse" strip's Sunday page, and by this time, Donald Duck was also busy in his own strip, so in Pluto's first "Silly Symphony" run, he lives with Mickey's friend, Goofy. (In the first strip, Goofy complains to Pluto, "Why'd I tell Mickey I'd take care of yuh?") Later, Pluto is also seen being cared for by Minnie Mouse, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. Pluto's run was interrupted by a month-long adaptation of "The Ugly Duckling", and then he returned for a much longer period, from April 23 to December 17, 1939. This was followed by a two-month adaptation of "Pinocchio", and then Pluto returned for his third and final "Silly Symphony" stint, from April 14 to November 3, 1940. Starting in 1942, the strip featured José Carioca, who had recently been introduced in the film "Saludos Amigos". According to comics historian Maurice Horn, "The first Sunday page opened with a panoramic tour of Rio de Janeiro before closing up on the shack that was 'the home of a young-man-about-town, a gay carefree Brazilian "papagaio" named José Carioca.'