Mr. Popper

Mr. Popper is a house painter in Stillwater. Though a hard worker, he is a dreamer and a romantic. He has never been outside of Stillwater, and he fantasizes often about having great adventures in exotic places, such as the Himalayas. He is particularly fond of the Arctic and Antarctic, and is enthralled by "Polar" movies with those places as their subject. His own adventure starts when he writes Admiral Drake, explorer of the Poles, a letter, which Drake responds to by sending a penguin to Mr. Popper.

Mr. Popper's absent-minded idealism exhibits itself in his dealings with the penguins. He has little regard for money or for the comfort and well-being of his family, renovating his home and spending all the family's money in service of the penguins. When the family runs out of money, he gets the idea to put on a stage show featuring...