The Chain Gang

The Chain Gang is a 1930 theatrical cartoon short featuring Mickey Mouse, Peg-Leg Pete, and characters that resemble and might be the same as Clarabelle Cow and Percy Pigg. Two bloodhounds appearing in the film are prototypes of Pluto, though their role fits more with the characters Simon Legree and Eliza from Mr Slicker and the Egg Robbers.
==Plot==
Mickey Mouse has landed himself in prison and is part of a chain gang. Though many of his fellow prisoners, including a cow and a pig, hang their heads gloomily, Mickey stays in good spirits, maintaining a happy attitude. While the guard, Peg-Leg Pete, sleeps, Mickey plays his harmonica, inspiring others in the prison to sing, dance, and play to the tune. When one particularly tough prisoner spits tobacco on Peg-Leg Pete, the prison erupts in chaos as Pete calls for other guards, who begin shooting at the panicking prisoner.
Mickey takes the opportunity to escape from his imprisonment, but a feline officer and two bloodhounds are soon hot on his trail. Will Mickey be able to run his way to freedom, or will he find himself in chains once again?
===References===
*Mickey Mouse is a prisoner at the start and end of the short, though how he ended up there is unclear. A cow closely resembling Clarabelle Cow and a pig reminiscent of Percy Pigg are also prisoners. Meanwhile, a big black cat with a peg-leg, clearly intended to be Peg-Leg Pete, is one of the prison's guards.
===Continuity===
*The design of the bloodhounds in The Chain Gang inspired Minnie Mouse's dog Rover in The Picnic. Rover would, of course, soon become known as Mickey's dog Pluto.
*Just a couple of months later, in the comic strip Mr Slicker and the Egg Robbers (1930), Mickey Mouse is briefly jailed. At another point in the strip, two bloodhounds named Simon Legree and Eliza, who bear a resemblance to the bloodhounds that chase Mickey in The Chain Gang, are seen with Bill Goat. It is unclear if Mickey's imprisonment and the appearance of the bloodhounds were meant to reference The Chain Gang or not.
*In Hickory Dickory Mickey (2001), a black-and-white flashback appears to "years ago" when Goofy helped Mickey escape from prison, knocking out a guard. The black-and-white coloring, the idea of Mickey being a prisoner, and the fact that the guard looks nearly identical to some of the guards seen in The Chain Gang all point towards this having been a reference to The Chain Gang.
==Behind the scenes==
The Chain Gang is a theatrical cartoon short. It was first released either on August the 18th or September the 5th, 1930. It was directed by Burt Gillett and featured animation by Norm Ferguson, Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Ben Sharpsteen, Jack Cutting, Jack King, Dick Lundy, Tom Palmer, Wilfred Jackson, Dave Hand, and Charlie Byrne. The short is perhaps best remembered for featuring two bloodhounds whose design inspired Pluto. As such, it is sometimes cited as Pluto's debut appearance.
===Notes & References===
Category:Stories
Category:Cartoons
Category:Mickey Mouse stories
Category:Peg-Leg Pete stories
Category:Mickey Mouse episodes
Category:1930 stories
Category:Burt Gillett stories
Category:Clarabelle Cow stories
Category:Percy Pigg stories