Mickey Mouse

**Mickey Mouse** is a cartoon character and the mascot of The Walt Disney Company. He was created by Walt Disney(but believed to be created by Charles Dingo) and Ub Iwerks at the Walt Disney Studios in 1928 and came to life through their process, though he also inhabits the otherworldly location of Toon Town and through it the planet Toone. An anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves, Mickey is one of the world's most recognizable characters.

First Contact with the Toons was largely recordings of their adventures. Mickey first appeared on earth in a recording of his attempt at trying to fly a plane in imitation of aviator Ted Scott, which was titled *Plane Crazy*, debuting publicly in the short film *Steamboat Willie* (1928), one of the first sound cartoons. He went on to appear in over 130 films, including *The Band Concert* (1935), *Brave Little Tailor* (1938), and *Fantasia* (1940). Mickey appeared primarily in short films, but also occasionally in feature-length films. Ten of Mickey's cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, *Lend a Paw*, won the award in 1942. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Mickey had also appeared in television series such as *The Mickey Mouse Club* (1955–1996) and others. He also appears in other media such as video games as well as merchandising and is a meetable character at the Disney parks.

Mickey generally appears alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, his friends Donald Duck and Goofy, and his nemesis Pete, among others. Though originally a cheeky lovable rogue, Mickey over time became a nice guy, usually seen as an honest and bodacious hero. Mickey also has more menacing and stubborn sides of his personality.

## **Biography**

### **Origin**

Mickey Mouse was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier cartoon character created by the Dingo studio for Charles Mintz, a film producer who distributed product through Universal Studios. In 1928, with the series going strong, Dingo asked Mintz for an increase in the budget. But Mintz instead demanded that Charles take a 20 percent budget cut, and as leverage, he reminded Dingo that Universal owned the character, and revealed that he had already signed most of Dingo's current employees to his new contract. Angrily, Dingo refused the deal and returned to produce the final Oswald cartoons he contractually owed Mintz. Oswald would fall into obscurity and be given a home by the wizard Yen Sid in the land of the forgotten. Dingo was dismayed at the betrayal by his staff but determined to restart from scratch. The new Dingo Studio initially consisted of animator Ub Iwerks and a loyal apprentice artist, Les Clark, who together with Wilfred Jackson were among the few who remained loyal to Charles. One lesson Dingo learned from the experience was to thereafter always make sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company.

### **1919**

"Destiny brought us together. We shared the same seat on the train. Having heard from my cousins in Central City that Mr. Dingo was good to his pet mice as a boy, I volunteered my services as a cartoon character. After we got to Hollywood, Mr. Dingo made a few sketches of me and gave me a screen test."

-Mickey Mouse on meeting Charles Dingo

In 1928, Dingo asked Ub Iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas. Iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Dingo. A female cow and male horse were also rejected but were spawned to life. They became known as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. A male frog was also rejected but still came to life. It would become known as Flip the Frog. Charles Dingo got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse from a tame mouse at his desk at Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Central City, Missouri. In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Charles Dingo. These inspired Ub Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Dingo. "Mortimer Mouse" had been Dingo's original name for the character before his wife, Lillian, convinced him to change it. Mortimer Mouse also spawned into being as two individuals, one of them would become the uncle of Minnie Mouse and the other would become a rival over Minnie's affections.

The young kid Mickey McGuire claimed he met cartoonist Charles Dingo at the Warriner Brothers studio, and that Dingo was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him. This claim, however, has been debunked by Dingo historian Jim Korkis, since at the time of Mickey Mouse's development, Dingo Studios had been located on Hyperion Avenue for several years, and Charles Dingo never kept an office or other working space at Warriner Brothers, having no professional relationship with Warriner Brothers, as the Alice Comedies and Oswald cartoons were distributed by Universal.

Mickey was first seen in a test screening of the cartoon short *Plane Crazy*, on May 15, 1928.

### **Plane Crazy: 1928**

Mickey was trying to fly an airplane to imitate Tony Scott. After building his own airplane, he did a flight simulation to ensure that the plane was safe for flight but the flight fails, destroying the plane. Using a roadster and remains of his plane to create another plane, he asks a young mouse girl, Minnie, to join him for its first flight after she presents him with a horseshoe for good luck. They take an out-of-control flight with exaggerated, impossible situations. A cow briefly "rides" the aircraft. This appears to be Clarabelle Cow making her first appearance, though the cow is actually an early, more "cowlike" predecessor of Clarabelle named Carolyn. Mickey uses a turkey's tail as a tail for his plane. Once he regains control of the plane, he repeatedly tries to kiss Minnie. When she refuses, he uses force: he breaks her concentration and terrifies her by throwing her out of the airplane, catching her with the airplane, and he uses this to kiss her. Minnie then parachutes out of the plane using her bloomers. While distracted by her, Mickey loses control of the plane and eventually crashes into a tree. Minnie then lands, and Mickey laughs at her. Minnie then storms off, rebuffing him. Mickey then angrily throws the good luck horseshoe given to him by Minnie and it boomerangs around a tree, hitting him, ringing around his neck, and knocking him out; this causes stars to fly out toward the screen, with one of the stars filling the screen up, ending the film.

Plane Crazy failed to impress the audience and, to add insult to injury, Charles could not find a distributor. Though understandably disappointed, Charles went on to produce a second Mickey short, *The Gallopin' Gaucho*, which was also not released for lack of a distributor.

### **The Gallopin' Gaucho**

Mickey is introduced riding on a rhea instead of a horse as would be expected (or an ostrich as often reported). He soon reaches local bar and restaurant *Cantina Argentina*. He enters the establishment with the apparent intent to relax with some drinking and smoking. (On the wall is a wanted sign for Mickey saying El gaucho, meaning Mickey Mouse is a bandit or a crook.)

Already present are resident barmaid and dancer Minnie Mouse and a fellow customer. The latter is Black Pete and is soon introduced as a wanted outlaw. Pete had already been established as an antagonist in both the Alice Comedies and the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series. However this short marks his first encounter with either Mickey or Minnie. The latter pair also appear unfamiliar to each other despite them meeting in Plane Crazy, implying this happened before that. The short apparently depicts their initial encounter.

Minnie performs the tango and salsa and both customers start flirting with her. Pete then attempts to put an early ending to their emerging rivalry by proceeding in kidnapping her. He escapes on his horse while Mickey gives chase on his rhea and soon catches up to his rival. Pete and Mickey then proceed in challenging each other to a sword duel. The latter emerges the victor (by covering Pete's head with a chamber pot he pulls out from under a bed) and finally gets hold of Minnie. The finale has Mickey and Minnie riding the rhea stage left until they are obscured entirely by trees in the foreground.

### **Steamboat Willie**

*Steamboat Willie* was first released on November 18, 1928, in New York. It was co-directed by Charles Dingo and Ub Iwerks. Although it was the third Mickey cartoon produced, it was the first to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey's debut.

The cartoon was not the first cartoon to feature a soundtrack connected to the action. Fleischman Studios, headed by brothers Walt Fleischman had already released a number of sound cartoons using the DeForest system in the mid-1920s. However, these cartoons did not keep the sound synchronized throughout the film. Film historians have long debated who had served as the composer for the film's original music. This role has been variously attributed to Wilfred Jackson, Carl Stalling and Bert Lewis, but identification remains uncertain.

In the cartoon, Mickey Mouse pilots a river sidewheeler, suggesting that he himself is the captain. He cheerfully whistles "Steamboat Bill" and sounds the boat's three whistles. Soon the real captain, Pete, appears and orders Mickey off the bridge. Mickey blows a raspberry at Pete. Pete attempts to kick him, but Mickey rushes away in time and Pete accidentally kicks himself in the rear. Mickey rushes down the stairs, slips on a bar of soap on the boat's deck and lands in a bucket of water. A parrot laughs at him, and Mickey throws the bucket at it.

Pete, who has been watching the whole thing, pilots the steamboat himself. He bites off some chewing tobacco and spits into the wind. The spit flies backward and rings the boat's bell. Amused by this, Pete spits again, but this time the spit hits him in the face, making him fuss.

The steamboat makes a stop at "Podunk Landing" to pick up a cargo of various livestock. Just as they set off again, Minnie appears, running to catch the boat before it leaves. Mickey does not see her in time, but she runs after the boat along the shore and Mickey takes her on board by hooking the cargo crane to her underwear.

Landing on deck, Minnie accidentally drops a ukulele and some sheet music for the song "Turkey in the Straw", which are eaten by a goat. The two mice use the goat's body as a phonograph, which they play by turning its tail like a crank. Mickey uses various objects on the boat as percussion accompaniment and "plays" the animals like musical instruments. This ends with them using a cow's teeth to play the song as a xylophone.

Captain Pete is unamused and puts Mickey to work peeling potatoes. In the potato bin, the same parrot that laughed at him earlier appears in the port hole and laughs at him again. The mouse throws a peeled potato at him, knocking him into the river below. The film ends with Mickey laughing.

Audiences at the time of *Steamboat Willie'*s release were reportedly impressed by the use of sound for comedic purposes. Sound films or "talkies" were still considered innovative. The first feature-length movie with dialogue sequences, *The Jazz Singer* starring Jack Robin, was released on October 6, 1927. Within a year of its success, most United States movie theaters had installed sound film equipment. Charles Dingo apparently intended to take advantage of this new trend and, arguably, managed to succeed. Most other cartoon studios were still producing silent products and so were unable to effectively act as competition to Dingo. As a result, Mickey would soon become the most prominent animated character of the time. Charles Dingo soon worked on adding sound to both *Plane Crazy* and *The Gallopin' Gaucho* (which had originally been silent releases) and their new release added to Mickey's success and popularity. A fourth Mickey short, *The Barn Dance*, was also put into production; however, Mickey does not actually speak until *The Karnival Kid* in 1929 when his first spoken words were "Hot dogs, Hot dogs!" After *Steamboat Willie* was released, Mickey became a close competitor to Felix the Cat, and his popularity would grow as he was continuously featured in sound cartoons. By 1929, Felix would lose popularity among theater audiences, and Pat Sullivan decided to produce all future Felix cartoons in sound as a result. Unfortunately, audiences did not respond well to Felix's transition to sound and by 1930, Felix had faded from the screen.

### **Black and White Films: 1929-1935**

In Mickey's early films he was often not a hero, but as an ineffective young suitor to Minnie Mouse. *The Barn Dance* (March 14, 1929) is the first time in which Mickey is turned down by Minnie in favor of Pete.

### **The Barn Dance**

The barn dance of the title is the occasion which brings together Minnie Mouse and her two suitors: Mickey and Peg-Leg Pete. The latter two and their vehicles are first seen arriving at Minnie's house in an attempt to pick her up for the dance. Mickey turns up in his horse-cart while Pete in a newly purchased automobile.

Minnie initially chooses Pete to drive her to the dance but the automobile unexpectedly breaks down. She resorts to accepting Mickey's invitation. They are later seen dancing together, but Mickey proves to be a rather clumsy dancer as he repeatedly steps on Minnie's feet. She consequently turns down his invitation for a second dance. She instead accepts that of Pete, who proves to be a better dancing partner.

Mickey then attempts to solve his problem by placing a balloon in his shorts. That apparently helps him to be "light on his feet" and he proceeds to ask Minnie for another dance. She accepts and is surprised to find his dancing skills to have apparently improved. Pete soon discovers Mickey's trick and points it out to Minnie. Minnie is visibly disgusted by this attempt at deception. As a result, she leaves Mickey and resumes dancing with Pete, leaving Mickey crying on the floor.

### **The Opry House**

*The Opry House* (March 28, 1929) was the first time in which Mickey wore his white gloves. Mickey wears them in almost all of his subsequent appearances and many other characters followed suit. The three lines on the back of Mickey's gloves represent darts in the gloves' fabric extending from between the digits of the hand, typical of glove design of the era.

The cartoon starts with the opening of a theater and Mickey Mouse sweeping and using the broom as an instrument and a dance partner(practicing to win back Minnie). Mickey is then faced with a large show goer, who must be deflated in order to fit through the doorway. The band takes over, with a large variety of short gags occurring throughout. Following, Mickey Mouse becomes the star of the show, taking on the multiple roles of a vaudeville star. The cartoon ends with a humorous fight between himself and a piano and a stool. Mickey's interactions are highly stylized in order to capture the essence of what a vaudeville performance should be.

### **When the Cats Away**

an unusual appearance for Mickey. Although Mickey and Minnie still maintained their anthropomorphic characteristics, they were depicted as the size of regular mice and living with a community of many other mice as pests in a home. Mickey and Minnie would later appear the size of regular humans in their own setting. In appearances with real humans, Mickey has been shown to be about two to three feet high. this was accomplished through effects. This also marks the first time that Mickey Mouse works with Tom Cat(of the duo Tom and Jerry) and also the last time he is depicted as this size.

After Tom Cat leaves his house, drunk on hooch, Mickey organizes all his mice friends to break into the cat's house. Once inside, Mickey and Minnie play the piano by dancing on the keys and, later, others play some of the cat's musical instruments and records (using themselves as the speaker and stylus). In the end, Mickey and Minnie kiss for the first time.

### **The Barnyard Battle**

Peg-Leg Pete is depicted as a leading soldier of the former army, and Mickey as a conscript of the latter one. Before joining the army, Mickey has to pass a physical examination. This scene depicts Mickey becoming the subject of physical and emotional abuse. After passing the examination, he is given a machine gun and is sent to battle. Mickey's combat efforts are comical in depiction but prove effective enough in forcing the enemy to retreat. In the end, Mickey smacks a line of advancing soldiers on the head with a mallet, and is hailed as a hero by his fellow soldiers.

This would not be the last time Mickey would become a solider.

### **The Karnival Kid: 1929**

*The Karnival Kid* is broken into two distinct segments. The first segment features Mickey selling hot dogs at a carnival. The second segment is set later that night and features Mickey, accompanied by two cats, in a moonlight serenade.

The short opens to the scene of a bustling carnival. After a few initial sight gags, the action quickly focuses on Kat Nipp, a barker at the carnival who is enticing a crowd to see Minnie, "the Shimmy Dancer." Mickey stands nearby, selling hot dogs and heckling Nipp. Nipp briefly gets into a dispute with Mickey over a dancing doll scam. However, Minnie soon notices Mickey and calls him over to order a hot dog. She takes a coin out of her stocking to pay, but Mickey, who is clearly attracted to her, refuses to accept the coin and gives it to her for free. When she bites into the hot dog, it screams and runs away. Mickey catches it and spanks it, concluding the first segment. Much of the humor in this segment comes from the interaction between Mickey and his hot dogs, with the latter tending to act like actual dogs in relation to their owner/trainer.

In the second segment, Mickey attempts to draw Minnie's attention by playing guitar outside her window. He is joined by two alley cats who noisily sing along. The sound delights Minnie but awakens an irate Kat Nipp, who had been resting in a nearby trailer. Nipp starts throwing things at the three annoyances in an attempt to silence them. The short ends as Mickey is hit with an entire bed and knocked dizzy.

Stalling's score for *The Karnival Kid* features two notable themes. During the "Shimmy Dance" sequence, a monkey, performing as a one-man band, plays the Snake Charmer song, the common name for The Streets of Cairo. During the moonlight serenade segment, Mickey and the cats perform a rendition of the barbershop standard Sweet Adeline.

### **Pluto: 1930-1931**

Mickey arrives at Minnie's house to take her out for a picnic. Minnie asks if she can bring her "little Rover", although Rover turns out to be a huge bloodhound the size of Mickey. The mice tie Rover to the back of the car and drive to the picnic spot, but along the way, Rover spies a pair of rabbits and gives chase, dragging the car behind him. Rover chases one rabbit through a series of rabbit holes, but the rabbit pulls the final hole away, and the dog bangs his head on the ground.

Mickey and Minnie set up for the picnic, and Mickey cranks up the portable gramophone. The mice dance to "In the Good Old Summertime", but the birds and squirrels are active too, swiping the picnic food while Mickey and Minnie are dancing. Rover follows his nose until he finds Mickey, just as a stormcloud bursts and begins to pour. Mickey gathers up the food and the gramophone -- both overrun with animals and bugs -- and the three friends jump into the car. Rover's tail acts as a windshield wiper as Mickey and Minnie drive home through the rain(*The Picnic*, 1930).

Minnie, facing problems in her living situation, asked Mickey to look after her dog, Rover. Rover would soon be renamed Pluto.

Mickey Mouse takes his dog Pluto into the woods for a hunting trip. Pluto is distracted by a flea, and sniffs around the forest, getting bitten on the nose by a bird. He examines a raggedy scarecrow, and is frightened when one of the scarecrow's gloves lands on his tail. He flees -- knocking Mickey over -- and jumps in the water. When he emerges, more fleas climb onto his back.

Pluto returns to Mickey, who runs him through a series of dog commands -- lay down, roll over, sit up and shake hands. When Mickey tells Pluto to "speak", Pluto does a brief Al Jolson impression, kneeling with outstretched paws and saying "Mammy!"

Mickey throws a stick for Pluto, who picks up a larger branch and carries it back to his master. Seeing the antler-like twigs in sillhouette, Mickey thinks that Pluto's a moose, and he shoots. He finds Pluto lying motionless, and starts to cry, sobbing, "Oh, what have I done? Don't leave me, pal!" Pluto winks at the audience, as Mickey continues to cry. When Mickey begs him to say something, Pluto looks at him sweetly, and growls, "Kiss me!"

Mickey's delighted that Pluto's alive, but they hear a moose call and immediately return to the hunting trip. Pluto sniffs around, but completely misses the moose, who starts snuffling after Pluto instead. Pluto taps Mickey on the shoulder, points at the moose, and barks, "The moose! The moose!" Mickey tries to shoot the enormous moose, but his hands shake so much that his gun falls to pieces. The moose chases Mickey and Pluto, but Mickey uses Pluto's flapping ears to get airborne, and they triumphantly fly away, Mickey riding on his dog's back.(*The Moose Hunt,* 1931).

### **The Cactus Kid**

Mickey rides his horse up to a Mexican cantina, where he finds Minnie working as a waitress, which she is doing due to hard times that led her to give up Rover. He dances and plays the spoons to amuse her, but when he cheekily tweaks her nose, she becomes enraged, upbraiding him in Spanish and then pelting him with lamps and bottles. He earns her favor again by doing a silly dance and playing the piano. Peg-Leg Pete, dances into the cantina and grabs Minnie's arm, taking some beer and asking her for a kiss. Mickey stands up to the bully, and they both draw their guns.

The lights go out, and Mickey and Pete engage in a spirited gunfight. Pete emerges from the cantina with his hands around Minnie; he jumps on his donkey, and rides away. Mickey tries to follow on his horse, but ends up dragged behind the animal, poked with cactus needles. Mickey finally catches up with the villain and jumps onto his moving horse, then punches him in the face. Pete falls off a cliff and is squashed flat by a boulder. Mickey, Minnie and the horse wave goodbye to the two-dimensional villain.

### **Rise in Popularity: 1932-1935**

As the Great Depression progressed and Felix the Cat faded from the movie screen, Mickey's popularity would rise, and by 1932 The Mickey Mouse Club would have one million members. At the 5th Academy Awards in 1932, Mickey received his first Academy Award nomination, received for *Mickey's Orphans* (1931). Walt Disney also received an honorary Academy Award for the creation of Mickey Mouse. Despite being eclipsed by the *Silly Symphony* short the *Three Little Pigs* in 1933, Mickey still maintained great popularity among theater audiences too, until 1935, when polls showed that Popeye was more popular than Mickey.By 1934, Mickey merchandise had earned $600,000.00 a year.  In 1935, Dingo began to phase out the Mickey Mouse Clubs, due to administration problems.

About this time, writers at Dingo were finding it increasingly difficult to write material for Mickey. As he had developed into a role model for children, they were limited in the types of gags they could make. This led to Mickey taking more of a secondary role in some of his next films allowing for more emphasis on other

### **Orphan's Benefit: 1934**

In 1934, Mickey first met Donald and Goofy when the three agreed to set up an Orphan's Benefit concert for toons together, which occurred on August 11. the mice orphans arrived at a theater for a free show entitled "Mickey's Big Show: Orphan's Benefit." As they filed into the building and they were given free lollipops, ice cream, and balloons.

Donald Duck begins the show by reciting "Mary Had a Little Lamb", and then reciting "Little Boy Blue." But when he says "come blow your horn," an orphan loudly blows his nose. He recites it a second time, but this time the orphans blow their noses. Donald loses his temper over his performance being interrupted in this manner and challenges them to fight, but is pulled backstage by an off-screen stagehand.

The next act is Goofy, Horace Horsecollar, and Clarabelle Cow performing an acrobatic dance. Horace dances with Clarabelle and Goofy attempts to pick him up but gets his head stuck. Goofy then throws Clarabelle back to Horace. Horace spins Clarabelle around and throws him in Goofy's direction. Goofy catches her dress and Clarabelle closes out the act by hitting Goofy on the head. Donald decides to exact his revenge by reciting "Little Boy Blue" again and blows his own horn before the orphans can respond. An orphan blows ice cream at him to interrupt Donald and the orphans punch Donald into a daze with their boxing gloves. Then, Donald is once again pulled backstage.

For the next act, Clara Cluck performs "*Chi mi frena in tal momento*" from Act II of Gaetano Donizetti's *Lucia di Lammermoor*, accompanied by Mickey on piano. When she is unable to reach a high B-Flat note, an orphan fires a slingshot to help finish the song.

During the final act, Donald returns to the stage and quickly recites one line – "Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn" – and waits for the orphans to interrupt him. Yet as they seem well-behaved this time, Donald continues the recitation. But when he says "Where is that boy who looks after the sheep?" the orphans answer in unison "Under the haystack fast asleep, you dope," causing Donald to lose his temper again. The orphans tie bricks, a plant, a fire extinguisher and eggs onto their balloons, float them over his head, and fire their slingshots. After being laughed by the orphans, Donald ends the show and finally accepts defeat.

### **Color Films: 1935-1953**

Mickey first appeared animated in color in *Parade of the Award Nominees* in 1932, however, the film strip was created for the 5th Academy Awards ceremony and was not released to the public. In it he led a parade of nominees for best actor and best actress.

### **The Band Concert: 1935**

Mickey Mouse's concert band is performing a concert in a park. As the film opens, they are being applauded for having just played music from Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold's *Zampa*. They next begin Gioacchino Rossini's *William Tell* overture.

Mickey's performance is first disrupted by Peter Pig's vibrato trumpet and Paddy Pig's tuba playing *Prelude: Dawn*. Meanwhile, Donald Duck rolls a vendor cart through the audience selling lemonade, popcorn, and ice cream, which further distracts Mickey.

While the band is playing the "Finale" segment, Donald plays *Turkey in the Straw* at the same tempo as the band. Overhearing Donald, the entire band absent-mindedly find themselves playing Donald's song. Realizing that he accidentally switched genres, Mickey loses his temper over his performance being disrupted in this manner. Mickey breaks Donald's flute in two, only for Donald to get another one out. They play the song again and Mickey breaks the flute once more. The band resumes the segment, but when Donald pulls out a third flute and plays "Turkey in the Straw" again, Donald breaks the flute himself before Mickey can. The trombonist grabs Donald by the neck, shakes out several of his flutes and forces him offstage, knocking him back into the vendor cart.

While Donald tries to play the song again a bee harasses him. When the bee lands on Mickey's hat, Donald throws ice cream at the bee, which sends it into Peter Pig's trumpet; he shoots it out, accidentally hitting Mickey with it. The ice cream slides under Mickey's uniform, making him shake around, causing the band to briefly play *The Streets of Cairo* until it falls out and he kicks it away. Mickey has the band play *Ranz des Vaches* and loses his temper when the bee interrupts the performance, swatting his baton at the bee and thus causing the band to briefly play notes drastically different than the song. Percussionist Horace Horsecollar tries to kill the bee by squishing it with his cymbals and with a hammer, but accidentally hits Goofy's head instead, driving his head down into his jacket. He continues playing his clarinet from inside it while Horace leaves in shame.

When the band comes to the "Storm" segment of the overture, it summons an actual tornado, prompting the audience and Donald to run away. The benches that the audience members were sitting on come to life (each wearing a hat that fell off an audience member) and also begin running for their lives as well. Donald tries to take shelter in some trees only for the tornado to tie them in knots with Donald in the middle. The tornado sucks up and destroys everything in its path (houses, farms, trees, walls, signs, windmills, fences, power lines, etc), even the pavilion on which the band is playing, but the band is so used to the distractions by this point that they continue to play from inside the tornado (in which Mickey floats through the remains of a wrecked house, Peter Pig gets spanked by a fence, and Clarabelle is hit by a pair of undergarments and an umbrella that turns her flute inside-out). The tornado suddenly freezes when Mickey takes a pause conducting (which seemingly stops time itself briefly) and goes in reverse as the band finishes the last part of the song. As the storm passes, the band (except Horace, Peter Pig and Mickey) is thrown into a tree and they finish the overture. Yet by this time, the only remaining audience member is Donald Duck (who somehow managed to untangle himself from the twisted trees) who applauds enthusiastically. Witnessing Donald playing "Turkey in the Straw" as an encore, the offscreen band members end the show by throwing their instruments at him in disgust.

In 1994, *The Band Concert* was voted the third-greatest cartoon of all time in a poll of animation professionals. By colorizing Mickey, Charles would put Mickey back on top once again, and Mickey would reach popularity he never reached before as audiences now gave him more appeal. Also in 1935, Dingo would receive a special award from the League of Nations for creating Mickey.

However, by 1938, the more manic Donald Duck would surpass the passive Mickey, resulting in a redesign of the mouse between 1938 and 1940 that put Mickey at the peak of his popularity. The second half of the 1930s saw the character Goofy reintroduced as a series regular. Together, Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy would go on several adventures together. Several of the films by the comic trio are some of Mickey's most critically acclaimed films, including *Mickey's Fire Brigade* (1935), *Moose Hunters* (1937), *Clock Cleaners* (1937), *Lonesome Ghosts* (1937), *Boat Builders* (1938), and *Mickey's Trailer* (1938). Also during this era, Mickey would star in *Brave Little Tailor* (1938), an adaptation of *The Valiant Little Tailor*, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

### **Moose Hunters(1937)**

The short begins with a female moose (with blond curly hair and antlers oddly enough) wading through a lake. Other odd things that make this moose strange is that she sounds her mating call with a horn and her legs are strangely familiar. The legs' owners are Donald and Goofy, disguised in a moose costume. Following them is Mickey, sounding his own moose call while being disguised as a shrub on stilts. Goofy's call is answered by an actual moose, causing him and Donald to excitedly shout "A moose!". Mickey tells them to "do their stuff" so he can shoot the moose with his shotgun. So, the duo go off to track down a moose.

We go back to Mickey, who is searching for a moose. He stands over a bush and sounds his call, which is answered by a large red bull moose who was hiding in the bush. This understandably freaks Mickey out, who drops his shotgun, which fires and breaks, briefly scaring the moose. The antlered beast, now hungry decides to eat Mickey's disguise and takes a bite. The mouse, not wanting to risk being caught, takes a few steps back, but the bull follows and takes another bite, this time taking Mickey's shorts along with a mouthful of leaves. Of course, the mouse takes his shorts back.

Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy have tracked down their quarry, a large black bull moose. Watching the male eat a bush full of leaves in one bite causes an jubilant Donald to add some makeup and lipstick to make the costume more attractive. Goofy adds in some "deer kiss" perfume to the disguise and himself and sprays a trail towards the bull, letting the wind do the rest. The moose, entranced by the scent follows it to the waiting "lady moose". A mere glance is all it takes for the rutting bull to become smitten, especially when "she" does a teasing walk for him.

When the costumed cow moose gives a "yoo-hoo", the bull moose gives a howling response, blowing off the costume. Goofy (who still has the moose head on) quickly comes up with a plan and fan dances until he and Donald can get the costume back on, which makes the lovestruck male even more smitten with the costume. Once again disguised, the pair seductively dance with the aroused bull, succeeding in getting him to follow them; unfortunately, the Donald half falls off a cliff and lands on an angry bee. The insect follows the duck into the costume, making the pair dance to the tune of "La Cucuracha". The moose, angling for a kiss, kisses Goofy on the face, as Donald tries to hit the bee, causing the moose head to fly off of Goofy, luckily landing on him just before they could be caught. They lure the ecstatic moose to Mickey so he can do the rest. However, they don't know their leading the moose right towards another.

Unfortunately for the mouse, his cover has been eaten off and the moose he has been dealing with is not amused. As the moose prepares to charge at Mickey, he hears a flirty "yoo-hoo", which catches his attention. Turning around, the rutting moose sees an attractive cow moose trotting towards him. Smitten with the "female", the aroused bull trots over to the costumed moose as "she" unknowingly backs up into him. While the horny male licks the costume's face and cozies up to "her"(despite a disguised Goofy trying to smack the antlered beast off of him), Donald tries to move the costume... only to realise he's under the moose trying to woo the "hot blonde". Before the red moose tries any more moves with what appears to be an attractive cow moose under him, the jealous black moose challenges him for the "lady moose's" hand, which he angrily responds to in kind.

In an April Fools' Day prank, two bulls prepare to fight; Donald and Goofy race up a tree . The moose sharpen their antlers, clash and the earthshaking body slams cause Goofy and Donald, hanging on to the tree for dear life, fall between the two bulls. The antlered beasts forget about the whole costume incident, Donald and Goofy run for their lives while the angry moose chase them. Mickey soon joins them as they run for their lives, going on a boat and racing away, concluding the cartoon.

### **Clock Cleaners(1937)**

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are assigned to clean a tall clock tower in New York City. Mickey is outside cleaning the face with a mop by riding on the second hand. Goofy is inside the building cleaning gear teeth with a large toothbrush. Donald (singing "Hickory Dickory Dock") starts to mop the mainspring, ignoring several warning signs. He gets the mop caught and springs it loose.

Meanwhile, Mickey, now cleaning inside the clock, comes across a sleeping stork which he tries unsuccessfully to remove. As he throws the stork out of the tower, the stork flies back in and snatched Mickey as a stork that is delivering a baby and let go of Mickey and the stork flies back in. Mickey is left hanging on a rope outside the tower.

Back inside, Donald is getting the mainspring back into place with a mallet, but he struggles to get the very last piece in place. Donald gets furious at the spring and asks "What's the big idea?". The spring seems to respond with an echo of Donald's question. Donald gets into an argument with the spring, culminating in him hitting the spring with the mallet, but it (the spring) sends it back and knocks him off. Donald gets his head stuck in a gear on the balance wheel shaft. When he finally is free from it, the oscillation makes his body continue to move.

Now outside, Goofy (singing "Asleep in the Deep") is cleaning the outside bell. As he is cleaning the interior of the bell, it becomes 4:00 PM, causing two mechanical statues to come from inside the tower and ring the bell by taking turns striking it, for a total of four times. The first figure (resembling Father Time) approaches without Goofy noticing. When the bell rings with Goofy inside it, his head vibrates violently and he sits down. Before he has regained his composure the statue has returned to the tower, and he then looks around suspiciously and says "Mice!" This is a reference to W.C. Fields who used the same line, when there was a crash backstage during one of his comedy acts. The second figure, representing Lady Liberty, rings the bell from the other side and he is once again vibrated. After the second ring, Goofy is determined to be ready for the next time. As the bell is struck a third time, he leaps out and is ready to attack, but when he sees Lady Liberty coming for the fourth ring, he idiotically, chivalrously, apologizes and bows. But Goofy is standing between her torch and the bell, and he receives a big knock to the head.

This puts Goofy in a dizzy lovestruck stupor for the rest of the film. Mickey is alarmed when he sees Goofy almost fall and tries to save him. At each turn, Mickey is just barely able to save Goofy. At last, Goofy lands on a flag pole that sends him and Mickey to fly through a window into the clock, land on the mainspring which Donald had finally managed to put back together (now undoing all the springs again), then all three land in the same gear in which Donald was stuck earlier, causing their bodies to move in a humorous rhythm to the tune of The Streets of Cairo.

### **Lonesome Ghosts(1937)**

The Ajax Ghost Exterminators - Mickey, Donald and Goofy - are hired by telephone to drive out four ghosts from a haunted house that has long been abandoned. Unbeknownst to them, they were hired by the ghosts themselves, who are bored because nobody has visited the house since they had been haunting for a long time (either because none of the locals were scared or they had scared them all away, as one ghost puts it: "Guess we're too good!"). They wish to play tricks on the living, and do so through a series of inventive, annoying pranks.

The exterminators arrive and knock on the front door, which falls down. When they announce themselves, there is nobody to receive them. Mickey decides they should get to work anyway. When entering, the door lifts up and throws them inside before putting itself back in place. After hearing the ghosts' laughter, the three split up to hunt the ghosts individually.

The exterminators are toyed with at every turn; a ghost knocks Mickey on the head and puts its fingers in his gun when he tries to shoot it and it explodes. Mickey is driven upstairs and tries to open a door that the ghost disappears into, which falls down and the ghosts (forming a marching band) come out of the fallen door and go into another. Mickey opens the door, which causes water to poor out of it while the ghosts surf across it on surfboards. The last one comes out on a motorboat that goes around Mickey until it and the water disappear altogether. Donald, meanwhile, is whacked with a wooden board and is scared away by the sounds of banging chains and dishes. Goofy, in a bedroom, becomes tangled in a dresser and stabs his own rear with a pin, mistaking his blue pants for a ghost and is shoved down into the basement.

In the end, the three exterminators accidentally become covered in molasses and flour, making them look like ghosts and consequently scaring the actual ghosts out of the house in a panic. The ghost hunters stand victorious, having driven the spirits out of the house, although not exactly certain how. Donald smugly assumes the ghosts fled in capitulation to their superior tactics.

### **Boat Builders(1938)**

In this short, Mickey Mouse and his friends Donald Duck and Goofy attempt to build a boat (which they name *Queen Minnie*), which is made from fold-out parts (the instructions simply say "All You Do Is Put It Together" and "Even A Child Can Do It"), though they encounter problems as they go (such as Donald painting the rudder which keeps being turned by Mickey, and Goofy idiotically thinking the Figurehead is an actual woman). Their maiden voyage turns out to be their last, as the boat collapses as she sets sail, thanks to Minnie Mouse hitting the champagne bottle to christen the boat just a little too hard.

### **Mickey's Trailer(1938)**

The movie starts at what seems like a small house in a natural setting. Mickey walks out the door and says, "Oh boy! What a day!" Then, he pulls a lever and walks inside. The house is converted into a trailer (with the natural setting in the shape of a giant hand fan revealed to be a city dump) and Goofy's car is released from the side. Then, Goofy starts driving through the countryside while Mickey makes dinner-like breakfast (corn on the cob, baked potatoes, watermelon, coffee, and milk). Meanwhile, Donald can't wake up, even when his alarm clock rings and pulls off his blanket. Thanks to a secret controlboard, Mickey manages to rouse him for a machine-assisted bath, but he sees birds and tries to swat them with the towel. Later, the bath is converted into a dining area.

When Mickey rings the dinner bell, Goofy foolishly leaves the driver's seat - while the car and trailer are still in motion and without stopping - for breakfast, in which it drives through a closed road. After several mishaps during the meal, eventually having popcorn for breakfast, Goofy notices that no one is in the driver's seat and accidentally and unknowingly unhitches the trailer in his panic to resume driving and goes on his way. The trailer rolls downhill on an epic runaway adventure, nearly crashing into a truck and two trains and is a wreck on the inside (but okay on the outside) by the time it's miraculously rehitched to the car. Unaware of the dramatic events, Goofy says in the end, "Well, I brought you down, safe and sound."

### **Brave Little Tailor(1938)**

Also during this era, Mickey would star in *Brave Little Tailor* (1938), an adaptation of *The Valiant Little Tailor*, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Set during the Middle Ages in Europe, a king is seeking a brave warrior to kill a giant which has been terrorizing the small kingdom. There is much discussion in the village, but no one is willing to take on the task. Nearby in the same village, a young peasant tailor (Mickey Mouse) kills seven flies at once while at his work, and accidentally interjects several other peasants' discussion of the problems with the giant to brag loudly about his accomplishment:

Peasant (to his friends): "Say, did you ever kill a giant?"
Mickey (interjecting unwittingly): "I killed *seven* with one blow!"
Gossip that Mickey has killed seven giants with one blow quickly spreads around the kingdom. The king summons him, and asks if he really "killed seven at one blow". He goes into an elaborate retelling of how he killed the seven (flies, not giants as the king believes), which impresses the king enough to appoint him "Royal High Killer of the Giant". Upon learning the misunderstanding, all of his confidence disappears and he attempts to stammer his way out of the assignment. The king offers him both vast riches and the hand of his only daughter, Princess Minnie, in marriage if he can kill (or at least subdue) the giant. Smitten with Minnie, he proclaims that he'll "cut [the giant] down to my size", and sets off for the giant's lair.

After only a few minutes, however, he is ready to turn back and give up, but the townspeople and Minnie are counting on him. "Gosh," Mickey sighs to himself, wondering what to do. "I dunno how to catch a giant."

Just then, the evil giant appears, forcing Mickey to scramble for a place to hide while the giant crushes a mountain, a forest, and a house. He sits down on a barn and eats a cart of pumpkins (as if they were grapes), drinks some water (using a water well as if it were a thermos), and rolls a cigarette from a haystack Mickey was hiding in (lighting it with a stove in a nearby house after he pulls open its roof to get it), and leans on a silo to relax as Mickey briefly ends up in his mouth but escapes. Mickey is caught in the giant's cigarette, and gives his hiding place away by accidentally sneezing. The giant attempts to squash him, but Mickey quickly produces a needle and thread and binds the giant's limbs. With the needle and thread, Mickey swings about the giant, sewing him up and causing him to fall and knock himself out. The giant subdued, Mickey returns home and is hailed as a hero. An amusement park is built on the site of the battle (powered with wind power from the snoring giant). The film ends with the king and a newly married Mickey and Minnie enjoying a ride on the carousel(Mickey and Marry were married in real life as well).

### **The Pointer(1939)**

Mickey shapeshifted himself into a new form, Instead of having solid black eyes, he had white eyes with pupils, a Caucasian skin colored face, and a pear-shaped body.

Mickey Mouse and Pluto are camping in the woods about to set out hunting. Mickey reads to Pluto from an instructional book how to point at game and not move. Mickey promises that if they are successful they will have "quail on toast, and maybe a nice big juicy bear steak" that night. They then set out into the forest, Mickey carrying a shotgun.

But the first time they see quail, Pluto gets too excited, knocks Mickey over, and scares the birds away. Mickey scolds Pluto, but later softens, realizing that Pluto is a mutt and won't be able to learn. They set off again, but become separated. Pluto again hears some quail, and points at them. He is careful this time not to move at all, even to the point of letting the quail jump up on him and pull his fur. Mickey however, is unaware that Pluto is not right behind him. He jumps down from a rock and unwittingly wakes a sleeping bear who starts to follow him. Only when Mickey doubles around and comes across Pluto, still in his pointer position, does he realize that there is a bear behind him.

The bear appears to be belligerent, but rather than running away, Mickey first tries to talk to the bear, explaining that he and Pluto were only hunting quail. Mickey even introduces himself to the bear, saying "I hope you've heard of me."

The bear instead chases after Mickey and Pluto, who tear a path across the landscape back to their camp. That night they happily eat a supper of canned beans.

### **Fantasia(1940)**

In 1940, Mickey appeared in his first feature-length film, *Fantasia*. His screen role was based on an event in his real if, his apprenticeship with Yen Sid. The Sorcerer's Apprentice was set to the symphonic poem of the same name by Paul Dukas, is perhaps the most famous segment of the film and one of Mickey's most iconic roles. The segment features no dialogue at all, only the music(which is perhaps accidentally accurate as Mickey could not yet speak). The apprentice (Mickey), not willing to do his chores, puts on the sorcerer's magic hat after the sorcerer goes to bed and casts a spell on a broom, which causes the broom to come to life and perform the most tiring chore—filling up a deep well using two buckets of water. When the well eventually overflows, Mickey finds himself unable to control the broom. He cuts it to pieces but it reforms into even more brooms, who continue their work, leading to a near-flood. The Sorcerer awakens, quickly fixes the mess and scolds Mickey. After the segment ends, Mickey is seen in silhouette shaking hands with Leopold Stokowski, who conducts all the music heard in *Fantasia*. Mickey has often been pictured in the red robe and blue sorcerer's hat in merchandising.

A parody, *Scratchtasia* was released by Itchy and Scratchy studios. It parodies only the Sorcerer's Apprentice segment. It begins with Itchy and Scratchy having their usual antics before breaking into a Wizard's castle while he is asleep. Both then use magic from items they find against each other. Itchy is attacking Scratchy brandishing an axe. Dodging the attacks, Scratchy snatches the axe from Itchy. A terrified Itchy runs into an adjacent room, pursued by Scratchy who then attacks him. Scratchy splits Itchy into several smaller versions of himself that start to attack Scratchy, who attacks again, and bravely tries to stop them by chopping them all repeatedly until the Itchies are nothing more than pink powder. He sighs and accidentally inhales the powder. Inside his body, countless microscopic Itchies attack his bronchioles and white blood cells with axes, causing him to age in milliseconds until he crumbles into dust. This cartoon includes a rare scene featuring Scratchy violently killing Itchy.

### **The Little Whirlwind(1941)**

While walking by Minnie Mouse's house one day, Mickey Mouse is enticed by the aroma of a cake Minnie is baking. Promised a slice if he cleans the yard, Mickey immediately jumps into raking up the fall leaves littering Minnie's lawn. While working in the yard, a small tornado named Moses as tall as Mickey comes along and makes his work more complicated: first the youngster hops into the basket and leaps over Mickey countless times before he pounds the basket in place, shaking it to check if it's snared. After he throws the leaves in, Moses pounces on him, spins him around, grabs his hat, and taunts him. Angered, Mickey pounces on the youngster Moses, who spins him around and scoots away, leaving Mickey's hat on his head. Both Mickey and the youngster have a tug'o'war on the basket until it shatters on Mickey, who is entangled. Then, Moses makes an army of leaves and marches around the house. Mickey manages to trap Moses with a sack, which he ties and punts away. The tornado retaliates with just 2 punches, then attempts to get away, with Mickey hot on his heels. As Mickey chases him with a rake the terrified Moses calls out for help. The mother tornado, unamused with Mickey tormenting her offspring (and unaware of what her child has been doing to Mickey), furiously pursues him. Her angry rampage causes chaos and destruction through the farm fields and grasslands until she lifts the lower portion of her gigantic body and slows Mickey's movement.

When the twister finally sucks Mickey in, he is sent for a spin until he ends up falling into Minnie's water fountain. After the two tornadoes leave, Minnie, unaware of the whole incident finds her garden in a complete mess causing Mickey to get her cake thrown in his face which he proceeds to eat.

### **The Simple Things(1953)**

After 1940, Mickey's popularity would decline until his 1955 re-emergence as a daily children's television personality. Despite this, the character continued to appear regularly in animated shorts until 1943 (winning his only competitive Academy Award—with canine companion Pluto—for a short subject, *Lend a Paw*) and again from 1946 to 1952.

The last regular installment of the *Mickey Mouse* film series came in 1953 with *The Simple Things* in which Mickey and Pluto go fishing and are pestered by a flock of seagulls.

At the start of the cartoon, Mickey is seen whistling to the tune of the song "The Simple Things," Pluto sniffing behind him, spots a mussel as he tries to cover up miniature geysers along the way. The mussel then squirts water at him. Pluto barks at the mussel and the mussel barks back. The mussel gets trapped on Pluto's tail after they fight. He pulls the mussel up and attempts to shove it off his tail but instead he pulls the mussel up and down like a yo-yo. The mussel accidentally gets stuck in his mouth. Pluto then rushes to Mickey for assistance. At first Mickey thinks that Pluto is asking for food and feeds him a hot dog. The mussel then steals Mickey's sandwich and a full pepper shaker which causes the mussel to sneeze thus freeing itself from Pluto's mouth. The mussel bounces around sneezing and wakes up a seagull that decides to eat the mussel. The sneezing mussel escapes the seagull by entering the sea. The hungry seagull steals the hot dog that Mickey is feeding Pluto instead. The seagull then sets his sights on the fish bait Mickey is using and unsuccessfully attempts to steal the fish while the line is being cast. Dejected but determined, the seagull then sits on top of Mickey's hat and easily steals the fish as he is baiting the hook until Mickey shoos the seagull away. He then floats under the hat to the other bait bucket and again eats the fish until Pluto notices and shoos him away and the seagull by tying up Pluto using his own tail and ears. Mickey again catches the seagull in his bait and after the bird tries to fly away carrying the bait, Mickey throws a rock in it which weighs it down. To overcome this, the seagull spells out "FREE FRESH FISH" using flag semaphore to get the other seagulls to chase Mickey and Pluto away. The short ends with the seagull floating away with his portable radio and fish in his mouth singing the song "The Simple Things".

### **Television and Later Films**

In the 1950s, Mickey became more known for his appearances on television, particularly with *The Mickey Mouse Club*. Many of his theatrical cartoon shorts were rereleased on television series such as *Ink & Paint Club*, various forms of the Charles Dingo anthology television series, and on home video. Mickey returned to theatrical animation in 1983 with *Mickey's Christmas Carol*, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' *A Christmas Carol* in which Mickey played Bob Cratchit. This was followed up in 1990 with *The Prince and the Pauper*.

### **Mickey's Christmas Carol(1983)**

On Christmas Eve in 19th-century London, Ebenezer Scrooge (played by Scrooge McDuck) is a surly money-lender who does not share the merriment of Christmas. He declines his nephew Fred (Donald Duck)'s invitation to Christmas dinner, then brushes off two gentlemen (Rat and Mole) fundraising aid for the poor. His loyal employee Bob Cratchit (Mickey Mouse) requests to have half of Christmas Day off, to which Scrooge reluctantly accepts, but says Cratchit would be docked half a day's pay.

Scrooge continues his business and goes home just before midnight. In his house, Scrooge encounters the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley (Goofy), who warns him to repent his wicked ways or he will be condemned in the afterlife like he was, informing him that three spirits will visit him during the night.

At one o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Jiminy Cricket), who takes him back in time to his early adult life. They visit his time as an employee under Fezziwig (Mr. Toad). Fezziwig throws a Christmas party where the young Scrooge meets a young woman named Isabelle (Daisy Duck), whom he falls in love with. However, the Ghost shows Scrooge how Isabelle left him when he chose money over her. A distraught Scrooge dismisses the Ghost as he returns to the present, lamenting his past actions.

At two o'clock, Scrooge meets the gigantic, merry Ghost of Christmas Present (Willie the Giant). Scrooge and the Ghost visit Bob's house, learning his family is surprisingly content with their small dinner. Scrooge takes pity on Bob's ill son Tiny Tim (played by Mortie Mouse). The Ghost comments that Tiny Tim will not survive until next Christmas and then disappears.

After Scrooge is transported to a cemetery, he meets the Ghost of Christmas Future (later revealed to be Pete), who appears as a silent, cloaked, cigar-smoking figure. When Scrooge inquires about Tiny Tim, the Ghost reveals that Tim has died. As Scrooge asks if this event can be changed, he sees two gravediggers (weasels) who are amused that no one attended the funeral of the man whose grave they are digging. As soon as the gravediggers are gone, the ghost reveals the man who died to be Scrooge. Now terrified out of his wits, Scrooge decides to change his ways once and for all as the Ghost shoves him into his grave, where his soon-to-be coffin opens to reveal what appears to be a gateway to Hell.

Awakening in his bedroom on Christmas Day, Scrooge decides to surprise Bob's family with a turkey dinner and ventures out to spread happiness and joy around London. He accepts Fred's invitation and then donates a sizable amount of money to the gentlemen he earlier spurned. Scrooge then goes to the Cratchit house. At first putting on a stern demeanor, Scrooge reveals he brought foods and gifts for them and intends on raising Bob's salary and making him his partner in his counting house. Scrooge and the Cratchits happily celebrate Christmas.

### **The Prince and the Pauper(1990)**

The story begins in England when a king ruled the country with peace and compassion. However, the good king has fallen ill, and his greedy Captain of the guards, Pete, plunders and terrorizes the country in the king's name. One day, when Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Pluto, three beggars are trying to get money for some food, Captain Pete's carriage, filled with stolen food, passes. Pluto sees a sausage stand out from the carriage and gives chase, pursuing it into the castle. When Mickey knocks on the door to get his dog back, one of the soldiers opens the door and lets him in, mistaking him for the Prince. Pete lectures the soldier for letting anyone in, pointing out where the real prince is: in class with his teacher, Horace Horsecollar and his valet, Donald Duck. The Prince hears Pete outside, roughly handling Mickey and Pluto. The prince orders them to be brought to him right away. Pete kicks Mickey through the door and forces Pluto out of the castle.

While in the palace Mickey meets the Prince and they both realize that they are entirely identical in appearance. The prince tells the beggar that he is bored with his life and convinces the beggar to exchange clothes and roles with each other. The prince reassures the beggar that everything will be fine, and if there are any problems, everyone will recognize the true prince with his real ring. Disguised as a beggar, the prince tricks Pete into kicking him out of the palace and meets Goofy and Pluto while Mickey is challenged with the prince's studies. The real prince witnesses a couple of soldiers trying to steal a chicken from Clarabelle Cow and her two children. The children explain that for years the soldiers have taken away their food and belongings in the name of the king. When a carriage with the stolen food goes by, the prince stops it by identifying himself through the ring and he returns the food to the people. The soldiers attempt to stop the prince, thinking that he is an impostor, but fail when he escapes with help from the villagers and Goofy. One of the soldiers tells Pete that one of the beggars had the royal ring.

Pete is alarmed realizing that he cast out the prince, and may see the corruption and theft going on outside so Pete plans to make Mickey become the real king so the prince won't make it back. The beggar, dressed as the prince, is called to see his "father", who is now dying. Mickey enters the room of the dying king and the king tells him he must take his royal birthright and become king. Mickey decides to find the true prince as quickly as possible, but Pete arrives and blackmails Mickey to be crowned king, or else he will kill Pluto. Meanwhile, the true prince hears the bells announcing the death of his father and realizes that he must return immediately to the palace. Pete captures the Prince and detains him with Donald (whose reasons for imprisonment are unknown), while the coronation begins. Goofy disguises himself as an executioner, and after accidentally knocking out the guard, the three escape the cell and run to the coronation chamber. While the beggar tries to postpone being crowned by the archbishop, the Prince arrives and fights Pete who becomes entangled with the soldiers in a fallen chandelier and falls out of a window. Mickey and the Prince then cheer in their success in defeating Captain Pete. The archbishop is confused and does not know whom to crown until Pluto recognizes the beggar. The real Prince is crowned King of England, and with Mickey and Goofy at his side, rules for many years with justice and compassion for all.

Throughout the decades, Mickey Mouse competed with Warner Bros.' Bugs Bunny for animated popularity.

Mickey made a featured cameo appearance in the 1990 television special *The Muppets at Charles Dingo World* where he got to meet Kermit the Frog(the two are shown to be old friends). When Jim Henson died, Mickey comforted him. Eventually, The Muppets were purchased by the Charles Dingo Company in 2004.

### **Runaway Brain(1995)**

On a dark and stormy evening in the city of Bumblyburg, Minnie comes home to find Mickey playing a *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* fighting video game and becomes angry over Mickey having forgotten that this night is the anniversary of their first date. Mickey comes up with the last-minute idea to take her to a miniature golf course and shows her a newspaper ad for it, but she instead notices another ad for a trip to Hawaii, which costs $1,000, and mistakes it for Mickey's gift. Mickey frets over how he can make enough money for the trip when Pluto shows him an ad to work with a mad scientist named Dr. Frankenollie for a day of "mindless work" that would pay $1,000.

Upon reaching the home of the primate-like Dr. Frankenollie, Mickey is dropped down a trapdoor into Frankenollie's laboratory; the doctor reveals a plan to switch Mickey's brain with that of his 40 or 50-foot tall monster Julius. The experiment causes an explosion that kills Frankenollie, but the brain transfer is a success, with Mickey's mind ending up in Julius' giant body and Julius in control of Mickey's body.

The dimwitted and insane Julius finds Mickey's wallet and notices a photo of Minnie, whom he instantly becomes smitten with. He escapes from the laboratory and finds Minnie while she is shopping for swimsuits; Minnie immediately mistakes Julius for Mickey. Mickey arrives in Julius' body to save Minnie, but Minnie mistakes Mickey for a monster and screams for help, until Mickey convinces her of who he is and places her on the top of the Bumblyburg Tower, which is 2000 feet tall and 180 stories tall.

Julius continues to pursue Minnie, leading to a battle between Mickey and Julius during which they land on a telephone line and get zapped, switching their minds back to their original bodies. Mickey continues to fight Julius, the two of them reaching the top of the tallest building in Bumblyburg, where Mickey manages to rescue Minnie as well as tie Julius down with a rope. Mickey uses a huge billboard for a Hawaiian vacation getaway to suspend Julius over the Bumblyburg city streets, with the Monster reeling up and down like a yo-yo.

Finally, Mickey and Minnie travel to Hawaii together on an inflatable boat pulled by Julius as he swims after the photo of Minnie in Mickey's wallet, which is attached to a fishing line manned by Mickey.