The Grocery Boy

A Mickey Mouse Cartoon

Release Date : February 11, 1932

Running Time : 7:08

Synopsis

Mickey goes shopping for Minnie, but is late bringing the groceries back. She acts haughty as a result, then softens. She and Mickey make dinner in time to the music, but Pluto steals the turkey and causes chaos when they try to retrieve it.

Characters

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Pluto

Credits

Director

Wilfred Jackson

Animation

Johnny Cannon

Les Clark

Rodolfo "Rudy" Zamora

Frenchy de Tremaudan

Gerry "Clyde" Geronomi

Cut Scenes

A statue of Napoleon gets stuck on Mickey's head. He runs into a stove and the resulting soot makes the statue a blackface stereotype.

DVD

United States

Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2

Germany

Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2

Television

Mickey's Mouse Tracks: Episode 73

The Mickey Mouse Club : March 2, 1956

Technical Specification

Color Type: Black & White

Animation Type: Standard animation

Sound Mix: Mono

Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1

Negative Format: 35mm

Print Format: 35mm

Cinematographic Process: Spherical

Original Language: English

Released by Columbia Pictures, Inc.

Comments

From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project : Another Mickey short, more fun times – that’s what you get with The Grocery Boy, the second of the Mickey Mouse cartoons of 1932. This one takes a little different set up, and we see a different side of Minnie, but we get the familiar chaotic ending featuring Pluto. It makes for somewhat of a formulaic short, but it’s still very enjoyable.

The set up is unique – Mickey is at the grocery store in the middle of a small town, picking up groceries for Minnie. He even takes a call from her in the midst of his shopping spree, as she asks him to come home quickly. When he runs outside, we see a typical small town Main Street. You have to wonder how much this Main Street was modeled after Walt’s boyhood home in Marceline. It’s interesting to think that early models of Main Street in Disneyland could have already been percolating in Walt’s head.

The interesting personality work in this short takes place when Mickey gets home. Minnie intentionally ignores him, acting haughty and sticking her nose up in the air. It’s not something we have seen from her before. Minnie has been a caring, sometimes irritated partner for Mickey, but this is the first time we’ve seen her play things a little more coy.

Of course, all that false pride disappears when Mickey gets bonked on the head by an ironing board and iron. A quick kiss from Minnie causes the bump to go down, and then we’re back to a typical Mickey/Minnie relationship. I wonder what caused the animators to go down the different path in the first part of the short. It’s interesting to be sure.

The cooking scenes are extremely fun. There’s no other way to describe them. I really enjoy cooking, so these scenes were really nice to watch, as Mickey and Minnie prepare a virtual feast, including turkey, vegetables and a cake. There’s a little bit of musicality to this piece, but not for the sake of a silly dance, but instead as the rhythm of the cooking. That makes a difference, as you don’t devolve into dance for dancing sake, but instead the story moves forward with a beat that makes it more interesting.

Of course, with Pluto around, and food being cooked, you’re bound to have a patented “Pluto runs through the house, upends Mickey and Minnie and ends up with everything destroyed” sequence. And that’s what we get here. Pluto gets the turkey and starts running wild with it. This part features some fun pieces like a Napoleon bust landing on Mickey’s head, as well as the table coming apart to drop the cake on Mickey.

The Grocery Boy is fun, pure and simple. It seems as though that is the main goal of the Mickey shorts since the midst of 1931, and they have been doing a great job of accomplishing that goal.

From Mac : I really like how Minnie plays and flirts with Mickey in this one. It's great fun to watch her play hard-to-get for once, when she's so obviously excited that Mickey's calling round her house!

There are some people who call Mickey an effeminate character, something that I've always disagreed with. However, there's a brief scene in this one where he dons a frilly apron and start prancing round- perhaps his most camp scene ever!

From Jerry Edwards : The chase scene is fun with Mickey and Minnie trying to get the turkey away from Pluto.

From Ryan : I first saw this short on the "Gotta be the Shorts" marathon. I loved it. One scene that made me smirk a little was when Mickey sets the basket of groceries on Minnie's countertop. He then says "Goodbye" to her and bumps into the ironing board which gives him a bump on the head. Minnie walks over and kisses it, making it disappear completely. Minnie must have quite a powerful kiss! It was also funny seeing Pluto run away with the turkey that Mickey and Minnie are planning to cook.

From Bill I. : Sometimes I like the shorts when Mickey does not have to save Minnie or fight Pete. This was just a funny short. Minnie is mad because Mickey is late with the groceries and hangs up, but she still freshens up for his arrival. Good scene when she kisses Mickey's bump away and the carnage Pluto causes when he steals the turkey. Lots of fun.