Poster

Mickey's Revue

A Mickey Mouse Cartoon

Release Date : May 25, 1932

Running Time : 6:52

Synopsis

Mickey, Minnie, Horace, and Clarabelle put on another big show, with Goofy as the running gag - eating peanuts and laughing to the annoyance of the audience.

Characters

Mickey Mouse
Minnie Mouse
Clarabelle Cow
Horace Horsecollar
Pluto
Goofy

Credits

Director
Wilfred Jackson
Animation
Les Clark
Frenchy de Tremaudan
Gerry "Clyde" Geronomi
Johnny Cannon

Milestones

The first appearance of Goofy under his original name, Dippy Dawg.

Laserdiscs

United States
Mickey Mouse in Black and White: Volume 1
Japan
Mickey Mouse : The Black and White Years

DVD

United States
Vintage Mickey
Mickey Mouse in Black and White
Germany
Mickey Mouse in Black and White

Television

The Ink and Paint Club: Episode 25: Goofy Goofs Around
The Ink and Paint Club: Episode 4: Disney Firsts
The Mickey Mouse Club : November 8, 1955

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 : In almost every respect, Mickey’s Revue is a short that relies on taking pieces from previous shorts and redoing them, making it extremely derivative. It’s almost exactly the same set up as previous Mickey shorts like The Barnyard Concert and Mickey’s Follies. But there’s one major difference in this short that makes it significant in Disney history.

Yes, indeed, the Fab Five is almost complete, as Goofy makes his first appearance in Mickey’s Revue. At this time, the animators referred to him as Dippy Dawg, but he would soon become known as “The Goof” and later, Goofy. In this short, Goofy’s role is limited to sitting in the stands and giving off an annoying laugh in between segments, but it’s the only original piece in the whole short.

In fact, in several places, it looked like the Disney team reused animation from The Barnyard Concert, such as the scenes of the audience applauding in rickety balconies. The acts that Mickey puts on during his show are original, but it seems as though the rest of the short is merely a retread of earlier efforts.

There are three acts in this short, each of which has some good gags. The first is a bit with a trio of Clarabelle Cow look alikes interacting with each other, posing as flowers and then revealing themselves when Minnie taps them with her magic wand. The sight of three Clarabelles dancing is a funny juxtaposition to the normal silly dances we’ve seen from earlier Silly Symphonies, almost mocking the earlier efforts.

The next act features two dogs doing a tap dance routine, which is quite entertaining. The dogs keep their droopy faces absolutely still while their bodies twist, turn and contort. It’s an amusing piece of work, although not necessarily original.

The final act is Mickey and Minnie performing with a multitude of instruments, which is a throwback to earlier efforts. The new twist here is that a family of cats that was living under the stage shows up to “help out,” and ends up playing along with the band.

A new twist on the Mickey performance short, although now very familiar to Mickey viewers, is the “Pluto causes chaos” ending. As could be predicted, Pluto chases the cats, knocks down the set, and the curtain drops on Mickey, Minnie and Pluto. Again, very predictable if you’ve been watching the last few Mickey shorts.

That’s the real problem with Mickey’s Revue, in case you couldn’t tell. It’s just the same as other things that Disney has already done with the character. Earlier shorts in 1932 and the latter half of 1931 took Mickey into new directions and were very fun. Even though this one is amusing, it’s a little too familiar and not notable, except for the addition of Goofy.

From Mac : It's hard not to enjoy a Disney with so many of the characters getting in on the act and such great music in the climax. However, I agree it's derivative of earlier efforts. The Disney shorts we've been watching lately have really gone to town with the number of animated characters which may be on screen at one time. This must have been expensive and time consuming, so it's no wonder we're seeing reused animation in some of the crowd scenes. Who else would notice other than people watching every cartoon decades in the future!

One scene of the crowd cheering in the stalls, I recognized from The Opry House. Interestingly a cow who was going mad and whistling in "Opry" has been replaced by a contemporary 1932 Clarabelle here. To avoid confusion I think of it as being the 'real' 'Clarabelle in the audience, with her relatives in the show!

From Jerry Edwards : Goofy appears to be of "grandpa" age in this first appearance. After he continually annoys the nearby audience with his loud, goofy laugh - two nearby persons clobber Goofy with a mallet so they can have some quiet. Other than Goofy, this cartoon is basically the "same old" song and dance routine.
From Ryan : Here it is! The very first appearance of Goofy. Goofy, however, does not have a major role in this short as he is just an audience member who crunches on his peanuts and laughs annoyingly, which terribly irks two goats behind him and they each hit him on the head with a mallet knocking him out. Goofy looked quite different than he does today. He had a beard on his chin and a puffy tail.
From Sam : A pretty typical outing for Mickey and friends, this short's claim to fame is that it is the premier performance of the character that would become Goofy, who steals the show from the beginning. I also found Mickey and Minnie's frantic finale very enjoyable. A pretty good short, but much more important as the jumping-off point for one of the world's most beloved cartoon characters.
From Gijs Grob : This cartoon joins two themes often explored in the black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons: that of Mickey and the gang giving a performance and that of numerous little kids causing havoc. The cartoon is nice, yet both themes are better executed elsewhere.

Here, the little kids are the small kittens we also saw in Mickey's Orphans. They would soon be replaced by little mice, first introduced in Mickey's Nightmare.

BBesides the first appearance of Goofy (as already mentioned by others) this cartoon also shows a clearly recognizable Horace Horsecollar, who has grown in personality beyond that of a stereotyped horse. In contrast, the cows are still quite anonymous, as there are four identical ones present in this picture. The cartoon also features the anonymous pig who is present in many other shorts, but who would never develop into a real character.

From Steven : I didn't really like this cartoon. None of the jokes are that funny and the kittens playing around with the instruments really annoyed me. I give it a one out of ten.

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