"A Mickey Mouse Cartoon"

Release Date October 23, 1930

Running Time 7:04

Synopsis

Mickey and Minnie go picnicking but make the mistake of bringing Pluto along. The hound chases rabbits and damages Mickey's car; meanwhile, animals ransack the picnic lunch and Mickey sings "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree."

Characters

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Pluto

Credits

Director : Bert Gillett

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #37 : Mickey's Pal, Pluto

Mickey's Mouse Tracks : Episode 55

DVD

Disney Treasures : Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Black and White

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Cinephone; mono

Aspect ration : 1.33 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by Columbia Pictures

Gallery

Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized picture

Comments

From Jerry Edwards : Mickey and Minnie have a troubled picnic, with Minnie's dog Rover (Pluto) as the biggest nuisance. But Rover later proves his worth during a thunderstorm by using his tail as a windshield wiper. The dog is obviously Pluto, but he's Minnie's dog Rover in this cartoon. Even more confusing is that "Rover" keeps changing appearance. At the start, he looks like the early Pluto. Then a scene of one of the bloodhounds from "The Chain Gang" is recycled into the middle of the cartoon - a rather jarring change in appearance. At the end, Rover's appearance changes yet again - looking much like the comic strip Peanuts' Snoopy, pretending to be a vulture. So it appears that Rover was animated "by committee" in this short, with no attempt made to keep his appearance consistent.

From Ryan : It's Pluto's first role as one of the regular Disney characters. Except that his name isn't Pluto, it's Rover. He also is not Mickey's dog, he's Minnie's dog. Pluto somewhat has a stupid personality in this short. Minnie and Mickey plan on having a nice and peaceful picnic except that when their busy dancing to "In the Good Old Summertime" (which is also used in the later Mickey short "The Nifty Nineties"), some animals are getting into their food. To make matters worse, it begins to rain. Mickey has a convertible, but there is no top on it. What kind of idiot made this car and forgot to put a topper for situations like this? Pluto becomes useful when he uses his tail as a windshield wiper. This short is definitely worth watching.

From Bill : I really enjoyed this short for several reasons. First, I liked it when Mickey is singing "Minnie's Yoo Hoo" in the beginning. I also liked the scene when Minnie wants to bring her dog Rover on the picnic, and when she's not looking Mickey twirls his fingers around his head indicating he thinks she's crazy. As they go to the picnic, tow Oswald-looking rabbits entice Rover to drag Mickey's car backwards, chasing them. The best sight gag was when one of the rabbits pulled the rabbit hole away from Rover and he hit solid ground! The scenes with the animals and insects taking the picnic food was well done. And of course, Mickey and Minnie dancing to "The Good Old Summertime" was standard for the early Mickey shorts I rate this one an 8.