"A Mickey Mouse Cartoon"

Release Date January 4, 1936

Running Time 8:47

Synopsis

The Mickey Mousers take on the Movie Stars in a manic polo tournament.

Characters

This short has an extensive list of characters that either appear throughout the short or make brief cameos:

The Polo Teams
The Mickey Mousers	The Movie Stars
Mickey Mouse	Charlie Chaplin
Donald Duck	Harpo Marx
Goofy	Stan Laurel
The Big Bad Wolf	Oliver Hardy
Referee : Jack Holt

There is one brief scene at the beginning where a group of characters are shown in the stands surrounding Shirley Temple. This scene is made up of returning characters from various Silly Symphonies:

Character with a blue and white shirt; looks like he should be someone but you can't really see his head.			Two or three of The Orphans
Peter Penguin		Polly Penguin	Cock Robin		Jenny Wren
from "Peculiar Penguins"			from "Who Killed Cock Robin?"
King Midas		Goldie	The Flying Mouse		The Flying Mouse's Mother
from "The Golden Touch"			from "The Flying Mouse"
The Wise Little Hen		Practical Pig		Ambrose	Dirty Bill
from "The Wise Little Hen"				from "The Robber Kitten"
Pluto	Fifi	Fifer Pig	Shirley Temple	Fiddler Pig	Two of the "Funny Little Bunnies"
Note : Pluto makes an incredibly brief appearance. His head pops in the picture to the left of Fifi for just a quick fraction of a second. His barking can also be heard very faintly on the soundtrack

Other characters and caricatures in the stands:

Clarabelle Cow

Max Hare

Clark Gable

Edna Mae Oliver

W. C. Fields

Eddie Cantor

Greta Garbo

Charles Laughton

Harold Lloyd

Credits

Director : Dave Hand

Animation

Art Babbitt

Cut Scenes

Laurel tries to get Hardy's horse to run by sticking it with a pin. The horse runs away and Hardy takes the pin in the backside.

Bloopers

The extended Laurel and Hardy sequence - with both of them off their horses - is interrupted by group shots of the polo teams en masse. These shots include Laurel and Hardy back on their horses, some of the time.

Videos

United States

Cartoon Classics : Limited Gold Editions 2 : Life With Mickey

France

Les Aventures de Mickey et Minnie

Italy

La Vita con Topolino

Laserdiscs

United States

Life with Mickey

DVD

Disney Treasures : Mickey Mouse in Living Color

Region 1 : United States

Region 2 : France

Region 2 : Germany

Region 2 : Italy

Region 2 : Sweden

Region 2 : United Kingdom

Region 1 : United States

Cartoon Classic Favorites : Extreme Sports Fun

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #14 : Early Donald

Mickey's Mouse Tracks : Episode 16

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Technicolor

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Mono

Aspect ration : 1.37 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by United Artists Pictures

Comments

This cartoon was inspired by Walt's love of the game of polo. He had organized a team at the studio and arranged games between some of the other Hollywood luminaries. Unfortunately he had to stop when an accident crushed four of his cervical vertebrae, contributing to an arthritic condition that plagued him the rest of his life.

The cartoon was delayed in production due to removal of Will Rogers, who had been intended to appear on the movie stars' team but died. Thus the cartoon features early 1935 versions of Goofy and Donald, prior to their metamorphoses.

From David Gerstein : This is the first of several Mickey cartoons in which Mickey has virtually nothing to do - to the point where you have to wonder where he "is" or what he's doing as the picture runs its course. "Orphans' Picnic", following immediately, is another good example.

From Jerry Edwards : A very fast-paced cartoon, full of gags. I always thought it odd that the scene of Laurel, attempting to stick a pin in the horse's rump to get it to go, accidentally sticking Hardy instead is usually censored, but the scene of Harpo Marx setting Donald afire with a blow torch is not censored.

From Ryan : This is one of those shorts that I have only seen about once or twice in my lifetime. I find it to be quite funny in the fact that a lot of familiar (and not so familiar) faces of actors/actresses are shown in the crowd. One scene I liked was when Clark Gable kept wiggling his ears at Clarabelle. What a coincidence as I, myself, can wiggle my ears too!

From Ted : I've decided to give this a 10 -- The Hollywood caricatures (as well as the Disney gang) are endearing and hilarious! And they have held up remarkably well with time. The "borrowing" of the celebrities and their routines places this cartoon firmly in the category of Parody. I've watched it over and over and loved every frame!

From Baruch Weiss : As Mr.Gertstein meintioned this is one of several shorts where Mickey has virtually nothing to do - to the point where you wonder where he "is". Well it is all true because Mickey is not naturally funny and I guess that Walt and his studio staff felt that giving Mickey a bit part in the cartoon would be necessary. Anyway back to the short. I used to rent this cartoon on "Life with Mickey" and I now have it on "Mickey Mouse in Living Color." The best part was at the end where all the horses are riding the players.

Gallery

Clark Gable and Oliver Hardy from "Mickey's Polo Team" Courtesy of The Acme Animation Gallery

Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized picture

I have seen "Mickey's Polo Team" and would like to
submit a comment on this short