Release Date April 17, 1937

Running Time 8:22

Synopsis

Mickey hosts an amateur talent show while Donald attempts to get through a recitation of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" without incident.

Characters

Mickey Mouse

Donald Duck

Goofy

Clarabelle Cow

Clara Cluck

Pete (Note : there is some question about whether it is actually Pete who appears in this short as the first "amateur" who sings in the opening. The voice is certainly his, but his appearance is a bit off. Maybe he actually cleaned himself up and shaved for his performance?)

Credits

Directors

Pinto Colvig

Walt Pfeiffer

Ed Penner

Animation

Les Clark

Ed Love

Al Eugster

Art Babbitt

Cut Scenes

Donald tries to silence his audience by spraying them with machine gun fire.

Videos

United States

Mickey Knows Best

France

Donald Vendette et Television

Germany

Mickey Präsentiert

Italy

Topolino Superstar

Laserdiscs

United States

Mickey Knows Best / The Importance of Being Donald

Japan

This is Your Life, Donald Duck

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

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #54 : More Goin' to the Birds

Mickey's Mouse Tracks : Episode 50

Donald's Quack Attack : Episode 4

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

The working title of this short was "Mickey's Amateur Concert." As far as I know, it is the only Disney cartoon to break the fourth wall with the use of the "iris gag" at the end.

From Ryan : While I am normally a huge fan of the Disney shorts, I absolutely hated this one. It was so stupid. The characters were all acting kind of dumb (I can't remember everything that they did I'll have to watch this short again). One thing that didn't make any sense was when Donald was reciting the children's nursery rhyme "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." The audience members all appeared to be adults. I didn't see any kids in the audience whatsoever.

From Angelica Barker : I did not care for this short at all. One thing, however, puzzles me. Why in the world would Donald recite "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to an adult audience? The people (actually most of them looked like dogs) appeared to be adults dressed up formally and there were no children that I could see in the audience.

From Ross : To me, I absolutely love this cartoon! "Mickey's Amateurs" is not stupid, it's so wonderful and musical, and the music in this cartoon is perfect! Mickey plays a great cheerful amateur host, Goofy plays a wonderful inventive musical machine, and Clarabelle Cow and Clara Cluck do a great opera number, and Pete, he tries to sing "Loudly The Bell," but gets taken off the stage. But Donald Duck, when he tried to recite "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," he always failed. I love the part when he gets his head caught in the closing iris out at the end of the cartoon. Awesome musical cartoon, although it makes you wonder why Donald fired a machine gun at the audience when he failed to recite again. Why did the animators create something so R-rated for Donald to do?

From Baruch Weiss : I do not like this short at all. The audience was laughing for a good reason. They probably were thinking 'What the heck is this duck saying? He thinks we are little kids!'

From Smokestack Jones : Delightful cartoon. While Ms. Cluck and Cow were funny and Donald attempting to recite "Lamb" is always a winner (especially the funny variations that the animator's did), to me, Goofy and His 50-Piece Band makes this short one of the best. I love the gags and Goofy's reactions were priceless. A 10 in my book.

From Matt : I love this short! You've got to feel slightly sorry for poor Donald when the audience laugh at him, but turning a machine gun on them is a tad extreme (although hilarious). A brilliant short made more excellent with the funny costume Donald wears when he comes back on stage the second time round.

From James Coleman : This is easily one of the best Disney shorts I have ever seen. It is insanely hilarious every time I watch it and it never gets old. Perhaps I am easily won over by an angry Donald Duck, but in this episode he goes absolutely crazy and it is better than ever. All of the elements in this cartoon come together to create something so strange it will stick in your mind for a long time. I have this on tape and I used to watch it many times a day when I was young. I think every little kid should watch cartoons like this. How else are they going to be able to recognize the crazy, homicidal duck-people when they see them in the real world?

From Mike : While this cartoon is ok, I wouldn't call it a favorite. I didn't laugh so much at Donald pointing the machine gun at the crowd, his disguise was the funny part in that scene.

Referenced Comments

Mickey's Grand Opera (1936)

This is a very unusual write-up because I came across a pile of tapes of Disney Cartoon music that I recorded nearly 15 years ago. I figured that I would use one of the cartoons I had on audio to write about, but please correct me if I include any erroneous information.

Loudly the bell in the old tower rings ... well, basically this was not the best opening for a title screen which opens with a preview of the Gong Show from four decades later. After this pitiful performance, Mickey introduces Donald, who could not wait to recite "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Unfortunately, lack of concentration causes Donald to fail twice and gets gonged, then hooked after his third futile attempt while the audience laughed non-stop.

Mickey then introduces the two Claras (Clara Cluck and Clarabelle Cow). Clarabelle comes on with a gross laugh and snort as the two prepare Cluck's musical selection. Clarabelle fools Cluck by performing a substantially and unexpectedly long introduction before Cluck sings (well, clucks). After Cluck gets going, Clara tries to keep up with a wildly swinging hanging microphone. Clarabelle throws off Cluck several times, scaring her out of her wits, including the final surprising note which Clarabelle responded with yet another gross cackle and snort.

Donald unexpectedly returns armed, daring anyone to laugh just in case he failed to recite "Twinkle, Twinkle" a fourth time. As expected, he did, the audience laughed, and Donald exploded by shooting two long rounds of gunfire without affecting the audience one bit. (Of course, this scene is eliminated thanks to the "first amendment violators" of the Walt Disney Company ... they offended more people by eliminating that scene. If they left this in, they would not have had as many people complaining.)

Now that I had my beef, back to the cartoon ... Mickey then introduces Goofy and his so-called 50-piece band, which happened to be rejected from Paramount's Modern Inventions series, making Adolph Zukor very happy. Goofy proceeds to play many instruments to the tune of "In The Good Ol' Summertime" - such as the banjo, clarinet, flute, trombone, etc.

Goofy turns up the speed on his gadget and instruments come flying to his mouth during his next selection, including the harmonica - shoved into his mouth on two different occasions while playing "Well Have a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight." The device eventually busts with Goofy keeping a positive spin on things.

Finally, Donald pokes out of Goofy's hat and finally, albeit very quickly, perfects his recitation of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." He finishes with a "so there" attitude, only to have his neck caught in the closing cartoon iris during the final few seconds of the film.

-- Tom Wilkins

Gallery

Character model of Clara Cluck from "Mickey's Amateurs" Gremlin Animation Art Gallery

Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized picture

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