"A Mickey Mouse Cartoon"

Release Date May 6, 1938

Running Time 7:42

Synopsis

Our bold trio travels cross-country by trailer - and sorely lives to regret it, especially when the makeshift vehicle crashes its way down a cliffside.

Characters

Mickey Mouse

Donald Duck

Goofy

Credits

Director : Ben Sharpsteen

Animation

Johnny Cannon

Les Clark

Frenchy de Tremaudan

Ed Love

Cut Scenes

Goofy struggles with corncob, during which he sticks his fork in a light socket; the resulting electric shock pops the corn.

Videos

United States

On Vacation with Mickey Mouse and Friends

Cartoon Classics : Second Series : Special Edition

The Spirit of Mickey

Germany

Mickeys Größte Show

Micky's Lustige Abenteuer

Mickys Größte Hits

Happy Birthday Mickey

Mickys Sommerspaß

France

Captain Mickey

Les Folles Vacances de Mickey

Italy

Buon Compleanno Topolino

C'era Una Volta un Topo

I Capolavori di Topolino

Laserdiscs

United States

Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Cartoon Collections Volume 2

On Vacation with Mickey and Friends

The Spirit of Mickey

Japan

Mickey Mouse : A Star is Born

Mickey's Summer Madness

Mickey's Greatest Hits

Mickey Mouse Anniversary Show

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 Adventure Fun

Television

Walt Disney Presents : On Vacation with Mickey Mouse and Friends

The Ink and Paint Club : #43 : On Vacation

Mickey's Mouse Tracks : Episode 64

Donald's Quack Attack : 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 RKO Radio Picture, Inc.

Comments

Some scenes from this short were used in the 1983 film "The Outsiders."

From Calvin Daprice : Forget "The Band Concert", "Lonesome Ghosts" and "Boat Builders.". This is the best Mickey short ever. Just look at the closing of the panoramic fan, the milking of the cow and the cutting of the corn - all magical and cut to a pace that the rest of Hollywood took another twenty years to catch up with.

From Steve Lee : I don't understand why the scene with Goofy being electrocuted was cut. I mean they left a similar scene in other Goofy shorts like "Hold that Pose" and "How to Dance."

From Jerry Edwards : My favorite of the Mickey/Donald/Goofy shorts. Every scene and interaction among the friends is superbly done and the animation is also superb.

From Ryan : If I had a favorite Mickey, Donald, and Goofy short, this would probably be it. At the beginning, you think they're in a nice and clean part of town, but as the scenery folds back into the trailer, it turns out to be a heavily polluted city dump. Mickey awakens and the trio begins their trip. Goofy is driving down the road, Mickey is gathering food which are corn ears that he cuts off from the field, milk that he gets from a cow, and water that he collects as they pass a waterfall. Donald, however, is still asleep so Mickey pushes a button to fold his bed in. Later on it got pretty wild when the trailer separated from the car Goofy was driving. Donald and Mickey are terrified. Well, trailer and car soon reunite. Goofy apparently never knew they separated. I liked the scene where they were eating lunch. Goofy picks up a watermelon slice and the drawers hit him, causing the watermelon to splatter on his face like shaving cream, which he shaves off. I also laughed when Mickey said "Hey, who's driving?" Donald then said "Yeah! Who's driving?" Goofy says "Why I am!" One scene that was censored was where Goofy accidentally sticks a fork in an electric socket and gets electrocuted the corn he's eating turns into popcorn. Why was that censored? It's not like it's going to influence children to stick a fork in a socket and Goofy did it by accident anyway. The only children that would do that are babies who'd do it regardless of whether or not they saw this cartoon. I, myself, have never seen the uncensored version of this short.

From Sam : Mickey, Donald, and Goofy hit the road in a gadget-filled trailer in this short, but all the gadgets in the world can't help them when it's Goofy doing the driving. A true comedy classic from beginning to end.

From Baruch Weiss : Good short. It's a classic!

From Keiran Stones : This is one of 8 classic Mickey Mouse cartoons that I love so much. The part where Donald sings in the bath was really boring until he saw the robins. Plus the ride on the cartoon began when the trailer came loose. I think each fan needs this cartoon in their collection.

From Helen : Probably the best Mickey/Donald/Goofy short ever; the breakfast scenes and the bit where Donald is forced to wake up are immaculate. This one's part of the traditional "Disney Cartoon Show" which airs on Swedish TV every Christmas Eve. It seems influenced a bit by Chaplin's "Modern Times", premiered two years before, where the machines were taking over (Donald's compact room that changes its furniture abruptly). But when you watch Chaplin's films it's plain, too, how much his stunts and his long faces have in common with early cartooons like Daffy Duck or this one.

From Jim Tharp : The best animated short ever. Not just hilarious but the music and drawings are syncronized perfectly. When the trailer is rolling end over end and the boys are being thrown around inside is great and the trailer going around corners using the fence as a track are genius. Only "Thru the Mirror" is better as far as animation.

From Steven Rauchman : I rate this cartoon a 12 out of 10. It is so giddy with invention, detail, and rich character-based animation that it seems the entire crew must have been in love with the possibilities from the start. I can't help wondering if, in the creation of that wonderful opening -- the hallucinatory scene in which one background location winds up being a backdrop for another -- our boys at the drawing board might have been dipping into a special stash of inspirational substances.

From swl : This has got to be my favorite Mickey Mouse cartoon ever! Very imaginative! I want that camper!

Referenced Comments

Trolley Troubles (1927)

Santa's Workshop (1932)

One of the repeated themes that works through the Disney shorts is the idea of technology gone bad and taking over our lives. Donald, in "Modern Inventions", had a terrible time trying to get the various machines to work correctly. Even in the newer "MouseWorks" short, we see technology making life miserable for Mickey in "Mickey's New Car" and "Mickey's Mechanical House." But for once, here with Mickey's highly adaptable 1938 Airstream trailer, things seem to go completely right, and the problems are the result of human failure, rather than technological.

The scene opens with the boys camped out by a beautiful mountainside like. The birds are singing; the sky is crisp and clear; they sure have picked out a wonderful place to go camping; a place like you'd never find nowadays. Mickey wakes up and pops out of the trailer, and pulls a lever. Suddenly, the landscaping is pulled back into compartments in the trailer, a door pops open ejecting Goofy in the car that will pull them along, and even the background fanfolds back into to trailer so we see that they have been camping next to the city dump all along.

The first order of business is breakfast, and the passing landscape seems to provide everything they need. water for the coffee is taken from a passing waterfall; ears of corn are lopped off as they pass a farm. Even milk is provided as Goofy lures a cow into marching along beside them and Mickey milks her by hanging out the trailer window.

Now why, when Goofy is driving and Mickey is making breakfast, Donald gets to sleep in is anybodies guess. But the next order of business is trying to get the truculent duck going.One push of a button from Mickey, and Donald's bedroom is flipped into a bathroom, complete with tub which is already full of water! Donald happily takes his bath, only taking time out to chase away a small group of watching birds. (Ironic, since Donald is wearing a bathshirt, and usually goes without pants anyway; what was he afraid that they were going to see?)

Another button is pushed and the bathroom is turned into a dining room and breakfast is served. Goofy is called up to eat, but he might as well not have bothered. Because of the close quarters of the trailer, trying to eat potatoes is made impossible by drawers flying open; watermelon just makes a mess all over his face. (By the way ... whatever happened to bacon and eggs?) And in a scene that has been cut for most television screening, Goofy's attempt to eat corn on the cob only produces popcorn when he accidentally sticks his fork in an electrical socket.

But isn't Goofy supposed to be driving the car? Yup ... and when Mickey points this out to him he runs back up to the drivers seat, accidentally unhooking the trailer. Goofy goes one way, the trailer the other, and it appears that Goofy got the easy way. The trailer, somehow defying the laws of nature, has to hang on to the site of a cliff, rampaging down the narrow hillside road. Mickey has to help a few times either pushing it back onto the road or hanging onto a streetsign to keep traction. Twice they are almost blasted by the same oncoming train! And after finally cannonballing off the cliff, they are bounced and turned over and over down the hillside.

And where is Goofy in all of this? Tootling down the mountainside, oblivious to everything Mickey and Donald have gone through. The trailer does a perfect flip and bounces itself back to the car where it hooks itself back up. Goofy looks around, and sees that the trailer is still there ... well, hasn't it always been there? ... and says with relief "Well, I gotcha down okay!"

If I ever go on vacation with Goofy, I'm driving.

Gallery

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