Mickey Cuts Up - November 30, 1931

53rd in Mickey's cartoon series is Mickey Cuts Up, a film featuring Mickey and his lovely Minnie in the garden. Of course Mickey's pooch pal Pluto is present too, making Mickey's chores just a bit harder to complete.


The film begins with the Mouse doing some yard work with his faithful rover. I love how Mickey recruits Pluto to pull the mower thus allowing him to pretty much do no work at all.


It's hard to show here, but there's a fantastic moving shot of Mickey dancing and Pluto mowing. As Pluto moves across the screen, the camera pans along with him. The resulting film shot is simple yet effective.


Minnie is also frolicking in her garden making sure all her lovely flowers receive water. I've always loved Minnie's animation; her style is like a cute and dainty school girl.


The cartoon is very much a typical song-and-dance toon Mickey and Minnie usually star in. For a while Mickey pretends to be a bird and whistles to his sweet love.


Unfortunately for the Mouse, his plan to woo Minnie backfires when a hungry cat spots what he believes to be a tasty white bird.


Things get a bit messy when the cat decides to attack the "bird", giving Mickey the surprise of his life.


Eventually the birdhouse lands in a nearby garden pond. A gag I really enjoy is Mickey coming out of the pond, trapped inside the birdhouse and looking like a turtle.


While all this goes on, Pluto sits quietly off to the side taking in the sights. Notice the large amount of birds surrounding him...


...It's these birds that attract the cat, who pounces over the hedge; this of course only angers Pluto, who finds something new to occupy his time.


The only problem of course is the fact that wherever Pluto goes, so does the lawn mower. Another gag I like is when Pluto manages to not only shave half a tree, but an unsuspecting owl as well.


The chase manages to find itself on a nearby hill where the mower manages to get ahead of Pluto and mow right over the frightened feline.



The chase finally ends in Minnie's kitchen where Pluto and the cat manage to ruin an entire case of dishes. But even with all this trouble, Mickey is still able to love his best friend Pluto.

The Beach Party - November 5, 1931

The Beach Party is Mickey's 34th cartoon film. The toon features Mickey and the Gang spending a relaxing and fun day at the beach.


The toon begins with Mickey, Minnie, Clarabelle, Horace, and Pluto on their way to the sunny and playful beach. The animation of the Gang just frolicking in the sun is simple, yet so very well done.


This toon has some interesting gags. One I like is when Mickey uses Pluto as a pump to fill his inner tube. Another good one is Horace's failed attempt at diving into the ocean. This gag in particular is very similar to later stunts performed by the yet to be created Goofy.


Another clever gag occurs when Clarabelle accidentally loses her swim trunks. The hilarity goes even further of course when Mickey accidentally finds them.


Clarabelle, still trunkless, finds her bottoms washed up on the shore; however, when she grabs for them she is shocked to discover they move! After thwacking the trunks with a nearby plank, Clarabelle is amazed to see it was Mickey in her bloomers. The look on her face in the last panel is priceless as she leaves Mickey dazed and confused.


One gag I enjoy again and again is the use of Clarabelle's cow bell as a dinner bell. The gag originated in 1930's The Shindig in which Horace uses Clarabelle's tail as a doorbell.


A picnic on the beach is the perfect way to spend the day. Horace tackles the corn and is especially fond of the watermelon.


It seems Clarabelle has a soft spot for olives. It's hilarious the way she pops the olive jar in order to pop an olive into her mouth. The scene turns even funnier when she accidentally pops the entire jar into her throat, and Horace is forced to kick the jar out. Perfect slapstick comedy.


Pluto has his fun too when Mickey plays fetch with his pooch. Unfortunately, the sausages Pluto thinks he fetches turn out to be the tentacle of an angry octopus.


As the octopus goes on a rampage, the Gang fights back with whatever they can find. Remember Horace's fondness for watermelon? He puts his seed-spitting skills to use against the octopus.


Clarabelle too puts her skills to use as she pops olive after olive at the angry sea creature. In another example of hilarity, the Gang uses the cow as a makeshift olive jar shooter.


It isn't until Mickey manages to throw a nearby anchor at the octopus that the problem is solved and the day returned to peace.



The toon ends with the octopus being sent back to the depths from which it came and the Gang laughing and waving goodbye on the beach.

The Barnyard Broadcast - October 10, 1931

33rd in Mickey's cartoon series is the entertaining The Barnyard Broadcast. The film features Mickey and the gang putting on their own radio show and is, in my opinion, one of the better toons to come from this period.


The film begins with Mickey addressing his home audience from his very own radio station (located in his barn of course). This short is great because it features a lot of Mickey talking, a sign that Walt (the voice of Mickey for these early films) was becoming more and more comfortable with his character.


I find it amusing also that the name of Mickey's station is ICU.


ICU features an in-house band made up of Minnie on the harp and sax, Clarabelle on piano, and Horace on violin and occasionally the ever-interesting saw.


Pluto also makes a brief appearance in this short. No dogs are allowed within the radio barn it seems, so Pluto remains outside chained to his doghouse.


During the broadcast, a lone cat wanders into the open barn door and proceeds to ruin the show with its meowing. Mickey quickly shoos the feline away (how ironic...a mouse chasing a cat), but...


...the wily cat returns through a loose board in the door. It seems this cat is a mother of four, and all five felines manage to scatter around the barn no matter how hard Mickey tries to keep them out.


The four kittens play with the knobs and switches of the radio board, destroying bits of wire along the way. A funny little scene shows the kittens sucking on various knobs of the board thinking milk will come out.


Soon Mickey becomes so fed up with the cats that he goes on a rampage in order to get them out once and for all. As Clarabelle tries to get through her piece, Mickey suddenly thrashes the piano in half with his broom.


Mickey's chase takes him and the mother cat out onto the radio wires above the barn. There the Mouse swings and misses the pesky feline, and Mickey falls down through the water tower and the barn roof. The resulting crash completely ruins the broadcast.


Completely drenched and exasperated, Mickey tiredly signs off to his audience for the night, thus ending the toon.

Fishin' Around - September 25, 1931

Fishin' Around is Mickey's 32nd short film. The toon stars Mickey and his best pal Pluto.


The film opens with Mickey and Pluto enjoying the day in their rowboat. Notice the fantastic water reflection.


Once the Mouse and his pup find a nice quiet place, they worm up their hooks and begin trying to catch some fish. However...


...the fish have a different plan in mind. It seems the lake is full of smart, mischievous guppies who like to play pranks.


Pluto ends up falling into the lake in chase of the fish. This results in an interesting scene where the pup seems to be weightless. There is some great animation here as Pluto really does look like he is moving underwater.


One interesting scene is shown when Pluto uses his nose to sniff out the guppies' trail. The scene reuses animation from both 1930's The Chain Gang and The Picnic. Of course the scene is also interesting because Pluto seems to magically have the power to sniff while underwater!


Soon the law catches up with Mickey as it turns out he is fishing in a no fishing zone. The old sheriff tries to take the Mouse into custody, but...


...Mickey and Pluto are able to speed away and avoid any fines. Even with the sheriff in hot pursuit, the pair are able to live to fish another day.


One last scene worth mentioning is this one which features a sign in Hebrew saying no fishing.

Blue Rhythm - August 18, 1931

Blue Rhythm is Mickey's 31st toon, and though it is a typical song-and-dance film it is musically entertaining.


The film begins with pianist Mickey onstage entertaining a packed theater. The use of shadows is impressive, though by now it's apparent that the Disney animators have mastered that technique. One of the visuals I found interesting was Mickey playing in the dark with nothing able to be seen except his eyes and gloves.


Minnie later joins Mickey and performs an interesting scat number. The song is an odd choice for usually cute and prissy Minnie, and the animation of the mouse is enjoyable yet a bit out of character.


After Minnie finishes her number, a stage rises from the floor to reveal a thriving orchestra. Besides random barn animals, the band also includes Clarabelle on cello, Horace on drums, and strangely Pluto on trombone. This toon is a bit unusual because it may be the only one to showcase Pluto uncharacteristically in white gloves.


Though it's hard to call anything in these early toons a true blooper, I thought it was worth mentioning that Clarabelle is seen in a few scenes playing a flute rather than her cello.



The toon ends on a high note as the orchestra literally brings down the house. All in all, Blue Rhythm is anything but blue and is an entertaining film.

Mickey Steps Out - July 7, 1931

30th in Mickey's cartoon series is the simple yet charming Mickey Steps Out. The short is a standard song-and-dance but does include an interesting piece of dialogue spoken by a certain pup.


The short opens with Mickey getting ready for a day out. The Mouse's routine includes shaving, a funny little gag in itself.


On the way over to Minnie's, Mickey is knocked over by the ever playful Pluto. By this time, it has been firmly established that the pup belongs to Mickey.


Minnie of course is playing her piano, and Mickey can't resist the urge to dance and perform tricks for his sweetie.


Unfortunately Pluto happens to spy a black cat, and soon the chase is on inside Minnie's humble abode. After wrecking the piano, the two animals take the Mice on a wild rug ride around the house.


The chase ends with the cat tricking Pluto into running headfirst into the stove, which causes soot to fly everywhere. Covered in soot from head to toe, Pluto bursts from the stove and shouts "Mammy!" a reference to Al Jolson. This marks Pluto's second time talking, the first having been in The Moose Hunt.