Mickey's Birthday Party

Mickey's Birthday Party is an American animated short film directed by Riley Thomson, produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The 114th short to feature Mickey Mouse, it was released on February 7, 1942. The animated film was directed by Riley Thomson and animated by Les Clark, James Moore, Ken Muse, Armin Shaffair, Riley Thompson, Bernie Wolf, and Marvin Woodward.[2] It was the 116th short in the Mickey Mouse film series to be released, and the first for that year.[3]

Mickey's Birthday Party
Directed byRiley Thomson
Produced byWalt Disney
StarringWalt Disney
Thelma Boardman
Pinto Colvig
Clarence Nash
Florence Gill
Animation byCharacter animation:
Marvin Woodward
J. Moore
Bernie Wolf
Kenneth Muse
Riley Thomson
Les Clark
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • February 7, 1942 (1942-02-07)[1]
Running time
7:58
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot edit

Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, and Clara Cluck throw a big birthday party for Mickey. He is given an electric organ as a gift, and he dances a wild rhumba while Minnie plays. Meanwhile, Goofy tries baking a cake, but keeps messing it up. When Minnie comes in to check on his progress, Goofy covers his tracks and tells her that the bake is going fine. Meanwhile, Donald, dressed in a sombrero, dances with Clara, whose wild, exuberant dancing exhaust Donald. Eventually, Goofy buys a cake from the bakery. Clara in her exuberance, shakes the tired Donald so much, she inadvertently flings him out of his shirt onto the chandelier. Goofy accidentally throws the cake on Mickey as everyone sings "Happy Birthday to You", but Mickey smiles regardless.

Voice cast edit

Production edit

This short is an update of the 1931 black and white short The Birthday Party. The 1931 version only had Mickey, Minnie, Clarabelle and Horace, since none of the other characters existed at the time.

It also has some marks of 1932's The Whoopee Party.

Some of the animation of Mickey's wild dance was actually originally done by Ward Kimball for The Reluctant Dragon, not only used in the film.

Home media edit

The short was released on May 18, 2004, on Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two: 1939-Today.[4]

Legacy edit

Goofy wears the same clothes from this short in the How to Stay at Home short, "Learning to Cook" (2021).

Mickey's outfit and birthday cake are on display as props from the short in the queue of the Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway attraction at Disneyland.[5]

The characters present in the story wear the same clothes from the short in the 2023 short film Once Upon a Studio.[6]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Kaufman, J.B.; Gerstein, David (2018). Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History. Cologne: Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8365-5284-4.
  2. ^ "Mayerson on Animation: Mickey's Birthday Party". 25 July 2006.
  3. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 107–109. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Mickey Mouse in Living Color Volume 2 DVD Review". DVD Dizzy. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  5. ^ "Photos: First Look Inside the Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway Queue at Disneyland". laughingplace.com. January 25, 2023. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  6. ^ Reif, Alex (October 16, 2023). "Disney's "Once Upon a Studio" – List of Characters in Order of Appearance". Laughing Place.

External links edit