Cartoon a Day: The Band Concert

The Band Concert
1935
Directed by Wilfred Jackson
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color

In 1932 Mickey Mouse made his first appearance in color. It was a short made for the Academy Awards ceremony, "Parade of the Award Nominees." However, the publics first look at the famous mouse in color came in 1935 with this groundbreaking short, "The Band Concert."

In this short Mickey is conducting a band concert in the park. All is going well until the intrusion of a pesky food vendor (Donald Duck), a stubborn bee, and finally a tornado that rivals the one Dorothy hitched a ride on.

This is certainly one of Mickey's best films, and is probably one of his funniest as well. Remember, Mickey was known for being fun, but not necessarily laugh-out-loud funny. The pacing of the gags in this short is closer to what you'd expect from the Looney Tunes crew than the folks at Disney.

It's also interesting to watch Donald Duck in this short. He's actually more like his cousin from the Warner's lot, Daffy Duck, in this one. He plays the lovable troublemaker rather than the temper driven fowl he is in later films.

The film makes fantastic use of color in everything from the band uniforms to the dark sky that slowly creeps into the scenes as the storm approaches. It was just a little over 6 years before the release of "The Band Concert" that Disney had amazed audiences with his Mouse that spoke (in "Steamboat Willie"). It's easy to see how audiences were wowed again when that mouse showed up in color.

Cartoon a Day: Mask-A-Raid

Mask-A-Raid
1931
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Available on: YouTube

Time for another Betty Boop short. These are quickly becoming some of my favorite shorts. Thanks to YouTube and the public domain, you can enjoy it in it's entirety.



In "Mask-A-Raid," Betty is at a masquerade ball where Bimbo and some grumpy old guy are battling for her attention. Part of why these shorts are becoming favorites of mine is that they are just so original. This short is 78 years old, yet there are gags that are so strange that they weren't copied by the other studios over and over again. The way that every single thing in a Fleischer cartoon can be alive never ceases to amaze me. The Fleischers also didn't care about being polite, and I'm not just talking about the scene where Bimbo stares at Betty's legs. Check out those mice carrying the train of Betty's dress at the beginning of the short...they look an awful lot like Mickey Mouse. But what's great is when Betty tells them to, "Go on, Scram!" It's as if she's saying, "News flash folks, no mouse will rule cartoons while I'm around." Of course, Mickey Mouse became infinitely more popular than Betty ever did, but it just fits her character, doesn't it.

Cartoon a Day: The Chain Gang

The Chain Gang
1930
Directed by Burt Gillett
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Black and White

"The Chain Gang" is a very early Mickey Mouse short. I remember watching it several years ago and not being that taken with this particular short. I think I have a better appreciation of this film now, but it still is not a "Wow" moment for everyone's favorite mouse.

The premise is a bit strange, Mickey is in prison. Think about that for a second...Mickey Mouse in prison!?! What on earth could he have done? He charges too much for a large Coke at his amusement parks, but prison?!? Anyhow, the first half of the film is musical antics around the prison yard. The second half is about the goofiest prison riot ever put on film.


There are certain moments of this cartoon where the animation seems more polished in some scenes than others. It's understandable considering how early in Mickey's history this film is. The animators were still working out their craft. You can see them experimenting a bit with perspective towards the end of the film. There are genuinely funny moments too, such as when Mickey breaks the chain attached to his leg yet he still picks up the ball it was attached to and carries it with him as he escapes.

Cartoon a Day: Mickey's Polo Team

Mickey's Polo Team
1936
Directed by David Hand
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Living Color


Mickey Mouse shorts aren't usually laugh-out-loud funny. Don't get me wrong, I love Mickey cartoons, but it's just not the same style as say the Looney Tunes. "Mickey's Polo Team," however, is a very funny short.


Mickey's polo team consists of Donald Duck, Goofy (called "The Goof" here), and the Big Bad Wolf. They are up against four of Hollywood's top comedians of the time, Harpo Marx, Charlie Chaplin, and Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy.




As the short begins, you start to think it's just an exercise in having celebrity caricatures in animation. Many studios featured cartoon versions of celebrities in their shorts at some point. The celebrity caricatures are great, but that's not all there is. This turns into an action packed short.




Donald Duck served as the major source for comedy in many Mickey shorts, and this is no exception. He contends with a mule and Harpo in various scenes. One of the sequences with Harpo is a bit unusual as it's a rare example of somewhat crude humor in a Disney short. Never would you expect to see a joke where a boxing glove seems to pop out of Harpo's rear end and punch Donald in the face under Walt's watchful eye, but it happens here.




Donald has his moments, but I find the Big Bad Wolf to be the most interesting character on Mickey's team. He has some great moments including huffing and puffing and blowing the polo ball across the field.


The animation is excellent. There are several moments where the animators play with perspective to create some really interesting shots. It all contributes to a fun short, even if you don't know how to play polo.

Cartoon a Day: Thru the Mirror

Thru the Mirror
1936
Directed by David Hand
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Living Color


"Thru the Mirror" is probably one of the best of the Mickey Mouse color shorts. This extremely creative short has obviously had influence on several other Disney films over the years.


As the film begins, Mickey has fallen asleep while reading "Through the Looking Glass." Mickey dreams that he has a sort of out-of-body experience as he gets up and walks away from his sleeping self. He then heads over to a mirror and walks right through. On the other side, he encounters various household items come to life. This sequence obviously influenced the Disney animated feature "Beauty and the Beast" many decades later. In fact, a foot stool that acts like a dog turns up in both films. Mickey ends up eating a nut and being shrunk, just like what happens to Alice in Lewis Carroll's stories. Oddly enough, this means Mickey ends up being the size of a real mouse. He doesn't seem to fazed by this, however, and ends up dancing with a pair of gloves in one famous sequence..

This film also influenced Disney's feature version of "Alice in Wonderland." Mickey dances with a bunch of walking cards, which eventually turns into a giant battle with the cards. Some of the shots that involve streams of cards jumping through the air are very similar to sequences done years later for "Alice." In both cases, the animation is brilliant.


This is a fun, playful short. Mickey has never been known for being uproariously funny, but his playful spirit is what has made him such a popular character. This short is a perfect example of that.

Cartoon a Day: The Haunted House

The Haunted House
1929
Directed by Walt Disney
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Black and White Vol. 2

Well I decided to do one more Halloween appropriate cartoon before doing an Election Day special for tomorrow, and then moving on to a new theme for the next few days. So today we look at the Mickey Mouse short "The Haunted House" (also known simply as "Haunted House" according to the IMDB).



Mickey Mouse is out on a cold raining night when he ducks into a creepy old house for shelter. There he encounters a creepy hooded figure and a bunch of skeletons who force him to play the organ while they dance about. Like "The Skeleton Dance," released the same year, this short is more proof of animator Ub Iwerks wonderful knack for combining both scary and funny imagery.



Iwerks just does great work with skeletons, he and Ray Haryhausen could list that on their resumes I guess (see "Jason and the Argonauts" and you'll see). The natural thought would be to give them a limited amount of movement, but Iwerks never forgets that anything is possible in a cartoon.


According to the IMDB, this film was actually released a few weeks before "The Skeleton Dance," which it has a lot of similarities with. I'm not sure how reliable that information is, but it's fair to say that the two were probably in production at the same time. One sequence even uses the same dance of four skeletons made famous by the other film. Yet, just when you think they've just recycled the whole dance, a gust of wind blows through the window, the skeletons are blown away except for their feet which continue the dance on their own. So the sequence still stays original.

Cartoon a Day: Lonesome Ghosts

Lonesome Ghosts
1937
Directed by Burt Gillett
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Living Color Vol. 1

It didn't occur to me until last night while reviewing "Hell's Bells" that I should've been doing Halloween appropriate toons all week. Oh, well, I'll try and continue the theme through the weekend.

"Lonesome Ghosts" is a cartoon I have fond memories of. When I in around kindergarten age, a friend who lived a few doors down has this toy that was kind of like a View-Master, except it played movies. You'd turn the crank and look through the hole to see the movie. It was cool! One of the cartridges I remember them having was of a few scenes from "Lonesome Ghosts." I loved watching that thing, not to mention turning the crank backwards so you could watch the film in reverse.

In this short, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are the original Ghostbusters (Goofy even utters the line "I ain't afraid of no ghosts"). They have a ghost exterminator business which isn't doing too well, until a bunch of bored ghosts call and send them off to their haunted house so they can have some fun.

The sequence in which Mickey opens a door to find a flood of water coming at him is a favorite. The ghosts floating through on surfboards is funny and the animation is pretty amazing. Goofy's Harpo Marx style mirror sequence with one of the ghosts is also a stand-out. My only real beef with this cartoon is the voices of the ghosts. They sound like the actors were speaking into soup cans and are almost unintelligible at times.



That little movie machine my friend had when I was a kid also allowed you to watch the movie frame by frame, which I did many times. This is a great cartoon to watch frame by frame. There's a alot of skillful animation going on here. Then remind yourself this was made in 1937, still pretty early in the grand scheme of things.

Cartoon a Day: Runaway Brain

Runaway Brain
1995
Directed by Chris Bailey
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Living Color Vol. 2


For a long time I've wished that studios would start showing cartoons before the features again. It just helps complete the whole moving going experience to me. Every now and then Disney will create a new animated short that runs with one of their features. "Runaway Brain" was a new Mickey Mouse short with "A Kid in King Arthur's Court" in 1995, but I first saw it during it's re-release along with "George of the Jungle" two years later.


This is unlike any other Mickey short you will see. It's essentially a horror movie parody in which Mickey's brain is swapped with that of a giant Frankenstein's Monster type version of Peg-Leg Pete. The doctor doing the experiments is one Dr. Frankenollie, named in tribute to Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. One quick shot even parodies the famous poster image from "The Exorcist."

The pacing is quick and the characters are animated in a stretchy style similar to that used in the successful Roger Rabbit shorts the studio released between 1989 and 1993.

Check out the unique shape and posture of Dr. Frankenollie in the above screen capture. This style can be seen throughout "Runaway Brain" and it gives the movements of the characters some extra visual punch.


Some might be taken aback by the sight of sweet lovable Mickey Mouse as a snarling monster, but the film is still very funny. There is a lot of attention paid to humor that works on many levels. There are plenty of inside jokes, such as a photo of Mickey from the "Steamboat Willie" days in his wallet, and Mickey whistling the same tune he whistles in that classic film. Mickey playing a "Mortal Kombat" style video game in which Dopey and the old hag from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" battle it out is also a great gag.

Mickey purists may not go for this one, but I enjoyed it. So hear this Disney...more animated shorts please!

Cartoon a Day: Orphan's Benefit

Orphan's Benefit
1935
Directed by Burt Gillette (uncredited)
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Black and White

The Mickey Mouse cartoon so nice they made it twice. This is a look at the 1935 black and white original. Maybe tomorrow I should review the 1941 remake.

I remember my Grandma had a Mickey Mouse record album that had the entire audio track for this film on it. I listened to it over and over again. I can play the soundtrack back in my head if I try hard enough. This is a true classic.

"Orphan's Benefit" is a Mickey short, but the real stars are all his buddies. The gang is putting on a show for a bunch of rather nasty orphans, all of whom look like Mickey. The sequences where Donald Duck tries to read some nursery rhymes are well known for helping to establish some of his character traits. My favorite scene, however, is the performance by the "Barnyard Nightingale," Clara Cluck. It's funny, I'm mean let's face it, what's not to like about a chicken singing. It's also a great sequence from an animation standpoint. Both for Clara's dramatic stage presence and Mickey's skilled work on the piano.

I think "Orphan's Benefit" also serves as a great example of just how beautiful black and white animated films can be. The background shadows cast by the spotlight during the Clara Cluck sequence give the scene great depth. In black and white the contrast is striking.

Disney was always striving to push his films further. He truly worked to explore the art form. "Orphan's Benefit" was another giant step forward for the Disney Studio.