Mickey's Amateurs

Mickey's Amateurs is a 1937 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. Originally entitled Mickey's Amateur Concert during production, the cartoon depicts an amateur talent show hosted by Mickey Mouse. It was the 94th short film in the Mickey Mouse film series, and the fifth for that year.[2] It was co-directed by Pinto Colvig, Erdman Penner, and Walt Pfeiffer, and features original and adapted music by Oliver Wallace. The voice cast includes Walt Disney as Mickey, Clarence Nash as Donald Duck, Florence Gill as Clara Cluck, and Pinto Colvig as Pete and Goofy.[3][4][5]

Mickey's Amateurs
Mickey Mouse invites Donald Duck to recite "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
Directed byPinto Colvig
Erdman Penner
Walt Pfeiffer
Produced byWalt Disney
StarringWalt Disney
Florence Gill
Clarence Nash
Pinto Colvig
Music byOliver Wallace
Animation byArt Babbitt
Les Clark
Al Eugster
Ed Love
Stan Quackenbush
Ralph J. Sommerville
Marvin Woodward
Tom Palmer
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • April 17, 1937 (1937-04-17)
[1]
Running time
8:24 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Mickey Mouse is hosting an amateur talent show in front of a live audience for radio, in which he terminates unworthy performances by ringing a gong. In the first scene, Mickey's gong ends Pete's rendition of "Asleep in the Deep".

Next, Mickey introduces Donald Duck, who first presents an apple to Mickey in an attempt to win him over preemptively. But Donald's recitation of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" ends badly as he forgets the words. Mickey rings the gong, and Donald is removed from the stage. Just as Mickey is announcing the next act, a disgruntled Donald returns to take back the apple.

The next act, as introduced by Mickey, are "the two Claras: Cluck and Belle." Clara Cluck sings a clucking version of "Il Bacio", a waltz by Luigi Arditi, accompanied by Clarabelle Cow on piano. Despite several blunders, the performance is the first to avoid the gong.

Next, Donald returns to the stage wearing a disguise and carrying a violin case. Upon reaching center stage, Donald throws off the disguise and pulls a submachine gun from the case. He holds Mickey and the audience at gunpoint, determined to finish his recitation—but again, he forgets the words. When the audience laughs at him, he opens fire and is once again removed from the stage.[6]

For the show's final act, Mickey introduces Goofy and his "50-piece band," which turns out to be a multi-instrumental device on wheels. Goofy begins with "In the Good Old Summer Time" and moves on to "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight", but the tempo and intensity of the song destroys the machine. Goofy appears out of the wreckage and sheepishly says, "It busted!" Donald ends the show by performing a rapid-fire word-perfect recitation of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", satisfying his victory. However, the "iris out" effect which ends the cartoon closes on his neck. He struggles to keep it open, but it finally closes.

History

Mickey's Amateurs pokes fun at "amateur hour" radio shows which were popular entertainment in the 1930s and '40s. Perhaps the most famous example is the Major Bowes Amateur Hour in which the host, Edward Bowes, was known to strike a gong to stop an amateur performance. Mickey Mouse's repeating of the words "Okay, okay" in the film was recognized by audiences at the time as a parody of Bowes.[7]

The film was also inspired by the 1934 Disney film Orphan's Benefit. This film also featured a stage show with acts interspersed by Donald attempting a poetic recitation.

The short movie inspired the model of the game show The Gong Show, hosted in the 70's by Chuck Barris, who have used the same method of show-host Mickey use in the short.

Reception

The Motion Picture Herald published a review of Mickey's Amateurs on June 19, 1937, saying, "The subject must be seen to be appreciated and enjoyed. The fun it offers defies description."

Voice cast

See also

References
  1. Kaufman, J.B.; Gerstein, David (2018). Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History. Cologne: Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8365-5284-4.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 108–109. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. Mickey's Amateurs at IMDb
  4. Mickey's Amateurs at the Big Cartoon DataBase
  5. Mickey's Amateurs at The Internet Animation Database
  6. Some released versions of the film omitted this scene which was determined to be too violent. However, the most recent release of the film is in its original version.
  7. Motion Picture Herald. June 19, 1937.
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