The Shindig

The Shindig is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on July 11, 1930, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series.[2] It was the twentieth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the fifth of that year.[3]

The Shindig
Directed byBurt Gillett
Produced byWalt Disney
Animation byDick Lundy
Ben Sharpsteen
Production
company
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
July 11, 1930[1]
Running time
7:02
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The cartoon's cast includes Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar.

Synopsis

Mickey and Minnie are in the back of a long car packed with animals, singing "A-Hunting We Will Go" as they travel to the big Barn Dance. Horace picks up Clarabelle in his rickety motorcycle, and she rides in the wheelbarrow used as a sidecar.

At the dance, Mickey and Minnie play "Turkey in the Straw" on piano and violin for an appreciative crowd of farm animals. The audience applauds, and the mice play "Pop Goes the Weasel". Mickey imaginatively uses a pail, a washtub and even Minnie's tail to play the song, but she doesn't appreciate his creativity and slaps his hand away. He then plays "Old Folks at Home" on harmonica, and tap dances. Minnie continues the song on piano, and Clarabelle does an energetic solo dance. Mickey dances with Clarabelle, a dachsund, and a large pig. At the end of the number, the pig jumps and lands on Mickey, accidentally squashing him flat.

Production

Early in the short, Clarabelle is seen reading the 1907 erotic romance novel Three Weeks. When Horace pulls her tail to indicate that he has come to visit, she hides it under her bed of straw, and puts on a dress to cover her udders. Three Weeks was so controversial that The Shindig was banned in Ohio.[4]

This is the first time that Clarabelle is seen wearing the costume that would become her characteristic outfit. Horace, now completely anthropomorphized, is also seen for the first time in his characteristic outfit of a bowler hat and yoke around his neck; he is no longer ridden like a horse, and instead drives a motorcycle to take Clarabelle to the dance.[2]

Mickey's harmonica solo was animated by Wilfred Jackson, who also performs the song on the soundtrack.[1]

The scene with Mickey dancing with the enormous pig would appear again in the 1932 cartoon The Whoopee Party.[1]

Voice cast

Reception

The Film Daily (Sept 14, 1930): "Okay. A barnyard setting supplies the locale for this Mickey Mouse performance, which consists of the animals conducting a hoofing spree, with Minnie Mouse doing honors at the piano. Right up to the usual standard of the Mickey Mouse cartoon series."[6]

Variety (Jan 7, 1931): "Average cartoon comedy revealing no unusual features. It's a barn involving all the animals in the yard. Customary antics and flippancies for smiles rather than laughs. Always okay for the youngsters."[7]

Releases

The cartoon was released on the 2004 Walt Disney Treasures DVD set Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two.[8]

The short was also seen on The Mickey Mouse Club (Season 1, Episode 54).[8]

gollark: INTENSE USELESSNESS.
gollark: I tried replacing all the `\000`s with `\0`s but that failed to decompress for some reason.
gollark: https://pastebin.com/EYHAKzvMThis "compressed" build of potatOS is 100% bigger!
gollark: You can install unsandboxed potatOS, though many users complain.
gollark: Yes, because that's packaged for sandboxing there.

See also

References
  1. Kaufman, J.B.; Gerstein, David (2018). Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History. Cologne: Taschen. p. 63. ISBN 978-3-8365-5284-4.
  2. Grob, Gijs (2018). "The Shindig". Mickey's Movies: The Theatrical Films of Mickey Mouse. Theme Park Press. ISBN 1683901231.
  3. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 108–109. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  4. "Regulated Rodent". Time. Feb 16, 1931., quoted in Apgar, Garry, ed. (2014). A Mickey Mouse Reader. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1628461039.
  5. Hischak, Thomas S. (2011). Disney Voice Actors: A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0786462711.
  6. "Reviews of Sound Shorts". The Film Daily: 13. September 14, 1930. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  7. "Talking Shorts". Variety: 23. January 7, 1931. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  8. "The Shindig". Internet Animation Database. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.