"A Mickey Mouse Cartoon"

Synopsis

Mickey and the gang stage "Uncle Tom's Cabin," but the crowd receives Horace's villainous performance as Simon Legree too seriously, bombing him off the stage with vegetables. Clarabelle's dramatic performance as a fleeing slave is also ruined, when dogs that are supposed to be chasing her are led astray and through the orchestra pit by a cat.

Characters

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Goofy

Clarabelle Cow

Horace Horsecollar

Clara Cluck

Credits

Director : Wilfred Jackson

Animation

Johnny Cannon

Les Clark

Ed Love

Frenchy de Tremaudan

Gerry Geronomi

Paul Fennell (assistant)

Charles Couch (assistant)

DVD

Disney Treasures : Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Black and White

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Mono

Aspect ratio : 1.33 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by United Artists Pictures

Gallery

Animation sketches of Mickey courtesy of Acme Animation Gallery

Mickey and Minnie in costume
Sketch courtesy of Wonderful World of Animation.

Misc. animation sketches
Courtesy of The Animation Celection

Click here to submit a comment of your own.

An abridged version was released in 16mm under the title "Mickey vs. Simon Legree."

From Jerry Edwards : One of my favorite Disney cartoons - just full of fun gags. This "instant" play adaptation Of Uncle Tom's Cabin is also a fun example of a troupe trying to put on a play on a very limited budget. Of course, most people have not seen this cartoon because it is full of black caricatures. In addition to the black caricatures, there are other "Non-PC" scenes, such as Mickey sticking a firecracker into his mouth and exploding it to create his "black face." The scene of a cat jumping on Clarabelle Cow (Eliza) as she crosses the river on ice flows and both being pursued by the hounds is just hilarious.

From Ryan : I love this short. It was really funny at the beginning of it when a man in the audience is sitting behind another man and asks him to remove his hat. After the man removes his hat, we see a puff of hair on his head.

From Bill I. : This was a great short, just lots of funny gags and action. Mickey and the gang are getting ready to perform "Uncle Tom's Cabin." I especially enjoy the shorts with Clarabell Cow and Horace Horsecoller in them. The scene with Mickey putting a firecracker in his mouth to put on his blackface was funny. Also the scenes with Horace playing Simon Legree and getting bombarded with all the produce was well animated and funny. Even Clara Cluck lays an egg to throw at poor Horace. Nice to see Goofy in a part of the action. One of Mickey's best.

From Chris Perdue : I just wanted to make one note here about this short. I had never seen this one before until I got the Mickey Mouse in Black & White Volume 2 DVD. Overall, I thought it was a funny short, but it is not one of my absolute favorites. One thing I did notice was Horace's voice. Is this the first appearance of Billy Bletcher's voice in a Disney cartoon? I believe it is. Billy Bletcher would go on to be a regular voice actor in cartoons in the 30's and beyond, usually as Pete.

Although Horace Horsecollar rarely speaks, it seems he has the perfect voice for the villian in this story. It makes me wonder ... Is this Horace's normal speaking voice, or is he just a very good voice actor? Mickey knows him better than anybody. Maybe I should e-mail him and ask him.