Disney Shorts - Mickey's Delayed Date

From Ryan : Mickey and Pluto are both napping when Minnie calls them. Minnie informs Mickey that he is late for their date. The main humor of this short is where Mickey is getting ready for the date. He has to time himself in the shower and of course dress for the occasion. Although the scene with Pluto and the animate hat can be funny for awhile, it quickly gets tiring for me. Well sure enough, Mickey is out the door, but has forgotten the tickets. Fortunately, Pluto remembers and runs after Mickey with them. Another fun part of this short is where Mickey is on his way to the party, but runs into all sorts of obstacles, causing his fine tuxedo to turn to rags. I like the part where Mickey arrives at the party when Minnie compliments him on his costume. His top hat has been replaced by an old tin can. This is also somewhat of a milestone short as it marks the last time Mickey and Minnie are together (at least until "Mickey's Christmas Carol.") A really good cartoon even though Mickey's personality is fading.

From Johnny R. R. : After Mickey's gloves became a mainstay in 1929, this is your only chance to see a gloveless Mickey Mouse, frantically clasping a towel and skidding on the soap after his emergence from the shower. Also, doesn't he look a gentleman in his best clothes (before, that is, the incident with the dustbins)? Fantastic entertainment and highly funny, as is only to be expected from a Disney short.

From Baruch Weiss : This is one of my favorite Mickey shorts. I really enjoyed it, but poor Pluto, who was at home ready to take a nice long nap, suddenly sees Mickey's tickets and rushes to get Mickey.

From Richard Sutor : There is more than a touch of irony in the naming of this cartoon. Mickey had been off the screen since March 20, 1942 so this cartoon is, indeed, a delayed date. Add to this the fact that Disney had released as a short subject on September 27 Mickey and the Beanstalk( taken from the feature Fun and Fancy Free) and there's a double meaning here. Could it be that the Disney studio waited to see if Mickey would still draw an audience before they committed to a fresh series of cartoons?

For those who were born after the advent of the VCR and the DVD, back when this short was made the only way audiences had to see any films was when the studios that controlled them released (or re-released) them to theaters. So for Mickey to return to screen after an almost 5 year absence was a really big deal. If you accept the notion that cartoon are for children there would be quite a few children now in the audience who had never seen the black and white Mickey or even the earlier color adventures. It would still be a few years before Disney would create his television classics "Disneyland" and the "Mickey Mouse Club". In fact 1947 is the year network television became affordable to the american public. But the cartoons featured there were of a much earlier vintage.

Hail the returning hero - Mickey is back!

Title Cards
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