''Fiddlin’ Around'' (alternately titled ''Just Mickey'') is a 1930 animated short film produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

and released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

as part of the '' Mickey Mouse'' film series. It was the sixteenth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the first of that year. The film is a

one-person show A solo performance, sometimes referred to as a one-man show or one-woman show, features a single person telling a story for an audience, typically for the purpose of entertainment. This type of performance comes in many varieties, including auto ...

with Mickey Mouse playing a violin on stage; Mickey is the only character to appear in the film, apart from the unseen audience and an equally unseen heckler. It was directed by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

and is the first Mickey cartoon not animated by

Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentiou ...

Plot

Curtains part, and Mickey Mouse enters a stage, with his violin, to a more or less receptive audience. Mickey plays Traumerei and the Hungarian Dance no. 5, until he is overwhelmed by emotions and leaves the stage. The audience cheers, the mouse re-enters, and as an encore plays the last measure of the

William Tell overture The ''William Tell'' Overture is the overture to the opera '' William Tell'' (original French title ''Guillaume Tell''), whose music was composed by Gioachino Rossini. ''William Tell'' premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, a ...

; mockingly laughed at by one particular heckler, he nonetheless plays the piece to great success despite breaking his instrument and bow in half in the process. Then Mickey is crushed by the curtains.

Title

An issue concerning this cartoon is whether the title of the short is ''Fiddling Around'', ''Fiddlin' Around'' or ''Just Mickey''.

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

writes that the cartoon was copyrighted as ''Fiddlin' Around'', and this was seen on the original theatrical poster, while ''Just Mickey'' is its common title and was shown on the recreated title card seen on the 2004

Walt Disney Treasures Walt Disney Treasures is a series of two-disc DVD collections of Disney cartoons, television episodes and other material. They cover material from the studio's earliest days to its more recent work. There were nine waves, each containing two ...

DVD release ''Mickey Mouse In Black And White: Volume 2'', as no original release print with the title had yet surfaced. In 2009,

David Gerstein David Gerstein (born February 6, 1974) is an American comics author and editor as well as an animation historian. Gerstein has five books and countless comic book credits to his name. He has written many Disney comics stories, usually featuring ...

uncovered an original 1930 release print which shows ''Fiddling Around'', implying that ''Just Mickey'' was a working title. In the 2018 book ''Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History'', Gerstein was more definitive: "Many latter-day reference sources have identified this film by its working title, ''Just Mickey'', which was used in some pre-release Powers advertising. In fact, however, the final title -- under which the film was copyrighted, distributed by Columbia, advertised, and exhibited -- is ''Fiddling Around''."

Reception

In ''Mickey's Movies: The Theatrical Films of Mickey Mouse'', Gijs Grob observes, "Like other early Mickey cartoons, ''Just Mickey'' is more about making music than about plot. But the short features one of Mickey's greatest early concert performances, and it contains some good facial expression animation of Mickey... Moreover, the hand movements in this short are remarkably convincing. ''Just Mickey'' is an early showcase of Walt Disney's ambition to improve the art of animation. Being the first Mickey Mouse cartoon after

' departure in January 1930, it shows the studio could do very well without him." On the ''Disney Film Project'', Ryan Kirkpatrick agrees: ''"The thing that keeps your interest... are the expressions on Mickey's face. He goes from annoyance at a heckler, to passion for his playing to happiness at a job well done from moment to moment, with natural transitions, not just jumping from expression to expression... I can imagine the animators took this as a challenge to create a new range of expressions and emotions through Mickey."'' ''

The Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

'' (June 8, 1930): ''"Good Cartoon: As a violin virtuoso, Mickey Mouse has plenty of trouble with broken strings and a tough audience that includes one guy who keeps giving him the horse laugh. But Mickey's acrobatic manipulation of his instrument, with which he promotes plenty of comedy as well as music, puts him over for an encore. A very good comedy of its kind."'' ''

Motion Picture News The ''Motion Picture News'' was an American film industry trade paper published from 1913 to 1930. History The publication was created through the 1913 merger of the ''Moving Picture News'' founded in 1908 and ''The Exhibitors' Times'', founded ...

'' (June 21, 1930): ''"Fair: There is very little action in this Mickey Mouse cartoon, most of it being devoted to close-ups of Mickey playing classical music on a trick violin. The clever cartoon work, however, makes up for the deficiency in ideas and Mickey's shadow, thrown upon the backdrop by the spotlight, moves in unison with him, giving an effect of depth unusual in cartoons."'' ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' (July 9, 1930): ''"One of the Mickey Mouse series and okay for filler. It's a Walt Disney creation and gets most its novelty from fact that Mickey Mouse does a single for a change. He gets the break from sulting action to music or vice versa with appropriate sounds and gestures. Mickey trots into view for a violin solo and shakes, squirms, acrobats, weeps and otherwise accents his playing. Audience unseen gives him a couple of Bronx cheers to help the situation and Mickey bows out on his back, but still playing the fiddle."''

Home media

The short was released on December 7, 2004 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two: 1929-1935'' under its working title, ''Just Mickey''. It was released to

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

on October 6, 2023.

References

External links