''Mickey's Good Deed'' (also called ''Mickey's Lucky Break'' and ''Mickey Plays Santa'' in certain home media releases) is a 1932 animated

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

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

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...

. Set during the

Christmas season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November ...

and the contemporary Great Depression, the cartoon centers on Mickey's act of charity to bring Christmas to a poor family. The film was directed by

Burt Gillett Burton F. Gillett (October 15, 1891 – December 28, 1971) was a director of animated films. He is noted for his Silly Symphonies work for Disney, particularly the 1932 short film ''Flowers and Trees'' and the 1933 short film ''Three Little Pigs' ...

and features the voices of

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 ...

as Mickey and

Pinto Colvig Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), professionally Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, newspaper cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. C ...

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

. It was the 50th Mickey Mouse short, and the 14th of that year. ''Mickey's Good Deed'' is the first "Mickey Mouse" titled cartoon to develop with RCA's Photophone synchronized early-in-film sound system. ''Mickey's Good Deed'' was Mickey's second Christmas themed film after ''

Mickey's Orphans ''Mickey's Orphans'' is a 1931 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Columbia Pictures. The cartoon takes place during Christmas time and stars Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Pluto, who take in a group ...

'' (1931).

Plot

Mickey Mouse appears as a street performer playing "

O Come, All Ye Faithful "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (originally written in Latin as "") is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and a ...

" on a

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

while

howls along. Several people appear to throw coins in Mickey's collection cup and Mickey wishes them a merry Christmas. But when Mickey goes to buy food, he discovers to his dismay that his cup is full of nails, nuts, and bolts. Eventually, Mickey comes to the home of a rich family and begins to play outside. Inside the home, a boy named Adelbert keeps refusing different toys that his father and a butler show him. Adelbert throws a tantrum, saying he wants Pluto upon hearing the dog sing. The butler goes outside and persistently offers Mickey money for Pluto, but Mickey refuses and Pluto bites him. While running away, Mickey drops his cello and a horse-drawn sleigh runs it over destroying it. The apparently oblivious party in the sleigh call out a cheerful "Merry Christmas!" to Mickey. Mickey and Pluto later come across the home of a poor cat family. A mother sits at the table crying and Mickey and Pluto see from a picture that the father is in jail and she has no money for food or toys. Emotionally moved by the scene, Mickey returns to the rich home and reluctantly sells Pluto. With the money, Mickey buys toys and food for the cat family and their mother, who is now snoring as he makes it back to their house and he delivers the goods dressed as Santa Claus. He barely manages to keep it quiet until he has snuck out of the house, just in time to see the children wake up to find all the toys he left. Mickey leaves satisfied that he helped the cat family have a happy Christmas. Meanwhile, back at the rich home, Adelbert is tormenting Pluto and tying objects, including a roasted chicken, onto Pluto's tail while tossing objects at his father. The frustrated father finally has the butler throw the dog out when Adelbert treats the Christmas tree like a slingshot, with the star poking him from behind, before spanking Adelbert. Pluto then follows Mickey's tracks to where he finds the lonely mouse sitting in front of a fire along with a snow sculpture of Pluto. Pluto burrows through the snow and pops his head out the top of the sculpture surprising Mickey. The two friends happily share the pig family's roasted chicken for a Christmas dinner upon reuniting.

Voice cast

* Mickey Mouse:

* Pluto, Kid's father, toy effects:

* Weeping mother, kittens:

Marcellite Garner Edna Marcellite Garner ( ; July 3, 1910 – July 26, 1993) was an American artist and voice actress. She is most remembered as the first regular voice of Minnie Mouse during her time working at Walt Disney Productions and has been partially c ...

Home media

The short was released on December 7, 2004 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two: 1929-1935''. Additional releases include: *1986 – "Jiminy Cricket's Christmas" (VHS) *2005 – " Holiday Celebration with Mickey & Pals" (colorized, DVD)Holiday Celebration with Mickey & Pals
at The Encyclopedia of Animated Disney Shorts

References

External links

*
''Mickey's Good Deed''
at the Disney Film Project

at Animation Backgrounds
''Mickey's Good Deed''
reviewed by Dennis Grunes * {{Burt Gillett 1932 films 1932 animated films Mickey Mouse short films Pluto (Disney) short films 1930s Disney animated short films American Christmas films Great Depression films Films directed by Burt Gillett Films produced by Walt Disney Animated films about music and musicians American black-and-white films 1930s Christmas films 1932 comedy films 1932 drama films 1932 comedy-drama films 1930s American films

Plot

Voice cast

Home media

See also

References

External links