''Mickey's Surprise Party'' is a 1939 American animated short film directed by
Hamilton Luske
Hamilton Somers Luske (October 16, 1903 – February 19, 1968) was an American animator and film director.
Career
He joined the Walt Disney Productions animation studio in 1931 and he was soon trusted enough by Walt Disney to be made supervisi ...
, 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 ...
and distributed by
Nabisco
Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International.
Nabisco's ...
. It was the 105th short in the
''Mickey Mouse'' film series to be released, and the second for that year. ''Mickey's Surprise Party'' is the first cartoon with
Mickey
Mickey is a given name and nickname, almost always masculine and often a short form (hypocorism) of Michael (given name), Michael, and occasionally a surname. Notable people and characters with the name include:
People Given name or nickname Men ...
and
Minnie Mouse
Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers, and low-heeled shoes occasionally w ...
in their current designs, created by animator
Fred Moore
This is notable for being the first Disney product of any kind to be sponsored by a company. Commonly thought to be in the public domain, its copyright was renewed in on May 2, 1966. Walt Disney hated the idea of public commercials, and avoided commercial entanglements until then. The cartoon had its premiere at the
Golden Gate International Exposition
The Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE) (1939 and 1940), held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 ...
(GGIE) on
Treasure Island
''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...
in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
in February 1939. The film was shown in the "Food and Beverages" building in the Nabisco Theater. Walt was present at the fair for the premiere of the short. It was also shown in the Nabisco Theater at the New York World's Fair in 1939, which did not open until April. The two versions were identical except that the Nabisco products (cookies and crackers) featured at the end were different, reflecting products available on the west and east coasts.
In the short, Pluto's romantic partner is Fifi, a
Pekingese
The Pekingese (also spelled Pekinese) is a breed of toy dog, originating in China. The breed was favored by royalty of the Chinese Imperial court as a companion dog, and its name refers to the city of Peking (Beijing) where the Forbidden City i ...
who also appears in ''
Puppy Love
Puppy love, also known as a crush, is an informal term for feelings of romantic love, often felt during childhood and early adolescence. It is an infatuation usually developed by someone's looks and attractiveness at first sight. Such feelings f ...
'' (1933), ''
Pluto's Quin-puplets'' (1937) and ''
Society Dog Show
''Society Dog Show'' is a 1939 '' Mickey Mouse'' cartoon short produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The animated short was directed by Bill Roberts and animated by Al Eugster, Shamus Culhane, Fred Moore, John Lo ...
'' (1939).
Plot
Minnie bakes cookies to impress Mickey. Just as she leaves, however, her dog,
Fifi, accidentally knocks popcorn into her batter while chasing a fly. Minnie, none the wiser, puts the batter in the oven. Minnie then prepares for the visit, as does Fifi. Mickey and Pluto then arrive. Minnie accepts Mickey's flowers, but Fifi rejects Pluto's bone for some reason. Unfortunately, Minnie has baked the cookies too long, burning them. Mickey smells the smoke and Minnie, suddenly remembering her cookies, runs into the kitchen. As she takes them out, the corn starts popping, but not before Pluto eats one, leading to him having an exploding cookie stuck in his belly while Mickey fights the burnt cookies with a water sprayer (with water filled from Minnie's goldfish bowl).
Minnie is then seen crying on the couch, saying that she wanted to bake cookies just like Mickey's mother. Mickey tries to comfort her, saying "My mother used to
burn
A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur mainl ...
them all the time!"
which made her cry even louder, however, which leads to Fifi crying too. With Minnie already in misery, Mickey immediately gets an idea and he and Pluto rush to the market, where they hastily return with their surprise package. Minnie no sooner turns around and sees that Mickey and Pluto have brought back with them a range of several
Nabisco
Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International.
Nabisco's ...
products, including
Oreo
Oreo () (stylized as OREO) is a brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two biscuits or cookie pieces with a sweet creme filling. It was introduced by Nabisco on March 6, 1912, and through a series of corporate acquisitions, mergers and split ...
s,
Lorna Doone
''Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor'' is a novel by English author Richard Doddridge Blackmore, published in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particularly ar ...
,
Ritz Crackers
Ritz Crackers is a brand of snack cracker introduced by Nabisco in 1934. The original style crackers are disc-shaped, lightly salted, and approximately in diameter.. Each cracker has seven perforations and a finely scalloped edge. Today, the R ...
, Barnum's
Animal Crackers
An animal cracker is a particular type of cracker, baked in the shape of an animal, usually an animal either at a zoo or a circus, such as a lion, a tiger, a bear, or an elephant. The most common variety is light-colored and slightly sweet, but ...
, Social Tea Biscuits,
Fig Newton
Newtons are a Nabisco-trademarked version of a pastry filled with sweet fruit paste. "Fig Newtons" are the most popular variety ( fig rolls filled with fig paste). They are produced by an extrusion process. Their distinctive shape is a character ...
s (Mickey's and Minnie's favorite), and
Milk Bones (which Fifi accepts and kisses Pluto). The film ends with Minnie kissing Mickey all over his face, and fades into "The End" superimposed over the Nabisco sign.
Home media
The short was released on December 4, 2001, on ''
Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color''.
The short was also included in the US VHS and LaserDisc release ''
The Spirit of Mickey
''The Spirit of Mickey'' is a 1998 American animated direct-to-video anthology film, produced and released by Walt Disney Home Video on July 14, 1998. It features clips from ''The Mickey Mouse Club'', ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', and ''A ...
'' and the non-US VHS and LaserDisc release ''Minnie's Greatest Hits'', with all the Nabisco packaging replaced by generic products, and all of Minnie's lines referencing the names of the products overdubbed by
Russi Taylor. However, most DVD versions of the short contain the original uncut version, replete with the Nabisco references.
Milk Bone
Milk-Bone is a brand of dog biscuit. It was created in 1908 by the F.H. Bennett Biscuit Company, which operated a bakery on the Lower East Side, Manhattan, Lower East Side of New York City. Originally named "Maltoid", the biscuit was a bone-shape ...
Dog Biscuits, referenced in the original version of the film were made by Nabisco at the time of the short's production.
See also
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Mickey Mouse (film series)
''Mickey Mouse'' (originally known as ''Mickey Mouse Sound Cartoons'') is a series of American animated comedy short films produced by Walt Disney Productions. The series started in 1928 with Steamboat Willie and ended in 1953 with ''The Simple ...
External links
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*
References
{{Mickey Mouse cartoons
1939 films
1930s color films
1939 animated films
1930s Disney animated short films
Mickey Mouse short films
Nabisco
Films directed by Hamilton Luske
Films produced by Walt Disney
Films scored by Oliver Wallace
1930s American films
World's fair films
Golden Gate International Exposition