''Mickey's Choo-Choo'' is a 1929

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...

short animated film released by

Celebrity Pictures Patrick Anthony Powers (October 8, 1870 – July 30, 1948) was an American businessman who was involved in the movie and animation industry of the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s as a distributor and producer. His firm, Celebrity Productions, was t ...

, as part of the ''

'' film series.

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 contentious ...

was the animator. It was the eleventh Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the eighth of that year, and was one of the series of early

Disney 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 ...

cartoons that led

to become a national fad by the end of 1929. Originally in black and white, this cartoon was of the ten Mickey Mouse cartoons

colorized Film colorization (American English; or colourisation [British English], or colourization [Canadian English and Oxford English]) is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia, or other monochrome moving-picture image ...

by the Walt Disney Company in 1991.

Plot

The cartoon opens with Mickey piloting a

2-2-0 Under Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, two powered driving wheels on one axle, and no trailing wheels. This configuration, which became very p ...

steam engine, ringing his bell and blowing the engine's whistle. As the engine and his coal tender back to collect a boxcar, the engine rests with Mickey, his railroad engineer, fuelling him, and feeding his engine with coal from the tender. As the engine eats too much coal and burps, Mickey decides to have some spaghetti, until Minnie comes along. After Mickey finishes his lunch, Minnie arrives with a violin that she can play, and hops onto the freight car. Minnie plays a musical song (Dvořák's

Humoresque Humoresque (or Humoreske) is a genre of Romantic music characterized by pieces with fanciful humor in the sense of mood rather than wit. History The name refers to the German term ''Humoreske'', which was given from the 1800s (decade) onward to h ...

) while Mickey does the same. As Mickey looks at his watch, only to realize that they are late, he yells 'All aboard!' to the engine, which whistles in cheerful response after Mickey gets on board. The engine slowly starts out of the station and chuffs cheerfully through the beautiful countryside toward a hill and struggles up it. The engine ends having problems and starts to cry. The cartoon ends with Mickey pushing the boxcar so hard that it comes loose from the engine, runs into a cow, and explodes. In the final shot, Mickey and Minnie ride a

handcar A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, or draisine) is a railroad car powered by its passengers, or by people pushing the car from behind. It is mostly used as a railway ...

into the sunset.

Production

Some of the gags in the cartoon are recycled from the 1927

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit or Oswald Rabbit) is a cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 19 ...

short ''

Trolley Troubles ''Trolley Troubles'' is a 1927 animation, animated short subject film, produced by Charles Mintz and George Winkler and directed by Walt Disney. The cartoon is the first appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character that Disney and Ub Iwerk ...

''. This is the first cartoon in which Mickey says more than a couple of words, "this time in a voice that sounds like Walt's." The soundtrack includes Mickey singing "

I've Been Working on the Railroad "I've Been Working on the Railroad" is an American folk song. The first published version appeared as "Levee Song" in ''Carmina Princetonia'', a book of Princeton University songs published in 1894. The earliest known recording is by the Shannon ...

" and playing part of Antonín Dvořák's '' Humoresques'' on his spaghetti. Minnie's ride on the train is set to the tune of "

Dixie Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas shift over the years), or the extent of the area it cover ...

". The closing image of Mickey and Minnie operating a handcar inspired a famous toy version, manufactured by the

Lionel Corporation Lionel Corporation was an American toy manufacturer and holding company of retailers that had been in business for over 120 years. It was founded as an electrical novelties company. Lionel specialized in various products throughout its existence. ...

. The toy company made so much money from this item and others like it that Mickey was known as "the mouse that saved Lionel."

Reception

In ''Mickey's Movies: The Theatrical Films of Mickey Mouse'', Gijs Grob writes, "The finale of ''Mickey's Choo-Choo'' is remarkably fast and full of action. Moreover, it's the first Disney cartoon to feature real dialogue. Most of the cartoon, however, has a remarkably slow pace, and even some awkwardly silent moments. There's hardly any plot and Mickey and Minnie's designs are inconsistent, ranging from sophisticated (with an extra facial line) to downright poor. The end result is an average entry in Mickey's canon." ''

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 ...

'' (October 12, 1929) said: "This issue of the Mickey Mouse series by Walt Disney is a laugh from start to finish. In addition to sound effects this one has music and dialogue and a railway thrill with a runaway freight car. The little comedy proved to be the hit of the Strand, New York, bill, topping everything else on the program for laughs and entertainment value."

Voice cast

* Mickey Mouse:

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 ...

* Minnie Mouse: Walt Disney

Home media

The short was released on December 7, 2004 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two: 1929-1935''.

References

External links

D23 entryIMDbMUBI
{{Authority control 1920s Disney animated short films 1929 short films 1929 comedy films American black-and-white films Mickey Mouse short films Films directed by Ub Iwerks Films produced by Walt Disney 1929 animated films 1920s English-language films Animated films about trains American animated short films Animated films about mice