''Pioneer Days'' is a

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 first released on November 20, 1930, as part of the ''

'' film series. It was the twenty-fourth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the ninth of that year. The short features

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 ...

; Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow can also be seen in background scenes.

Plot

Mickey and Minnie lead a caravan of covered wagons heading west through the desert, playing the banjo and singing " Oh! Susanna". Mickey boasts to Minnie that he is not scared of Indians, but his confidence will be tested—a tribe of wolf-like Indians have spotted the settlers, and they plan for war, wearing feathered headdresses and wielding tomahawks as they dance around their campfire. Meanwhile, Mickey and the other settlers have circled their wagons for the evening, where they sing and dance, including an old goat performing a tearful rendition of "

Darling Nelly Gray "Darling Nelly Gray" is a 19th century anti-slavery ballad written and composed by Benjamin Hanby in 1856. It is written as from the point of view of an African-American male slave in Kentucky whose sweetheart has been taken away by slave-owners. ...

". The Indian tribe arrives, and Mickey sounds the alarm that the Indians are attacking. The settlers shoot guns at the Indians, and the attackers shoot arrows—hitting Mickey in the rear end at several points, to no lasting harm. Mickey scares away some Indians by shooting them with quills from a porcupine. Minnie is kidnapped and tied up by one Indian, and Mickey runs to her rescue. While Mickey and the Indian are fighting, Minnie settles things by dropping a hot coal down the Indian's pants. The mice return to the wagon train pretending to be a line of reinforcements; the Indians are routed and the settlers celebrate.

Releases

The reissue print released in 1940 cut the last scene from the cartoon, showing Mickey and Minnie scaring the Indians away. The 1940 version irises out on Mickey rescuing Minnie from a single Indian with a hot coal. The 1940 version was subsequently shown on TV and released on laserdisc in the 1990s. The missing scene was restored for the 2002 Walt Disney Treasures DVD set '' Mickey Mouse in Black and White: The Classic Collection''. On the DVD set, an introduction for this short by Leonard Maltin warns, "It would be foolish to judge hese cartoonssome seventy years later in the context of today's manners and morals," although he doesn't specifically call attention to ''Pioneer Days use of common

Native American stereotypes Stereotypes of Indigenous peoples of Canada and the United States of America include many ethnic stereotypes found worldwide which include historical misrepresentations and the oversimplification of hundreds of Indigenous cultures. Negative ster ...

. The short was also seen on '' The Mickey Mouse Club'' (Season 1, Episode 15), and '' Good Morning, Mickey!'' episode 20.

Reception

In ''Mickey's Movies: The Theatrical Films of Mickey Mouse'', Gijs Grob writes: "The artoonfeatures spectacular animation, including a dance with long shadows around a bonfire (animated by Norm Ferguson), and two stunning scenes animated by Ben Sharpsteen: a complex attack scene, and an impressive shot taken from one of the horses circling the encampment, showing a moving background of wagons in perfect perspective. Also spectacular is a piece of animation by Wilfred Jackson: the fight between Mickey and a horrible Indian, who has kidnapped Mickey. The fight is shown in close-up, and contains complex movements between the two. It's scenes like these that show Disney maintaining his edge in the animation field." On the ''Disney Film Project'', Ryan Kilpatrick agrees: "The real action begins... when the Indians invade the wagon camp. From that point forward, it's inspired chaos. The scenes of frantic pioneers scrambling around and trying to evade the arrows are great and add to the sense of motion that moves through the final part of the short."

Voice actors

* Mickey Mouse: Walt Disney * Minnie Mouse:

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 ...

* Indians: unknown

Home media

The short was released on December 2, 2002 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pioneer Days 1930 Film Mickey Mouse short films 1930s Disney animated short films 1930 short films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films 1930 animated films 1930 films Films produced by Walt Disney American comedy short films Columbia Pictures short films Columbia Pictures animated short films Films directed by Burt Gillett Films set in deserts Films about Native Americans 1930s American films