''Pluto's Christmas Tree'' is a 1952 Mickey Mouse cartoon in which

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

and

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 ...

cut down a Christmas tree that

Chip n' Dale Chip and Dale (also spelled Chip 'n' Dale) is a cartoon duo of anthropomorphic chipmunks created in 1943 by The Walt Disney Company. Concept The characters were first drawn by Bill Justice and introduced in the 1943 Pluto short ''Private ...

live in. It was the 125th short in the ''

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 ...

'' film series to be released, and the second for that year. While the chipmunks are usually antagonists of

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

, they have pestered Pluto before, in ''

Private Pluto ''Private Pluto'' is a 1943 propaganda comedy cartoon produced by Walt Disney Productions. In this cartoon, Pluto is in the army and he gets antagonized by two chipmunks, later known as Chip 'n' Dale, in their first official appearance. While the ...

'' (1943), ''

Squatter's Rights Adverse possession, sometimes colloquially described as "squatter's rights", is a legal principle in the Anglo-American common law under which a person who does not have legal title to a piece of property—usually land ( real property)—may ...

'' (1946) and '' Food for Feudin''' (1950). It is one of the few Disney shorts directed by

Jack Hannah John Frederick Hannah (January 5, 1913 – June 11, 1994) was an American animator, writer and director of animated shorts. Biography Hannah was born on January 5, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona. He moved to Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles in ...

not to star Donald Duck, although Donald does make a cameo at the end.

Plot

and

are searching for a

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

, while

Chip 'n' Dale Chip and Dale (also spelled Chip 'n' Dale) is a cartoon duo of anthropomorphic chipmunks created in 1943 by The Walt Disney Company. Concept The characters were first drawn by Bill Justice and introduced in the 1943 Pluto short ''Private P ...

are looking for acorns in the forest. Once the chipmunks see Pluto, they hit him with acorns and escape as he pursues them. Once Pluto is distracted, they hide in a tree. Mickey chops down that very tree, unaware that the two are in it. Once they get home, Mickey and Pluto decorate the tree and Pluto admires it, but then he notices a light going on and off and investigates it. Dale, who was playing with the light, mistakes Pluto's nose for another light and twists it, revealing himself to Pluto, who then barks at him. Dale retaliates by throwing down ornaments to distract him. Mickey comes by and takes the ornaments from Pluto, unknowingly hanging one of them on Dale, who Pluto fails to alert Mickey to. Pluto then spots Dale stealing

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelat ...

s and chases him up to the top of the fireplace with Santa candle figures. Dale takes a hat and beard from one of the candle figures as a disguise. Pluto notices the strange figure, but he again fails to expose him to Mickey since Mickey doesn't understand his barks. Frustrated, Pluto knocks the other figures away except Dale. Chip then notices from the tree what is going on. He rescues Dale and heads for the tree. Pluto briefly gets his feet stuck in presents as he gives chase, and has difficulty following the chipmunks up the ladder. As Pluto barks at the chipmunks, they cause the ladder to fall and drop the star on top of the tree onto Pluto's tail. While the chipmunks laugh in victory, Pluto, finally pushed beyond his patience, angrily dives into the tree to attack the chipmunks. Mickey notices Pluto and tries to pull him out, but gets pulled in instead until the tree is stripped of its decorations and leaves. Mickey scolds Pluto for what he did, but notices Chip and Dale with only a few decorations and all of the branches bare, finally realizing what's really going on. Pluto starts barking at the chipmunks for the trouble they caused until Mickey tells him to stop, saying that it's just the holidays. At the window they see

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...

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 ...

singing "Deck the Halls". While Mickey and Pluto's friends are singing, Chip and Dale join in, and then Pluto howls in as well, much to the chipmunks' irritation. They then respond by placing a sticker over Pluto's mouth that reads "DO NOT OPEN TIL XMAS".

Cast

* Jimmy MacDonald as

and

Chip Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genomi ...

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. Co ...

and

Ruth Clifford Ruth Clifford (February 17, 1900 – November 30, 1998) was an American actress of leading roles in silent films, whose career lasted from that era into the television era. Early years Clifford was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the daughter ...

Clarence Nash Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor. He was best known as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma, and ...

*Dessie Miller as Dale

Credits

*Direction: Jack Hannah *Animation: George Kreisl, Fred Moore, Bill Justice, Volus Jones *Storyboards: Bill Berg, Milt Schaffer *Layout: Yale Gracey *Background: Thelma Witmer *Music: Joseph S. Dubin

Other uses

Scenes from this cartoon would be used for '' Disney's Very Merry Christmas Songs''. It would be used for "

Deck the Halls "Deck the Hall” is a traditional Christmas carol. The melody is Welsh, dating back to the sixteenth century, and belongs to a winter carol, "Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862. ...

" and "

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", also known as simply "Let It Snow", is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in July 1945 in Hollywood, California, during a heat wave as Cahn and Styne imagined cooler conditions ...

". "

" would use scenes from this cartoon only and "

" only uses a small part from this cartoon. Scenes would also be used for other Disney collections, including ''

A Disney Christmas Gift "A Disney Christmas Gift" is an animated Christmas television special produced by Walt Disney Productions. It was originally broadcast on CBS on December 4, 1982 as part of the ''Walt Disney'' anthology series. Synopsis The special is a Christmas- ...

''. Scenes from this cartoon along with scenes from ''

Mickey's Christmas Carol ''Mickey's Christmas Carol'' is a 1983 American Animation, animated family comedy-drama featurette directed and produced by Burny Mattinson. The cartoon is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'', and stars Scrooge ...

'' were also set to

D-TV ''D-TV'' was a series of music videos created by The Walt Disney Company and produced by Charles Braverman and edited by Ted Herrmann which premiered on May 5, 1984, by taking hit songs of the past and putting them together with various footage of ...

's video of

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed only ...

's "

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is a Christmas song written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958; it has since been recorded by numerous other music artists. By the song's 50th anniversary in 2008, Lee's original version had s ...

". A book published in 1954 from

Little Golden Books Little Golden Books is a series of children's books, published since 1942. ''The Poky Little Puppy'', the eighth release in the series, is the top-selling children's book of all time in the United States.. Many other Little Golden Books have b ...

called ''Donald Duck's Christmas Tree'' has the same plot as this cartoon but with

instead of

. ''The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Characters'' mistakenly credits

Horace Horsecollar Horace Horsecollar is a cartoon character created in 1928 at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Horace is a tall anthropomorphic black horse and is one of Mickey Mouse's best friends. Characterized as a boastful show-off, Horace served as Mickey’s ...

and Clarabelle Cow, as appearing in this cartoon.

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two: 1939-Today''. Additional releases include: *A Walt Disney Christmas (VHS)-1981/1986 * Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse (VHS) 2001/(DVD) 2001, 2009 (Cartoon is a segment in the film) * Walt Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites Volume 9: Classic Holiday Stories (DVD) 2005 *Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films Volume 7: Mickey's Christmas Carol (DVD) 2011 *

30th Anniversary Edition (DVD, Blu-ray), 2013 *

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

(streaming), 2019 *

Olaf's Frozen Adventure ''Olaf's Frozen Adventure'' is a 2017 American 3D computer-animated featurette produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers. The screenplay was written by Jac Schaeffer, with Josh Gad, Kristen Bell, ...

(Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD), 2018

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * *

External links

* * {{Disney Christmas films 1952 animated films 1952 films American Christmas films Animated Christmas films 1950s Disney animated short films Films directed by Jack Hannah Films produced by Walt Disney Mickey Mouse short films Pluto (Disney) short films Donald Duck short films Goofy (Disney) short films Films scored by Joseph Dubin RKO Pictures animated short films 1950s Christmas films 1950s English-language films Chip 'n' Dale films