''The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air'' was a 1938 musical-variety radio series for children, sponsored by

Pepsodent Pepsodent is an American brand of toothpaste with the minty flavor derived from sassafras. The brand was purchased by Unilever in 1942 and is still owned by the company outside of the United States and Canada. In 2003, Unilever sold the rights t ...

and heard on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

on Sunday afternoons, featuring Mickey Mouse and other characters from

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 ...

cartoons. There were a total of twenty broadcasts from the Disney Little Theater on the

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

lot from January 2 to May 15, 1938, the program was created to promote the February 1938 release of Disney's first animated feature film, ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

''. In addition to ''Snow White'' featured in the second episode, the series featured other

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

and

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

characters, including "Mother Goose Land," "Cinderella," "King Neptune," "The Pied Piper," "The Old Woman in the Shoe" and "Old MacDonald". The show was originally contracted with Pepsodent for thirteen weeks, but it was successful enough to be extended to a total of twenty episodes.

Production

Broadcasters had pursued a Mickey Mouse radio program for several years, but Disney rejected the idea, feeling that the cartoon characters' main appeal was visual, and that the voices might not be enough to carry a radio series. However, the opportunity to promote the ''Snow White'' film was too important to miss. The first proposed version was a talk show, with Mickey interviewing guest stars, but that idea was scrapped in September 1937. The writers focused instead on the Disney characters' affinity with folk tales and nursery rhymes. Disney performed Mickey's voice for the first three episodes. Starting with the fourth episode, Mickey was voiced by comedian Joe Twerp. Disney also appeared as himself in some early episodes. In later episodes, Disney was too busy to attend performances, and he was impersonated by announcer John Hiestand. Radio actor J. Donald Wilson provided the voice for one episode. Other Disney characters featured on the program were

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 ...

(

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 ...

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 occasiona ...

(

Thelma Boardman Thelma Boardman (born Thelma Joyce Hubbard, October 31, 1909 – April 21, 1978) was an American voice actress and writer best known for her work with the Walt Disney Studios, particularly as the voice actress for Minnie Mouse from 1937–1938 ...

), Goofy (

Stuart Buchanan Stuart Buchanan (March 18, 1894 – February 4, 1974) was an American voice actor, announcer, and educator. After graduating from the College of Wooster, Buchanan was on the faculty of the University of Florida and West Virginia University, tea ...

) and

Clara Cluck The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional universe, fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving The Walt Disney Company, Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto (Disney), Pluto, Goofy, and ...

(

Florence Gill Florence Gill (27 July 1877 – 19 February 1965) was a British actress. In Walt Disney's animated films, Gill made a specialty for 20 years of voicing hens, including Clara Cluck, The Wise Little Hen and other assorted fowl. Gill was a member ...

). Music was provided by the Felix Mills Orchestra, Donald Duck's Swing Band and The Minnie Mouse Woodland Choir. The opening theme music was "

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" is a popular song written by Frank Churchill with additional lyrics by Ann Ronell, which originally featured in the 1933 Disney cartoon ''Three Little Pigs'', where it was sung by Fiddler Pig and Fifer Pig (voic ...

", and the closing theme was "

Heigh-Ho "Heigh-Ho" is a song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated film ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', written by Frank Churchill (music) and Larry Morey (lyrics). It is sung by the group of Seven Dwarfs as they work at a mine with diamonds and rubi ...

" from ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''.

Episodes

#Robin Hood (January 2, 1938) #Snow White Day (January 9, 1938) #Donald Duck's Band (January 16, 1938) #The River Boat (January 23, 1938) #Ali Baba (January 30, 1938) #South of the Border show episodes(February 6, 1938) #Mother Goose and Old King Cole (February 13, 1938) #The Gypsy Band (February 20, 1938) #Cinderella (February 27, 1938) #King Neptune (March 6, 1938) #The Pied Piper (March 13, 1938) #Sleeping Beauty (March 20, 1938) #Ancient Egypt (March 27, 1938) (guest appearance by Snow White) #Mother Goose and The Old Woman in a Shoe (April 3, 1938) #Long John Silver (April 10, 1938) #King Arthur (April 17, 1938) #Who Killed Cock Robin? (April 24, 1938) #Cowboy Show (May 1, 1938) #William Tell (May 8, 1938) #Old MacDonald (May 15, 1938)

Trivia

*''

Sing a Song of Sixpence "Sing a Song of Sixpence" is an English nursery rhyme, perhaps originating in the 18th century. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as number 13191. The sixpence in the rhyme is a British coin that was first minted in 1551. Origins The rh ...

'' is sung by

References

Listen to

External links

Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: ''The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air, The 1930s American radio programs American variety radio programs NBC radio programs