''Mickey's Circus'' is an animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released August 1, 1936. Known crew include director

Ben Sharpsteen Benjamin Sharpsteen (November 4, 1895 – December 20, 1980) was an American film director and producer for Disney. He directed 31 films between 1920 and 1980. Sharpsteen created a museum documenting the history of California's first millio ...

and animators

Milt Kahl Milton Erwin Kahl (March 22, 1909 – April 19, 1987) was an American animator. He was one of (and often considered the most influential of) Walt Disney's supervisory team of animators, known as Disney's Nine Old Men. Biography Kahl was born ...

, Frank Thomas, Al Eugster,

Shamus Culhane James H. "Shamus" Culhane (November 12, 1908 – February 2, 1996) was an American animator, film director, and film producer. He is best known for his work in the Golden age of American animation. Career Shamus Culhane worked for a number of ...

, and Errol Gray. It was the 87th Mickey Mouse short film to be released, the eighth of that year. Although the film is called ''Mickey's Circus'', the film mostly features Donald Duck; however, Mickey Mouse does feature in the beginning and end. Also featured are a trio of trained sea lions, a young sea lion pup, and an audience full of children.

Plot

Mickey Mouse is hosting a circus featuring Donald Duck and a trio of

sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

s. Children from all over come to see the circus. After Mickey introduces the performers, the show starts. Donald enters the ring only to be stampeded by the sea lions and a young sea lion pup. The first act is

juggling Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object ...

, in which the sea lions and Donald juggle balls that land on their noses. When the stunt is finished, the sea lions beg to be fed, throwing their balls at Donald and pointing to their mouths. Before Donald can feed the last sea lion, the pup intervenes and steals the

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

. The resulting tug-of-war ends in the sea lions fighting over the fish. The next act is playing the

organ pipe An organ pipe is a sound-producing element of the pipe organ that resonates at a specific pitch when pressurized air (commonly referred to as ''wind'') is driven through it. Each pipe is tuned to a specific note of the musical scale. A set o ...

, but the sea lion can't do it right. The pup interferes and plays the tune "

Yankee Doodle "Yankee Doodle" is a traditional song and nursery rhyme, the early versions of which predate the Seven Years' War and American Revolution. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today. It is the state anthem of Connecticut. Its ...

" instead, but the crowd cheers anyway. The pup distracts Donald to the point where Donald loses his temper, tries to attack the pup, and gets stuck in a drum. The next thing Donald knew, the whole crowd starts imitating him. Donald regains control, however, by driving the sea lions away from the basket of fish with his pistol. Subsequently, the sea lions refuse to perform unless fed first. When Donald gets out a fish, the sea lion plays the tune rapidly. Again, the sea lions fight over the fish, destroying the organ pipe and ignoring Donald in the process. The pup steals the fish again and Donald chases; there follows a fast chase around the arena, which includes Donald chasing the pup through a

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

and Mickey attempting to intervene. The spectators fire the cannon, shooting Mickey and Donald out and resulting in Mickey landing on a

tightrope Tightrope walking, also called funambulism, is the skill of walking along a thin wire or rope. It has a long tradition in various countries and is commonly associated with the circus. Other skills similar to tightrope walking include slack rope ...

and Donald hanging from a hook within the fish basket. When a spectator cuts Donald's basket loose, he falls, lands on a circus bike, yells "Get out! Get out of my way!" while ringing the

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...

frantically, and cycles across the tightrope toward Mickey (who somehow gets out of the way). The spectators oil the rope, causing Donald's bike to run backward and splatter Mickey, go over Mickey's pole, bounce back from the start, and end up on top of Mickey's pole. When the spectators throw a barrel at Mickey, Donald's bike is bounced off but Donald gets back by driving through thin air and Mickey is loaded on as well. The climax ensues when the spectators turn up the voltage to high, electrocuting Mickey and Donald and splitting the bike (and rope) in half, causing Mickey and Donald to fall. The two land in the seal tank, only to be hit by a fish thrown by the pup, and the film ends with the sea lions beating up Mickey and Donald as they fight over the fish in the tank as the camera irises out to the end card.

Production

In ''Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age'', Michael Barrier discusses ''Mickey's Circus'' in a passage about stenographers' transcripts of Walt Disney in story meetings: Although no animators were credited, it was reported that

, Woolie Reitherman,

Bernard Wolf Bernard "Berny" Wolf (July 18, 1911 – September 7, 2006) was an American animator and television producer. Wolf was born in New York City. His career in animation started in 1927, when he began work as an inker on Charles Mintz' Krazy Kat silen ...

, Frank Thomas, Fred Spencer, James Culhane, Frank Kelling, Don Patterson, Cy Young, Larry Clemmons,

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 in 1931 to study at the Art ...

, Chuck Couch, Dick Williams, Al Eugster, Eddie Strickland, Jim Algar, Marvin Woodward, John McManus and Milt Schaffer have worked on this short. Emil Flohri and Carlos Manriquez are also noted to be the shorts background artists.

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 ...

* Donald Duck:

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 ...

* Salty the Seal:

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. C ...

Home media

The short was released on December 4, 2001, on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color''.

References

External links