''The Jazz Fool'' is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on December 21, 1929, as part of the '' Mickey Mouse'' film series. It was the twelfth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the ninth of that year. The cartoon's title combines the titles of two

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...

films: ''

The Jazz Singer ''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music score as well as lip-synchronous singing and speech (in several isolate ...

'' (1927) and ''

The Singing Fool ''The Singing Fool'' is a 1928 American musical drama part-talkie motion picture directed by Lloyd Bacon which was released by Warner Bros. The film stars Al Jolson and is a follow-up to his previous film, '' The Jazz Singer''. It is credited w ...

'' (1928). An early version of

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 s ...

appears, but is not yet the anthropomorphized character that he later evolves into. The only dialogue is Mickey singing to a tune using "dohs".

Plot

Mickey Mouse arrives in town riding in a horse-drawn cart labeled "Mickey's Big Road Show", playing the organ. His horse dances, as do various animals following close behind the cart. Two cows (who both look like Clarabelle Cow) dance in the barnyard, and so do the clothes hanging on a washline. Reaching a fair, the horse plays percussion as Mickey plays his organ. When the song ends, Mickey takes the stage and plays piano aggressively, ultimately having a fistfight with the instrument. At the end of the concert, the piano takes its revenge by biting Mickey in the rear end.

Production

This is the second Mickey Mouse cartoon involving a piano concert, following ''

The Opry House ''The Opry House'' is a 1929 Mickey Mouse short animated film released by Celebrity Pictures, as part of the '' Mickey Mouse'' film series. It was the fifth Mickey Mouse short to be released, the second of that year. It cast Mickey as the owner ...

'', which was released seven months earlier in March 1929. It includes some gags recycled from the earlier cartoon.

Reception

In ''Mickey's Movies: The Theatrical Films of Mickey Mouse'', Gijs Grob points out, "''The Jazz Fool'' is one of those early Mickey Mouse shorts with a lot of musical performances, but no plot. However, there's plenty of action, and Mickey's piano performance is still entertaining today." On the ''Disney Film Project'', Ryan Kilpatrick writes: "The best [part] is the personality animation of Mickey, showing his anger, frustration or happiness at what he’s playing on the piano. It's very well done, with simple moves of the eyebrow and eyes, turns of his mouth, or the direction of his nose or shoulders expressing the entire emotion. It’s a very expressive Mickey, part of the evolution of his character over the last few shorts." ''Motion Picture News'' (November 9, 1929) said: "Lots of Laughs: This is an ideal comedy short to be placed on the same program a picture such as ''Is Everybody Happy? (1929 film), Is Everybody Happy?'' The gags in the piano playing stunt are enough to make any short get over. The calliope opening gets a number of laughs."

Home media

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

References

External links