''Clock Cleaners'' is a 1937 American animated

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by

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

. The cartoon follows

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

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

, and

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 fe ...

working as

janitor A cleaner, cleanser or cleaning operative is a type of Industry (economics), industrial or domestic worker who is tasked with cleaning a space. A janitor (Scotland, United States and Canada), also known as a custodian, Facility Operator, porter ...

s in a tall clock tower. The film was directed by Ben Sharpsteen and features original music by Paul Smith and Oliver Wallace. The voice cast includes

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

as Mickey, Clarence Nash as Donald, and Pinto Colvig as Goofy. It was the 97th short in the ''

'' film series to be released, and the eighth for that year. ''Clock Cleaners'' is one of Disney's most critically acclaimed short films. In 1994, 1,000 members of the animation field voted ''Clock Cleaners'' as the 27th greatest cartoon of all time. This cartoon was released two months before '' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (1937).

Plot

Mickey, Donald, and

are assigned to clean a tall clock tower in a city. Mickey is outside cleaning the

face The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect th ...

with a mop by riding on the second hand. Goofy is inside the building cleaning gear teeth with a large toothbrush. Donald (singing " Hickory Dickory Dock") starts to mop the mainspring, ignoring several warning signs. He gets the mop caught and springs it loose, trapping him inside. Meanwhile, Mickey, now cleaning inside the clock, comes across a sleeping

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...

which he tries unsuccessfully to remove. The stork proves to be a major challenge, as it does not move no matter what Mickey tries, and even when Mickey does get the stork to move, it gets turned around and ends up right back where it started. As he throws the stork out of the tower, it flies back in and snatches Mickey, carrying him as if he were a baby, then letting go of Mickey before flying back in, leaving him hanging on a rope as water from the bucket falls on his head. Back inside, Donald is getting the mainspring back into place with a mallet, but he struggles to get the very last piece in place. The loose end of the spring taps Donald and when he shouts at it, the spring responds with an echo of his words. After a brief argument, Donald loses his temper and hits the spring with the mallet, but it sends it back and knocks him off. Donald gets his head stuck in a gear on the balance wheel shaft, and when he finally is free from it, the oscillation makes his body continue to move. Now outside, Goofy, singing " Asleep in the Deep", is cleaning the outside bell. As he is cleaning the interior of the bell, it becomes 4:00 PM, causing two mechanical statues to come from inside the tower and ring the bell by taking turns striking it, for a total of four times. The first figure, representing Father Time, approaches without Goofy noticing. When the bell rings with Goofy inside it, his head vibrates violently and he sits down. Before he has regained his composure the statue has returned to the tower, and he then looks around suspiciously and says "Mice!" The second figure, representing Lady Liberty, rings the bell from the other side and he is once again vibrated. After the second ring, Goofy is determined to be ready for the next time. As the bell is struck a third time, he leaps out and is ready to attack, but when he sees Lady Liberty coming for the fourth ring, he idiotically apologizes and bows. Then the Liberty figure's torch arm drops and gives Goofy a big knock to the head, putting him in a lovestruck daze. Mickey is alarmed when he sees Goofy almost fall and tries to save him. At each turn, Mickey is just barely able to save Goofy. At last, Goofy lands on a flag pole that sends him and Mickey to fly through a window into the clock, land on the mainspring which Donald had finally managed to put back together, undoing all the springs again, then all three land in the same gear in which Donald was stuck earlier, causing their bodies to move in a humorous rhythm.

Cast

as Mickey Mouse * Clarence Nash as Donald Duck * Pinto Colvig as Goofy * Jimmy MacDonald as Spring

Controversy

In 1994, Donald Wildmon and the American Family Association successfully campaigned for

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

to stop selling the VHS tape ''Cartoon Classics: Fun on the Job!,'' which included ''Clock Cleaners'', due to two instances of perceived foul language. The alleged vulgarities were Donald Duck saying "Says who?" and "snake in the grass," which some listeners misheard as "fuck you" and "son of a bitch", respectively. When ''Clock Cleaners'' was released on the '' Walt Disney Treasures'' DVD set ''Mickey Mouse in Living Color'' in 2001, the line "Says who?" was replaced with "Aw, nuts!" (originally from the short '' On Ice'') and "snake in the grass" was replaced with angry gibberish. These edits were carried over to other DVD releases, including '' The Great Mouse Detective'' (2002), '' Funny Factory with Goofy'' (2006), and the bonus '' Epic Mickey'' DVD (2010). Other DVD releases have kept the original line, such as '' Alice in Wonderland: Masterpiece Edition'' (2004) and ''

Have a Laugh! ''Have a Laugh!'' is an American animated comedy series produced by the Walt Disney Company for the Disney Channel. The series is a set of interstitials, presenting edited versions of classic ''Mickey Mouse'' cartoons that lasted from 2009 to 201 ...

:'' ''Volume 2'' (2010). More recent broadcasts of the cartoon on

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

have also included the original line. On

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

, "Says who?" remains unchanged, while "snake in the grass" is still replaced with gibberish.

Releases

* 1937 - theatrical release * 1950 - '' One Hour in Wonderland'' (TV) * 1972 - '' The Mouse Factory'', episode #15: "Back to Nature" (TV) * c. 1983 - '' Good Morning, Mickey!'', episode #56 (TV) * 1986 - theatrical re-release with '' The Great Mouse Detective'' * 1990 - "Goofy's Guide to Success" (TV) * c. 1992 - '' Mickey's Mouse Tracks'', episode #77 (TV) * c. 1992 - '' Donald's Quack Attack'', episode #60 (TV) * 1997 - '' The Ink and Paint Club'', episode #1.22: "Classic Mickey" (TV) * 2010 - ''

'', episode #7 (TV)

Home media

The short was released on December 4, 2001, on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color''. Additional releases include: * 1984 - "Cartoon Classics: Mickey's Crazy Careers" (VHS) * 1992 - "Cartoon Classics - Special Edition: Fun on the Job!" (VHS) * 2002 - bonus on DVD of '' The Great Mouse Detective'' (DVD)The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
at Amazon.com * 2006 - " Funny Factory with Goofy" (DVD) * 2010 - "

Volume Two" (DVD) * 2019 -

References

External links

* * {{Ben Sharpsteen 1937 films 1930s color films 1930s Disney animated short films Mickey Mouse short films Films directed by Ben Sharpsteen Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Oliver Wallace Films scored by Paul Smith (composer) Disney controversies Censored films 1930s American films Obscenity controversies in animation Obscenity controversies in film 1937 animated short films