''Mickey's Good Deed'' (also called ''Mickey's Lucky Break'' and ''Mickey Plays Santa'' in certain home media releases) is a 1932 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 The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

and released by

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. Set during the

Christmas season The Christmas season or the festive season, also known as the holiday season or the holidays, is an annual period generally spanning from November or December to early January. Incorporating Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the various celebrat ...

and the contemporary

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, the cartoon centers on Mickey's act of charity to bring Christmas to a poor family. The film was directed by

Burt Gillett Burton F. Gillett (October 15, 1891 – December 28, 1971) was a Film director, director of animation, animated films. He is noted for his Silly Symphonies work for Walt Disney Pictures, Disney, particularly the 1932 short film ''Flowers and Tree ...

and features the voices of

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 and Pinto Colvig as

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 Su ...

. It was the 50th Mickey Mouse short, and the 14th of that year. ''Mickey's Good Deed'' is the first "Mickey Mouse" titled cartoon to develop with RCA's Photophone synchronized early-in-film sound system. ''Mickey's Good Deed'' was Mickey's second Christmas themed film after '' Mickey's Orphans'' (1931).

Plot

At the start of the cartoon, special effects of falling snow were visible during the opening title sequence.

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 ...

appears as a street performer playing " O Come, All Ye Faithful" on a

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

while

howls along. Several people appear to throw coins in Mickey's collection cup and Mickey wishes them a merry Christmas. But when Mickey goes to buy food, he discovers to his dismay that his cup is full of nails, nuts, and bolts. Eventually, Mickey comes to the home of a rich pig family and begins to play his cello outside. Inside the home, a spoiled pig boy named Adelbert keeps refusing different toys that his father and butler show him. Adelbert then throws a tantrum after seeing Pluto outside, demanding that he wants him. On the father's orders, the butler goes outside and persistently offers Mickey money for Pluto, but Mickey refuses. While running away, Mickey drops his cello and a horse-drawn sleigh runs it over destroying it. The apparently oblivious party in the sleigh call out a cheerful "Merry Christmas!" to Mickey and Pluto. Mickey and Pluto later come across the home of a poor cat family. A mother sits at the table crying and Mickey and Pluto see from a picture that the father is in jail and she has no money for food or toys. Emotionally moved by the scene, Mickey returns to the rich home and reluctantly sells Pluto on the condition that he gets treated well. However, Adelbert has no intention in treating Pluto well as he starts abusing the dog to amuse himself. With the money, Mickey buys toys and food for the cat family and their mother, who is now snoring as he makes it back to their house and he delivers the goods dressed as

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

. He barely manages to keep it quiet until he has snuck out of the house, just in time to see the children wake up to find all the toys he left. Mickey leaves satisfied that he helped the cat family in having a happy Christmas, though he feels depressed of selling away Pluto. Meanwhile, Adelbert starts making a mess in the house by throwing objects at a helpless Pluto; even doing the same to his father and butler, all just to continue amusing himself. The final straw was when Adelbert uses the Christmas tree as a slingshot to send Pluto flying in the air, causing the father to be struck in the butt by the star. Finally fed up with Adelbert's abusive and spoiled behavior, the father gets the butler to throw Pluto out and let him go before proceeding to punish Adelbert by spanking him. Freed from Adelbert's abuse, Pluto happily follows Mickey's tracks to where he finds the lonely mouse sitting in front of a fire along with a snow sculpture of Pluto. Pluto burrows through the snow and pops his head out the top of the sculpture, surprising Mickey. The two friends happily share the pig family's roasted chicken for a Christmas dinner upon reuniting.

Voice cast

* Mickey Mouse, Adelbert:

* Pluto, Adelbert's father, toy effects: Pinto Colvig * Weeping mother, kittens: Marcellite Garner

Home media

The short was released on December 7, 2004, on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two: 1929-1935''. Additional releases include: * 1986 - "Jiminy Cricket's Christmas" (VHS) * 2005 - " Holiday Celebration with Mickey & Pals" (colorized, DVD)Holiday Celebration with Mickey & Pals
at The Encyclopedia of Animated Disney Shorts

References

External links

*
''Mickey's Good Deed''
at Animation Backgrounds
''Mickey's Good Deed''
reviewed by Dennis Grunes * {{Burt Gillett 1932 films Mickey Mouse short films Pluto (Disney) short films 1930s Disney animated short films American Christmas films Great Depression films Films directed by Burt Gillett Films produced by Walt Disney Animated films about music and musicians 1930s Christmas films 1932 comedy-drama films 1930s American films American animated black-and-white films 1932 animated short films

Plot

Voice cast

Home media

See also

References

External links