Studio: Walt Disney Studio (Mickey Mouse)
Distributor: Celebrity Productions
Produced by: Walt Disney
Short Synopsis
The barnyard animals put on a revue in the manner of the Ziegfeld Follies, with Mickey at the piano and Minnie in the audience. A chorus line of ducks dances; a rooster and a hen beat each other up in time to the music; a fat pig sings an operatic aria, is received with contempt and leaves the stage in a huff; other animals do turns. For the finale Mickey takes the stage alone and sings his own theme song, "Minnie's Yoo-Hoo", at the piano, with a chorus of barnyard voices, and the crowd, Minnie loudest, cheers him off.
Why It Matters
- "Minnie's Yoo-Hoo", written by Carl Stalling and Walt Disney, was Mickey's first theme song and the first song written for a cartoon character; it was published as sheet music, became the anthem of the Mickey Mouse Clubs that sprang up in cinemas across America in 1930, and Mickey's performance of it here, with Walt Disney's voice, is its first appearance.
- Its US copyright term ended with the other 1929 Mickeys, and it is public domain. The trade press found the theme song flat and the lip-sync awkward, and Mickey's distorting mouth, which had troubled The Karnival Kid, is at its worst here, a reminder of how new the technique was.
Notes and Trivia
- The Mickey Mouse Clubs had a million members by 1932, and the song was sung at every meeting.
- Wilfred Jackson, co-director, had worked out the bar-sheet system that synchronised Steamboat Willie.
- See also: The Karnival Kid (1929), Mickey's Choo-Choo (1929), The Opry House (1929).