Studio: Walt Disney Studio (Mickey Mouse)
Distributor: Celebrity Productions
Produced by: Walt Disney
Short Synopsis
Mickey arrives in a farming town in a horse-drawn cart painted "Mickey's Big Road Show", playing a steam organ as he comes. The horse dances to the music and so does everything that hears it: the animals that fall in behind the cart, two cows who look like Clarabelle in a barnyard, and the washing on a line, which jigs on its pegs. At the fairground Mickey sets up, the horse plays percussion with its hooves and tail, and Mickey plays the organ to a crowd. Then he mounts the stage for a piano solo, and the recital becomes a fight: Mickey attacks the keys, the piano fights back, and the two slug it out until the instrument has the last word, biting Mickey on the backside as the film ends.
Why It Matters
- The piano fight is a reprise of The Opry House's, and the comparison shows how fast the Iwerks unit was learning: the piano here is a full character with a temper. The dancing washing line is a small marvel of the studio's new rhythmic animation, every garment moving to the beat.
- The 1929 copyright has expired and the film is public domain in the United States. Its title is a play on The Jazz Singer, Al Jolson's 1927 film that had started the sound revolution the Mickeys were riding, and its road-show premise reflects the travelling shows that still toured rural America in 1929.
Notes and Trivia
- No animator is credited; Iwerks and Les Clark are generally assumed.
- Clarabelle Cow's two look-alikes here are the character in transition from background animal to supporting player.
- See also: The Opry House (1929), Mickey's Choo-Choo (1929), Jungle Rhythm (1929).