February 17, 1934 – Mickey Mouse Short Film Camping Out is Released to Theaters
“Hey, Pop! I was having fun, and a big guy hit me!”
On February 17, 1934, the Disney Studios released the Mickey Mouse Short Camping Out, starring Mickey, Minnie, Horace Horsecollar, and Clarabelle Cow. Before the studio created and realized the individual star power of Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy, Mickey and Minnie were usually paired with Horace and Clarabelle, who were the major bit players in the short films of the ’30s. The short was directed by David Hand, with music by Bert Lewis.
Mickey and the gang relaxing at their summer camp out
The scene opens on a lazy summer day, with the gang playing a joyful tune. Mickey is playing the harmonica, accompanied by Minnie on banjo and Horace on the mouth harp, and Clarabelle is in the background icing a couple of cakes. As they dance and play merrily, a lone mosquito flies into the picture, wanting to join in on the fun and landing on Mickey’s nose. Mickey tries to blow him away, only to end up getting stung on the nose. Angered, Mickey takes a frying pan, planning to squash the mosquito when he gets the chance. It lands on Clarabelle’s cake, and Mickey ends up flattening the cake and sending icing flying all over Clarabelle, while the mosquito flies away unscathed. Upset by Mickey’s ruining her hard work, Clarabelle takes the other cake and shoves it in Mickey’s face.
As Horace laughs at Mickey and Clarabelle, the mosquito sees an opportunity to give Horace a good sting. It winds up and flies like a fighter plane, sending Horace flying into the air from the impact. Horace swings wildly at it, and thinks he finally hit it, until he hears buzzing from inside his hat. When he removes it, he discovers a giant bump on his head from where the mosquito stung him. Completely angry at this point, Horace swats the mosquito, sending it flying to the ground with a bent nose. Shaking his fist in revenge and sobbing, he calls over his father and says that he was just having fun when a big guy hit him. Heroic music plays as the entire swarm of mosquitoes flies to seek vengeance for the poor little mosquito.
Seeing the swarm coming, the gang mans their battle stations
Minnie spies the swarm, cries out in alarm, and the gang sets up their battle stations. Horace decides to spray them with molasses, which effectively stops them and sticks them to a nearby tree. The second batch of molasses-drenched mosquitoes, however, is sent flying back to Horace, hitting him square in the face. Clarabelle takes the old fashioned method with a flyswatter, only to have the mosquitoes grab the netting and tear it apart. Minnie and Mickey team up, with Minnie opening cans of peas, and Mickey filling a bicycle pump with them, then using the pump as a sort of machine-gun with pea pellets. The mosquitoes catch the peas on their noses, causing them to fall to the ground with the weight. The swarm finds a hammer and uses it to remove the peas from their noses, then take to the air again. Horace uses corn to make his own shooter in order to break up the swarm. Believing him to be successful at driving the swarm away, everyone cheers, but the victory is short-lived as the bugs dive bomb the quartet. Horace, however, grabs an umbrella and pulls the gang to safety, with the swarm hitting the umbrella and sticking. Poor Horace is still holding on to the umbrella, and as the swarm flies away, he joins them. Mickey grabs on to try and pull him down, but is also taken away. The umbrella breaks from the weight, and Horace and Mickey crash to the ground.
The mosquitoes free themselves, pull together to form a giant mosquito, and angrily chase after the gang as they run to take refuge in their tent, with the only casualty being Horace’s hat. The swarm continues its attack, with the gang using all of their supplies as best they can to stop the menace. Mickey’s solution is to trap the mosquitoes in the only thing he can find: Clarabelle’s bloomers. As the mosquitoes buzz away, surrendering, the gang cheers at their victory.
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