May 12, 1932 – The Mickey Mouse Short Film Mickey’s Revue is Released to Theaters
On May 12, 1932, the Mickey Mouse short Mickey’s Revue was released to theaters. It was directed by Wilfred Jackson. This short is best known as the first appearance of the character of Dippy Dawg, who would evolve into Goofy; he is recognizable in this short by his peculiar laugh, which was provided by Pinto Colvig.
The first appearance of Dippy Dawg, later known as Goofy, annoying the audience members around him
The short opens in a theater, where the orchestra is in the middle of a song, with Mickey at the helm as the conductor. As the piece reaches a dramatic part, an audience member (Dippy Dawg) loudly cracks open peanuts and eats with his mouth open, to the annoyance of the other members of the audience surrounding him.
The curtain opens, revealing three actors dressed as flowers, and Minnie tied to a rope, floating as she plays the part of a fairy, while Horace Horsecollar holds her from a fishing rod in the rafters. Minnie taps an actor, who stands up, revealing herself to be Clarabelle Cow. On the other side of the stage, Pluto sneaks on, sniffing the dancer. When the dancer pushes him away, he begins to bark until a hook yanks him off the stage. Dippy Dawg begins to laugh loudly from the audience, again annoying all those around him.
Horace demonstrating how he makes his stage snow
Mickey continues to conduct as the cow dancers begin their ballet. A loud crashing noise sounds, as the band members and stage hand Horace create a storm for the piece. The cow ballerinas look around at the “snow,” then begin to ice skate around the stage (although it is revealed to the audience that the “snow” is just soda crackers Horace chews up and spits out across the stage). As the dancers skate offstage, Pluto is seen crawling on stage, hot on their trail, but is quickly retrieved and pulled off stage.
The curtain falls and the audience applauds wildly before the next act begins. Two dogs begin a rather comical tap dance. As it ends, Pluto is once again seen trailing something, only this time he’s on the trail of a bug, until a lasso appears and pulls him away. Dippy Dawg begins to laugh his peculiar laugh again, but this time, the fed-up audience members hit him over the head with a hammer, knocking him out cold. The two main conspirators begin to laugh in the same manner that Dippy Dawg did, much to the surprise of the rest of the peanut gallery.
Mickey and Minnie in their grand performance
The curtain opens again to reveal Mickey in a “one-man-band” kind of show, with Minnie accompanying him on the piano. As they play, a family of kittens that has been living under the stage pops out through holes in the floor and begins to play with the instruments, making it livelier than before. Horace has Pluto tied up in the back while he reads a magazine, and Pluto begins to whine, wishing to explore the stage. Seeing the kittens, he leaps forward, throwing Horace from his chair, and dives onto the stage. Pluto’s chase destroys the set and instruments, but the audience still applauds loudly thinking it was a great show.
disneydetail 