May 19, 1906 – Birth of Disney Legend, Sound Effects Wizard, and Voice of Mickey Mouse, Jimmy MacDonald
“Jimmy was Walt’s major sound effects man. You name it. All the gags that you hear in the old cartoons, that’s Jimmy. The train in Dumbo, Jimmy. He built these things…he was a genius at it. And [there was] nobody better.” – Wayne Allwine
On May 19, 1908, John James MacDonald was born in Monks Coppenhall, Cheshire, in the United Kingdom. When he was six months old, his family immigrated to the United States. MacDonald loved music, and as an adult, he was a musician on the Dollar Steam Ship Lines, which led to a job at the Disney Studios in 1934 recording music for a Disney film. MacDonald soon became the head of the sound effects department. Wayne Allwine, who worked with MacDonald in the sound effects department, remarked that “…it was as a musician on the recording sessions for the early cartoons that Walt heard Jimmy, saw that he had more gadgets, as he called them, than anybody else in town, and hired him to come in and do his sounds, as he called them, for the cartoons.”
MacDonald (R) with apprentice and replacement for the voice of Mickey Mouse, Wayne Allwine (L)
In 1947, Walt Disney was becoming busier, and his voice was getting hoarse from his smoking, so he asked MacDonald to begin voicing Mickey, which began with the film Fun and Fancy Free. “And Jimmy said, ‘I was down here working one day, and Walt called me into his office and said, ‘Can you do Mickey?’” Allwine explained in an interview with Leonard Maltin. “And Jim said, ‘I don’t know, Walt. I never tried.’ He said, ‘Let’s hear ya.’ And Jimmy did a few lines, and Walt said, ‘That’s fine. From now on, call Jimmy. I’m too busy.’” Allwine described MacDonald’s Mickey: “Jimmy’s Mickey was interesting. Jimmy was a bass. Nice deep voice. And for him to do Mickey, he had to really work at it, and you can hear a texture in Jimmy’s Mickey that you don’t hear in Walt’s.” The only time in MacDonald’s career as Mickey that Walt once again resumed the role was when voicing the intros to the Mickey Mouse Club. MacDonald voiced the character on a regular basis until 1953, which turned into a recurring role until 1977, as he was having a rough job keeping the falsetto as he got older. His sound effects assistant, Wayne Allwine, was picked as his replacement, and in 1977, MacDonald retired from the Walt Disney studios.
MacDonald passed away in his home at the age of 84 in 1991, and was named as a Disney Legend in 1993. In a rare treat, the Disney Studios had recorded all of the sound effects MacDonald had created, and used them for the television show, House of Mouse; MacDonald’s sound effects legacy continues to last thanks to the preservation efforts of the Foley sessions.
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