June 13, 1931 – The Mickey Mouse Short The Delivery Boy is Released to Theaters
“In the shade of the old apple tree…”
On June 13, 1931, the Mickey Mouse short film The Delivery Boy was released to theaters. The short was directed by Burt Gillett, and starred the vocals of Walt Disney as Mickey Mouse and Marcellite Garner as Minnie Mouse.
Mickey is seen sitting uncomfortably on an express wagon filled with various musical instruments, with Pluto running alongside excitedly. Mickey is sitting on the keys of a piano, playing a song as he bounces down the path. He stops the wagon as he spies Minnie Mouse, who is doing a load of laundry and singing to herself. Mickey jumps into her yard, with Minnie unaware that he’s been watching her. Unfortunately for her, a goat has been eating her clothes as she wrings them out, and she ends up fighting the goat for her girdle.
Mickey breaks the washtub after Minnie catches on to his jape, and the two begin to dance
Mickey comes up with a plan to greet Minnie: he ties one end of her bloomers on the laundry line closed, then leaps in and pushes himself as if he were in a boat. He begins to sing behind her, and hides in the bloomers when she turns around. He then pulls on her tail and plays it like a guitar string, but she catches on this time that he’s in the bloomers. She pulls him over on top of the tub and opens the closed end, making Mickey fall and break the washtub. The two then begin to dance to an upbeat song, and although Mickey ends up crashing into a tree, they continue to dance happily.
Pluto, meanwhile, has wandered into a puddle of tar, immediately getting stuck. He tries to pull himself out, but only seems to make his situation worse. While they dance, Minnie gives Mickey a kiss, and he leaps around giddily, ending up punching a beehive as if it were a punching bag before returning her kiss, then leaping away giddily again. He kicks the beehive in the end, which lands on his donkey’s tail, and the bees sting the beast, making it kick the wagon fill of instruments.
The pair has a very flirtatious conversation as Minnie coaxes him to play the piano
Most of the instruments land in a nearby farm, on the animals’ heads, and the piano lands near Mickey and Minnie. Minnie responds with glee, and asks Mickey if he can play. He responds modestly, and she eggs him on to play something. The two continue flirting, with Mickey saying he has to be coaxed to play the piano. Minnie responds with a smile that she’s coaxing him. He begins to play “Stars and Stripes Forever,” with Minnie joining him, and the two make it a jazzy duet where there share a kiss at the end.
All the farm animals join in on their rendition with the instruments that landed in their barnyard, and Mickey begins to join the barnyard animals in their playing while Minnie carries on with the piano. Pluto, on the other hand, has gotten himself out of the tar, and passes signs that say “Danger! Blasting!” “Achtung! Dynamite!” “Peligro! T.N.T!” and various other languages. But Pluto pays them no mind, and stumbles upon two men lighting a stick of dynamite and throwing it away. Thinking they want to play fetch, Pluto runs after the stick and brings it back. The men dive into a barrel of tar as they try to avoid the blast.
Mickey is oblivious to the surprise his dog has brought him as he continues to play and sing with Minnie and his donkey
As everyone continues dancing merrily, Pluto brings the stick of dynamite to Mickey, who doesn’t notice what Pluto’s brought him. Pluto begins to chew on the stick, but gets distracted by a pack of fleas that have fled from the scene. Suddenly, the dynamite goes off, sending Mickey, Minnie, and the donkey flying sky high. Fortunately, they all land safely and continue dancing.
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