June 20, 1936 – The Mickey Mouse Short Film Mickey’s Rival Premieres in Theaters
“Mickey, I want you to meet Mortimer. He’s a perfect dream!”
On June 20, 1936, the Mickey Mouse short film Mickey’s Rival was released to theaters. The short was directed by Wilfred Jackson, and starred Walt Disney as the voice of Mickey and Marcellite Garner as the voice of Minnie. Oddly enough, Mortimer was the first name suggested for the character of Mickey Mouse, before Walt’s wife Lillian suggested the change to Mickey.
Mickey and Minnie are setting up a picnic, when something zooms down the country road, blowing away everything in its path, including Mickey and the picnic. As the blur slows down, we see that it’s a mouse in a car, and the mouse calls out to Minnie, calling her his “old sweetie.” He quickly reverses, crushing Mickey’s car into a tree, climbs out, and jauntily makes his way over to Minnie.
Minnie, charmed by her former flame, introduces him to Mickey
Minnie smiles and gives a fond hello to her old flame, Mortimer Mouse, who seems to be charming her once again. Minnie introduces him to Mickey, who is not charmed in the slightest, and is rather annoyed at this visitor. When Mortimer gives Mickey his hand to shake, Mickey is not amused to see that he’s fallen victim to a practical joke, as the arm he was shaking was a fake one Mortimer stuffed up his sleeve. Mortimer continues to play pranks on Mickey, with Mickey getting more and more frustrated. Mickey’s car is also experiencing some bullying by Mortimer’s car, and leaps away in fright when Mortimer’s car honks angrily.
Minnie and Mickey continue their picnic, with Mortimer as the guest, although Mickey isn’t too pleased with the situation, especially as Minnie begins to feed Mortimer. Mortimer makes a quick meal of Mickey’s food, then spots a bull in a nearby pen. He declares that he will fight the bull in Minnie’s honor, grabbing the red picnic blanket and shoving Mickey nose-first into his cup of coffee. Mortimer stands outside the pen and waves the blanket, with the bull charging head-first into the fence.
Mickey is not amused by Mortimer’s antics, nor is he pleased by Minnie’s swooning
As Mortimer continues to taunt the bull, Minnie turns to Mickey and asks if Mortimer isn’t just swell, to which Mickey sarcastically retorts that the mouse is a scream before breaking his mug and walking away. Minnie replies that he’s just jealous, and continues to cheer Mortimer on while Mickey walks off and pouts. Mortimer, however, doesn’t realize that the bullpen’s gate has been left open; when he goes to taunt the bull again, the bull rushes straight after him, and Mortimer makes a run for it into his car and speeds away as fast as he can, leaving Minnie draped in the red blanket as the bull charges for her.
When Mickey sees Minnie in danger, he runs after the bull as fast as possible and stops him, while Minnie scrambles up a tree. As the bull charges again, he knocks Minnie from her perch, but Mickey distracts the creature while Minnie escapes again. Mickey taunts the bull, and his car eventually comes to the rescue, driving the bull away. The couple are finally able to escape in the car, but Mickey is still fuming about Mortimer. He asks Minnie if she still thinks Mortimer is funny, to which she replies with a firm “No.” The two are happy together once again as they drive back home.
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