July 18, 1932 – The Mickey Mouse Short Film Mickey in Arabia is Released to Theaters
“Alley-oop!”
On July 18, 1932, the Mickey Mouse short film Mickey in Arabia was released to theaters. The short was directed by Wilfred Jackson, and stars Walt Disney as Mickey Mouse and Marcellite Garner as Minnie Mouse.
Mickey and Minnie are vacationing in the Middle East, and are seen riding a rather unusual camel through the desert. They enter a city and pull to a stop, looking around at the strange new sights, including a snake charmer taming several cobras. Mickey and Minnie leave the camel to drink from a nearby beer barrel, and the two explore the city and take pictures. As Minnie is setting up a shot, an evil sheik captures and rides off with her, while Mickey attempts to pursue them on his drunken camel.
Minnie struggles to avoid kissing the sheik, who has kidnapped her and taken her to his castle
Minnie is taken to the sheik’s castle, where the sheik tries to get Minnie to kiss him, but to no avail. Mickey climbs the castle walls to come to Minnie’s rescue, diving in the room and kicking the sheik out of the way. As he and Minnie try to flee, the sheik’s soldiers stop them at every turn. The sheik, blinded by his turban, pulls out two pistols and begins to fire wildly, while every member of his army hides in terror.
Mickey hides Minnie in a vase and tries to open the door, only to find it locked. The sheik, finally removing his turban from his eyes, throws a sword at Mickey, but misses thanks to Minnie’s scream. Mickey grabs the sword, not realizing he’s grabbed only the hilt, and charges at the sheik. Suddenly realizing that the sword’s blade is missing, Mickey ducks, tripping the evil sheik and sending him flying. Angered, the sheik throws all sorts of swords at the mouse, who dodges them. Mickey hides behind a board, where all the swords land, and throws all of them back at the sheik, tearing the shiek’s clothes to shreds in the process.
Mickey and Minnie watch in horror as the sheik has followed them and attempts to jump onto their perch
As the sheik pursues them in his holey long-johns, Mickey grabs Minnie and the vase she is hiding in and they flee up a tower. Mickey trips on the roof, sending Minnie flying. He saves her by her hat, but ends up falling from the roof himself. The lucky pair land on a veranda blind. The sheik leaps after them, but Mickey pulls the blind in, and the sheik lands head first in the sand. The guards throw their spears at the two as well, but with another pull of the blind, the spears land on the sheik instead. The happy couple jumps from their perch onto their camel’s back and ride off into the desert.
disneydetail 