Monthly Archives: March 2016

March 5, 1932 – The Mickey Mouse Short Film The Mad Dog is Released to Theaters

“Look, don’t shoot him, mister. Don’t shoot him. He’s my pal.”

On March 5, 1932, the Mickey Mouse short film The Mad Dog premiered in theaters. The short was directed by Burt Gillett.

Mickey is washing something in a tub, and it revealed that under all the bubbles is Pluto. Pluto struggles to get away from Mickey, and finally does, though he ends up in a game of tug-of-war with Mickey. He plays with a slipped bar of soap and accidentally swallows it, and is bewildered when he starts hiccupping bubbles. Mickey chases him around the house, but Pluto slips outside and down the street. An old woman walking down the street sees Pluto and, mistaking the bubbles for a sign of rabies, screams and calls for the police. The whole town panics seeing the “mad dog” running down the road, and chase after him throwing things and trapping him in an empty lot. Pete the dog catcher walks in and is ready to put Pluto down, when Mickey runs in just in time to save him and plead his case. Mickey fights Pete, and helps Pluto make an escape. Pete continues to chase them down the road, but the pair are able to slow him down considerably. In the end, Pete gets his head stuck in his own dog catching vehicle, and Mickey gets Pluto, and all of his fleas, home safely.