March 7, 1936 – The Mickey Mouse Short, Mickey’s Grand Opera, is Released to Theaters
“Pluto! Go home!”
On March 7, 1936, the Mickey Mouse short, Mickey’s Grand Opera, was released to theaters. Directed by Wilfred Jackson, the short is about Mickey directing an opera, only to have his effort ruined by Pluto’s run-in with a magic hat. Although the short was released as a Mickey Mouse short, it deals more with Pluto, Donald Duck, and, to a lesser extent, Clara Cluck, more than Mickey. The short stars the vocal talents of Walt Disney as Mickey Mouse, Pinto Colvig as Pluto, Clarence Nash as Donald Duck, and Florence Gill as Clara Cluck. This was not the only time Donald and Clara had an operatic duet, as Clarence Nash and Florence Gill were seen as themselves in The Reluctant Dragon, recording a session of their characters singing together. Mickey’s Grand Opera was also the last short film to use the original design of Donald Duck before making him a rounder character.
Pluto flies into the crates in the prop room after being told off by Mickey
The scene opens on a big sign proclaiming “Mickey Mouse presents GRAND OPERA featuring Mme. Clara Cluck and Donald Duck.” The viewers are taken backstage where Mickey is checking out the audience through a hole in the curtain. Suddenly his dog, Pluto, jumps on him. Mickey angrily asks him how he got into the theater, then tells him to go on home. Pluto sadly skulks away, but keeps turning back in hopes that Mickey will change his mind. When Mickey screams at him to go home, it startles Pluto to the point that he accidentally runs into the prop room and knocks into boxes for next week’s act, Hoodunit the Magician. The contents of the boxes spill everywhere, including the magician’s famous magic hat.
Pluto, still saddened by Mickey’s unfriendly manner, attempts to take a nap in the prop room, but keeps thinking he sees something pop out of the hat. As he tries to sniff the hat, a rabbit pops out and punches him on the nose. Angered, Pluto takes the hat with his teeth and shakes it, causing a flock of doves to fly out into the room. After they scare him and fly back into the hat, Pluto decides to jump on it, thinking this will stop the strange occurrences. As he tries to walk away, though, the hat pops back into shape as if nothing had happened, scaring Pluto silly. The two then play a game of cat and mouse as Pluto tries to chase the magic hat around a crate.
Clara Cluck, singing of her despair that her love has not come to see her
Applause marks the beginning of the opera, and Mickey takes his place at the podium. The curtains open on a balcony scene, where Clara Cluck appears in the spotlight. She begins to “sing,” looking and listening for her love. When he does not appear, she begins to cry in longing, but the gate suddenly opens, revealing none other than Donald Duck, playing her Romeo. He sneaks into the courtyard with a bouquet of flowers and trips over his own feet, making the audience laugh. This gets Clara’s attention, and she begins to sing to him. Donald then quacks his song back to her, and throws the bouquet to her.
As they continue their duet, Donald pulls out his sword dashingly, only to get it stuck in one of the trees from the set. He tries to pull it out, unsuccessfully, which leaves poor Mickey to try and conduct the orchestra to match Donald’s frustrated quacking. Donald finally does get the sword out, and the opera continues peacefully. Unbeknownst to them, Pluto is following the magic hat, which has appeared on the side of the stage. Noticing that Pluto has been following it, it hurriedly waddles onto the stage, with Pluto timidly following it.
The orchestra follows Mickey's example, ordering Pluto to go home
The hat and Pluto cross the stage right in front of Mickey, with the audience breaking into peels of laughter. Mickey finally notices his dog and is furious that Pluto never went home. Mickey once again orders the dog home, but Pluto only looks at his master sadly before looking back at the suspicious hat. Once again, Mickey orders Pluto home, but Pluto won’t move away from the strange hat. Finally, the whole orchestra stands up and yells at Pluto to go home, which startles the dog and hat and they run off in different directions. As Pluto watches from the wings sadly, the hat suddenly crawls underneath him, surprising him.
Having had quite enough, Pluto begins to chase the hat, which falls into a tuba, letting loose a steady stream of doves, mice, and rabbits as the tuba player plays his instrument. Donald and Clara try to continue with the scene, although two doves attempt to take off with Donald’s cape, and the doves dart around Clara. The tuba player keeps playing, and a strange plant sprouts from inside, releasing a frog as the sunflower on top opens. Pluto follows the frog, until Donald accidentally swallows it. The frog continues to jump, taking Donald with him. With one large hop, Donald accidentally stabs Clara through the balcony, causing the hen to fly into the rafters from the surprising poke. When she comes back down, the set comes crashing to the floor. When Pluto, Clara, Donald, and the frog, break through the backdrop, they give their final high note of the night, at least bringing this strange opera to an end.
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