Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysToronto Int'l Film FestivalHispanic Heritage MonthIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

The Karnival Kid

  • 1929
  • Approved
  • 8m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
The Karnival Kid (1929)
AnimationComedyFamilyRomanceShort

Mickey, a hot dog vendor, meets and quickly falls for Minnie the "Shimmy Dancer". He serenades her by performing the song "Sweet Adeline", much to the dismay of Kat Nipp, who is trying to sl... Read allMickey, a hot dog vendor, meets and quickly falls for Minnie the "Shimmy Dancer". He serenades her by performing the song "Sweet Adeline", much to the dismay of Kat Nipp, who is trying to sleep.Mickey, a hot dog vendor, meets and quickly falls for Minnie the "Shimmy Dancer". He serenades her by performing the song "Sweet Adeline", much to the dismay of Kat Nipp, who is trying to sleep.

  • Directors
    • Walt Disney
    • Ub Iwerks
  • Stars
    • Count Cutelli
    • Walt Disney
    • Carl W. Stalling
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.3/10
    1.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • Walt Disney
      • Ub Iwerks
    • Stars
      • Count Cutelli
      • Walt Disney
      • Carl W. Stalling
    • 13User reviews
    • 5Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos4

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster

    Top cast3

    Edit
    Count Cutelli
    Count Cutelli
    • Hot Dogs Barking
    • (voice)
    • …
    Walt Disney
    Walt Disney
    • Minnie Mouse
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    • …
    Carl W. Stalling
    Carl W. Stalling
    • Alley Cats
    • (voice)
    • (uncredited)
    • Directors
      • Walt Disney
      • Ub Iwerks
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews13

    6.31K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    Michael_Elliott

    Mickey Gets a Voice

    The Karnival Kid (1929)

    *** 1/2 (out of 4)

    Here's another Mickey Mouse short that really doesn't contain too much of a plot but that really doesn't matter and especially when you consider that this here was the first film where we actually got to hear his voice. Mickey is working at the carnival selling hot dogs when he gets into a fight with a barker. After all that that it's his time to try and butter up Minnie. THE KARNIVAL KID is certainly a historic short but one really shouldn't expect the "voice" that America came to love. No, there's no doubt that Mickey sounds a bit strange here but if you watch the films in the order that they were released, as I was doing, it's interesting to note the various changes that would happen to the character. This here is certainly one of the most entertaining of these early shorts because of the fun times with the hot dogs and their personalities.
    7wmorrow59

    Mickey finds his voice, but the setting sure isn't Disneyland

    From the very first shot of this animated short we know we're in Cartoon Dream World: the setting is a rowdy carnival in full swing, but our view of the festivities is blocked by swirling helium balloons. When the balloons drift away it's revealed that a cow is dangling from them, levitating over the crowd, grinning happily and blowing on a noise-maker that uncoils like a snake and emits a "Bronx cheer." Floating above a peanut vendor (who happens to be a pig), the cow razzes him with this device and scares him so badly that the pig leaps out of his clothes. Now clad in underwear, the angry porcine peanut vendor uses a sling-shot to burst the cow's balloons. The cow plummets to the ground but is cheerfully unaffected by the experience, which she demonstrates by turning to the camera and defiantly blowing a raspberry right in our faces. And that's just the first shot!

    It looks very much like something produced by the Fleischer Studio, and we expect to see Koko the Clown and Betty Boop pop up any second, but in fact this is a Disney cartoon dating from the earliest days of Mickey Mouse. The atmosphere sure is different from what we might expect, based on familiarity with Mickey's later, buttoned-down adventures in suburbia; this cartoon has a low-down attitude quite unlike Disney's later output. Here, Minnie Mouse is a midway dancer who makes like Little Egypt, while a monkey beats out a tattoo rhythm on bongos and the barker promises "she'll put you in a trance/with her hoochy-coochy dance." Mickey is a hot dog vendor who sasses the barker and tries to make time with Minnie. The Karnival Kid marked the first occasion when the Disney animators gave the Mouse dialog to speak, but it was made before Walt himself began supplying the voice. It's not the familiar innocent squeak, either; as befits the setting, Mickey's voice is a bit raspy, as you'd expect from a carny worker.

    There's a startling scene where Mickey sells Minnie a frankfurter, a scene that is far more suggestive what the Disney folks would tend to do later on. To pay for her purchase, Minnie reaches into her stocking for her money supply—which makes Mickey blush—but when she attempts to bite into the hot dog the thing suddenly comes to life, and attempts to escape. Mickey catches it, pulls down its "pants" and gives it a good spanking. (I'm not making this up!) The frankfurter pulls its pants back up, weeps with shame, then bites Mickey's finger and escapes again. And then, having no place else to go, our story culminates in a midnight serenade. Outside Minnie's trailer, under the moon, Mickey strums his guitar while two disreputable-looking cats yowl "Sweet Adeline" in weird, nasal tones. After this extended musical number the film wraps up with an anticlimactic gag, something quite unlike the neat resolutions we find in the Disney studio's mature work, and when the show is over you still feel like you've just watched a Fleischer cartoon.

    This short is historically significant because it's Mickey Mouse's first real "talkie," but in a larger sense it signifies the road not taken for its production house. If you ever wondered what Disney cartoons might have looked like if the animators had been more loony and naughty, more like the gang at the Fleischer Studio or WB's Termite Terrace, then take a look at The Karnival Kid. I don't believe the guys at Disney ever again designed such a seamy setting for a Mickey cartoon, but perhaps that's just as well.
    Coolguy-7

    Mickey Mouse Speaks

    Yes, Mickey speaks all right in this milestone cartoon. In the cartoon, Mickey is a hot dog vendor at a carnival and says his first words, "Hot Dogs!" Mickey's voice was much different than it is today. He had a much more squeaky voice in this and in several shorts to come. I recommend this short for all fans of the Disney animated shorts.
    5Hitchcoc

    Mickey Making Whoopee

    This is a cute episode. There are two parts. The first involves our hero trying to impress Minnie. She is a shimmy dancer at the Carnival. He runs a hot dog cart but his products seem to be sentient creatures, so how could one eat them. In the second half, we have a serenade as Mickey and a couple of cats try to reach the heart of the fair damsel. It's good fun with some pretty awful early sound, including singing by the cat and mouse.
    8springfieldrental

    Mickey's First Spoken Words

    Besides providing Disney with consistent musical soundtracks for the "Silly Symphony" cartoons, Stalling provided Mickey Mouse's-and film animation's-first words ever said on the screen. In July 1929's "The Karnival Kid," Mickey (Stalling) barks out "Hot dogs, hot dogs" during the first few minutes of the cartoon while selling his food from a cart. He later sees Minnie Mouse at the carnival, and gives a series of commands to his animated hot dogs to impress her. Minnie is heard giving the hot dogs' names, her voice spoken by Walt.

    "The Karnival Kid" was Mickey's ninth installment. His appearances before his first speaking role consisted of whistles, laughing and cackling, but never was he heard using the English language. Disney's distribution company for the Mickey series, Celebrity Pictures, and its owner, Pat Powers, was initially against the mouse speaking, fearing that overseas sales would be dampened by those who didn't understand English. For the Disney animators, contorting their characters' mouths were of an enormous challenge. Drawing how a face looks, especially on animals, was a new style for them to translate onto paper. The artists eventually nailed down the expressions to make them realistic to their viewers.

    "The Karnival Kid" later gave costume designer Roy Williams the idea to pattern Mickey Mouse Club members' hats with ears after a scene showing Mickey tipping the top of his head to introduce himself to Minnie Mouse.

    More like this

    Plane Crazy
    7.0
    Plane Crazy
    The Gallopin' Gaucho
    6.5
    The Gallopin' Gaucho
    The Haunted House
    7.0
    The Haunted House
    The Barn Dance
    6.2
    The Barn Dance
    The Fire Fighters
    6.7
    The Fire Fighters
    The Opry House
    6.1
    The Opry House
    The Barnyard Battle
    6.1
    The Barnyard Battle
    Mickey's Choo-Choo
    6.1
    Mickey's Choo-Choo
    Mickey's Follies
    5.6
    Mickey's Follies
    The Skeleton Dance
    7.6
    The Skeleton Dance
    When the Cat's Away
    5.9
    When the Cat's Away
    The Plowboy
    5.6
    The Plowboy

    Related interests

    Daveigh Chase, Rumi Hiiragi, and Mari Natsuki in Spirited Away (2001)
    Animation
    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Drew Barrymore and Pat Welsh in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
    Family
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance
    Benedict Cumberbatch in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)
    Short

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The first cartoon in which Mickey Mouse speaks. His first words are "Hot dogs!"
    • Goofs
      Mickey is supposed to have only four franks for the hot dogs, but in one shot there are five.
    • Quotes

      Mickey Mouse: [his first words] Hot dogs! Hot dogs!

    • Connections
      Featured in The Mickey Mouse Club: Anything Can Happen Day - Variations on a Very Familiar Theme (1956)

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 23, 1929 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Carnival Days
    • Production company
      • Walt Disney Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 8m
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.