The Shindig

I guess the formula for early cartoons was to have your characters react to music. So many involve basic dance moves and songs full of rhythm. Mickey is constantly showing great musical talent. In this one, his strongest suit is his dancing as he gets it on with just about everyone, including an enormous pig and a dachshund. We also have Horace Horse Collar featured with his girlfriend, who is a cow. Also, Mickey gets a little risque with Minnie as she plays the piano.

Looking through Mickey Mouse films to watch this evening, as it had been too long, and found The Shindig which I thought I might have already seen before due to its similarity to others, but I had not!

Wow - what a treat from 1930 - sound quality was pretty poor, but still so enjoyable, because of the good music, and most of all due to the characters of Mickey, Minnie, and the now much rarer and more mysterious Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow! They really aren't the most refined or consistent character designs at this point, and the entire plot is simply "they go to a shindig and have a shindig", but a real delight for me! Definitely past the all-time Mickey Mouse low point of "The Picnic" for example!

I am extremely weak of heart (at the moment), so I was happy to see an episode with so very little conflict! Horace's motorcycle was rough, but Clarabelle put up with it (reminding me very much now of the Merrie Melodie "You Don't Know What You're Doin'" which as former Disney employees Harman and Ising often did, ripped off a Disney cartoon idea the next year (though improved on the execution I think) and Mickey teased Minnie with snapping back her panties, and she eventually told him to stop - both really character-revealing moments I think!

Perhaps most fascinating of all is that Mickey dances with another woman! And then another! I was shocked; especially the attractive and very long weiner dog girl, and somewhat surprised that there was no conflict with Minnie, although I think this is early enough that Mickey and Minnie were still not yet a really exclusive couple!

A shindig is an old fashioned American word for a party--and it's very rare to hear anyone use the word today. So, I am letting you know just in case you are wondering.

"The Shindig" is among the weakest of the early Mickey Mouse cartoons because what you'll see is pretty much summed up in the title. There's a big party and Mickey entertains everyone by playing music and everyone dances....PERIOD. this is about the thinnest of plots I've ever seen in a cartoon and despite nice animation, it's sickeningly sweet and boring. The only ones who should be sure to see it are die-hard Mickey fans--otherwise stay clear as there really is nothing to this one.

By the way, although "Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two" is the best available print of these old cartoons, there is a framing issue late in the cartoon. See it and you'll understand what I mean.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Mickey, Minnie & their friends are off to THE SHINDIG in an old barn, where there will be plenty of music and dancing for every animal in the place.

There's lots of fun in this little black & white film. The Mice get to display their instrumental virtuosity, with Mickey playing the violin, drums & harmonica, while Minnie bangs away on the piano. Music mavens will recognize 'Arkansas Traveler,' 'Turkey in the Straw', 'Pop! Goes the Weasel' & 'Old Folks at Home' among the tunes performed. Censorship eyebrows went up at the first glimpse of Clarabelle Cow, where she is shown perusing Elinor Glyn's naughty 1907 novel "Three Weeks" in the nude. Notice the hilarious way in which the animators dealt with obscuring her prodigious udder. Later, teamed with perennial boyfriend Horace Horsecollar, the two prove to be the hottest couple on the dance floor.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.

This is a nice little black and white cartoon starring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, where they host a dance party with their friends at an old barn.

While there is no plot to the story, just the characters singing and dancing to some catch music was rather entertaining. It's like celebrating life - having a good time!

Grade A-