Disney Shorts -1938

Self Control February 11, 1938 available in The Chronological Donald Duck Volume 1 I usually love the Donald Duck shorts that focus on his personality, since that is Donald’s Achilles’ heel . This short is about Donald trying to rein in his temper with the help of a radio personality. Naturally this means a series…

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Disney Shorts 1937

The Worm Turns January 2, 1937 available in Mickey Mouse In Living Color This is a wonderfully classic Mickey Mouse short. Mickey plays a mad scientist who develops a serum to increase strength and bravery, which he then uses to wreak havoc in the natural world, turning fly against spider, mouse against cat, and so…

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Disney Shorts 1935

Mickey’s Man Friday January 5, 1935 available in Mickey Mouse In Black and White Volume 2 Mickey is a cast-away who comes upon a group of cannibals about to cook up dinner. He saves the victim who becomes his “man Friday” a la Robinson Crusoe. They forge a friendship and build a fort together to…

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Disney Shorts 1934

Shanghaied January 13, 1934 available in Mickey Mouse In Black and White Volume 2 Mickey and Minnie have been (spoiler alert) shanghaied. Peg Leg Pete is the captain of a ship that is almost certainly up not to modern health codes and, having kidnapped our favorite mouse pair, he tries to get Mickey to join…

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Disney Shorts 1933

Building a Building January 7, 1933 available in Mickey Mouse in Black and White Oh man, I remember this from my grandfather’s old VHS tapes. It’s great. Mickey is a steam shovel operator working on a building who becomes distracted when Minnie shows up with box lunches for the workers. This has so many great…

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Disney Shorts 1931

Birthday Party January 7, 1931 available in Mickey Mouse in Black and White Minnie surprises Mickey for his birthday and (spoiler) he gets a piano, which he plays with Minnie. The rest of it is singing, dancing, playing instruments. Nothing new or special here, except that Mickey abuses exactly zero animals in this one. Maybe…

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Disney Shorts 1930

Summer January 16, 1930 available in More Silly Symphonies This is a fine short with no narrative whatsoever. It is entirely a sweet but repetitive melody set to the frolicking of a group of insects. Caterpillars turn to butterflies, insects dance and skitter across the water, etc. There was a moment toward the end when…

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