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Blue Rhythm
Blue Rhythm
	Mickey directing the jazz band in the second half of the film.
Directed by	Burt Gillett
Produced by	Walt Disney
Starring	Walt Disney; Marcellite Garner
Music by	W. C. Handy
Animation by	Ed Benedict (assistant); Charlie Byrne; Johnny Cannon; Les Clark; Jack Cutting; Joe D'Igalo; Norm Ferguson; Hardie Gramatky; Jack King; Dick Lundy; Tom Palmer; Harry Reeves; Cecil Surry; Frank Tipper; Frenchy de Tremaudan; Rodolfo "Rudy" Zamora
Color process	Black-and-white
Production; company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	August 7, 1931;
Running time	7 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Blue Rhythm is a 1931 Mickey Mouse animated short film directed by Burt Gillett, produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was the 31st short in the Mickey Mouse film series, and the seventh of that year.^[3] The plot focuses on a multifaceted performance of W. C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues". The film features the voices of Walt Disney as Mickey and Marcellite Garner as Minnie Mouse.

Plot

The concert opens with Mickey on the piano. His shadow is cast dramatically on the curtain as he plays a classical interlude. Soon he transitions into a ragtime version of "St. Louis Blues". Minnie struts onstage and sings the verse "I hate to see that evening sun go down..." with Mickey accompanying. Soon an unseen band takes over the accompaniment and Mickey joins Minnie; the two mice dance and scat sing two more verses.

As Mickey and Minnie exit stage right, the curtain rises to reveal the band – Pluto on trombone, two goats on violins, a Scottish Terrier on sousaphone, a pig on the cornet, Clarabelle Cow on a double bass and a piccolo, two Dachshunds on saxophones, and Horace Horsecollar on a drum set and xylophone; Mickey reappears through a stage elevator to conduct. After several interruptions, Mickey plays a clarinet and parodies jazz bandleader Ted Lewis;^[4] the performance is based in part on the Ted Lewis Band's 1926 recording of "St. Louis Blues".

As the band plays the final notes of the climatic finale, they collectively jump on the bandstand and cause it to collapse. They reemerge from the debris to deliver a final "Yeah!" to the audience.

Voice cast

Mickey Mouse: Walt Disney
Minnie Mouse: Marcellite Garner^[5]

Reception

The Film Daily (October 4, 1931): "Neatly executed and thoroughly entertaining cartoon comedy."^[6]

Variety (March 8, 1932): "No story to this, but it needs none to get it over. Opens with Mickey at the piano pounding out a number, with Minnie rather spoiling it with the falsetto singing that is considered necessary for cartoon characters. A short dance and then a break to a stage jazz band for the usual trick stuff, but well done and in excellent synchrony. Cartoon work overlaid on a capital musical program."^[7]

Home media

The short was released on December 2, 2002 on Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White.^[8]

Television

1998 - Ink & Paint Club, episode #44 "Musical Mickey"

External links

Blue Rhythm at The Encyclopedia of Animated Disney Shorts
Blue Rhythm at the Big Cartoon Database
Blue Rhythm at IMDb
Blue Rhythm at the Disney Film Project

References

^ "The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts". Blue Rhythm. Archived from the original on November 24, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2012.
^ Kaufman, J.B.; Gerstein, David (2018). Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History. Cologne: Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8365-5284-4.
^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 108–109. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
^ Smith, Dave (2006). "Blue Rhythm". Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). New York: Disney Editions. pp. 80–81. ISBN 0-7868-4919-3.
^ Scott, Keith (2022). "The Walt Disney Cartoon Voices, 1928-70". Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2. Bear Manor Media.
^ "Reviews of Sound Shorts". The Film Daily. LVII (3): 9. October 4, 1931. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
^ "Talking Shorts". Variety: 14. March 8, 1932. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
^ "Mickey Mouse in Black and White DVD Review". DVD Dizzy. Retrieved February 19, 2021.