Mickey Mouse hosts an amateur radio talent show in front of a live audience, in which he terminates unworthy performances by ringing a gong.
After ending Pete's rendition of "Asleep in the Deep", Mickey introduces Donald Duck, who tries reciting "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", but forgets the words. Mickey rings the gong, and Donald is pulled backstage.
Clara Cluck performs the show's next set with a clucking version of the Luigi Arditi waltz "Il Bacio", accompanied by Clarabelle Cow on piano. Despite several blunders, the performance is the first to avoid the gong.
Later, Donald returns to the stage with a submachine gun and tries reciting "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" while holding Mickey and the audience at gunpoint, but he once again forgets the words. When the audience laughs at him, he opens fire and is pulled backstage.[5]
For the show's final set, Goofy uses a multi-instrumental device on wheels to perform "In the Good Old Summer Time" and "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight", but the tempo and intensity of the latter song destroy the machine. Donald performs a rapid-fire word-perfect recitation of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" from within Goofy's hat, and the "iris out" effect which ends the cartoon closes on his neck. He struggles to keep it open, but it finally closes.
Mickey's Amateurs pokes fun at "amateur hour" radio shows, popular entertainment in the 1930s and '40s. Perhaps the most famous example is the Major Bowes Amateur Hour in which the host, Edward Bowes, was known to strike a gong to stop an amateur performance. Mickey Mouse's repeating of the words "Okay, okay" in the film was recognized by audiences at the time as a parody of Bowes.[6]
The film was also inspired by the 1934 Disney film Orphan's Benefit. This film also featured a stage show with acts interspersed by Donald attempting a poetic recitation.
The short film inspired the model of the game show The Gong Show, hosted in the '70s by Chuck Barris, who used the same method of show-host Mickey use in the short.
Reception
The Motion Picture Herald published a review of Mickey's Amateurs on June 19, 1937: "The subject must be seen to be appreciated and enjoyed. The fun it offers defies description."
^Some released versions of the film omitted this scene which was determined to be too violent, but the most recent release of the film is in its original version.
