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Mickey's Gala Premier
Mickey's Gala Premier
Directed by	Burt Gillett
Produced by	Walt Disney
Music by	Frank Churchill
Animation by	Ed Love (uncredited)
Color process	Black-and-white (colorized in 1991)
Production; company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	July 1, 1933;
Running time	7 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Mickey's Gala Premier is a Walt Disney cartoon produced in 1933, directed by Burt Gillett, and featuring parodies of several famous Hollywood film actors from the 1930s. It was the 58th Mickey Mouse short film, and the eighth of that year.^[3]

Some sources claim this cartoon is called "Mickey's Gala Premiere", but "Premier" can be clearly read from the title card.

Plot

A new Mickey Mouse cartoon will have its premiere in the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Several Hollywood celebrities all arrive in limousines to attend this special event. Outside The Keystone Cops (Ben Turpin, Ford Sterling, Mack Swain, Harry Langdon and Chester Conklin) are guarding the traffic.

Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Lionel Barrymore, John Barrymore and Ethel Barrymore step out of the first limousine, all costumed as in the film Rasputin and the Empress (1932). Then Laurel and Hardy leave the car and close the door behind them. Inside The Marx Brothers all stick their heads out of the car window.

In the next scene Maurice Chevalier, Eddie Cantor costumed as in the film The Kid from Spain, and Jimmy Durante take turns singing in front of a microphone. They are followed by Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford costumed as in the film Rain and Janet Gaynor all singing new lyrics to the chant. Finally Harold Lloyd, Clark Gable, Edward G. Robinson, and Adolphe Menjou join in to conclude the song.

Sid Grauman is saluting all the guests. George Arliss and Joe E. Brown simply enter, but Charlie Chaplin sneaks inside. Then Buster Keaton enters the building, followed by The Marx Brothers all hidden under Groucho Marx' coat. Mae West enters, costumed as in the film She Done Him Wrong, and utters her famous line, "Why don't you come up sometime and see me?", which shocks and embarrasses Grauman.

Then Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Horace Horsecollar, and Clarabelle Cow arrive in a limousine and are cheered by the audience. Once inside the theatre Mickey's new cartoon, Gallopin' Romance (a parody itself of 1928's The Gallopin' Gaucho), premieres. The plot revolves around Mickey and Minnie playing music together, when suddenly Pegleg Pete kidnaps Minnie and drives off on a horse (Horace Horsecollar). Mickey chases him and beats Pete in the end, bringing Minnie to safety.

All the guests in the theatre move rhythmically to the music. We can see Helen Hayes, William Powell, Chester Morris, Gloria Swanson, and George Arliss in the audience. In the next close-up scenes the viewer can identify Jimmy Durante, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Rudy Vallee, Eddie Cantor, Joan Crawford, Will H. Hays (dressed as a king in reference to his position as "Censorship Czar") and Myrna Loy. Ed Wynn, Wheeler & Woolsey, Laurel & Hardy all laugh with the cartoon. Bela Lugosi (dressed as Count Dracula), Fredric March (dressed as Mr. Hyde) and Boris Karloff (dressed as Frankenstein's monster) do the same, but with spooky evil laughter. Joe E. Brown laughs so loud that his enormous mouth opens wide, while Buster Keaton keeps his poker face. Jimmy Durante and Douglas Fairbanks laugh so loud that they literally "roll in the aisles". They are joined in by Groucho Marx, Joe E. Brown, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy. As the cartoon ends, the whole audience applauds and congratulates Mickey with his success, but Mickey is so shy that he has to be pulled on the stage by Will Rogers with a rope. All the Hollywood actors now shake Mickey's hands, and humorously, his feet, to congratulate him with his success. Then Greta Garbo, no longer wanting to be alone, walks onto the stage and starts covering Mickey's face with kisses. Mickey then wakes up in his bed, while Pluto is licking his face. Mickey wonders if he was dreaming, and then the scene irises out.

Other Hollywood celebrities that can be spotted in the crowd scenes: Constance Bennett, Warner Baxter, and Walt Disney (as the fourth person on the right, in the scene where the other actors shy away because Garbo enters the stage).

Production notes

The cartoon seen in the film, Gallopin' Romance, was made exclusively for Mickey's Gala Premier. No separate Mickey Mouse cartoon features this title.
Ed Wynn would later play The Mad Hatter in the 1951 film Alice in Wonderland and Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins. Maurice Chevalier would later play Father Sylvain in Monkeys, Go Home! and sing the theme song of The Aristocats. Both would go on to be named a Disney Legend, an award given to those who have made an outstanding contribution to The Walt Disney Company.
Adolphe Menjou would make his last film performance in the 1960 film Pollyanna.
Helen Hayes would later play Grandma Steinmetz in Herbie Rides Again.
This was the first time Mickey was depicted interacting with humans.
At this point in time, the Mickey shorts were released through United Artists, but the only currently existing prints of this short are reissue prints that omit any mention of UA. However, the "titles" for the short-within-a-short Gallopin' Romance shows the UA credits, giving a modern-day viewer an idea on how a Mickey Mouse cartoon opening might have looked like in the UA era.

Temporary shutdown of BBC Television Service (now BBC One)

On 1 September 1939, Mickey's Gala Premier was the final programme broadcast by the BBC Television Service (today known as BBC One) before it ceased broadcasting during World War II.^[4] An urban legend about this final broadcast claims that due to the sudden outbreak of the war the BBC cut the transmission mid-programme and when BBC-TV resumed after the conflict, it was picked up at the very point it had been interrupted.^[5]

Despite this widespread belief, the cartoon was shown in its entirety and then followed by tuning signals. On 7 June 1946, the day BBC television broadcasts resumed after the war, Mickey's Gala Premier was shown again.^[6]

Voice cast

Mickey Mouse: Walt Disney
Minnie Mouse: Marcellite Garner
Pluto: Pinto Colvig
Pete: Billy Bletcher
Celebrities: Jerry Lester

Home media

The short was released on December 2, 2002, on Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White.^[7]

References

^ PAu001629049 / 1991-10-31
^ 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 6 June 2020.
^ Thomson, Ernest C (1 September 2016). "Au Revoir, Television". Transdiffusion. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
^ Cronin, Brian (July 13, 2022). "Did the BBC Air a Mickey Mouse Cartoon in a Clever Return to Normalcy Post-WWII?". CBR.
^ "The TV Room Plus: TV Listings". Archived from the original on July 15, 2012.
^ "Mickey Mouse in Black and White DVD Review". DVD Dizzy. Retrieved 19 February 2021.