Clarabelle first appeared as a nonhumanized cow in the Mickey Mouse cartoon Plane Crazy in 1928.[2] Humanized soon afterward, she appeared frequently in cartoons from 1930 to 1932 and less frequently afterwards, taking her final classic-era bow in 1942.[3] As with most Disney characters, she was later given small cameos in the featurettes Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and The Prince and the Pauper (1990) and the 1988 feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Clarabelle mostly played bit-parts in the 30+ films in which she appeared and her character was never as fully developed as Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald Duck or Pluto. She and Horace Horsecollar changed from normal farmyard animals into anthropomorphized beings as necessary.
When the Disney characters started to feature in comic strips and comic books, Clarabelle Cow was one of the first. Her first appearance was in the Mickey Mouse comic strip for April 2, 1930.[4] Along with Horace Horsecollar, Clara Cluck, Goofy, Minnie, and Mickey, she appeared in comics on a regular basis in the fifties, sixties and seventies.[citation needed]
For a brief time, during the late 1960s, Clarabelle began dating Goofy. During this time, Horace's whereabouts are unknown. Clarabelle's status with Goofy was challenged by a rival named Glory-Bee.[5] In later comics, Clarabelle and Horace were a couple again. Clarabelle also has a young cousin, Bertie the Jinx, a niece, Itsy-Betsy, and a socialite aunt named Miss Bovina, who have appeared in several issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories.[citation needed]
From the eighties forward, only a few stories with Clarabelle Cow were made in the United States. In Europe, especially in Italy, the production of stories continued to the present day. In Italian comics, Clarabelle (called Clarabella) is very popular and she is the girlfriend of Horace Horsecollar (Orazio Cavezza).[citation needed]
Disney theme parks
From September 2006 to September 2008, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar appeared together for meet-and-greets in Town Square at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Also, they were in the Main Street Family Fun Day Parade. Clarabelle appears seasonally in "Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween Parade", "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade", and the "Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration" castle show. She and Horace both appear in the Hoedown Happening in Frontierland and as featured characters in the "Move It! Shake It! Mousekedance It!" street party, with Clarabelle in particular atop her own party box and with her own dialogue.
Clarabelle also appears (without Horace) at Disneyland Park. She has also appeared in several Disneyland parades and shows over the years, including The World According to Goofy, Light Magic, the Parade of the Stars, Fantasmic, A Christmas Fantasy Parade and Celebrate! A Street Party. Clarabelle and Horace come out for meet-and-greets and appear in parades and shows on a regular basis at Tokyo Disneyland as well. In 2009, Clarabelle played a leading character in the New Year's Greeting at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea.
Clarabelle Cow was chosen to meet and greet for Character Fan Days at Disneyland. She is accompanied by Horace Horsecollar which is his first meet and greet at Disneyland in Anaheim.
She also features with Horace in Mickey's Halloween Celebration and Goofy's Garden Party in Disneyland Paris. In Christmas 2016, Clarabelle returned to Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration.
Clarabelle appears in Disney's Toontown Online. She plays the role of giving the player furniture to decorate their estates, with the catalog players must order from is a "Cattlelog". Her appearance is also somewhat changed to look like an operator.
She also makes a minor appearance in Kingdom Hearts II in the Timeless River World using her old black and white design. She appears with the same design in Kingdom Hearts III in the minigame "The Karnival Kid".
Clarabelle is also seen in the Epic Mickey video games, as one of the forgotten characters that Mickey sees during his journey. She lives in OsTown, one of the games environs, and is known to be romantically involved with Horace Horsecollar.