Mickey Mouse universe
Encyclopedia
The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional universe
where some cartoon characters created by the The Walt Disney Company
live, the most famous of which is Mickey Mouse
. It is coexistent with the Duck universe, a spin-off
of the Mickey Mouse universe which centers around Mickey's friend Donald Duck
and his rich uncle Scrooge McDuck
. "Mickey Mouse universe" is not an official term used by Disney.
Since 1990, the actual city in which Mickey lives is most often called Mouseton, and is often seen as the city next to Duckburg, Donald's hometown. According to traditional continuity, both cities are located in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota, a portmanteau of California and Minnesota. The Mickey Mouse universe is also a parallel universe
and characters often visit real-world places and meet historical figures.
, the world in which Mickey lives holds a continuity
largely independent from earlier films. An exception to this was the reintroduction of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
in 2010 with the release of Epic Mickey
.
In 1930, Disney began a newspaper strip called Mickey Mouse which greatly expanded Mickey's world which was already well-known from the animated cartoons. The stories then became a work of collaborative fiction
with different writers working in different mediums. This sometimes caused continuity discrepancies. For example, while Mickey and his friends largely live in the same contemporary setting, they sometimes appear in exotic settings including period pieces
(Brave Little Tailor
, The Nifty Nineties
) and fantasy films
(Fantasia
, Fun and Fancy Free
).
One way the comics writers explained this discrepancy was to present the characters as "real" cartoon characters who are employed by Disney as actors. This understanding of the characters leading separate lives was welcomed by Walt Disney who, when asked whether or not Mickey and Minnie were married, replied that the mice were indeed married in their "private li[ves]", but that they sometimes appear as boyfriend/girlfriend for "screen purposes."
Also, in the World War II propaganda film The New Spirit
(1942), Donald Duck fills out his income tax and lists his occupation as "actor," and the film The Three Muskateers
(2004) includes a DVD bonus feature of the characters reminiscing on their experience filming the movie.
Animation historian David Gerstein
has noted that although the characters will appear in different settings and sometimes even change their names (Mickey's Christmas Carol
), the characters are still themselves and behave in a way consistent with their natures.
(1928), the first produced Mickey Mouse story, Mickey is seen at a farm. In all of his early films Mickey is in a rural setting, but most commonly at a farm. This setting was succinctly presented in the first sentences of one of Mickey's first storybooks:
In the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, Mickey's farm was most likely located in the midwestern United States
, as indicated by characters' comments to have arrived "out west" to Death Valley
and to go "back east" to conduct business, etc. This rural setting reflected Walt Disney's own childhood in Missouri, and like Disney, Mickey eventually moved to the city, although he never forgets his roots. Mickey sometimes makes references to his life "back on the farm."
simply called the city Hometown while other stories used the name Mouseville. But the first consistent name for Mickey's city came in 1950s Italy, where it was called Topolinia (from Topolino or 'little mouse,' Mickey's Italian name).
In 1990, Disney Comics Inc. launched the new American comic Mickey Mouse Adventures
and initially planned to use the name Mouseville there. But due to then-current Mighty Mouse
cartoons' use of a city called Mouseville, the new name Mouseton was created for Mickey's town instead; both in Mickey Mouse Adventures, and in Disney's contemporary reprints of vintage stories in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
(1991-93). Later publisher Gemstone
and the present Boom Studios have continued the use of Mouseton from 2003 onward. Strangely, in-between licensee Gladstone (1993-99) usually left Mickey's city unnamed, or—very rarely—referenced it as Duckburg, better known as Donald Duck's
hometown.
Mouseton's location in Calisota and its positioning with regard to Duckburg (the cities being next to one another) were the subject of speculation early on, but have generally been treated consistently in American publications from 2003 onward.
In Disney comics published by Egmont (Scandinavia) and Abril
(Brazil), Mickey lives in Duckburg—even though Mickey and Donald only rarely team up in shared comics adventures. The Egmont tradition extends to the German Disney comics of Ehapa, although the German comics have mentioned possible equivalents of Mouseton as neighboring towns or villages: Mausdorf (German for "mouse village") and Mäuslingen (German equivalent to "Mouseville").
In Germany, the Netherlands
, Brazil
and Scandinavia
, local tradition has it that Mickey's hometown is simply a different district of Duckburg. In Disney theme parks, the Roger Rabbit-inspired Toontown
, a district in Los Angeles
specifically for cartoon characters, is presented as Mickey's home.
In the film Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip
(1940) Mickey and Pluto live in the real world city of Burbank, California
, home of Walt Disney Studios
.
In Kingdom Hearts
and its sequel Kingdom Hearts II
, both the Mouseton and Duckburg characters live in a realm called "Disney Castle."
The Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
modeled Mickey's hometown and birthplace as Mickey's Toontown
. This same location would be the home for the Mickey Mouse Universe in all non-comic appearances.
and written by Merrill De Maris
. Casey disappeared from American comics in the 1950s, but was used frequently in Europe, especially in Italy, afterwards; from 2003, he returned as a frequent player in the American comics once again.
Despite his occupation, Casey is an impatient man of only average intelligence. Thus, while sometimes a successful detective, he is prone to bungling cases as well. Therefore, Chief O'Hara often recruits Mickey Mouse
to help solve some of Casey's cases, much to Casey's general irritation.
Clara Cluck debuted in 1934 in the Mickey Mouse cartoon Orphan's Benefit. Since then she has appeared as a semi regular character in the Mickey Mouse cartoons. In the comic books she is shown in Duck universe as Daisy Duck's
best friend. Clara has been a member of Mickey's original farmyard gang since the beginning of his career, although she is seen less often than Clarabelle Cow
and Horace Horsecollar
.
Clara's singing is meant to be a caricature of the Bel Canto
style of Opera singing popular at the time of her appearance. Some of her arias are clearly modelled on those of Tosca
. Her last major appearance was as one of the musicians in Symphony Hour
. Curiously, although she is seen in the rehearsal scenes at the beginning, she is not seen in the performance scenes at the end.
As with most Disney characters, she was given small cameos in "Mickey's Christmas Carol
" (1983) and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit
" (1988). She had some appearances in Mickey Mouse Works
(1999), where she is presented as Daisy Duck
's neighbor. She appeared occasionally in House of Mouse (2001). In one episode of that series she fell in love with Donald Duck and aggressively pursued him by puckering her lips in front of him, forcing him to dance with her, wearing dresses and posing provocatively to lure him in. At one point she even grabs Donald and kisses him full on the lips. She almost tricked Donald into marrying her but Daisy stopped the wedding in time. In Disney comics on the other hand, she has been shown to date Gus Goose on very few occasions. She also had appeared to put Minnie Mouse in jail for driving her car through Daisy's house to deliver a famous apple pie of hers.
Clara made a cameo appearance
in the Timeless River world of Kingdom Hearts II
with many other classic Disney characters like Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar as one of the world's citizens.
She also makes an appearance in the Mickey's Boo to You Parade and for rare meet and greets at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom
.
Originally voiced by Florence Gill
, and later Russi Taylor
.
Eega Beeva, also known by his full name Pittisborum Psercy Pystachi Pseter Psersimmon Plummer-Push, is a human from the future, sometimes also referred to as an alien
, and first appeared on September 26, 1947 in the Mickey Mouse
comic strip
storyline titled The Man of Tomorrow. Since then he and Mickey have been portrayed as good friends in subsequent stories. Eega Beeva wears short black trousers, which store a large number of useful items, often helping Mickey Mouse and Eega in difficult situations. Another trademark attribute of the character is his unique speech, adding a "p" at the beginning of every word that starts with a consonant
.
Eega Beeva was created by Bill Walsh
and Floyd Gottfredson
. He was a recurring character in the American
newspaper Disney comic strips
for nearly three years until July 1950, but then Eega Beeva's notable presence abruptly ended for unknown reasons. The character was adopted to comics of Italian
artists in the 1950s and has since then appeared in various Europe
an Disney comic book stories, especially in Italy. He is referred to as Eta Beta in Italian
, and Gamma in German
.
In his debut story, Mickey Mouse and his friend Goofy
seek shelter from a thunderstorm and get lost in a cave. There, Mickey suddenly encounters an unusual humanoid who only says "Eega" at first. When Mickey and Goofy find the exit of the cave, Mickey invites the being to stay at his house, to which he gives the name "Eega Beeva", while the character himself states that his name is "Pittisborum Psercy Pystachi Pseter Psersimmon Plummer-Push." At first, Goofy
refuses to believe in the existence of Eega Beeva and ignores his presence. In a series of events, two scientists conclude that Eega Beeva is a human from 500 years in the future. At the end of the storyline, Eega saves Goofy from a skiing accident, causing them to become friends.
In the next comic strip storyline starring Eega Beeva, Mickey Makes a Killing, his pet Pflip the Thnuckle Booh is introduced. Eega continues being Mickey's sidekick
in the American comic strips until July 1950. In the comic strips featuring Eega Beeva, Goofy only makes very few appearances and Eega acts as Mickey's sidekick instead. In the first two strips of the storyline Mousepotamia in July 1950, it is explained that Eega is homesick. Therefore, he returns to the cave where Mickey found him. Afterwards, he did not appear again in the American newspaper comic strips for unknown reasons.
When Eega Beeva was still featured in the American comic strips, he made his first appearance in an Italian Disney comic. It is titled L'inferno di Topolino (lit. "Mickey Mouse's inferno"). The character was newly discovered and defined by Italian comics artist and writer Romano Scarpa
with the comic Topolino e la nave del microcosmo (lit. "Mickey Mouse and the ship of microcosm"), published in Topolino issue 167 in July 1957. Rather than his whimsical attributes, this story focuses on the futuristic and fantastic aspects of Eega Beeva and his environment, as do later stories. Some of those stories star Eega Beega without Mickey. More than half of all comics featuring the character were produced in Italy.
Eega Beeva is depicted as a humanoid being with a wide head, mitten-like hands and a scrawny body. He wears short black trousers. His name is a pun on the idiom
"eager beaver". In The Man of Tomorrow, the name is given to him by Mickey, since Eega Beeva originally only said "Eega." In the original conception of the character, Eega Beeva's look was attributed to him being a highly evolved human from 500 years in the future, namely from the year 2447. All humans would have Eega-like proportions. When the first American Eega comic strips appeared in Italy, however, translators unaccountably turned Eega into a man from 2000 rather than 2447. As this proved unconvincing for readers, Italian writers generally tried to explain away the unlikely "evolution" by recasting Eega as an alien from outer space.
In the most recent Italian stories (post-2000), Italian writers have generally reverted to Gottfredson's original conception of Eega as a future-man, though his precise year of origin is rarely mentioned. New Eega comics produced by Egmont
, on the other hand, often refer to his hometown as being the Mouseton of 2447—just as in Gottfredson's original stories.
who was created by Ted Osborne
(plot) and Floyd Gottfredson
(plot and art) in the story Island in the Sky, published in the Mickey Mouse daily strip
from November 1936 to April 1937. He is a large man who wears a big white beard and laboratory coat.
Doctor Einmug specializes in atomic physics
and speaks in a German-like accent which was probably a nod towards Albert Einstein
. His introductory story, Island in the Sky, raises many issues about the benefits but also the dangers of atomic physics just a few years before the first atom bombs were developed.
After that, Einmug did not re-appear in American comics for almost 50 years, but he was used in Italian ones, starting some 12 years later in 1959 when he appeared in Romano Scarpa
's Topolino e la dimensione Delta ("Mickey Mouse and the Delta Dimension"). In this story he had discovered the means to travel to what he called the Delta Dimension, which was effectively an infinite void of nothing, just space.
Setting his laboratory up in the Delta Dimension, Einmug pursued his work and discovered that atom
s were in fact living beings. He thus increased the size of one of them to that of a small boy and named him Atomo Bleep-Bleep (Italian: Atomino Bip-Bip). Atomo was highly intelligent and had many supernatural abilities, including turning metal into chocolate or estimating with absolute precision when a object was created. Atomo would accompany Mickey on several adventures as a kind of alternative Eega Beeva.
Einmug himself has also appeared in numerous European Mickey Mouse comics. He is often shown as less secretive and paranoid than in his original appearance, though his discoveries are still coveted by the likes of Pete and the Phantom Blot
.
Einmug reappeared in American comics in 1991 in the story A Snatch in Time! in which he had developed a time machine. It was written by Lamar Waldron and drawn by Rick Hoover and Gary Martin. More recently, Einmug has also appeared in American editions of "The Delta Dimension" and other European-made stories.
In American comics, Atomo Bleep-Bleep speaks with a German accent identical to Einmug's, insofar as Einmug was presented as Atomo's language teacher.
's pet
mynah bird but in later stories he became an independent anthropomorphic animal. His full name being Ellsworth Bheezer (occasionally misspelled Bhezer—"beezer" is old English slang for a big nose or beak). He was created for the Mickey Mouse
Sunday pages, but has been used in longer comics as well, especially the ones produced in Italy, France, and Brazil.
Ellsworth usually wears a red-orange shirt and a green cap or beret. Reflecting a trait of mynah birds who can imitate human speech, he is extremely vain and self-centered, which was originally the spotlight and center of jokes in his stories. On the other hand, Ellsworth is also a bonafide genius with awesome tech and scientific knowledge—the "Y" on his shirt in earlier stories stands for "Yarvard" (a parody of Harvard
), his alma mater.
Despite being more or less entirely humanized in more recent stories, Ellsworth retains his ability to fly, a unique trait among the central Disney funny animal cast.
In manner, Ellsworth is often sarcastic and condescending, typically addressing others with statements like "Let's not [do X], shall we?" He's also quick to call others by insulting nicknames. But when push comes to shove, he's genuinely fond of and defensive of his pals Goofy and Mickey.
Bruto (original Italian name; he has no English name) is Ellsworth's somewhat smaller adoptive son and Mickey Mouse's sidekick in numerous Italian stories. As of 2009, he has not appeared in American
comic books.
, a supporting character
in the Mickey Mouse
comic strips of the 1930s. Gideon first appeared in the 1930 Mickey Mouse Book #1. He appeared in various American and European printed Disney comics until 1938. He was usually characterized as a farmer or the local sheriff. Gideon is married to a female anthropomorphic goat named Gertie (presumably Gertrude) who also appeared in many early Mickey Mouse comics, primarily as a background character.
Promotional materials for the 1935 animated short The Band Concert
include Giddy Goat as one of the characters. In the released film, however, he was replaced by a dog trombonist character.
Floyd Gottfredson
made regular use of the character in his comic strips, and later artists sometimes borrowed the character.
and a cousin of Goofy
. Arizona has a weird habit of not using beds, doors, or stairs. Instead, he sleeps in a tent
, enters and exits houses through window
s, and climbs floors by a rope
. Arizona is fond of a specific brand of liquorice candy (the brand is called Negritas in original Italian language
version, Tuju in the Finnish language
translation), which he never travels without and is addicted to the taste of, but which everyone else finds horrible. Arizona's car is an old jeep
which he has named affectionately as Gippippa. Arizona has a rival archaeologist, Dr. Kranz, who is greedy and shameless, and not above resorting to criminal behaviour.
Arizona Goof received his English name in his first American comics appearance (1991). In a couple of 2005-2006 appearances, the character was inexplicably renamed "Arizona Dipp." But more recent uses (Disney Digicomics, 2009–2010) have restored his traditional English name.
The character Arizona Goof was created by writer Bruno Sarda and artist Massimo De Vita in 1988, as a spoof of the film character Indiana Jones
.
character Katnip), his name a play on the word catnip, is a villainous anthropomorphic cat
. Kat Nipp is an often-drunk countryside tough guy who is a rival of Mickey Mouse
.
Nipp made his debut in the animated short The Opry House
(1929), in which he posed as a snake for a snake-charming act—continuing to smoke his pipe all the while. Nipp's other two appearances in animation also came in 1929, with When the Cat's Away
and The Karnival Kid
. The latter film introduced Nipp's habit of physically abusing Mickey, here by stretching out Mickey's nose to a ridiculous length.
Kat Nipp reappeared in a 1931 sequence of the Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip (in which we also meet Kat Nipp's friend Barnacle Bill, a sailor who is an expert in untying knots). Kat Nipp was also used in the strips produced in Britain
for the Mickey Mouse Annual. However, the character quickly faded away and has made only a handful of comics appearances since the mid-1930s.
and the like. Known fellow officers include his friend, Detective Casey.
O'Hara also appeared on Mickey Mouse Works
and Disney's House of Mouse
.
The character was conceived by Floyd Gottfredson
(and Merrill De Maris
) for Disney
as a stereotypical Irish cop. He first appeared in the newspaper strips in May 1939, in the serial "Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot". In the German translations of the comics, he is known as "Kommissar Albert Hunter" (Kommissar means commissioner
in German), in the Italian version as "Commissario Adamo Basettoni", and in the Brazilian version as "Coronel Cintra".
In Italian stories O'Hara has a wife called Petulia.
or a rat
(the latter being Gottfredson's own interpretation), but his ears suggest that he is rather an anthropomorphic canine
. His name in Italian
translations is Lupo, meaning Wolf, even though he is clearly not one.
He first appeared in the comic strip adventure "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley", the first real Mickey Mouse continuity, which was partially written by Walt Disney and drawn by Win Smith and other artists, before being taken over by Floyd Gottfredson
(plot and art). In this story, Sylvester Shyster was a crooked lawyer
who attempted, with the help of his henchman Pete, to deprive Minnie Mouse
of her inheritance.
Shyster and Pete have been causing trouble for Mickey and his friends since then. Shyster is generally depicted as the duo's brain, with Pete acting as the brawn. He is probably the only person Pete will listen to without rebellion.
After Shyster's first appearance, Gottfredson made no further references to his profession as a lawyer, apart from his name; one might theorize, though it is not canon, that Shyster was disbarred due to his arrest and imprisonment at the end of "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley." Later creators occasionally referenced Shyster's role as a lawyer, with one story ("Trial and Error," 2007) forcing Shyster to defend Mickey himself in an overseas courtroom.
Shyster disappeared for a time after 1934, but made comebacks in 1942, 1950, and again in various 1960s Italian-created stories. More recently, publisher Egmont Creative A/S (in Denmark) revived Shyster as a regular character, a capacity in which he continues today.
In "Race to the South Seas" (March of Comics #41, 1949), a Donald Duck
story by Carl Barks
, a variant of Shyster appeared as Scrooge McDuck
's lawyer, but his appearance differed from that in the Mickey Mouse strip and he was not depicted as a villain in that story.
. He is an English
private eye
operating in 19th century London
and employing Mickey Mouse
as an assistant. The character was created by Carl Fallberg
(plot) and Al Hubbard (art) for the Disney Studio Program and intended solely for foreign publication. The first story in the series is "Mickey and the Sleuth: The Case of the Wax Dummy". Unusually for material created for the program this story appeared domestically in the Procter & Gamble
Disney Magazine giveaway and then was published by Gold Key
in "Walt Disney Showcase" n°38 (1977). Given their historical setting, the "Mickey and the Sleuth" stories stand apart from other Mickey Mouse continuities. It is never explained if the "Mickey Mouse" working with the Sleuth is an ancestor of the present-day Mickey or if those stories are to be included in a totally different continuity. Apart from Mickey, no other prominent Disney characters are featured in the stories.
The Sleuth is a good-natured gentleman; wearing a deerstalker hat, smoking a pipe, and using a magnifying glass
, he is an obvious parody of Sherlock Holmes
, Mickey basically playing the part of Dr. Watson. Like his literary counterpart, he also plays the violin
(albeit horribly). Unlike Sherlock Holmes, however, he is totally hopeless as a detective, being sometimes unable to figure out crimes that happen right in front of his eyes. Nevertheless, he always manages to solve his cases - hence ensuring a reputation as a great detective - either by sheer luck, or thanks to his foes' own incompetence, or simply because Mickey Mouse does all the actual detective work for him.
The Sleuth's constant foes are Professor Nefarious (a parody of Professor Moriarty
), a London-based "teacher of crime", and his three henchmen-pupils Fliplip, Sidney and Armadillo. Their hideout is a rundown townhouse with the words "University of Criminal Sciences" written on its front door. While Nefarious is reasonably smart (although his own megalomania sometimes hinders his plans), his three accomplices are thoroughly inept comical villains. Mickey and the Sleuth imprison the gang at the end of each story, although Nefarious himself generally manages to escape.
Apart from Mickey - and of course, the reader - no one seems to be aware of the Sleuth's utter incompetence. Nefarious considers the Sleuth - not Mickey - as his greatest enemy. Why Mickey would keep being the assistant of such an inept detective is never explained.
Mickey and the Sleuth stories were produced up until the late 1980s.
.
Squinch has gone on to appear in additional Disney stories up to the present day, though generally only one story every couple of years—while a recognized character, Squinch seems never to have been one of the most popular villains.
Squinch's most recent United States appearance was in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
#689 (2008), published by Gemstone
.
featured in Mickey Mouse comics. He was created by Ted Osborne
(plot) and Floyd Gottfredson
(plot and art) in the story Mickey Mouse and the Pirate Submarine, published in the Mickey Mouse daily strip
from September 1935 to January 1936.
Dr. Vulter is an anthropomorphic ape
, resembling a gorilla
. He is a megalomaniacal pirate captain
and mad scientist
, somewhat modeled after Jules Verne
's Captain Nemo
character. Using a futuristic submarine and a small army of henchmen, he plagues the seas by stealing various ships which he aims to use for his plans of world conquest. His principal weapon is a machine in the form of a large claw which gives off magnetic-like energy: by placing it against a ship's hull Vulter can turn the whole metal ship into one large magnet which sticks weapons to the wall, making them useless.
Vulter's Germanic-sounding name, his uniform and monocle
, as well as his plans of world domination and militaristic gang, are obvious echoes of the Nazi menace of the time.
After being defeated by Mickey, Vulter never appeared again in American
stories. He was, however, used by Italian
authors, starting with the 1959 story Topolino e il ritorno dell'artiglio magnetico ("Mickey Mouse and the Return of the Magnetic Claw") by Guido Martina (plot) and Giulio Chierchini (art). The character was further elaborated in this story by the claim that he never drew plans of his inventions but kept it all in his mind; this proved a bit of a problem when he suffered from amnesia
. He returned occasionally and is still used from time to time by European authors.
, voiced by Billy Gilbert
) and Mickey's Christmas Carol
(voiced by Will Ryan
). He has also made cameo appearances in Disney's House of Mouse
and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
. He is incredibly powerful, demonstrating amazing magic powers such as flight, invisibility and shapeshifting. Despite this, he is portrayed as immature and dimwitted, given his fondness for toys and inability to pronounce certain words, such as pistachio
. His favorite dish is implied to be Chocolate Pot Roast with Pistachio, given his overweight appearance.
In Mickey and the Beanstalk, Willie serves as the primary villain. He kidnaps a golden singing harp, which sings to make people and animals happy, for his own amusement, and so that she cannot escape his clutches, he keeps her trapped in a box with a lock, although the harp seldom sings for her captor. When three poor peasants, Mickey
, Donald
and Goofy
stumble across his castle via a giant beanstalk, Willie catches Mickey, who pretends to read his palm and discover his shape-shifting ability. Willie, delighted, offers to demonstrate this, and Mickey, spotting a nearby fly-killer, suggests that he turn into a pink-winged fly. Willie instead turns into a pink bunny rabbit, which he believes is more cute, and catches Mickey, Donald and Goofy with the fly-killer. Enraged, Willie grabs them, places them inside a small jewellery box, with the golden harp, but Mickey manages to escape, and with the help of the singing harp who sings to put Willie to sleep, makes his way into Willie's shirt pocket and steals the key, accidentally landing in a small box of dust and pepper, making him, and Willie sneeze and almost alerting him to his presence in the process. Mickey frees Donald and Goofy and they take the harp, but as Mickey tries to tie the sleeping Willie's shoe laces together, Willie spots him and follows them all the way to the beanstalk. As he climbs down, Mickey and Goofy chop the beanstalk and send Willie plummeting to his apparent death. However, the end of the short reveals that Willie is actually still alive and searching for Mickey. In one instance, he stumbles across the home of the short's narrator, Edgar Bergen, and asks about Mickey. Bergen, startled to see Willie, faints, and Jiminy Cricket
promptly flees the scene. As Willie continues to search alone, Jiminy avoids being seen by him. On the 1963 television airing, Willie inquires about Mickey to Ludwig Von Drake
, who also faints, and the instances where Jiminy watches Willie are omitted.
In Mickey's Christmas Carol, Willie is portrayed in a much more positive light than he was in Mickey and the Beanstalk, serving as a supporting protagonist rather than a villain. Here, he plays the role of the Ghost of Christmas Present
and helps show Ebenezer Scrooge
(Scrooge McDuck
) the error of his ways by taking him to the house of his abused and underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit
(Mickey Mouse
), and showing him that by paying Cratchit so little despite his hard work, Cratchit's son, Tiny Tim, will soon die of his illness. This revelation moves Scrooge to tears, but Willie disappears before he can ask him if he still has a chance to change his ways.
Willie the Giant makes a brief cameo in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit
on a poster in a movie theater in Toontown
.
Willie is also a minor recurring character in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
children's series. Here, he is friends with Mickey. He still lives in the sky, only this time in a giant farm house.
J. Audubon Woodlore is the park ranger of Brownstone National Park (a play on Yellowstone National Park
), one of the features of which is a geyser
named "Old Fateful" (a play on Old Faithful
). He was originally voiced by Bill Thompson
. Woodlore's name is an inside joke-reference to John James Audubon
, the famous 19th Century ornithologist/naturalist/painter. He is currently voiced by Corey Burton
.
He first appeared in two 1954 Donald Duck
cartoons Grin and Bear It
and Grand Canyonscope
. (It is revealed in the latter that Woodlore was a postal worker prior to his Ranger days.) One year later, in Breezy Bear, he repeatedly admonishes Humphrey the Bear
"You bathe too much!", not realising that the bear is really just hiding in the pond from the bees whose honey he was trying to steal.
Woodlore prides himself on running a tight ship, and is frequently oblivious to those (particularly Donald) who are humiliated and/or insulted by his constant scoldings and criticisms. Despite his somewhat authoritarian attitude, he cares about the bear
s as if they were his children...although he once bamboozled them into cleaning up the park for him (so that he could nap in a hammock) by singing the jazzy ditty "In the Bag
":
When Woodlore's lazy motive became apparent, the bears irritably bagged him along with the litter.
Most of the bears are respectful of Woodlore, except Humphrey the Bear
, whom the Ranger often lectures.
Woodlore's name appeared on the entrance sign at Disneyland's Bear Country
land, as the resident park ranger.
Woodlore most recently appeared in an episode of Disney's House of Mouse
.
where his owner is Pete.
Dinah the Dachshund is Pluto's girlfriend although she sometimes dates Butch the Bulldog which is often a source of contention between Pluto and Butch. She first appeared in The Sleep Walker. Dinah replaced Fifi the Peke as Pluto's girlfriend. She has appeared in the television series Mickey Mouse Works
and Disney's House of Mouse
. There, the cartoon "Pluto's Arrow Error" treats Dinah as Butch's proper girlfriend and gives her no serious interest in Pluto, continuing the fickle nature of her affections from earlier appearances.
Fifi the Peke is Minnie's "prize pooch" and Pluto's girlfriend. In one cartoon Pluto and Fifi even had five puppies together. One of them was eventually named Pluto Junior. Later on Fifi was replaced as Pluto's girlfriend by Dinah the Dachshund. Fifi disappeared from animation but she appeared in the line of merchandise called "Minnie 'n Me" as Minnie's dog.
Louie the Mountain Lion is a mountain lion who appears as an occasional antagonist of Donald and Goofy. He first appears in two Donald Duck shorts and later Goofy shorts. He is buffonish and sometimes speaks English grumbly. His first appearance was in Lion Down where he attempts to eat Donald. He also appears in Disney's House of Mouse
.
Milton the Cat is a red ginger Siamese cat and a rival of Pluto. He often competes with Pluto for food. He made his first appearance in the short Puss-Cafe with his pal Richard. He next appears in the short Plutopia where he talks in Pluto's dream. He made a final appearance in the short Cold Turkey fighting with Pluto for a roast turkey but both of them ended up with nothing.
Salty the Seal is a seal who shows up in typical seal locations (the circus, the beach, the zoo, the arctic) and annoys Pluto into chasing him, causing Pluto to get into dangerous predicaments. Salty typically saves him, leading Salty and Pluto to become best friends—until Salty's next appearance, when the cycle begins again. Salty's debut appearance came in Mickey's Circus (1936), in which he tormented Donald Duck. Pluto's Playmate (1942), Rescue Dog (1947) and the particularly famous Mickey and the Seal
(1948) followed. Salty's most recent appearances are in Mickey Mouse Works
and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
.
(1937) where Mickey, Donald, and Goofy work for Ajax Ghost Exterminators. Other examples include Ajax Locksmiths, Ajax Door Fixers, Ajax Hairbrow Wear Sale, and Ajax Lost and Found. The name Ajax Corporation makes several appearances in the television series Mickey Mouse Works
and Disney's House of Mouse
.
Ajax is also the name of the escaped gorilla who appears in the short film Donald Duck and the Gorilla
(1944).
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
where some cartoon characters created by the The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
live, the most famous of which is Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
. It is coexistent with the Duck universe, a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of the Mickey Mouse universe which centers around Mickey's friend Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
and his rich uncle Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Scrooge is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a red or blue frock coat, top hat, pince-nez glasses, and spats...
. "Mickey Mouse universe" is not an official term used by Disney.
Since 1990, the actual city in which Mickey lives is most often called Mouseton, and is often seen as the city next to Duckburg, Donald's hometown. According to traditional continuity, both cities are located in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota, a portmanteau of California and Minnesota. The Mickey Mouse universe is also a parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
and characters often visit real-world places and meet historical figures.
Continuity development
The Mickey Mouse universe essentially originated with the debut of Mickey himself in 1928. Although Mickey's stories included the character Pete, who was created in 1925Alice Solves the Puzzle
Alice Solves the Puzzle is a 1925 animated short film by Walt Disney in the Alice Comedies series, and the first to feature Pete.-Plot:A girl named Alice is stuck on a hard crossword puzzle when her cat tells her they should go to the beach. They swim in the ocean for a while then dry off and Alice...
, the world in which Mickey lives holds a continuity
Continuity (fiction)
In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time...
largely independent from earlier films. An exception to this was the reintroduction of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an anthropomorphic rabbit and animated cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney for films distributed by Universal Pictures in the 1920s and 1930s...
in 2010 with the release of Epic Mickey
Epic Mickey
Epic Mickey is a 2010 Mickey Mouse action-adventure platforming video game designed by Warren Spector and developed by Junction Point Studios for the Wii console...
.
In 1930, Disney began a newspaper strip called Mickey Mouse which greatly expanded Mickey's world which was already well-known from the animated cartoons. The stories then became a work of collaborative fiction
Collaborative fiction
Collaborative fiction is a form of writing by a group of authors who share creative control of a story.Collaborative fiction can occur for commercial gain, as part of education, or recreationally - many collaboratively written works have been the subject of a large degree of academic research.-...
with different writers working in different mediums. This sometimes caused continuity discrepancies. For example, while Mickey and his friends largely live in the same contemporary setting, they sometimes appear in exotic settings including period pieces
Period piece
-Setting:In the performing arts, a period piece is a work set in a particular era. This informal term covers all countries, all periods and all genres...
(Brave Little Tailor
Brave Little Tailor
Brave Little Tailor is a 1938 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon is an adaptation of the fairy tale The Valiant Little Tailor with Mickey Mouse in the title role. The film was directed by Bill Roberts and features...
, The Nifty Nineties
The Nifty Nineties
The Nifty Nineties is an animated short film produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released to theaters on June 20, 1941 by RKO Radio Pictures. The film stars Mickey and Minnie Mouse and romanticizes the decade of the 1890s....
) and fantasy films
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...
(Fantasia
Fantasia (film)
Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
, Fun and Fancy Free
Fun and Fancy Free
Fun and Fancy Free is a 1947 animated feature produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures on September 27, 1947. It was one of the "package films" that the studio produced in the 1940s...
).
One way the comics writers explained this discrepancy was to present the characters as "real" cartoon characters who are employed by Disney as actors. This understanding of the characters leading separate lives was welcomed by Walt Disney who, when asked whether or not Mickey and Minnie were married, replied that the mice were indeed married in their "private li[ves]", but that they sometimes appear as boyfriend/girlfriend for "screen purposes."
Also, in the World War II propaganda film The New Spirit
The New Spirit
The New Spirit is a 1942 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and released by the War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry. The cartoon which stars Donald Duck was the first film created as part of Walt Disney's...
(1942), Donald Duck fills out his income tax and lists his occupation as "actor," and the film The Three Muskateers
Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
Mickey · Donald · Goofy: The Three Musketeers is a direct-to-video animated film adaptation of the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père. As the title suggests, it features Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as the three musketeers...
(2004) includes a DVD bonus feature of the characters reminiscing on their experience filming the movie.
Animation historian David Gerstein
David Gerstein
David Gerstein is a comics author and editor as well as an animation historian. Gerstein has five books and countless comic book credits to his name. He has written many Disney comics stories. Past employments include Egmont Creative A/S, a Danish comics studio, and Gemstone Publishing...
has noted that although the characters will appear in different settings and sometimes even change their names (Mickey's Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Company. It was directed and produced by Burny Mattinson...
), the characters are still themselves and behave in a way consistent with their natures.
Mickey's farm
In Plane CrazyPlane Crazy
Plane Crazy is an American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The cartoon, produced in 1928 by The Walt Disney Studio, was the first to feature the character Mickey Mouse. It was made as a silent film and given a test screening to a theater audience on May 15, 1928, but...
(1928), the first produced Mickey Mouse story, Mickey is seen at a farm. In all of his early films Mickey is in a rural setting, but most commonly at a farm. This setting was succinctly presented in the first sentences of one of Mickey's first storybooks:
In the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, Mickey's farm was most likely located in the midwestern United States
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
, as indicated by characters' comments to have arrived "out west" to Death Valley
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...
and to go "back east" to conduct business, etc. This rural setting reflected Walt Disney's own childhood in Missouri, and like Disney, Mickey eventually moved to the city, although he never forgets his roots. Mickey sometimes makes references to his life "back on the farm."
Mouseton
Mickey appeared in an urban setting as early as 1931 in the short film Traffic Troubles where he works as a taxi driver. Mickey's city was unnamed until 1932, when the comic story The Great Orphanage Robbery identified it as Silo Center. Floyd GottfredsonFloyd Gottfredson
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He has probably had the same impact on the Mickey Mouse comics as Carl Barks had on the Donald Duck comics...
simply called the city Hometown while other stories used the name Mouseville. But the first consistent name for Mickey's city came in 1950s Italy, where it was called Topolinia (from Topolino or 'little mouse,' Mickey's Italian name).
In 1990, Disney Comics Inc. launched the new American comic Mickey Mouse Adventures
Mickey Mouse Adventures
Mickey Mouse Adventures was a comic book first published by Disney Comics from 1990 to 1991. It featured Mickey Mouse as the main character along with other characters from the Mickey Mouse universe...
and initially planned to use the name Mouseville there. But due to then-current Mighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse is an animated superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox.-History:The character was created by story man Izzy Klein as a super-powered housefly named Superfly. Studio head Paul Terry changed the character into a cartoon mouse instead...
cartoons' use of a city called Mouseville, the new name Mouseton was created for Mickey's town instead; both in Mickey Mouse Adventures, and in Disney's contemporary reprints of vintage stories in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC or WDC&S, is an anthology comic book series that has an assortment of Disney characters, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Lil Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and...
(1991-93). Later publisher Gemstone
Gemstone
A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
and the present Boom Studios have continued the use of Mouseton from 2003 onward. Strangely, in-between licensee Gladstone (1993-99) usually left Mickey's city unnamed, or—very rarely—referenced it as Duckburg, better known as Donald Duck's
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
hometown.
Mouseton's location in Calisota and its positioning with regard to Duckburg (the cities being next to one another) were the subject of speculation early on, but have generally been treated consistently in American publications from 2003 onward.
In Disney comics published by Egmont (Scandinavia) and Abril
Editora Abril
Editora Abril is a major Brazilian publisher and printing company and one of the biggest media holdings in Southern America. The company was founded in 1950 by Victor Civita in São Paulo and is now part of Grupo Abril....
(Brazil), Mickey lives in Duckburg—even though Mickey and Donald only rarely team up in shared comics adventures. The Egmont tradition extends to the German Disney comics of Ehapa, although the German comics have mentioned possible equivalents of Mouseton as neighboring towns or villages: Mausdorf (German for "mouse village") and Mäuslingen (German equivalent to "Mouseville").
In Germany, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, local tradition has it that Mickey's hometown is simply a different district of Duckburg. In Disney theme parks, the Roger Rabbit-inspired Toontown
Toontown
Toontown is a fictional anthropomorphic city where animated cartoon characters, known as Toons, reside.-Description:In the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the whole city of Toontown is cartoonish, except for anything foreign to the city, such as people and objects from outside of Toontown...
, a district in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
specifically for cartoon characters, is presented as Mickey's home.
Non-Mouston continuity
In some 1920s and 1930s Disney press releases and magazines, Mickey was described as living in Hollywood—even though the rural setting of the actual cartoons and comics had little in common with the actual Hollywood.In the film Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip
Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip
Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip is a 1940 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon follows Mickey Mouse and his dog Pluto traveling by train, despite a rule forbidding dogs; Pete plays a menacing conductor intent on enforcing the rule...
(1940) Mickey and Pluto live in the real world city of Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, home of Walt Disney Studios
Walt Disney Studios (Burbank)
The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, United States, serve as the international headquarters for media conglomerate The Walt Disney Company. The Walt Disney Studio's house offices for each of the company's divisions along with creative spaces designed for movie production. The Walt Disney...
.
In Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
and its sequel Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II
is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...
, both the Mouseton and Duckburg characters live in a realm called "Disney Castle."
The Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is the segment of The Walt Disney Company that conceives, builds, and manages the company's theme parks and holiday resorts, as well as a variety of additional family-oriented leisure enterprises...
modeled Mickey's hometown and birthplace as Mickey's Toontown
Mickey's Toontown
At the Magic Kingdom, Mickey's Toontown Fair initially opened as Mickey's Birthdayland on June 18, 1988. It became Mickey's Starland on May 26, 1990, and Mickey's Toontown Fair on October 1, 1996...
. This same location would be the home for the Mickey Mouse Universe in all non-comic appearances.
Main characters
- Chip 'n' Dale
- Clarabelle CowClarabelle CowClarabelle Cow is a Disney fictional character within the Mickey Mouse universe of characters. Clarabelle Cow was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1928. Clarabelle is one of Minnie Mouse's best friends and is usually depicted as the girlfriend of Horace Horsecollar, although she has also...
- Daisy DuckDaisy DuckDaisy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1940 by Walt Disney Productions as the girlfriend of Donald Duck. Like Donald, Daisy is an anthropomorphic white duck, but has large eyelashes and ruffled tail feathers to suggest a skirt. She is often seen wearing a hair bow, blouse, and shoes...
- Donald DuckDonald DuckDonald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
(family) - FigaroFigaro (Disney)Figaro is a fictional character who first appeared in Disney's Pinocchio.-History:He is probably best known as the pet cat of Mister Geppetto and Pinocchio too. Figaro has also starred independently in a number of Disney shorts, as the pet of Minnie Mouse, which was a common theme for Disney...
- GoofyGoofyGoofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...
- Horace HorsecollarHorace HorsecollarHorace Horsecollar is a funny animal cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. He is an anthropomorphic horse, one of Mickey Mouse's best friends. Horace first appeared as Mickey's plough horse in the cartoon "The Plow Boy" in 1929...
- Huey, Dewey, and Louie
- Humphrey the BearHumphrey the BearHumphrey the Bear is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney studio in 1950. He first appeared in the Goofy cartoon Hold That Pose, in which Goofy tried to take his picture. After that he appeared in four classic Donald Duck cartoons: Grin and Bear It, Bearly Asleep, Rugged Bear, and Beezy...
- Ludwig Von DrakeLudwig Von DrakeProfessor Ludwig von Drake is one of Walt Disney's cartoon and comic book characters. He was first introduced on September 24, 1961, as the presenter in the cartoon An Adventure in Color, part of the first show of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color on NBC...
- Max GoofMax GoofMax Goof is a fictional character who is the teenage son of the popular Disney character Goofy. He first appeared in the 1992 television series Goof Troop...
- Mickey MouseMickey MouseMickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
(familyMickey Mouse familyThe following are fictional characters from the Mickey Mouse universe. They are all relatives of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.-Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse:...
) - Minnie MouseMinnie MouseMinerva "Minnie" Mouse is an animated character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. The comic strip story "The Gleam" by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse. Minnie has since been a recurring alias for her. Minnie is currently voiced by actress Russi...
- Oswald the Lucky RabbitOswald the Lucky RabbitOswald the Lucky Rabbit is an anthropomorphic rabbit and animated cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney for films distributed by Universal Pictures in the 1920s and 1930s...
- Pete
- Pete Junior "P.J."Pete JuniorPeter Pete, Junior is a fictional character created by The Walt Disney Company. As his full name suggests, he is the son of the company's oldest recurring character, Pete...
- The Phantom BlotPhantom BlotThe Phantom Blot is a fictional character featured in various media by The Walt Disney Company. He is an enemy of Mickey Mouse. He first appeared in the Mickey Mouse comic strip adventure Mickey Mouse Outwits The Phantom Blot by Floyd Gottfredson, which was published in the form of daily strips...
- PlutoPluto (Disney)Pluto, also called Pluto the Pup, is a cartoon character created in 1930 by Walt Disney Productions. He is a light brown , medium-sized, short-haired dog. Unlike Goofy, Pluto is not anthropomorphic beyond some characteristics such as facial expression...
- Scrooge McDuckScrooge McDuckScrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Scrooge is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a red or blue frock coat, top hat, pince-nez glasses, and spats...
(familyClan McDuckThe Clan McDuck is a fictional family in the style of a Scottish clan, from which a great number of Walt Disney Company's comic book characters held their origin....
) - List of Duck universe characters
Detective Casey
Detective Casey is Chief O'Hara's head detective, first appearing in the Mickey Mouse daily comic in the 1938 sequence The Plumber's Helper. The story was plotted and penciled by Floyd GottfredsonFloyd Gottfredson
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He has probably had the same impact on the Mickey Mouse comics as Carl Barks had on the Donald Duck comics...
and written by Merrill De Maris
Merrill De Maris
Merrill De Maris is a writer who worked on Disney Comic Strips for King Features Syndicate.De Maris helped Floyd Gottfredson with many of his early Mickey Mouse comic strips – De Maris wrote the 1939 multi-month Phantom Blot for one...
. Casey disappeared from American comics in the 1950s, but was used frequently in Europe, especially in Italy, afterwards; from 2003, he returned as a frequent player in the American comics once again.
Despite his occupation, Casey is an impatient man of only average intelligence. Thus, while sometimes a successful detective, he is prone to bungling cases as well. Therefore, Chief O'Hara often recruits Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
to help solve some of Casey's cases, much to Casey's general irritation.
Clara Cluck
Daisy Duck
Daisy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1940 by Walt Disney Productions as the girlfriend of Donald Duck. Like Donald, Daisy is an anthropomorphic white duck, but has large eyelashes and ruffled tail feathers to suggest a skirt. She is often seen wearing a hair bow, blouse, and shoes...
best friend. Clara has been a member of Mickey's original farmyard gang since the beginning of his career, although she is seen less often than Clarabelle Cow
Clarabelle Cow
Clarabelle Cow is a Disney fictional character within the Mickey Mouse universe of characters. Clarabelle Cow was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1928. Clarabelle is one of Minnie Mouse's best friends and is usually depicted as the girlfriend of Horace Horsecollar, although she has also...
and Horace Horsecollar
Horace Horsecollar
Horace Horsecollar is a funny animal cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. He is an anthropomorphic horse, one of Mickey Mouse's best friends. Horace first appeared as Mickey's plough horse in the cartoon "The Plow Boy" in 1929...
.
Clara's singing is meant to be a caricature of the Bel Canto
Bel Canto
Bel Canto may refer to:*Bel canto, an opera term that literally means "beautiful singing"*Bel Canto , a novel by Ann Patchett*Bel Canto , a Norwegian pop/electronica band*Bel Canto , 2006 Roberto Alagna album...
style of Opera singing popular at the time of her appearance. Some of her arias are clearly modelled on those of Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
. Her last major appearance was as one of the musicians in Symphony Hour
Symphony Hour
Symphony Hour is a 1942 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon depicts Mickey Mouse conducting a symphony orchestra sponsored by Pete. The film was directed by Riley Thomson and features music adapted from the...
. Curiously, although she is seen in the rehearsal scenes at the beginning, she is not seen in the performance scenes at the end.
As with most Disney characters, she was given small cameos in "Mickey's Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Company. It was directed and produced by Burny Mattinson...
" (1983) and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
" (1988). She had some appearances in Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....
(1999), where she is presented as Daisy Duck
Daisy Duck
Daisy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1940 by Walt Disney Productions as the girlfriend of Donald Duck. Like Donald, Daisy is an anthropomorphic white duck, but has large eyelashes and ruffled tail feathers to suggest a skirt. She is often seen wearing a hair bow, blouse, and shoes...
's neighbor. She appeared occasionally in House of Mouse (2001). In one episode of that series she fell in love with Donald Duck and aggressively pursued him by puckering her lips in front of him, forcing him to dance with her, wearing dresses and posing provocatively to lure him in. At one point she even grabs Donald and kisses him full on the lips. She almost tricked Donald into marrying her but Daisy stopped the wedding in time. In Disney comics on the other hand, she has been shown to date Gus Goose on very few occasions. She also had appeared to put Minnie Mouse in jail for driving her car through Daisy's house to deliver a famous apple pie of hers.
Clara made a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in the Timeless River world of Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II
is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...
with many other classic Disney characters like Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar as one of the world's citizens.
She also makes an appearance in the Mickey's Boo to You Parade and for rare meet and greets at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Park is one of four theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort located near Orlando, Florida. The first park built at the resort, Magic Kingdom opened Oct. 1, 1971. Designed and built by WED Enterprises, the park's layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland in Anaheim, California...
.
Originally voiced by Florence Gill
Florence Gill
Florence Gill was an English voice actress. She provided the voices of Walt Disney's Clara Cluck and The Wise Little Hen. Her interment was located at Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles, California....
, and later Russi Taylor
Russi Taylor
Russi Taylor is an American voice actress. She is the current voice actress of Disney's Minnie Mouse character. She has held this role since 1986, longer than any other voice actress...
.
Eega Beeva
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
, and first appeared on September 26, 1947 in the Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
storyline titled The Man of Tomorrow. Since then he and Mickey have been portrayed as good friends in subsequent stories. Eega Beeva wears short black trousers, which store a large number of useful items, often helping Mickey Mouse and Eega in difficult situations. Another trademark attribute of the character is his unique speech, adding a "p" at the beginning of every word that starts with a consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
.
Eega Beeva was created by Bill Walsh
Bill Walsh (producer)
Bill Walsh was a film producer and screenwriter who primarily worked on live-action films for Walt Disney Productions...
and Floyd Gottfredson
Floyd Gottfredson
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He has probably had the same impact on the Mickey Mouse comics as Carl Barks had on the Donald Duck comics...
. He was a recurring character in the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
newspaper Disney comic strips
Disney comics
Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring Walt Disney characters.The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on . In 1940, Western Publishing began producing Disney comic books in the United States...
for nearly three years until July 1950, but then Eega Beeva's notable presence abruptly ended for unknown reasons. The character was adopted to comics of Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
artists in the 1950s and has since then appeared in various Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an Disney comic book stories, especially in Italy. He is referred to as Eta Beta in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and Gamma in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.
In his debut story, Mickey Mouse and his friend Goofy
Goofy
Goofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...
seek shelter from a thunderstorm and get lost in a cave. There, Mickey suddenly encounters an unusual humanoid who only says "Eega" at first. When Mickey and Goofy find the exit of the cave, Mickey invites the being to stay at his house, to which he gives the name "Eega Beeva", while the character himself states that his name is "Pittisborum Psercy Pystachi Pseter Psersimmon Plummer-Push." At first, Goofy
Goofy
Goofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...
refuses to believe in the existence of Eega Beeva and ignores his presence. In a series of events, two scientists conclude that Eega Beeva is a human from 500 years in the future. At the end of the storyline, Eega saves Goofy from a skiing accident, causing them to become friends.
In the next comic strip storyline starring Eega Beeva, Mickey Makes a Killing, his pet Pflip the Thnuckle Booh is introduced. Eega continues being Mickey's sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
in the American comic strips until July 1950. In the comic strips featuring Eega Beeva, Goofy only makes very few appearances and Eega acts as Mickey's sidekick instead. In the first two strips of the storyline Mousepotamia in July 1950, it is explained that Eega is homesick. Therefore, he returns to the cave where Mickey found him. Afterwards, he did not appear again in the American newspaper comic strips for unknown reasons.
When Eega Beeva was still featured in the American comic strips, he made his first appearance in an Italian Disney comic. It is titled L'inferno di Topolino (lit. "Mickey Mouse's inferno"). The character was newly discovered and defined by Italian comics artist and writer Romano Scarpa
Romano Scarpa
Romano Scarpa was one of the most famous Italian creators of Disney comics.-Biography:Growing up in Venice he developed a particular love for American cartoons and Disney comics, that, at the time, were published in the big format of the Topolino Giornale which was then printing now classic Floyd...
with the comic Topolino e la nave del microcosmo (lit. "Mickey Mouse and the ship of microcosm"), published in Topolino issue 167 in July 1957. Rather than his whimsical attributes, this story focuses on the futuristic and fantastic aspects of Eega Beeva and his environment, as do later stories. Some of those stories star Eega Beega without Mickey. More than half of all comics featuring the character were produced in Italy.
Eega Beeva is depicted as a humanoid being with a wide head, mitten-like hands and a scrawny body. He wears short black trousers. His name is a pun on the idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
"eager beaver". In The Man of Tomorrow, the name is given to him by Mickey, since Eega Beeva originally only said "Eega." In the original conception of the character, Eega Beeva's look was attributed to him being a highly evolved human from 500 years in the future, namely from the year 2447. All humans would have Eega-like proportions. When the first American Eega comic strips appeared in Italy, however, translators unaccountably turned Eega into a man from 2000 rather than 2447. As this proved unconvincing for readers, Italian writers generally tried to explain away the unlikely "evolution" by recasting Eega as an alien from outer space.
In the most recent Italian stories (post-2000), Italian writers have generally reverted to Gottfredson's original conception of Eega as a future-man, though his precise year of origin is rarely mentioned. New Eega comics produced by Egmont
Egmont Publishing
The Egmont Group is a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise media generally....
, on the other hand, often refer to his hometown as being the Mouseton of 2447—just as in Gottfredson's original stories.
Doctor Einmug
Doctor Einmug is a scientistScientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
who was created by Ted Osborne
Ted Osborne
Ted Osborne was an American writer of comics, radio shows and animated films, remembered for his contributions to the creation and refinement, during the 1930s, of Walt Disney cartoon characters....
(plot) and Floyd Gottfredson
Floyd Gottfredson
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He has probably had the same impact on the Mickey Mouse comics as Carl Barks had on the Donald Duck comics...
(plot and art) in the story Island in the Sky, published in the Mickey Mouse daily strip
Daily strip
A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays....
from November 1936 to April 1937. He is a large man who wears a big white beard and laboratory coat.
Doctor Einmug specializes in atomic physics
Atomic physics
Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. It is primarily concerned with the arrangement of electrons around the nucleus and...
and speaks in a German-like accent which was probably a nod towards Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
. His introductory story, Island in the Sky, raises many issues about the benefits but also the dangers of atomic physics just a few years before the first atom bombs were developed.
After that, Einmug did not re-appear in American comics for almost 50 years, but he was used in Italian ones, starting some 12 years later in 1959 when he appeared in Romano Scarpa
Romano Scarpa
Romano Scarpa was one of the most famous Italian creators of Disney comics.-Biography:Growing up in Venice he developed a particular love for American cartoons and Disney comics, that, at the time, were published in the big format of the Topolino Giornale which was then printing now classic Floyd...
's Topolino e la dimensione Delta ("Mickey Mouse and the Delta Dimension"). In this story he had discovered the means to travel to what he called the Delta Dimension, which was effectively an infinite void of nothing, just space.
Setting his laboratory up in the Delta Dimension, Einmug pursued his work and discovered that atom
Atom
The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
s were in fact living beings. He thus increased the size of one of them to that of a small boy and named him Atomo Bleep-Bleep (Italian: Atomino Bip-Bip). Atomo was highly intelligent and had many supernatural abilities, including turning metal into chocolate or estimating with absolute precision when a object was created. Atomo would accompany Mickey on several adventures as a kind of alternative Eega Beeva.
Einmug himself has also appeared in numerous European Mickey Mouse comics. He is often shown as less secretive and paranoid than in his original appearance, though his discoveries are still coveted by the likes of Pete and the Phantom Blot
Phantom Blot
The Phantom Blot is a fictional character featured in various media by The Walt Disney Company. He is an enemy of Mickey Mouse. He first appeared in the Mickey Mouse comic strip adventure Mickey Mouse Outwits The Phantom Blot by Floyd Gottfredson, which was published in the form of daily strips...
.
Einmug reappeared in American comics in 1991 in the story A Snatch in Time! in which he had developed a time machine. It was written by Lamar Waldron and drawn by Rick Hoover and Gary Martin. More recently, Einmug has also appeared in American editions of "The Delta Dimension" and other European-made stories.
In American comics, Atomo Bleep-Bleep speaks with a German accent identical to Einmug's, insofar as Einmug was presented as Atomo's language teacher.
Ellsworth
Ellsworth started out as GoofyGoofy
Goofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...
's pet
Pet
A pet is a household animal kept for companionship and a person's enjoyment, as opposed to wild animals or to livestock, laboratory animals, working animals or sport animals, which are kept for economic or productive reasons. The most popular pets are noted for their loyal or playful...
mynah bird but in later stories he became an independent anthropomorphic animal. His full name being Ellsworth Bheezer (occasionally misspelled Bhezer—"beezer" is old English slang for a big nose or beak). He was created for the Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
Sunday pages, but has been used in longer comics as well, especially the ones produced in Italy, France, and Brazil.
Ellsworth usually wears a red-orange shirt and a green cap or beret. Reflecting a trait of mynah birds who can imitate human speech, he is extremely vain and self-centered, which was originally the spotlight and center of jokes in his stories. On the other hand, Ellsworth is also a bonafide genius with awesome tech and scientific knowledge—the "Y" on his shirt in earlier stories stands for "Yarvard" (a parody of Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
), his alma mater.
Despite being more or less entirely humanized in more recent stories, Ellsworth retains his ability to fly, a unique trait among the central Disney funny animal cast.
In manner, Ellsworth is often sarcastic and condescending, typically addressing others with statements like "Let's not [do X], shall we?" He's also quick to call others by insulting nicknames. But when push comes to shove, he's genuinely fond of and defensive of his pals Goofy and Mickey.
Bruto (original Italian name; he has no English name) is Ellsworth's somewhat smaller adoptive son and Mickey Mouse's sidekick in numerous Italian stories. As of 2009, he has not appeared in American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comic books.
Gideon Goat
Gideon Goat or Giddy Goat is an anthropomorphic goatGoat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
, a supporting character
Supporting character
A supporting character is a character of a book, play, video game, movie, television or radio show or other form of storytelling usually used to give added dimension to a main character, by adding a relationship with this character...
in the Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
comic strips of the 1930s. Gideon first appeared in the 1930 Mickey Mouse Book #1. He appeared in various American and European printed Disney comics until 1938. He was usually characterized as a farmer or the local sheriff. Gideon is married to a female anthropomorphic goat named Gertie (presumably Gertrude) who also appeared in many early Mickey Mouse comics, primarily as a background character.
Promotional materials for the 1935 animated short The Band Concert
The Band Concert
The Band Concert is an animated short film produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions and released to theaters on February 23, 1935 by United Artists. The film was the first Mickey Mouse film produced in color and remains one of the most highly acclaimed of the Disney shorts...
include Giddy Goat as one of the characters. In the released film, however, he was replaced by a dog trombonist character.
Floyd Gottfredson
Floyd Gottfredson
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He has probably had the same impact on the Mickey Mouse comics as Carl Barks had on the Donald Duck comics...
made regular use of the character in his comic strips, and later artists sometimes borrowed the character.
Arizona Goof
Arizona Goof (original Italian name: Indiana Pipps) is an archaeologistArchaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
and a cousin of Goofy
Goofy
Goofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...
. Arizona has a weird habit of not using beds, doors, or stairs. Instead, he sleeps in a tent
Tent
A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or attached to a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using guy ropes tied to stakes or tent pegs...
, enters and exits houses through window
Window
A window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...
s, and climbs floors by a rope
Rope
A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...
. Arizona is fond of a specific brand of liquorice candy (the brand is called Negritas in original Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
version, Tuju in the Finnish language
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
translation), which he never travels without and is addicted to the taste of, but which everyone else finds horrible. Arizona's car is an old jeep
Jeep
Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...
which he has named affectionately as Gippippa. Arizona has a rival archaeologist, Dr. Kranz, who is greedy and shameless, and not above resorting to criminal behaviour.
Arizona Goof received his English name in his first American comics appearance (1991). In a couple of 2005-2006 appearances, the character was inexplicably renamed "Arizona Dipp." But more recent uses (Disney Digicomics, 2009–2010) have restored his traditional English name.
The character Arizona Goof was created by writer Bruno Sarda and artist Massimo De Vita in 1988, as a spoof of the film character Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
.
Kat Nipp
Kat Nipp (not to be confused with Harvey ComicsHarvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...
character Katnip), his name a play on the word catnip, is a villainous anthropomorphic cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
. Kat Nipp is an often-drunk countryside tough guy who is a rival of Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
.
Nipp made his debut in the animated short The Opry House
The Opry House
The Opry House , first released on March 28, 1929, was the second Mickey Mouse short released during the year. It cast Mickey as the owner of a small theater . Mickey performs a vaudeville show all by himself...
(1929), in which he posed as a snake for a snake-charming act—continuing to smoke his pipe all the while. Nipp's other two appearances in animation also came in 1929, with When the Cat's Away
When the Cat's Away (1929 film)
When the Cat's Away is a 1929 Mickey Mouse short film produced by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. In the film Mickey and Minnie are portrayed the size of regular mice, whereas Tom Kat is the size of a person....
and The Karnival Kid
The Karnival Kid
The Karnival Kid is a 1929 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black and white by The Walt Disney Studio and released to theaters by Celebrity Productions. It is the ninth film in the Mickey Mouse but it is the first in which Mickey speaks...
. The latter film introduced Nipp's habit of physically abusing Mickey, here by stretching out Mickey's nose to a ridiculous length.
Kat Nipp reappeared in a 1931 sequence of the Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip (in which we also meet Kat Nipp's friend Barnacle Bill, a sailor who is an expert in untying knots). Kat Nipp was also used in the strips produced in Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
for the Mickey Mouse Annual. However, the character quickly faded away and has made only a handful of comics appearances since the mid-1930s.
Chief O'Hara
Seamus O'Hara is the Chief of Police in the Mickey Mouse universe. He plays a supportive role in Mickey Mouse's comic book mysteries as a police officer who often relies on Mickey's help to catch characters such as Pete, Phantom BlotPhantom Blot
The Phantom Blot is a fictional character featured in various media by The Walt Disney Company. He is an enemy of Mickey Mouse. He first appeared in the Mickey Mouse comic strip adventure Mickey Mouse Outwits The Phantom Blot by Floyd Gottfredson, which was published in the form of daily strips...
and the like. Known fellow officers include his friend, Detective Casey.
O'Hara also appeared on Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....
and Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...
.
The character was conceived by Floyd Gottfredson
Floyd Gottfredson
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He has probably had the same impact on the Mickey Mouse comics as Carl Barks had on the Donald Duck comics...
(and Merrill De Maris
Merrill De Maris
Merrill De Maris is a writer who worked on Disney Comic Strips for King Features Syndicate.De Maris helped Floyd Gottfredson with many of his early Mickey Mouse comic strips – De Maris wrote the 1939 multi-month Phantom Blot for one...
) for Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
as a stereotypical Irish cop. He first appeared in the newspaper strips in May 1939, in the serial "Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot". In the German translations of the comics, he is known as "Kommissar Albert Hunter" (Kommissar means commissioner
Commissioner
Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ....
in German), in the Italian version as "Commissario Adamo Basettoni", and in the Brazilian version as "Coronel Cintra".
In Italian stories O'Hara has a wife called Petulia.
Sylvester Shyster
Sylvester Shyster is a crooked lawyer and evil criminal mastermind who generally teams up with Peg-Leg Pete. The character has been described by some as a weaselWeasel
Weasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
or a rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
(the latter being Gottfredson's own interpretation), but his ears suggest that he is rather an anthropomorphic canine
Canidae
Canidae is the biological family of carnivorous and omnivorous mammals that includes wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes, and domestic dogs. A member of this family is called a canid . The Canidae family is divided into two tribes: Canini and Vulpini...
. His name in Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
translations is Lupo, meaning Wolf, even though he is clearly not one.
He first appeared in the comic strip adventure "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley", the first real Mickey Mouse continuity, which was partially written by Walt Disney and drawn by Win Smith and other artists, before being taken over by Floyd Gottfredson
Floyd Gottfredson
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He has probably had the same impact on the Mickey Mouse comics as Carl Barks had on the Donald Duck comics...
(plot and art). In this story, Sylvester Shyster was a crooked lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who attempted, with the help of his henchman Pete, to deprive Minnie Mouse
Minnie Mouse
Minerva "Minnie" Mouse is an animated character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. The comic strip story "The Gleam" by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse. Minnie has since been a recurring alias for her. Minnie is currently voiced by actress Russi...
of her inheritance.
Shyster and Pete have been causing trouble for Mickey and his friends since then. Shyster is generally depicted as the duo's brain, with Pete acting as the brawn. He is probably the only person Pete will listen to without rebellion.
After Shyster's first appearance, Gottfredson made no further references to his profession as a lawyer, apart from his name; one might theorize, though it is not canon, that Shyster was disbarred due to his arrest and imprisonment at the end of "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley." Later creators occasionally referenced Shyster's role as a lawyer, with one story ("Trial and Error," 2007) forcing Shyster to defend Mickey himself in an overseas courtroom.
Shyster disappeared for a time after 1934, but made comebacks in 1942, 1950, and again in various 1960s Italian-created stories. More recently, publisher Egmont Creative A/S (in Denmark) revived Shyster as a regular character, a capacity in which he continues today.
In "Race to the South Seas" (March of Comics #41, 1949), a Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
story by Carl Barks
Carl Barks
Carl Barks was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , The Junior Woodchucks , Gyro Gearloose , Cornelius Coot , Flintheart Glomgold , John D...
, a variant of Shyster appeared as Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Scrooge is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a red or blue frock coat, top hat, pince-nez glasses, and spats...
's lawyer, but his appearance differed from that in the Mickey Mouse strip and he was not depicted as a villain in that story.
The Sleuth
The Sleuth is an anthropomorphic canineDog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
. He is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
private eye
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
operating in 19th century London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and employing Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
as an assistant. The character was created by Carl Fallberg
Carl Fallberg
Carl Robert Fallberg was a cartoonist and artist who created animated feature films and T.V. cartoons for Disney Studios, Hanna-Barbera, and Warner Brothers...
(plot) and Al Hubbard (art) for the Disney Studio Program and intended solely for foreign publication. The first story in the series is "Mickey and the Sleuth: The Case of the Wax Dummy". Unusually for material created for the program this story appeared domestically in the Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
Disney Magazine giveaway and then was published by Gold Key
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
in "Walt Disney Showcase" n°38 (1977). Given their historical setting, the "Mickey and the Sleuth" stories stand apart from other Mickey Mouse continuities. It is never explained if the "Mickey Mouse" working with the Sleuth is an ancestor of the present-day Mickey or if those stories are to be included in a totally different continuity. Apart from Mickey, no other prominent Disney characters are featured in the stories.
The Sleuth is a good-natured gentleman; wearing a deerstalker hat, smoking a pipe, and using a magnifying glass
Magnifying glass
A magnifying glass is a convex lens that is used to produce a magnified image of an object. The lens is usually mounted in a frame with a handle ....
, he is an obvious parody of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, Mickey basically playing the part of Dr. Watson. Like his literary counterpart, he also plays the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
(albeit horribly). Unlike Sherlock Holmes, however, he is totally hopeless as a detective, being sometimes unable to figure out crimes that happen right in front of his eyes. Nevertheless, he always manages to solve his cases - hence ensuring a reputation as a great detective - either by sheer luck, or thanks to his foes' own incompetence, or simply because Mickey Mouse does all the actual detective work for him.
The Sleuth's constant foes are Professor Nefarious (a parody of Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty
Professor James Moriarty is a fictional character and the archenemy of the detective Sherlock Holmes in the fiction of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the "Napoleon of Crime". Doyle lifted the phrase from a real Scotland Yard inspector who was...
), a London-based "teacher of crime", and his three henchmen-pupils Fliplip, Sidney and Armadillo. Their hideout is a rundown townhouse with the words "University of Criminal Sciences" written on its front door. While Nefarious is reasonably smart (although his own megalomania sometimes hinders his plans), his three accomplices are thoroughly inept comical villains. Mickey and the Sleuth imprison the gang at the end of each story, although Nefarious himself generally manages to escape.
Apart from Mickey - and of course, the reader - no one seems to be aware of the Sleuth's utter incompetence. Nefarious considers the Sleuth - not Mickey - as his greatest enemy. Why Mickey would keep being the assistant of such an inept detective is never explained.
Mickey and the Sleuth stories were produced up until the late 1980s.
Eli Squinch
Eli Squinch is an evil miser who sometimes teams up with Black Pete in the Mickey Mouse comics. He first appeared in "Bobo the Elephant" (1934) as the abusive owner of an elephant which Mickey later forced Squinch to sell him. In his second appearance, "Race to Riches" (1935), he teams up with Black Pete for the first time against Mickey and Horace HorsecollarHorace Horsecollar
Horace Horsecollar is a funny animal cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney. He is an anthropomorphic horse, one of Mickey Mouse's best friends. Horace first appeared as Mickey's plough horse in the cartoon "The Plow Boy" in 1929...
.
Squinch has gone on to appear in additional Disney stories up to the present day, though generally only one story every couple of years—while a recognized character, Squinch seems never to have been one of the most popular villains.
Squinch's most recent United States appearance was in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC or WDC&S, is an anthology comic book series that has an assortment of Disney characters, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Lil Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and...
#689 (2008), published by Gemstone
Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing is a U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. Gemstone published licensed Disney comic books from June 2003 until November 2008. The company has...
.
Doctor Vulter
Doctor Vulter is a villainVillain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
featured in Mickey Mouse comics. He was created by Ted Osborne
Ted Osborne
Ted Osborne was an American writer of comics, radio shows and animated films, remembered for his contributions to the creation and refinement, during the 1930s, of Walt Disney cartoon characters....
(plot) and Floyd Gottfredson
Floyd Gottfredson
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson was an American cartoonist best known for his defining work on the Mickey Mouse comic strip. He has probably had the same impact on the Mickey Mouse comics as Carl Barks had on the Donald Duck comics...
(plot and art) in the story Mickey Mouse and the Pirate Submarine, published in the Mickey Mouse daily strip
Daily strip
A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays....
from September 1935 to January 1936.
Dr. Vulter is an anthropomorphic ape
Ape
Apes are Old World anthropoid mammals, more specifically a clade of tailless catarrhine primates, belonging to the biological superfamily Hominoidea. The apes are native to Africa and South-east Asia, although in relatively recent times humans have spread all over the world...
, resembling a gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
. He is a megalomaniacal pirate captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...
and mad scientist
Mad scientist
A mad scientist is a stock character of popular fiction, specifically science fiction. The mad scientist may be villainous or antagonistic, benign or neutral, and whether insane, eccentric, or simply bumbling, mad scientists often work with fictional technology in order to forward their schemes, if...
, somewhat modeled after Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
's Captain Nemo
Captain Nemo
Captain Nemo, also known as Prince Dakkar, is a fictional character featured in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island ....
character. Using a futuristic submarine and a small army of henchmen, he plagues the seas by stealing various ships which he aims to use for his plans of world conquest. His principal weapon is a machine in the form of a large claw which gives off magnetic-like energy: by placing it against a ship's hull Vulter can turn the whole metal ship into one large magnet which sticks weapons to the wall, making them useless.
Vulter's Germanic-sounding name, his uniform and monocle
Monocle
A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the vision in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string. The other end of the string is then connected to the wearer's clothing to avoid losing...
, as well as his plans of world domination and militaristic gang, are obvious echoes of the Nazi menace of the time.
After being defeated by Mickey, Vulter never appeared again in American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
stories. He was, however, used by Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
authors, starting with the 1959 story Topolino e il ritorno dell'artiglio magnetico ("Mickey Mouse and the Return of the Magnetic Claw") by Guido Martina (plot) and Giulio Chierchini (art). The character was further elaborated in this story by the claim that he never drew plans of his inventions but kept it all in his mind; this proved a bit of a problem when he suffered from amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
. He returned occasionally and is still used from time to time by European authors.
Willie the Giant
Willie the Giant is a giant that appeared in the Disney cartoons Mickey and the Beanstalk (from the film Fun and Fancy FreeFun and Fancy Free
Fun and Fancy Free is a 1947 animated feature produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures on September 27, 1947. It was one of the "package films" that the studio produced in the 1940s...
, voiced by Billy Gilbert
Billy Gilbert
Billy Gilbert was an American comedian and actor known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects and television shows starting in 1929. He is not to be confused with silent film actor Billy Gilbert Billy Gilbert (September 12, 1894 – September 23,...
) and Mickey's Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Company. It was directed and produced by Burny Mattinson...
(voiced by Will Ryan
Will Ryan
Will Ryan is an American voice actor and producer–writer–composer, well-known for singing about the American West. In the late seventies he teamed up with Phil Baron as Willio and Phillio. They had regular gigs on television, radio and comedy clubs and universities throughout the US...
). He has also made cameo appearances in Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...
and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a children's television series, that premiered in prime time on Disney Channel on May 5, 2006. The program was originally part of the Playhouse Disney daily block intended for preschoolers...
. He is incredibly powerful, demonstrating amazing magic powers such as flight, invisibility and shapeshifting. Despite this, he is portrayed as immature and dimwitted, given his fondness for toys and inability to pronounce certain words, such as pistachio
Pistachio
The pistachio, Pistacia vera in the Anacardiaceae family, is a small tree originally from Persia , which now can also be found in regions of Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Sicily and possibly Afghanistan , as well as in the United States,...
. His favorite dish is implied to be Chocolate Pot Roast with Pistachio, given his overweight appearance.
In Mickey and the Beanstalk, Willie serves as the primary villain. He kidnaps a golden singing harp, which sings to make people and animals happy, for his own amusement, and so that she cannot escape his clutches, he keeps her trapped in a box with a lock, although the harp seldom sings for her captor. When three poor peasants, Mickey
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
, Donald
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
and Goofy
Goofy
Goofy is a cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog, and typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck...
stumble across his castle via a giant beanstalk, Willie catches Mickey, who pretends to read his palm and discover his shape-shifting ability. Willie, delighted, offers to demonstrate this, and Mickey, spotting a nearby fly-killer, suggests that he turn into a pink-winged fly. Willie instead turns into a pink bunny rabbit, which he believes is more cute, and catches Mickey, Donald and Goofy with the fly-killer. Enraged, Willie grabs them, places them inside a small jewellery box, with the golden harp, but Mickey manages to escape, and with the help of the singing harp who sings to put Willie to sleep, makes his way into Willie's shirt pocket and steals the key, accidentally landing in a small box of dust and pepper, making him, and Willie sneeze and almost alerting him to his presence in the process. Mickey frees Donald and Goofy and they take the harp, but as Mickey tries to tie the sleeping Willie's shoe laces together, Willie spots him and follows them all the way to the beanstalk. As he climbs down, Mickey and Goofy chop the beanstalk and send Willie plummeting to his apparent death. However, the end of the short reveals that Willie is actually still alive and searching for Mickey. In one instance, he stumbles across the home of the short's narrator, Edgar Bergen, and asks about Mickey. Bergen, startled to see Willie, faints, and Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket is the Walt Disney version of "The Talking Cricket" , a fictional character created by Carlo Collodi for his children's book Pinocchio, which was adapted into an animated film by Disney in 1940...
promptly flees the scene. As Willie continues to search alone, Jiminy avoids being seen by him. On the 1963 television airing, Willie inquires about Mickey to Ludwig Von Drake
Ludwig Von Drake
Professor Ludwig von Drake is one of Walt Disney's cartoon and comic book characters. He was first introduced on September 24, 1961, as the presenter in the cartoon An Adventure in Color, part of the first show of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color on NBC...
, who also faints, and the instances where Jiminy watches Willie are omitted.
In Mickey's Christmas Carol, Willie is portrayed in a much more positive light than he was in Mickey and the Beanstalk, serving as a supporting protagonist rather than a villain. Here, he plays the role of the Ghost of Christmas Present
Ghost of Christmas Present
The Ghost of Christmas Present is a character in one of the best-known works of the English novelist Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. The Spirit closely resembles Father Christmas from local folklore....
and helps show Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge is the principal character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy man, who despises Christmas and all things which give people happiness...
(Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Scrooge is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a red or blue frock coat, top hat, pince-nez glasses, and spats...
) the error of his ways by taking him to the house of his abused and underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit
Bob Cratchit
Robert "Bob" Cratchit is a fictional character who is the abused, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge in the Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol...
(Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
), and showing him that by paying Cratchit so little despite his hard work, Cratchit's son, Tiny Tim, will soon die of his illness. This revelation moves Scrooge to tears, but Willie disappears before he can ask him if he still has a chance to change his ways.
Willie the Giant makes a brief cameo in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
on a poster in a movie theater in Toontown
Toontown
Toontown is a fictional anthropomorphic city where animated cartoon characters, known as Toons, reside.-Description:In the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the whole city of Toontown is cartoonish, except for anything foreign to the city, such as people and objects from outside of Toontown...
.
Willie is also a minor recurring character in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a children's television series, that premiered in prime time on Disney Channel on May 5, 2006. The program was originally part of the Playhouse Disney daily block intended for preschoolers...
children's series. Here, he is friends with Mickey. He still lives in the sky, only this time in a giant farm house.
J. Audubon Woodlore
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
), one of the features of which is a geyser
Geyser
A geyser is a spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accompanied by a vapour phase . The word geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb geysa, "to gush", the verb...
named "Old Fateful" (a play on Old Faithful
Old Faithful Geyser
Old Faithful is a cone geyser located in Wyoming, in Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Old Faithful was named in 1870 during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition and was the first geyser in the park to receive a name...
). He was originally voiced by Bill Thompson
Bill Thompson (voice actor)
Bill Thompson was an American radio actor and voice actor whose career stretched from the 1930s until his death.-Early career:...
. Woodlore's name is an inside joke-reference to John James Audubon
John James Audubon
John James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. He was notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats...
, the famous 19th Century ornithologist/naturalist/painter. He is currently voiced by Corey Burton
Corey Burton
Corey Burton is an American voice actor, perhaps best known as Count Dooku, Ziro the Hutt and Cad Bane in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Brainiac in the DC animated universe and Spike Witwicky and Shockwave in the Transformers universe...
.
He first appeared in two 1954 Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
cartoons Grin and Bear It
Grin and Bear It
Grin and Bear It is a daily panel created by George Lichtenstein under the penname George Lichty. Initially distributed by United Feature Syndicate, it was syndicated by Field Enterprises beginning in 1940. Field Enterprises was sold in 1986 to King Features Syndicate which continues to distribute...
and Grand Canyonscope
Grand Canyonscope
Grand Canyonscope was a Donald Duck animated short released in 1954. It was Disney's first cartoon filmed in CinemaScope, and was produced to accompany Disney's first CinemaScope film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea....
. (It is revealed in the latter that Woodlore was a postal worker prior to his Ranger days.) One year later, in Breezy Bear, he repeatedly admonishes Humphrey the Bear
Humphrey the Bear
Humphrey the Bear is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney studio in 1950. He first appeared in the Goofy cartoon Hold That Pose, in which Goofy tried to take his picture. After that he appeared in four classic Donald Duck cartoons: Grin and Bear It, Bearly Asleep, Rugged Bear, and Beezy...
"You bathe too much!", not realising that the bear is really just hiding in the pond from the bees whose honey he was trying to steal.
Woodlore prides himself on running a tight ship, and is frequently oblivious to those (particularly Donald) who are humiliated and/or insulted by his constant scoldings and criticisms. Despite his somewhat authoritarian attitude, he cares about the bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s as if they were his children...although he once bamboozled them into cleaning up the park for him (so that he could nap in a hammock) by singing the jazzy ditty "In the Bag
In the Bag
In the Bag is Walt Disney's final theatrical cartoon short subject. It was released in 1956 by RKO Radio Pictures and directed by Jack Hannah. The short can be found on disc 2 of Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s–1960s....
":
- First you stick a rag, put in the bag, bump bump
- Then you bend your back, put it in the sack, bump bump
- That's the way it's done, it's a lot of fun, bump bump Oh yeah
- Cuttin' capers puttin' papers in the bag
When Woodlore's lazy motive became apparent, the bears irritably bagged him along with the litter.
Most of the bears are respectful of Woodlore, except Humphrey the Bear
Humphrey the Bear
Humphrey the Bear is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney studio in 1950. He first appeared in the Goofy cartoon Hold That Pose, in which Goofy tried to take his picture. After that he appeared in four classic Donald Duck cartoons: Grin and Bear It, Bearly Asleep, Rugged Bear, and Beezy...
, whom the Ranger often lectures.
Woodlore's name appeared on the entrance sign at Disneyland's Bear Country
Bear Country
Bear Country was one of the lands at the Disneyland Resort in California.-History:Bear Country existed just beyond the Haunted Mansion on the former Indian Village site. It was created specifically for the Country Bear Jamboree, which opened March 4, 1972...
land, as the resident park ranger.
Woodlore most recently appeared in an episode of Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...
.
Non-anthropomorphic characters
Butch the Bulldog is Pluto's nemesis. He first appeared in the film Bone Trouble where Pluto tried to steal his bone. Ever since then Butch has been antagonizing Pluto. Sometimes, Butch competes with Pluto for the affections of Dinah the Dachshund. At one point Butch even antagonized Figaro the Kitten. Butch appears in Mickey Mouse ClubhouseMickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a children's television series, that premiered in prime time on Disney Channel on May 5, 2006. The program was originally part of the Playhouse Disney daily block intended for preschoolers...
where his owner is Pete.
Dinah the Dachshund is Pluto's girlfriend although she sometimes dates Butch the Bulldog which is often a source of contention between Pluto and Butch. She first appeared in The Sleep Walker. Dinah replaced Fifi the Peke as Pluto's girlfriend. She has appeared in the television series Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....
and Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...
. There, the cartoon "Pluto's Arrow Error" treats Dinah as Butch's proper girlfriend and gives her no serious interest in Pluto, continuing the fickle nature of her affections from earlier appearances.
Fifi the Peke is Minnie's "prize pooch" and Pluto's girlfriend. In one cartoon Pluto and Fifi even had five puppies together. One of them was eventually named Pluto Junior. Later on Fifi was replaced as Pluto's girlfriend by Dinah the Dachshund. Fifi disappeared from animation but she appeared in the line of merchandise called "Minnie 'n Me" as Minnie's dog.
Louie the Mountain Lion is a mountain lion who appears as an occasional antagonist of Donald and Goofy. He first appears in two Donald Duck shorts and later Goofy shorts. He is buffonish and sometimes speaks English grumbly. His first appearance was in Lion Down where he attempts to eat Donald. He also appears in Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...
.
Milton the Cat is a red ginger Siamese cat and a rival of Pluto. He often competes with Pluto for food. He made his first appearance in the short Puss-Cafe with his pal Richard. He next appears in the short Plutopia where he talks in Pluto's dream. He made a final appearance in the short Cold Turkey fighting with Pluto for a roast turkey but both of them ended up with nothing.
Salty the Seal is a seal who shows up in typical seal locations (the circus, the beach, the zoo, the arctic) and annoys Pluto into chasing him, causing Pluto to get into dangerous predicaments. Salty typically saves him, leading Salty and Pluto to become best friends—until Salty's next appearance, when the cycle begins again. Salty's debut appearance came in Mickey's Circus (1936), in which he tormented Donald Duck. Pluto's Playmate (1942), Rescue Dog (1947) and the particularly famous Mickey and the Seal
Mickey and the Seal
Mickey and the Seal is a cartoon short created by Walt Disney in 1948. It was nominated for Academy Award for Animated Short Film, but lost to Tom and Jerry cartoon The Little Orphan.-Synopsis:...
(1948) followed. Salty's most recent appearances are in Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....
and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a children's television series, that premiered in prime time on Disney Channel on May 5, 2006. The program was originally part of the Playhouse Disney daily block intended for preschoolers...
.
Ajax name brand
Ajax, sometimes called the Ajax Corporation, is a name brand which makes several appearances in Mickey Mouse stories. An early example is in Lonesome GhostsLonesome Ghosts
Lonesome Ghosts is a 1937 Disney animated cartoon featuring the Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy trio as members of the agency "Ajax Ghost Exterminators" .-Plot:...
(1937) where Mickey, Donald, and Goofy work for Ajax Ghost Exterminators. Other examples include Ajax Locksmiths, Ajax Door Fixers, Ajax Hairbrow Wear Sale, and Ajax Lost and Found. The name Ajax Corporation makes several appearances in the television series Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works
Mickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....
and Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse
Disney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...
.
Ajax is also the name of the escaped gorilla who appears in the short film Donald Duck and the Gorilla
Donald Duck and the Gorilla
Donald Duck and the Gorilla is a Donald Duck Cartoon originally released in 1944. It stars Donald Duck along with his three nephews; Huey, Dewey and Louie and Ajax, the Gorilla...
(1944).
External links
- The Mickey Mouse "Universe" Guide by David GersteinDavid GersteinDavid Gerstein is a comics author and editor as well as an animation historian. Gerstein has five books and countless comic book credits to his name. He has written many Disney comics stories. Past employments include Egmont Creative A/S, a Danish comics studio, and Gemstone Publishing...
(1996) - Mickey Mouse Comic Universe at TV TropesTV TropesTV Tropes is a wiki which collects and expands on various conventions and devices found within creative works. Since its establishment in 2004, the site has gone from covering only television and film tropes to also covering those in a number of other media such as literature, comics, video-games,...
- Characters: Mickey Mouse Comic Universe at TV Tropes