#billy bletcher

Welcome to another installment of Mickey Mondays, pals! That’s where we grab a Mickey Mouse plush and watch a piece of Mickey Mouse animation. It’s a lot of fun, and we’ve got another absolute classic Mickey cartoon to check out! Let’s get to it!

The Animation: Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip was released in 1940, and for me it’s amazing how good this cartoon remains 85+ years later. The short is very focused on Mickey in particular, trying to sneak Pluto onto a train. Except Pete is having none of it. Pete is one of my top 5 favorite Disney characters, and it’s great to see him in such a perfectly written and timed antagonist role. His comment about having a cat might be my favorite piece of dialog from the entire short.

Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip is Mickey at his best, trying to do right by his friends, and hoping the train will be able to get him to his destination. The ending is perfectly paced and set up, with Mickey and Pluto coming out on top thanks to a little luck.

You can watch Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip on Disney+, but it’s also available for free on YouTube. While you’re watching this short, featuring one of Walt Disney’s very best Mickey voice performances, remember we’ve also got some amazing footage of the dialog being recorded by Walt and Pete’s voice actor Bill Bletcher to enjoy.

The Plush: We don’t have a specific plush for Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip, just a very nice figurine, but I think this Mickey Mouse Disneyland Train Engineer plush is a good compromise! The gloves are a cute touch. I wish we had a plush of Pete as the train conductor! In general, we need more Pete plushes in the world.

A Lady’s Profession (1933) Norman Z. McLeod