View source for Mickey's Choo-Choo

{{short description|1929 Mickey Mouse cartoon}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Mickey's Choo-Choo
| image =11 - Mickey's Choo-Choo.jpg
| caption = 
| director = 
| animator = [[Ub Iwerks]]
| story = 
| starring = 
| music = 
| layout_artist =
| background_artist = 
| producer = [[Walt Disney]]
| studio = [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Studios]]
| distributor = Celebrity Productions
| released = {{Film date|1929|09|26|ref1=<ref name=ultimate/>}}
| color_process = Black and white
| runtime = 7 min (one reel)
| language = [[English language|English]]
}}
'''''Mickey's Choo-Choo''''' is a 1929 [[Mickey Mouse]] short animated film<ref>[https://www.waltdisney.org/exhibitions/all-aboard-celebration-walts-trains All Aboard: A Celebration of Walt's Trains|The Walt Disney Family Museum]</ref> released by [[Pat Powers (businessman)|Celebrity Pictures]], as part of the ''[[Mickey Mouse (film series)|Mickey Mouse]]'' film series.<ref name=ultimate>{{cite book |last1=Kaufman |first1=J.B. |last2=Gerstein |first2=David |title=Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History |date=2018 |publisher=[[Taschen]] |location=Cologne |isbn=978-3-8365-5284-4 |page=43}}</ref> [[Ub Iwerks]] was the animator.<ref name=borowiec>{{cite book|last=Borowiec|first=Piotr|title=Animated short films: a critical index to theatrical cartoons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zFs5evuicXwC&pg=PA107|access-date=September 17, 2011|date=October 1998|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-3503-0|page=107}}</ref> It was the eleventh Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the eighth of that year,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |access-date=June 6, 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/108/mode/2up |pages=108–109}}</ref> and was one of the series of early [[Disney]] cartoons that led [[Mickey Mouse]] to become a national fad by the end of 1929.<ref name=watts>{{cite book|last=Watts|first=Steven|title=The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgARIndAbjAC&pg=PA31|access-date=September 17, 2011|date=June 27, 2002|publisher=University of Missouri Press|isbn=978-0-8262-1379-2|page=31}}</ref> Originally produced in black and white, this cartoon was one of 45 Mickey Mouse cartoons [[Film colorization|colorized]] by American Film Technologies in 1991.<ref>PAu001629050 / October 31, 1991</ref>

As of January 1st, 2025, this cartoon entered the United States public domain in accordance with it's copyright expiration.

==Plot==
[[File: Mickey's choo choo.jpg|thumb|Mickey and Minnie Mouse in the short.]]
The cartoon opens with Mickey piloting an anthropomorphic [[2-2-0]] [[steam locomotive|steam engine]], ringing his [[bell]] and blowing the engine's [[train whistle|whistle]]. As the engine and its [[coal tender]] back to collect a [[boxcar]], the engine rests with Mickey, its [[railroad engineer]], fuelling it, and feeding his engine with [[coal]] from the tender. As the engine eats too much coal and burps, Mickey decides to have some [[spaghetti]], until Minnie comes along. After Mickey finishes his [[lunch]], Minnie arrives with a [[violin]] that she can play, and hops onto the [[freight car]]. Minnie plays a musical song (Dvořák's [[Humoresques (Dvořák)|Humoresque]]) while Mickey does the same. As Mickey looks at his [[watch]], only to realize that they are late, he yells 'All aboard!' to the engine, which whistles in cheerful response after Mickey gets on board. The engine slowly starts out of the station and chuffs cheerfully through the beautiful [[rural area|countryside]] toward a [[hill]] and struggles up it. The engine ends having problems and starts to cry. The cartoon ends with Mickey pushing the boxcar so hard that it comes loose from the engine, runs into a [[cow]], and explodes into a [[tree]]. In the final shot, Mickey and Minnie ride a [[handcar]] into the [[sunset]].<ref>[https://www.dvdizzy.com/mmblackwhite2.html Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black & White, Volume 2 DVD Review on DVDizzy]</ref>

==Production==
Some of the gags in the cartoon are recycled from the 1927 [[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit]] short ''[[Trolley Troubles]]''.<ref name=ultimate/> This is the first cartoon in which Mickey says more than a couple of words, "this time in a voice that sounds like Walt's".<ref name=ultimate/>

The soundtrack includes Mickey singing "[[I've Been Working on the Railroad]]" and playing part of [[Antonín Dvořák|Antonín Dvořák's]] ''[[Humoresques (Dvořák)|Humoresques]]'' on his spaghetti. Minnie's ride on the train is set to the tune of "[[Dixie (song)|Dixie]]".<ref name=movies>{{cite book |last1=Grob |first1=Gijs |title=Mickey's Movies: The Theatrical Films of Mickey Mouse |date=2018 |chapter=Mickey's Choo-Choo |publisher=Theme Park Press |isbn=978-1683901235}}</ref>

The closing image of Mickey and Minnie operating a handcar inspired a famous toy version, manufactured by the [[Lionel Corporation]]. The toy company made so much money from this item and others like it that Mickey was known as "the mouse that saved Lionel".<ref name=souter>{{cite book|last1=Souter|first1=Gerry|last2=Souter|first2=Janet|title=Classic Toy Trains|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pw6L-FHYnRkC&pg=PA78|access-date=September 17, 2011|date=December 14, 2002|publisher=MBI Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-7603-1367-1|pages=78–79}}</ref>

==Reception==
In ''Mickey's Movies: The Theatrical Films of Mickey Mouse'', Gijs Grob writes: "The finale of ''Mickey's Choo-Choo'' is remarkably fast and full of action. Moreover, it's the first Disney cartoon to feature real dialogue. Most of the cartoon, however, has a remarkably slow pace, and even some awkwardly silent moments. There's hardly any plot and Mickey and Minnie's designs are inconsistent, ranging from sophisticated (with an extra facial line) to downright poor. The end result is an average entry in Mickey's canon."<ref name=movies/>

''[[Motion Picture News]]'' (October 12, 1929) said: "This issue of the Mickey Mouse series by Walt Disney is a laugh from start to finish. In addition to sound effects this one has music and dialogue and a railway thrill with a runaway freight car. The little comedy proved to be the hit of the Strand, New York, bill, topping everything else on the program for laughs and entertainment value."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Opinions on Pictures |journal=[[Motion Picture News]] |date=October 12, 1929 |page=35 |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew40moti/page/n175/mode/2up |access-date=February 23, 2020}}</ref>

==Voice cast==
* Mickey Mouse: [[Walt Disney]]
* Minnie Mouse: Walt Disney

==Home media==
The short was released on December 7, 2004 on ''[[Walt Disney Treasures: Wave Four#Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two|Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two: 1929–1935]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mickey Mouse in Black & White Volume 2 DVD Review |url=https://www.dvdizzy.com/mmblackwhite2.html |website=DVD Dizzy |access-date=19 February 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Disney|Animation|Trains}}
* [[Mickey Mouse (film series)]]
* [[1929 in film]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal | journal = [[Screen (journal)|Screen]] | title = Disney's cows, the mouse, and the modernist moment | last = Telotte | first = J.P. | volume = 51 | issue = 3 | pages = 219–231 | year = 2010 | doi=10.1093/screen/hjq016}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [https://d23.com/a-to-z/mickeys-choo-choo-film/ D23 entry]
* [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020167/ IMDb]
* [https://mubi.com/films/mickeys-choo-choo MUBI]

{{Mickey Mouse in animation}}
{{Minnie Mouse in animation}}
{{Ub Iwerks}}
{{Clarabelle Cow in animation}}
{{Authority control}}

<!--- Categories --->
[[Category:1920s Disney animated short films]]
[[Category:1929 animated short films]]
[[Category:1929 comedy films]]
[[Category:Mickey Mouse short films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Ub Iwerks]]
[[Category:Films produced by Walt Disney]]
[[Category:1920s English-language films]]
[[Category:Animated films about trains]]
[[Category:American animated short films]]
[[Category:Animated films about mice]]
[[Category:English-language short films]]
[[Category:American animated black-and-white films]]