Lend a Paw

{{Infobox film

| name = Lend a Paw

| image = Lend a Paw.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Clyde Geronimi
Assisted by:
Don A. Duckwall (uncredited)

| producer = Walt Disney

| story =

| narrator =

| starring = Teddy Barr
Walt Disney
John Dehner
John McLeish
Marcellite Garner

| music = Leigh Harline

| animator = Uncredited character animation:
George Nicholas
Kenneth Muse
Nick Nichols
William Sturm
Eric Gurney
Norman Tate
Chick Otterstrom
Morey Reden
Emery Hawkins

| layout_artist = Uncredited:
Bruce Bushman

| background_artist =

| studio = Walt Disney Productions

| distributor = RKO Radio Pictures

| released = {{Film date|1941|10|03}}{{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}}

| color_process = Technicolor

| runtime = 8:12

| country = United States

| language = English

}}

Lend a Paw is an animated short film produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions, distributed by RKO Radio Pictures and released to theaters on October 3, 1941. Lend a Paw was directed by Clyde Geronimi and features original music by Leigh Harline. George Nicholas, Kenneth Muse, Nick Nichols, William Sturm, Eric Gurney, Norman Tate, Chick Otterstrom, Morey Reden, and Emery Hawkins animated the film. The voice cast includes Walt Disney as Mickey and Teddy Barr as Pluto."[https://archive.today/20120724062353/http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/4130-Lend_A_Paw.html Lend A Paw]". www.bcdb.com It was the 115th short in the Mickey Mouse film series to be released, and the sixth for that year.{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |access-date=6 June 2020 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780816038312/page/108/mode/2up |pages=107–109}}

In the cartoon, which was largely a remake of the 1933 short Mickey's Pal Pluto, Pluto saves the life of a kitten, and later feels jealous towards the kitten after Mickey Mouse takes the kitten in. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 14th Academy Awards in 1942, the only Mickey Mouse short to win the award.

Plot

While out in the snow, Pluto hears meowing from a bag floating on a drifting ice floe. He saves it, only to lose interest when he finds a kitten inside. The kitten follows him home and Mickey adopts it. Pluto becomes jealous of all the attention the kitten gets and is urged by his shoulder devil to get it in trouble. His shoulder angel attempts to talk him out of it. The devil gets rid of the angel by jabbing him with his trident. Pluto lifts the kitten within reach of Mickey's goldfish Bianca, only for it to drag the fishbowl off the edge of the table. This gets Mickey's attention and he demands answers from Bianca. She identifies Pluto as the culprit. Mickey kicks Pluto out of the house as punishment. Pluto blames his shoulder devil for getting him in trouble.

The kitten chases a ball outside and accidentally falls into a well. The angel tells Pluto to save it, but the devil tells him to let it drown as revenge for getting him kicked out and silences the angel by trapping him in his halo and punching him out, to Pluto's delight. Roused by the kitten's cries, the angel steps on the devil's tail and punches him into oblivion, convincing Pluto to extract the kitten using the well's bucket. In the process Pluto slips and falls in the well. Hearing Pluto's howl, Mickey pulls him out, but finds him frozen in a block of ice. He rams him into the well's top to break the ice. After receiving a hot bath from Mickey and a thank you lick from the kitten, Pluto pants contentedly and is told by the angel "Kindness to animals, my friend, will be rewarded in the end."

Voice cast

Mickey Mouse: Walt Disney
Pluto: Teddy Barr & Pinto Colvig
Pluto's angel: John McLeish
Pluto's devil: John Dehner
Kitten: Marcellite Garner

Legacy

Pluto's angel and devil reappeared, played by Eric Idle and Penn Jillette respectively, in two episodes of Mickey Mouse Works - "Pluto's Kittens" (1999) and "Minnie Takes Care of Pluto" (2000) - as well as a 2002 episode of House of Mouse, "Pluto vs Figaro",{{cite web |title=Pluto's Devil |url=https://intanibase.com/iad_characters/character.aspx?charID=2133 |website=Internet Animation Database |access-date=February 15, 2020}} and in the Mickey Mouse episode, "Easy Street"; in the latter, the angel actually agrees with the devil's plan remarking "Amen".

Releases

1941 - theatrical release
1954 - Disneyland, episode #1.6: "A Story of Dogs" (TV)
c. 1972 - The Mouse Factory, episode #29: "Consciences" (TV)
c. 1992 - Mickey's Mouse Tracks, episode #67 (TV)
c. 1992 - Donald's Quack Attack, episode #15 (TV)
1993 - The Adventures of Mickey and Donald, episode #1 (TV)

Home media

The short was released on December 7, 2004, on Walt Disney Treasures: The Complete Pluto: 1930-1947.{{cite web |title=The Complete Pluto Volume 1 DVD Review |url=https://www.dvdizzy.com/pluto1.html |website=DVD Dizzy |access-date=19 February 2021}}

Additional releases include:

1981 - "Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Cartoon Collections Volume Three" (VHS)
1998 - "The Spirit of Mickey" (VHS)
c. 2002 - bonus on Oliver and Company (DVD/VHS, only in USA/Canada)
2005 - "Classic Cartoon Favorites: Holiday Celebration with Mickey and Pals" (DVD)
2006 - bonus on The Fox and the Hound (25th anniversary edition DVD)
2009 - bonus on Oliver and Company (20th anniversary edition DVD)
2013 - bonus on Oliver and Company (25th anniversary edition Blu-ray)