Mickey's Birthday Party

{{Infobox film

| image = Mickey's Birthday Party.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Riley Thomson

| producer = Walt Disney

| story =

| narrator =

| starring = Walt Disney
Thelma Boardman
Pinto Colvig
Clarence Nash
Florence Gill

| music =

| animator = Character animation:
Marvin Woodward
J. Moore
Bernie Wolf
Kenneth Muse
Riley Thomson
Les Clark

| layout_artist =

| background_artist =

| studio = Walt Disney Productions

| distributor = RKO Radio Pictures

| released = {{Film date|1942|02|07|ref1={{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 = 7:58

| country = United States

| language = English

}}

Mickey's Birthday Party is an American animated short film directed by Riley Thomson, produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. The 114th short to feature Mickey Mouse, it was released on February 7, 1942. The animated film was directed by Riley Thomson and animated by Les Clark, James Moore, Ken Muse, Armin Shaffair, Riley Thompson, Bernie Wolf, and Marvin Woodward.{{Cite web|url=http://mayersononanimation.blogspot.com/2006/07/mickeys-birthday-party.html|title=Mayerson on Animation: Mickey's Birthday Party|date=25 July 2006}} It was the 116th short in the Mickey Mouse film series to be released, and the first 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}}

Plot

Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, and Clara Cluck throw a big birthday party for Mickey. He is given an electric organ as a gift, and he dances a wild rhumba while Minnie plays. Meanwhile, Goofy tries baking a cake, but keeps messing it up. When Minnie comes in to check on his progress, Goofy covers his tracks and tells her that the bake is going fine. Meanwhile, Donald, dressed in a sombrero and a scarf, dances with Clara, whose wild, exuberant dancing exhaust Donald. Eventually, Goofy buys a cake from the bakery. Clara in her exuberance, shakes the tired Donald so much, she inadvertently flings him out of his shirt onto the chandelier. Goofy accidentally throws the cake on Mickey as everyone sings "Happy Birthday to You", but Mickey smiles regardless.

Voice cast

Production

This short is an update of the 1931 black and white short The Birthday Party. The 1931 version only had Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar, since none of the other characters existed at the time.

It also has some marks of 1932's The Whoopee Party.

Some of the animation of Mickey's wild dance was actually originally done by Ward Kimball for The Reluctant Dragon, not only used in the film.

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004, on Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two: 1939-Today.{{cite web |title=Mickey Mouse in Living Color Volume 2 DVD Review|url=https://www.dvdizzy.com/mmlivingcolor2.htmlml |website=DVD Dizzy |access-date=19 February 2021}}

Legacy

Goofy wears the same clothes from this short in the How to Stay at Home short, "Learning to Cook" (2021).

Mickey's outfit and birthday cake are on display as props from the short in the queue of the Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway attraction at Disneyland.{{cite news|url=https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2023/01/25/photos-first-look-inside-the-mickey-minnies-runaway-railway-queue-at-disneyland/|title=Photos: First Look Inside the Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway Queue at Disneyland|website=laughingplace.com|date=January 25, 2023|accessdate=March 26, 2023}}

The characters present in the story wear the same clothes from the short in the 2023 short film Once Upon a Studio.{{cite web |last1=Reif |first1=Alex |title=Disney's "Once Upon a Studio" – List of Characters in Order of Appearance |url=https://www.laughingplace.com/w/disney-entertainment/disneys-once-upon-a-studio-list-of-characters-in-order-of-appearance/ |website=Laughing Place |date=October 16, 2023}}