1937 Mickey Mouse cartoon
Lonesome Ghosts
is a 1937
Disney
animated cartoon, released through RKO Radio Pictures on
Christmas Eve
, three days after
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937). It was directed by Burt Gillett and animated by Izzy (Isadore) Klein, Ed Love, Milt Kahl, Marvin Woodward, Bob Wickersham, Clyde Geronimi, Dick Huemer, Dick Williams, Art Babbitt, and Rex Cox.
[2]
The short features
Mickey Mouse
,
Donald Duck
&
Goofy
as members of The Ajax Ghost Exterminators. It was the 98th short in the
Mickey Mouse
film series to be released, and the ninth for that year.
[3]
This short marked the first use of one of Goofy's catchphrases, "Somethin' wrong here!".
The film features a
comedy horror
plot. A
quartet
of
trickster
ghosts have settled into a
haunted house
. They are bored because this house has had no visitors for quite some time, and there is nobody around to fall victim to their
pranks
. They decide to hire a trio of ghost exterminators by telephone, and then amuse themselves by pranking the exterminators.
Plot
[
edit
]
The Ajax Ghost Exterminators -
Mickey Mouse
,
Donald Duck
&
Goofy
- are hired by telephone to drive out four
ghosts
from a
haunted house
that has long been abandoned. Unbeknownst to them, however, they were called by the ghosts themselves, who are bored because nobody has visited the house for a long time (either because none of the locals were scared or they had scared them all away, as one ghost puts it: "Guess we're too good!"). They wish to play tricks on the living and do so through a series of inventive, annoying pranks.
The exterminators arrive and knock on the front door, which falls down. When they announce themselves, there is nobody to receive them. Mickey decides they should get to work anyway. When entering, the door lifts up and throws them inside before putting itself back in place, making a mousetrap fall shut on Goofy's nose. After hearing the ghosts' laughter, the three split up to hunt the ghosts individually.
The exterminators are toyed with at every turn; a ghost knocks Mickey on the head and puts its fingers in both barrels of his shotgun when he tries to shoot it and it explodes. Mickey is driven upstairs and tries to open a door that the ghost disappears into, which falls down and the ghosts (forming a marching band) come out of the fallen door and go into another.
Mickey opens the door, which causes water to pour out of it while the ghosts surf across it on surfboards. The last one comes out on a motorboat that goes in a circle around Mickey until it and the water disappear altogether.
Donald, meanwhile, is whacked in the rear with a wooden board and is scared away by the sounds of banging chains and dishes. He punches the ghost, but it resurfaces and blows water in his face.
Goofy runs into a bedroom at the sound of a ghost banging a wooden spoon on a pan. He soon becomes tangled in a dresser after seeing a ghost in a mirror instead of his reflection and stabs his rear with a pin, mistaking his blue pants for a ghost, and is shoved down into the basement.
In the end, the three exterminators crash into some molasses, flour and syrup, making them look like ghosts and consequently, they scare the actual ghosts out of the house in a panic, knocking off and smashing objects. The ghost hunters stand victorious, having driven the spirits out of the house, although not exactly certain how. Donald smugly assumes the ghosts fled in capitulation to their superior tactics, calling them sissies and laughing.
Voice cast
[
edit
]
Releases
[
edit
]
Home media
[
edit
]
The short was released on December 4, 2001, on
Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color
.
[5]
Additional releases include:
In other media
[
edit
]
- An edited (and silent) version of the cartoon was released as a cartridge for the
Fisher-Price
Movie Viewer, a small crank-operated toy.
- In 1957, the scream sound effect heard at the beginning of this short was used in the fourth episode of
Zorro
, "The Ghost of the Mission", which appropriately aired on
Halloween
.
- Many people believe this cartoon was the inspiration for
Ghostbusters
. Also, the phrase "I ain't scared of no ghost" occurs in this cartoon, which may have inspired the Ghostbusters theme song written by
Ray Parker Jr
. Disney made a
D-TV
of the song to footage from the cartoon for their Halloween special DTV Monster Hits.
- The Lonesome Ghosts appear as helpers in the video game
Disney's Magical Quest 2 Starring Mickey & Minnie
.
- Lonesome Ghosts
was the basis for, and title of the fourth level in the video game
Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse
, and its
PlayStation
version,
Mickey's Wild Adventure
.
- A scene from
Lonesome Ghosts
with new music appears in
Disney's Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse
.
- A shortened version aired on the
Disney Channel
in October 2009, as part of a show called
Disney Have-a-Laugh
, which featured remastered and redubbed versions of old cartoons.
- There is a travel map in the video game
Epic Mickey
based on this cartoon. The Lonesome Ghosts appear as Wasteland denizens and are named Gilbert, Ian, Gabriel, and Screechin' Sam.
- The Lonesome Ghosts and The Ajax Ghost Exterminators were incorporated into a painting by artist
Randy Souders
. Entitled "A Haunting We Will Go", it was created for the 1997 Disneyana Convention at
Walt Disney World
.
[6]
- In the "
House Ghosts
" episode of
House of Mouse
, The Lonesome Ghosts make a cameo scaring
Pete
during the musical number "
Grim Grinning Ghosts
".
- Lonesome Ghosts
also appeared in an episode of
Sing Me a Story with Belle
.
- The ghosts make a cameo in the episode "When the Spirit Moves You" of the TV series
Bonkers
.
- In the "Houseghosts" episode of
The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse
, The Lonesome Ghosts appear to take advantage of Mickey's kindness and moved into his house after their house was torn down and become homeless for scaring the entire neighborhood.
- A snippet was used telling about New Year's superstitions near the end of Disney's "Wonderful World of Winter" 1983 educational short.
- A newspaper clipping of the advertisement for The Ajax Ghost Exterminators is inside of the ticket booth of the El CapiTOON Theater, which houses the
Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway
attraction at
Disneyland
. In addition, Mickey, Donald and Goofy's telephone and the ghosts' dresser are on display inside the attraction's queue as props from the short, with the ghosts occasionally appearing in the dresser's mirror.
[7]
[8]
[9]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Kaufman, J.B.; Gerstein, David (2018).
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History
. Cologne: Taschen.
ISBN
978-3-8365-5284-4
.
- ^
"
Lonesome Ghosts
".
www.bcdb.com
, April 12, 2012
- ^
Lenburg, Jeff (1999).
The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons
. Checkmark Books. pp.
107
-109.
ISBN
0-8160-3831-7
. Retrieved
6 June
2020
.
- ^
"The Story of Disney's "Lonesome Ghosts" (1937) |"
.
cartoonresearch.com
. Retrieved
3 July
2022
.
- ^
"Mickey Mouse in Living Color DVD Review"
.
DVD Dizzy
. Retrieved
20 February
2021
.
- ^
[1]
Archived
September 26, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Krys Magic [@krystian_magic] (January 28, 2023).
"Actually I think there IS! I was looking at this pic of the inside the El Capitoon ticket booth that Disneyland Today took and I think that's the ad Mickey finds for the mind swap experiment (screenshot from the cartoon for reference)"
(
Tweet
)
. Retrieved
March 24,
2023
– via
Twitter
.
- ^
"Top 10 Mickey Cartoons to Watch Before Riding Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway at Disneyland"
.
disneyaddicts.com
. February 25, 2023
. Retrieved
March 24,
2023
.
- ^
"Photos: First Look Inside the Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway Queue at Disneyland"
.
laughingplace.com
. January 25, 2023
. Retrieved
March 24,
2023
.
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