Until now, we've always supposed that Mickey and Minnie Mouse were boy-and-girlfriend. Indeed, this year marks the 80th year of their relationship.
So it may come as a bit of a shock to discover that as long ago as 1935, these two squeaky clean American icons were blessed with offspring - as witnessed by the publication of a song by Eddie Lisbona and Tommie Connor - recorded by no less a pillar of '30s society than the BBC's Henry Hall and his Orchestra...
Shocking!!
Click to enlargeFortunately, as you'll see from the lyrics, the mouselings did at least have a decent Christian baptism!
A million million people
Are happy, bright and gay,
The bells are ringing the steeple,
It’s a public holiday.
All the world is so delighted
And the kids are all excited
‘Cos the stork has brought a son and daughter to Mister and Missus Mickey Mouse.
All the mayors and corporations,
Have declared such jubilations,
‘Cos the stork has brought a son and daughter to Mister and Missus Mickey Mouse.
Pluto’s giving a party and before the fun begins
He’ll present a Gorgonzola to the father of the twins
Mister Preacher’s eyes are glist’ning,
And he’s fixing up a Christening,
‘Cos the stork has brought a son and daughter to Mister and Missus Mickey Mouse.
The news is quickly spreading,
The Christening day is near,
The town in happiness is heading
To the party of the year.
All the cats and dogs are dancing,
And the ‘ole grey mare is prancing,
‘Cos the stork has brought a son and daughter to Mister and Missus Mickey Mouse.
All the cocks are cock-a-doodling,
All the lovebirds are canoodling,
‘Cos the stork has brought a son and daughter to Mister and Missus Mickey Mouse.
Pluto’s singing a chorus with the tortoise and the hare,
Clarabelle is in the barn dance with a great big grizzly bear,
All the world is so delighted,
Come along, you’re all invited,
‘Cos the stork has brought a son and daughter to Mister and Missus Mickey Mouse.
The official Disney line is that Mickey and Minnie are - and always have been - "just good friends": quite a few songs about Disney characters were written in the 1930s, but whilst such songs were published under Disney license, they were not necessarily authorised by the company, since policing of the franchise was far less thorough than it is today.
Fans of Disney music (of the bone fide variety) may care to check out an excellent book, Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records by Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar. Visit the Mouse Tracks web-site or follow the Amazon link below...
4 comments:
This was my late and much missed mother-in-law's party piece - she was word perfect! Many thanks for this.
Not so shocking for me man..I heard this before i think..BUT NOT SURE.
PHIL - How nice to know that. Somewhere - currently misplaced or misfiled - I have the song sheet for another (presumably earlier) song 'The Wedding of Mister Mickey Mouse'; I wonder whether your mother-in-law knew that one as well?
By the way, I love your blog-site... :-)
The Henry Hall recording has an additional section. I can't get all the words but it begins "There's a crowd around the house of Mister Mickey Mouse"
then "... now let's see who is there."
This is followed by lines sung in different animal voices:
"I'm Percy Pig the postman and I bring the telegram
I'm Charlotte Sheep and I have come to see the little lamb
... I'm Henry Horse and I have brought my band to play all night."
Then "...But who is this approaching just as all the fun begins"
It's Willie Wolf the wicked man he's come to take the twins"
(spoken evil voice) "Hello twins. Nice little twins."
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