Mickey's Trailer

I’m just going to be honest – I cannot be objective about Mickey’s Trailer. It is an absolute favorite for me, and there are so many emotional ties to this short that I can’t sit here and judge it.



This was one of the very first Mickey cartoons I ever saw, and I have always loved it. It’s not my absolute favorite (either Lonesome Ghosts or Hawaiian Holiday would have that distinction), but it probably is the one that means the most to me. The first Disney book I read to my son and my daughter was an adaptation of this short. When I was a kid, we owned a VW Vanagon that seemed a whole lot like Mickey’s trailer. It’s a short that I could watch over and over again.

So, gushing aside, this short fits perfectly in with the other trio shorts, but to my mind, has some of the best gags in the Disney shorts. The sheer inventiveness on display here is on par with anything done in Mickey shorts before. Seeing the trailer fold and switch into different forms, and then the contortions that Mickey and Donald go through as the trailer goes down the hill…I just love it.



One of my real favorite gags is the very beginning, when Mickey wakes up and steps out onto his perfectly manicured lawn in this amazing landscape, and pulls the lever, having the lawn, backdrop and everything else fold up. It’s funny, but it’s also a commentary – we all want this idyllic life, but in the end, we are usually living in front of the city dump.



I also love the breakfast scenes. Mickey making the coffee by tossing things around the trailer, Goofy helping him get milk from a passing cow, dipping the pot under a waterfall for water – it all sounds wonderful. That’s the feeling I get from the first half of this short, is that idyllic, peaceful happy feeling that so many Disney shorts have.



The second half of the short is when Goofy realizes that no one is driving the trailer, which in itself is a great gag. As he tries to right the ship, Donald and Mickey go wild, the trailer flying down the mountain past trains, falling end over end, and causing the two of them to plead for help, especially Donald.



Like I said, I can’t really be objective about this one. I love Mickey’s Trailer unconditionally, and I’ve always loved it. This is one of those shorts I watch over and over again, and always will be.

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