The Jazz Fool
About The Jazz Fool
Mickey Mouse rides into town on a cart labeled Mickey's Big Road Show, playing a pipe organ while a horse pulls it. The horse dances, and so do animals behind the cart, two cows, and clothes on a washline. At a fair the horse plays percussion and Mickey plays the organ. He then takes a piano on stage and plays it hard enough to start a fight with it. The piano bites him. The only words are Mickey singing nonsense syllables, 'dohs,' to the tune.
Cast & crew
More about The Jazz Fool
Walt Disney directed and produced it. Carl W. Stalling wrote the music. It is the twelfth Mickey Mouse short, the ninth of 1929. Celebrity Productions released it on October 15, 1929. Columbia Pictures reissued it after Disney changed distributors. A timed print runs 5 minutes 57 seconds. The title joins the names of Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer (1927) and The Singing Fool (1928).
Themes
Making
The short is built as a road show that turns into a stage fight between Mickey and the piano.
Music
Carl W. Stalling wrote the score. Mickey sings only 'doh' syllables. The title points at Jolson's The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool.
Preservation
A print is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The horse is an early Horace Horsecollar, still not the talking character he later becomes.
- Mickey's suitcase in some descriptions is labeled Jazz Fool and opens into the piano.
- Two cows in the barnyard dance are drawn like the later Clarabelle Cow.
- There is no spoken dialogue.
Scenes
- Clothes on a washline dance as the cart goes by.
- Mickey slugs the piano.
- The piano bites him.
Influenced by
- The Jazz Singer (1927)
- The Singing Fool (1928)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (012 - The Jazz Fool.webm)
