Island in the Sky Pt. 1 (Gottfredson)
I’m way too damn lazy to write about the history of Floyd Gottfredson was and what an important figure he was in the field of cartooning, so here’s a small piece David Gerstein wrote years ago.
The Mickey Mouse cartoons were always really, really boring to me. Except for a handful of the shorts Iwerks animated on and some of the weirder color ones, I had always, and still do find them to be really corny. I’d rather watch Goofy, and the Disney Channel rarely played those. So many of those Disney cartoons were devoid of any actual characterization that it was embarrassing to watch them.
I didn’t read Disney comics until I was in high school so I was devoid of knowing that a Mickey Mouse who made up for his lack of humor with courageousness, spunk, and cockiness existed. It was a bit of a revelation.
Here’s a favorite story of mine, I’m going to post it all over the next week or so. They had a lot of trouble getting this one run in the comic books in the early 90s, even though it’s considered one of Gottfredson’s best continuities (because of Dr. Einmug’s German accent). Stupid, huh? Wait till we get to the 50s strips, and how the editors hated them because of all the sexy girls in them!
Anyway, here’s the dailies from 11-30-36 to 12-19-36.
I guess they had troubles because Pete is drunk in several strips too.
Will there ever be an official library, like the Carl Barks one, for these daily strips and sunday pages?
I got all the Mickey Mouse and Silly Simphony&co. sunday pages from the beginning to late Forties and all the Mickey daily strips from the beginning to late 70s, but they are in Italian.
I’d love to read them in original….
The Gottfredson Stories always presented Mickey as a tough little guy that lived by his wits—it’s a mystery to me why they never explored this type of personality in the shorts, which seemed content to make him just a cheerful nonentity. Actually, it’s not so mysterious –I think Mickey’s problem is obvious: It’s his voice. That squeaky falsetto voice that Walt gave him doomed the character to a life on the sidelines. It commands no respect and it has zero dramatic range, unlike Mel Blanc’s character voices. For a studio that claims to have created ‘Personality Animation’, their most famous creation never had much to speak of.
I could understand Disney editors having cold feet about comics featuring African natives, or something truly Un-PC like that, but a German accent? Thats’ even more spineless than many of today’s BS&P censors.
Thad, do you know when Goofy was first called “Goofy” in the Mickey comic? It’s 1936 and he’s got his official name, which condradicts what I read elsewhere online.
He was first called “Goofy” in the strip in the 1936 continuity “Oscar the Ostrich”.
Hey, Thad. I was just wondering whether you’ve seen ‘Mr. Mouse Takes A Trip’(1940). Mickey’s great in that one!
John a, I disagree about his voice. I thought he had a good voice. Beside I rather listen to him than you.
Hey, a Gottfredson post!
Just to clarify, a Disney censor’s objections to “Island in the Sky” related to Gladstone’s plans to publish it in the 1980s. By the time of the 1992 publication, that censor had moved on, thus removing the restriction. These days, Dr. Einmug keeps his accent even in new stories that include him.
So sometimes sanity wins out.
The objection to the 1950s stories, by the way, was mainly on Dell’s part; I only meant to speculate that sexy girls were the reason. The same 1980s censor who objected to “Island in the Sky” objected to a few 1950s stories too, but once again those objections were overkill and now far in the past.
it’s a mystery to me why they never explored this type of personality in the shorts, which seemed content to make him just a cheerful nonentity.
actually, they did. Shanghaied and Mickey’s Man Friday immediately come to mind.
Hi David,
I didn’t know you were going along with my [sarcastic] theory of the Gottfredson sexy girl stories being verboten because the editors couldn’t get laid. I ‘bin had!
But I dunno, we’re talking about the same folks who gave us “giant quail”.
To the 2 anonymous posters: anon#1: If Mickey Mouse is speaking to you right now you need to seek help.
Anon#2: Mickey succeeds as an action character in a film like “Shanghaied” because he’s handled as an action character–something he did a lot less as the thirties wore on. That’s not to say he didn’t do ANY action adventure cartoons during this period- “Brave Little Tailor” and “The Sorcerror’s Apprentice” are perfect Mickey films. He’s an excellent pantomime character-the best-and he’s at his best when he’s a little guy facing a big opponent-but by the forties he left all that behind and became just some suburban guy with a dog. He remained, however, an interesting character in the COMICS, I was merely stating that I wish they had retained that tougher personality from the earlier years in the shorts, rather than the namby-pamby guy he later became - and I suggested that his voice may have been a drawback.
I realise that Mickey has a lot of fans and suggesting that anything might be less than perfect about the Mouse can cause some people to fly into a state of mental hysteria. You folks need to calm down. What I’m saying is, I’d much rather see Mickey flying planes,fighting giants,saving Minnie from pirates, maybe even battling aliens than watching him bounce around on “Playhouse Mickey” saying “Hey Pluto!Gosh, isn’t it a swell day?”
Very nice “choice”.From where you took this strips,from whitch “collection”?
What about the “image of the week”,”with Donald and Fethry Duck”,nice choice as well.
“What I’m saying is, I’d much rather see Mickey flying planes,fighting giants,saving Minnie from pirates, maybe even battling aliens than watching him bounce around on “Playhouse Mickey” saying “Hey Pluto!Gosh, isn’t it a swell day?”
Yes, absolutely !
Lasseter should use his influence to have the Disney Toons studio dump their stupid Princess and Fairy and other cheapquel stuff (housecleaning going on there this week as a matter of fact) and instead start using these classic Gottfredson and Barks stories as the basis of some animated adventure films (NOT watered-down stuff like Duck Tails, thank you very much. Full animation, full scale adventure cartoons , faithfully adapted from these classic strips)
Barks’ stories would not adapt well to animation. Donald is able to carry on long (sometimes prolific) conversations in those stories. I can’t imagine that working with the voice successfully.
john a remarked
“What I’m saying is, I’d much rather see Mickey flying planes,fighting giants,saving Minnie from pirates, maybe even battling aliens than watching him bounce around on “Playhouse Mickey” saying “Hey Pluto!Gosh, isn’t it a swell day?”
My wild, uneducated guess, John, is it didn’t happen because they couldn’t fit that kind of story into seven minutes.
Then again, maybe Walt wanted an utterly inoffensive character that the PC types of the day (”League of Decency” and so on) wouldn’t demand his corporate symbol be banned.
Too bad. I agree with you. I think an adventure format would have been far more interesting.
Good point about the Donald voice grating during long stretches of dialogue, Thad . I guess I was thinking more of the other Barks characters. I think the Gottfredson stories would adapt well. As long as they kept the emphasis on adventure and funny animation , with a minimum of dialogue (so perhaps not-so-”faithful”
adaptations as I first proposed, eh ?) I think those would be great projects for something like Disney Toons to be producing (not quite feature quality, big-budget movies, but not cheapquel crap either.)
“My wild uneducated guess, John,is it didn’t happen because they couldn’t fit that kind of story into seven minutes.”
The Fleischers solved this problem by releasing three Popeye two reelers.
I’d love to see Lasseter and Co. revive “Morgan’s Ghost”, the Mickey feature that Disney started in the forties. It was later adapted by Carl Barks into the comic book story, “Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold”. Another Gottfredson story I’d like to see them adapt is “Mickey Mouse and the Seven Ghosts” (I just like the title)
(i) Another Gottfredson story I’d like to see them adapt is “Mickey Mouse and the Seven Ghosts” (I just like the title)(/i)
They already made a simaler film called “Loansome Ghost”, which is one of the mouse’s best buddies pictures.
I think I love you, Thad. In an animation geek kinda way.
I’ve only skimmed so far. That Captain Doberman look like somwthing out of Maus. Creepy.
But I look forward to following this serial closely. I’ve never read a Mickey serial.
Call me insane, but I love the early Mickey cartoons(not the B&W cartoons, but his early color cartoons) there’s just a certain charm to them that makes me love em’.