User Reviews

From the very first shot of this animated short we know we're in Cartoon Dream World: the setting is a rowdy carnival in full swing, but our view of the festivities is blocked by swirling helium balloons. When the balloons drift away it's revealed that a cow is dangling from them, levitating over the crowd, grinning happily and blowing on a noise-maker that uncoils like a snake and emits a "Bronx cheer." Floating above a peanut vendor (who happens to be a pig), the cow razzes him with this device and scares him so badly that the pig leaps out of his clothes. Now clad in underwear, the angry porcine peanut vendor uses a sling-shot to burst the cow's balloons. The cow plummets to the ground but is cheerfully unaffected by the experience, which she demonstrates by turning to the camera and defiantly blowing a raspberry right in our faces. And that's just the first shot!

It looks very much like something produced by the Fleischer Studio, and we expect to see Koko the Clown and Betty Boop pop up any second, but in fact this is a Disney cartoon dating from the earliest days of Mickey Mouse. The atmosphere sure is different from what we might expect, based on familiarity with Mickey's later, buttoned-down adventures in suburbia; this cartoon has a low-down attitude quite unlike Disney's later output. Here, Minnie Mouse is a midway dancer who makes like Little Egypt, while a monkey beats out a tattoo rhythm on bongos and the barker promises "she'll put you in a trance/with her hoochy-coochy dance." Mickey is a hot dog vendor who sasses the barker and tries to make time with Minnie. The Karnival Kid marked the first occasion when the Disney animators gave the Mouse dialog to speak, but it was made before Walt himself began supplying the voice. It's not the familiar innocent squeak, either; as befits the setting, Mickey's voice is a bit raspy, as you'd expect from a carny worker.

There's a startling scene where Mickey sells Minnie a frankfurter, a scene that is far more suggestive what the Disney folks would tend to do later on. To pay for her purchase, Minnie reaches into her stocking for her money supply—which makes Mickey blush—but when she attempts to bite into the hot dog the thing suddenly comes to life, and attempts to escape. Mickey catches it, pulls down its "pants" and gives it a good spanking. (I'm not making this up!) The frankfurter pulls its pants back up, weeps with shame, then bites Mickey's finger and escapes again. And then, having no place else to go, our story culminates in a midnight serenade. Outside Minnie's trailer, under the moon, Mickey strums his guitar while two disreputable-looking cats yowl "Sweet Adeline" in weird, nasal tones. After this extended musical number the film wraps up with an anticlimactic gag, something quite unlike the neat resolutions we find in the Disney studio's mature work, and when the show is over you still feel like you've just watched a Fleischer cartoon.

This short is historically significant because it's Mickey Mouse's first real "talkie," but in a larger sense it signifies the road not taken for its production house. If you ever wondered what Disney cartoons might have looked like if the animators had been more loony and naughty, more like the gang at the Fleischer Studio or WB's Termite Terrace, then take a look at The Karnival Kid. I don't believe the guys at Disney ever again designed such a seamy setting for a Mickey cartoon, but perhaps that's just as well.

A little odd cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse, in the first outing where he speaks, trying to impress Minnie the Shimmy Dancer with a serenade at a carnival. Some catchy music here and there, but not much funny stuff to see here. Just a lot of wacky singing and dancing.

Grade C

The Karnival Kid (1929)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Here's another Mickey Mouse short that really doesn't contain too much of a plot but that really doesn't matter and especially when you consider that this here was the first film where we actually got to hear his voice. Mickey is working at the carnival selling hot dogs when he gets into a fight with a barker. After all that that it's his time to try and butter up Minnie. THE KARNIVAL KID is certainly a historic short but one really shouldn't expect the "voice" that America came to love. No, there's no doubt that Mickey sounds a bit strange here but if you watch the films in the order that they were released, as I was doing, it's interesting to note the various changes that would happen to the character. This here is certainly one of the most entertaining of these early shorts because of the fun times with the hot dogs and their personalities.

Up until "The Karnival Kat", the world had never heard Mickey Mouse speak. Well, when I heard him, I was in for a shock! Instead of the usual falsetto voice originally made by Walt Disney himself, Mickey has a gruff and unattractive voice--one that sounded very strange coming out of the world's most famous mouse! Well, apart from that, the sound itself was a big problem in this film--with a VERY scratchy and tinny soundtrack. Considering it came out in 1929, however, I will cut it some slack--but not when it comes to Mickey's lousy voice! Apparently, Walt and the rest must have agreed that this voice was all wrong, as it soon would become what we've all come to love.

As for the cartoon, although Mickey is in it selling hot dogs (much like he did in "All Wet") and you also see Minnie, they are only in the first portion of the cartoon. Much of it consists of showing carnival life as well as a large portion near the end devoted to a couple caterwauling cats. It's all rather cute but not up to the usual standards of a Mickey cartoon. Because of this, devoted fans will enjoy it but others might want to think about seeing some other cartoon instead.

UPDATE: I saw a copy of this posted on YouTube and the sound was a bit better.

Disney has always been a big part of my childhood, and while The Karnival Kid is a cartoon I don't adore it is a very interesting cartoon signifying the first time you hear Mickey talk. The story doesn't hit any new ground with a rather abrupt ending, and I personally did find Mickey's rather gruff-sounding voice odd here, almost as though he hasn't found his voice yet and considering the cartoon's significance I'm not surprised. However the animation is great, with the backgrounds smooth, the character designs appealing and the visual gags inventive. The music is just as effective, characterful and full of vitality, enhancing the action rather than just an excuse to lump song and dance numbers together. The gags are fun, with the first sequence having sheer kinetic energy, the hot dog scene is cute and the cats in the somewhat quieter and simpler second half of the cartoon are hilarious. All the characters are very likable also. In conclusion, not one of my favourites but important and a good cartoon anyway. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This is a cute episode. There are two parts. The first involves our hero trying to impress Minnie. She is a shimmy dancer at the Carnival. He runs a hot dog cart but his products seem to be sentient creatures, so how could one eat them. In the second half, we have a serenade as Mickey and a couple of cats try to reach the heart of the fair damsel. It's good fun with some pretty awful early sound, including singing by the cat and mouse.

This is one of the early Mickey shorts and Mickey has a bit more of an edge to his personality in these early shorts than does the mouse most people would readily recognize as Mickey. The backgrounds and other things in the scenes are different too, such as the hot dogs Mickey sells. Very good and entertaining short, this runs on Ink and Paint Club and may wind up on DVD in the not too distant future. Well worth seeking out. Recommended.

Besides providing Disney with consistent musical soundtracks for the "Silly Symphony" cartoons, Stalling provided Mickey Mouse's-and film animation's-first words ever said on the screen. In July 1929's "The Karnival Kid," Mickey (Stalling) barks out "Hot dogs, hot dogs" during the first few minutes of the cartoon while selling his food from a cart. He later sees Minnie Mouse at the carnival, and gives a series of commands to his animated hot dogs to impress her. Minnie is heard giving the hot dogs' names, her voice spoken by Walt.

"The Karnival Kid" was Mickey's ninth installment. His appearances before his first speaking role consisted of whistles, laughing and cackling, but never was he heard using the English language. Disney's distribution company for the Mickey series, Celebrity Pictures, and its owner, Pat Powers, was initially against the mouse speaking, fearing that overseas sales would be dampened by those who didn't understand English. For the Disney animators, contorting their characters' mouths were of an enormous challenge. Drawing how a face looks, especially on animals, was a new style for them to translate onto paper. The artists eventually nailed down the expressions to make them realistic to their viewers.

"The Karnival Kid" later gave costume designer Roy Williams the idea to pattern Mickey Mouse Club members' hats with ears after a scene showing Mickey tipping the top of his head to introduce himself to Minnie Mouse.

Another of the classic Iwerks/Disney collaborations from Walt Disney productions is this short that, unlike some of the other cartoons that the duo put out in 28/29, actually takes places in two time periods. Sure, it may just be day and night, but that's a small leap forward in the storytelling for Disney, who would usually just make things set in "real" time, far as the continuity went. This is set at a carnival where Mickey Mouse is selling hot dogs - we hear his voice, not sounding really like the Mouse we'd know later, perhaps Disney wasn't sure yet how to do it, like the early Homer Simpson voice work - and Minnie Mouse wants one.

The hot dogs, of course, have legs, and little arms, and can bite and be spanked when they're bad (!) so that's really the highlight here. The second half has Mickey trying to win Minnie over by having two cats "serenade" (really badly, of course) while he strums his guitar. The cat stuff goes on a bit too long - I might've liked actually full story with just the hot dogs, do they rebel, how can they eat the little cartoon hot dogs, oh, no wait, they're cartoons too, guess it makes sense - but it's still magical comedic stuff, genuine and just dumb-silly stuff.

Yes, Mickey speaks all right in this milestone cartoon. In the cartoon, Mickey is a hot dog vendor at a carnival and says his first words, "Hot Dogs!" Mickey's voice was much different than it is today. He had a much more squeaky voice in this and in several shorts to come. I recommend this short for all fans of the Disney animated shorts.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Mickey, THE KARNIVAL KID, woos Minnie the Shimmy Dancer.

Full of the quirky humor of artist Ub Iwerks, this very enjoyable black & white film is a delight. Despite its age, the animation has an unexpected panache, with Mickey's hot dogs stealing the show. Look for an early cameo by Clarabelle Cow as the bovine attached to the balloon. Mickey's voice does not sound like Walt Disney this time.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.