User Reviews

Walt Disney's 'The Whoopee Party' is about, well, a whoopee party. We see Mickey Mouse (voice by Walt Disney), Goofy (Pinto Colvig) and a lot of supporting characters dance on some music, created by Minnie Mouse (Marcellite Garner) behind the piano and again some supporting characters with other instruments. Once in a while some or all characters shout "Whoopee!"

The black and white short is not that funny but it is entertaining. Sometimes it is hard to follow the action because the supporting characters keep making the same moves over and over again while Mickey or Goofy moves in front of them. Still, this animated short musical is filled with life. The music fits the action in a very nice way and the "whoopee" is good for a laugh.

Walt Disney was having some problems getting paid by his distributor in this period. Eventually he would leave United Artists and settle in for the next twenty years at RKO. In the meantime, however, he would cut corners on his movies by having a lot of repetitive movements in some of his shorts. Here he tries to make use of the fact that many musical phrases repeat and that the supporting action could logically repeat. Still, the sharp-eyed viewer will notice it.

In the midst of this, Pinto Colvig's voicing of the early Goofy (who had been introduced, in slightly different form in MICKEY'S REVUE the previous year) is a welcome touch. His manic laugh never quite repeats itself and adds a touch of novelty to every shot.

Disney never fails to amuse and delight me, and amuse and delight they still do with The Whoopee Party, though with Mickey Mouse black and white cartoons I do prefer Steamboat Willie and Mickey's Good Deed. The cartoon is not one of my favourites with moments of confused action and where you can tell the animation was done on a tight budget. However, the music is wonderful, jaunty, beautifully orchestrated and always enhancing the action complete with an inspired Scott Joplin arrangement. Plus the cartoon is always crisply paced and while never exactly hilarious always entertaining. The characters are always engaging, and the voice acting solid with Pinto Colvig's Goofy an inspired touch especially with the contagious laugh he has. All in all, not a favourite but entertaining and recommendable. 8/10 Bethany Cox

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

THE WHOOPEE PARTY with Mickey & his friends has lots of good times & musical merriment for every creature in attendance.

There's plenty of fun in this little black & white film. Music mavens will recognize 'Sweet Rosie O'Grady,' 'The Maple Leaf Rag' & 'Running Wild' among the tunes performed. A nice touch is having the ladies (Minnie & Clarabelle Cow) perform the music, while the gentlemen (Mickey, Horace Horsecollar & Dippy Dawg - Goofy's early incarnation) provide the food.

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 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 simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.

Mickey and Minnie host a dance party attended by a number of Disney characters - from Goofy to Carabelle Cow. While the guests dance, Mickey, Goofy and Horace prepare sandwiches and, afterward the snacks have been devoured, the band enters, Scott Joplin's Maple Leave Rag is played and everybody dances - until the police come to break up the party.

There's plenty of fun in this cartoon short - lots of top-tapping bandstand-type music and plenty of crazy dancing and swinging. Loved Minnie's piano music. Lots of characters and plenty of fun!

Grade B+