Mickey's Service Station

Mickey's Service Station is a 1935 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. The film, which stars Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as car mechanics, is notable as the first to feature the three characters as a comedy trio. The film was also the final black-and-white appearance of Donald, Goofy, and Pete, and the penultimate animated black-and-white film produced by Disney after Mickey's Kangaroo which was released later the same year. Mickey's Service Station was directed by Ben Sharpsteen, who at the time, had directed only Silly Symphony shorts, and starred the voices of Walt Disney, Clarence Nash, Pinto Colvig, and Billy Bletcher.

The cartoon has been colorized and is available in color on YouTube and on DVD versions of Disney's House of Mouse.^[1]

Plot

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy are working at a car service station, working together to fix a broken car. Soon Peg-Leg Pete comes by, and angrily demands that they fix a squeak in his tire. He tells them that if they don't get the job done in ten minutes, they'll have their heads cut off. Scared by the thought, they quickly get to work. Slight gags show them to be inept at car repairing, including scenes where Goofy and Donald pull each other through the car's lights, Mickey getting stuck in a tire several times, and Goofy smashing pieces of the car's engine.

Finally Mickey is able to squeeze a tire and pop out what was making the noise: a grasshopper. The trio smash several pieces of the car with hammers before Mickey is able to drive away the grasshopper. They then get to the job of repairing the car, noticing that their ten minutes are almost up. They are better at repairing the car, though Donald gets accidentally injured a few times and Mickey gets himself stuck in the tire again. When they finally finish the job, Mickey gets in the driver's seat and tests the engine, but Goofy accidentally hits a lever making the stand the car is on go up. Goofy saves the car and Mickey from crashing by making the stand's base land in Goofy's shirt.

But the weight of the stand causes Goofy to wobble around, causing Goofy to enter an underground station and pick up a bucket of motor oil. As Goofy struggles to shake the bucket off, he lets loose several rivets and finally gets the bucket off by sliding on a skateboard. He swings around on a gas pump and heads toward Donald, who puts down a plank of wood for Goofy to cross the underground station. Goofy bangs into Donald and causes Donald to hit a larger oil can, which splatters oil everywhere. Goofy slides around on the oil (his movements looking like he is doing a tap dance) and finally gets off the slick, causing Mickey and the car to crash to the ground, and Goofy gets his head stuck in the lever. Just then, Pete arrives. He pushes Mickey aside and gets into the car, but due to the team's inadequate work, the car won't start. They tiptoe away while Pete is distracted and as they watch the car dismantles itself until only the engine is remaining. The engine moves forward on four "legs" and chases Pete away, banging into him the whole time.^[2]

Voice cast

• Walt Disney as Mickey Mouse
• Clarence Nash as Donald Duck
• Pinto Colvig as Goofy
• Billy Bletcher as Pete

Legacy

Mickey's Service Station introduced Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as a comedy trio, which would soon become a popular formula for Disney films. Examples include Mickey's Fire Brigade (1935), Moving Day (1936), Moose Hunters, Clock Cleaners, Lonesome Ghosts (1937), Boat Builders, Mickey's Trailer, The Whalers (1938), Tugboat Mickey (1940), and Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004).

References

External links

• Mickey's Service Station at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Mickey's Service Station at the Internet Movie Database