Mickey’s Amateurs 1937

Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney, hosts an amateur radio talent show in front of a live audience, where the host keeps the proceedings lively by ringing a gong to end performances that don’t quite land with the crowd.

After ending Pegleg Pete, Pinto Colvig’s rendition of Asleep in the Deep, Mickey introduces Donald Duck, who attempts to recite Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star but forgets the words. The moment lands flat with the audience, and the quacking performer is swiftly whisked backstage as the gong signaling a failed act rings out once more.

Clara Cluck, Florence Gill, takes the stage next with a clucking version of the Luigi Arditi waltz Il Bacio, accompanied by Clarabelle Cow, Elvia Allman, on the piano. Despite a few blunders along the way, this number becomes the first to dodge the gong, earning a small, approving cheer from the crowd.

Later, Donald returns with a startling prop—a submachine gun—and, once again, attempts Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star while holding Mickey and the audience at gunpoint. The words still evade him, and the audience’s laughter leaves him exposed; when he reacts in anger, he fires, and the moment is quickly pulled backstage with the danger contained but the gag unmistakable.

For the finale, Goofy, Pinto Colvig once more brings a comic invention to the stage: a wheeled, multi-instrument device that tries to perform In the Good Old Summer Time and There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight. The latter tune’s tempo and intensity overtake the machine, turning the device into a chaotic, sputtering mess. Donald, ever the showman, belts out a rapid-fire, word-perfect recitation of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star from within Goofy’s hat, while an iris-out effect closes in on his neck. He struggles to keep the iris open, but it finally shuts, leaving the audience with a final, cartoonish beat of breathless silence before the curtain falls.