Mickey's Surprise Party

Mickey's Surprise Party is a 1939 Walt Disney commercial cartoon that promotes Nabisco products. It stars Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, and Fifi. This is the first cartoon of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse with their current designs. This is notable for being the first Disney commercial short sponsored by a company, and one of a few Disney cartoons to be in the public domain. Walt Disney hated the idea of public commercials, and swore he would not do one until then. The cartoon was shown at the 1939 New York World's Fair. This cartoon was included in the VHS release The Spirit of Mickey, with all the Nabisco packaging replaced by generic products, and all of Mickey and Minnie's lines referencing the names of the products overdubbed by Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor. However, most DVD versions of the short contain the original uncut version, replete with the Nabisco references. Milk Bone Dog Biscuits, referenced in the original version of the film, made by Nabisco at the time of the short's production, have since been acquired by Del Monte's pet food division.

Plot

Minnie bakes cookies to impress Mickey. Just as she leaves, however, her dog, Fifi, accidentally knocks popcorn into her batter while chasing a fly. Minnie, none the wiser, puts the batter in the oven. Minnie then prepares for the visit, as does Fifi. Mickey and Pluto then arrive. Minnie accepts Mickey's flowers, but Fifi rejects Pluto's bone for some reason. Unfortunately, Minnie has baked the cookies too long, burning them. As she takes them out, the corn starts popping, but not before Pluto eats one, leading to him having an exploding cookie stuck in his belly while Mickey fights the burnt cookies with a water sprayer. Minnie is then seen crying on the couch, saying that she wanted to bake cookies just like Mickey's mother. Mickey tries to comfort her, saying "My mother used to burn them all the time!"^[1] She continues to cry, however, which leads to Fifi crying too. Mickey suddenly had an idea, and leaves with Pluto. When they come back, they have several Nabisco products, including: Oreos, Lorna Doone, Ritz Crackers, Barnum's Animal Crackers, Social Tea biscuits, Fig Newtons (Mickey's and Minnie's favorite), and Milk Bones (which Fifi accepts and kisses Pluto). The film ends with Minnie kissing Mickey all over his face. The cartoon fades to "The End", which fades to the Nabisco logo.

References

• Disney Shorts - Mickey's Surprise Party at the Wayback Machine (archived November 1, 2010)