Clock Cleaners

Clock Cleaners
Directed by	Ben Sharpsteen
Produced by	Walt Disney
Studio(s)	Walt Disney Productions
Distributor	RKO Radio Pictures
Released	October 15, 1937 July 2, 1986 (reissued with The Great Mouse Detective)
Language	English
Preceded by	Hawaiian Holiday
Followed by	Lonesome Ghosts
External links
IMDb page

Original title card

Clock Cleaners is a color Mickey Mouse animated short. It was released in 1937.

Synopsis

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy each face different obstacles while cleaning a giant clock tower. Mickey tries to remove a sleepy stork that is nesting in the gears while the main spring causes trouble for Donald. Later, a hit on the head by a mechanical bell ringer causes Goofy (who mistook it for an actual person) to carelessly stumble along a high ledge and through a perilous trek, while Mickey does his best to make sure his pal doesn't take a nasty fall.

Characters

• Mickey Mouse (voiced by Walt Disney)
• Donald Duck (voiced by Clarence Nash)
• Goofy (voiced by Pinto Colvig)
• Stork

Releases

Television

• One Hour in Wonderland
• The Mouse Factory, episode #1.15: "Back To Nature"
• The New Mickey Mouse Club, episode C-011, January 31, 1977
• Good Morning, Mickey, episode #56
• Goofy's Guide to Success
• Mickey's Mouse Tracks, episode #77
• Donald's Quack Attack, episode #60
• The Ink and Paint Club, episode #1.22: "Classic Mickey"
• Have a Laugh!, episode #10
• Treasures from the Disney Vault, June 28, 2016 (Censored)

Home video

VHS

• Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Mickey's Crazy Careers
• Walt Disney Cartoon Classics - Special Edition: Fun on the Job!
• Everybody Loves Mickey

Laserdisc

• Walt Disney Cartoon Classics - Special Edition: Happy Summer Days / Fun on the Job! / The Goofy World of Sports

DVD

• Everybody Loves Mickey
• Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color (Censored)
• Bonus on The Great Mouse Detective (Gold Collection) (Censored)
• Walt Disney's Funny Factory, Vol. 3: Goofy (Censored)
• Have a Laugh!: Volume 2 (Uncensored)
• Epic Mickey Collector's Edition Bonus DVD (Censored)

Trivia

• This short was ranked #27 in The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals, a book by animation historian Jerry Beck.
• This short was featured as a transition level in Epic Mickey.
• In some editions of this short, the sequence with Mickey and the stork is removed.
• When visiting Mickey's house in Disneyland in California, this cartoon will often times play in the living room in black and white.

Censorship

During the 1990s, Donald Wildmon and the American Family Association forced Wal-Mart to discontinue the sale of the VHS tape Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Fun on the Job, which contained this short. The reason for this was that during his argument with the main spring, Donald Duck allegedly shouts "F*** you!" and called the spring "son of a b***h" (He actually says "Says you!", which is made clear by the spring replying, "Says I!", and called the spring a "snake in the grass", but were all misinterpreted as profanity by some people due to Donald's unintelligible "duck voice"). It should be noted that Disney would not have been allowed to release the cartoon in theaters if profane language were actually used; the Hays Code was heavily enforced since 1934 and would have prevented Disney from doing so.

Due to this controversy, when the cartoon was included on the Walt Disney Treasures DVD set Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Donald's line was redubbed with the line, "Awww, nuts!", originally said in On Ice. The edit is made obvious by the fact that the viewer can hear Pluto barking when Donald says this. Also, the "snake in the grass" line was also redubbed with Donald's angry squawking. The same edit also occurs on the DVD release of The Great Mouse Detective (which includes the cartoon as a bonus feature), the Funny Factory with Goofy DVD, and the Epic Mickey Collector's Edition bonus DVD, and was also present when the short was broadcast as part of Treasures from the Disney Vault on Turner Classic Movies.

However, the scene was shown with its original dialogue in the TV special One Hour in Wonderland, which is included as a bonus feature on the Alice in Wonderland: Masterpiece Edition DVD. Additionally, the Have a Laugh! broadcasts of the cartoon on the Disney Channel and the Have a Laugh!: Volume 2 DVD have reinstated the original line. Additionally on Disney+'s print of the cartoon, Donald's "Says you!" is retained, but the "snake in the grass" line was still replaced with Donald squawking.

Have a Laugh! changes

The following scenes were deleted from the short release due to time constraints:

• Donald initially starting to wash the mainspring, but gets entangled in it.
• Mickey's entire struggle with the stork.
• Donald's argument with the mainspring.
• Part of Donald's body swaying in a ticking sound.
• The first time the Lady Liberty bell ringer rings the bell and the second time the Father Time ringer rings it.

Gallery

Clock Cleaners 1947 reissue title card cel.jpeg

1947 theatrical reissue title card

Clockcleaners03.jpg

Non-theatrical reissue title card

Original clock cleaners.PNG

The title card used for Have a Laugh! and Treasures from the Disney Vault

Donald arguing with the main spring

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