Mickey's 60th Birthday is a 1988 television special broadcast as an episode of The Magical World of Disney on November 13, 1988 on NBC. As the title suggests, it was produced for the 60th anniversary of Mickey Mouse. Not unlike Who Framed Roger Rabbit (which had been recently released at the time), much of the footage featured in the film is live-action with newly-made animation (although some of the animation used for some scenes were made from existing footage). It was rebroadcast on Disney Channel Europe on November 13, 2008, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the special.
Synopsis
Mickey's 60th birthday show is being taped and as his appearance in the show draws to a close, Mickey finds himself trying to decide how he should present himself to his audience. Rummaging through an old trunk, he finds the magic hat from The Sorcerer's Apprentice and considers using it, but he is warned by the sorcerer who owns the hat (who is not Yen Sid this time) that he should not be using other people's magic when he has his own, which Mickey initially doesn't understand. With that in mind, Mickey goes out on stage along with his birthday cake, provided by Roger Rabbit, who realizes too late that he placed a stick of dynamite on the cake instead of a candle. In his attempt to put the dynamite out, Roger ends up destroying the set, which prompts Mickey to use the magic from the hat to repair the damage. The audience screams for more and Mickey agrees to do so, but when he does, he suddenly vanishes.
The sorcerer, annoyed that Mickey disobeyed his warning, decides to teach the Mouse how to find his own kind of magic by casting a spell on him in which anyone he runs into fails to recognize him as Mickey Mouse. The Mouse is then returned to the real world, where he's found by Andy Keaton of Family Ties, who mistakenly believes him to be a good impression of the real thing. Andy shows Mickey off to Mallory and Jennifer, but when they're not convinced, even Andy turns him down. Dejected, Mickey goes to the bar from Cheers, only to realize that he has no money to buy himself a drink. He then sings "Happy Birthday" to Rebecca Howe, cheering her up so much that she takes him out to dinner and a movie.
Meanwhile, The Walt Disney Company organizes a search party to find the missing Mickey, which was reported on a local news show. In the process, the reporters, Dudley Goode and Mia Loud, begin to suspect Donald Duck after being told of how upset he was that he wasn't going to appear in Mickey's special. Their suspicions go even further when they find old footage of Donald doing his own version of The Mickey Mouse Club theme song, and Donald is soon arrested after he unsuccessfully tries to testify his innocence (he claimed that the kidnapper was either Minnie Mouse, "the guy who framed Roger Rabbit", the Wicked Witch or Porky Pig). Donald is to be represented by the legal firm of McKenzie, Brackman, Chaney and Kuzak. As they continue with their reports on the search, the reporters show various clip montages of Mickey and various tributes people were putting out to him.
As the special nears its end, Mickey returns to Disneyland, where a custodian (Cheech Marin) mopes over the fact that he can't see any point in his profession if the guest of honor isn't going to show up for his own birthday party. Phylicia Rashad then sings a song called "Magic, It's All Up to You" with Mickey accompanying the ensuing song-and-dance number. At this point, the sorcerer reappears and congratulates Mickey now that he's finally found his own magic inside him and thus breaks the spell. Just as the sorcerer exits, Roger rushes up to Mickey and instantly recognizes him. The news of Roger having "found" Mickey is brought to the news and the innocent Donald is released from jail just in time to join Mickey's birthday celebration at Disneyland.
Notes
- In Donald's version of "The Mickey Mouse March", when Jiminy Cricket tosses the cards spelling Donald's name into the air, the cards actually still have the letters in Mickey's name on them right before they reach the point where they freeze in midair.
- For the sequence where Mickey visits Cheers, Michael Eisner contacted James Burrow and asked for the Cheers writers to write the scene, due to the first draft by Disney's own writers not being very good. After the Cheers writers revised the scene into what appears in the finished special, they later each received tote bags filled with Disney merchandise.[1]
Cast
- Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse (voice)
- Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck (voice)
- Charles Fleischer as himself and Roger Rabbit (voice)
- Carl Reiner as Mel Pollini
- John Ritter as Dudley Goode
- Jill Eikenberry as Mia Loud
- Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse (voice)
- Brian Bonsall as Andy Keaton
- Justine Bateman as Mallory Keaton
- Michael J. Fox as Alex Keaton (in flashback clip)
- Tina Yothers as Jennifer Keaton
- John Ratzenberger as Cliff Clavin
- Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane
- Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe
- Cheech Marin as the custodian at Disneyland
- Phylicia Rashad as herself
- Peter Cullen as the Sorcerer (voice)
- Phylicia Rashad as the Disneyland dancer
- Fred Dryer as Sgt. Rick Hunter
- Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak
- Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo
- Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux
- Betty White as Rose Nylund
- Burt Reynolds as Himself
- Dyan Cannon as Herself
- Phil Collins as Himself
- Annette Funicello as Herself
- Bette Midler as Herself
- Barbara Hershey as Herself
Gallery
