The Mousegetar is a special guitar that was owned and played by Jimmie Dodd on The Mickey Mouse Club.
It was a four-string instrument, which Jimmie called a tenor guitar, and it was manufactured by Candelario Delgado of Candelas Guitar Shop. The custom-made tenor guitar was previously part of the Jimmie Dodd Archive housed at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) University in Valencia, CA.
After his death and the show's cancellation, the guitar was donated to the Walt Disney Archives by Jimmie’s widow, Ruth Dodd Braun, in the 1980s.
Trivia[]
- There were 2 of these guitars that where played on the show.
- In 2019, The Walt Disney Family Museum was gifted one of two existing Mousegetars belonging to beloved head Mouseketeer Jimmie Dodd.
- Although the guitar is actually called the "Mouse-guitar" the name of the instrument is seen on the front.
- Mattel produced and sold toy versions of the Mousegetar in the late 1950s.
- In 1957, Mattel produced the "Mousegetar-Jr" which played the "Mickey Mouse March" when its crank was turned.
- In episode #30 of "The Mickey Mouse Club", which was aired on November 11, 1955, the Mousegetar was a present by The Mouseketeers.
- Before the Mousegetar, Jimmie played a four stringed acoustic guitar which was an old 1940’s era mahogany top tenor guitar manufactured by Martin.