On Ice is a color Mickey Mouse short released in 1935 that features Mickey and his friends ice skating. It is notably one of only four shorts in the original run to feature all five members of the Fabulous Five (the collective name for Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and Minnie), the others being Hawaiian Holiday, The Standard Parade, and Pluto's Christmas Tree if Minnie, Donald, and Goofy's cameo near the end is counted.
Synopsis
The cartoon revolves around three different storylines that all take place on a frozen lake during wintertime. In the first, Mickey helps Minnie learn how to skate. The second storyline has Goofy attempting to catch fish by dropping tobacco into the water and making the fish come up to spit. Donald pulls a prank on Pluto by putting ice skates on his feet and luring him out onto the ice in the third one. During Donald's prank, Pluto falls onto the fire and puts his tail out in the water, causing his tail to freeze over. The subplots come together when Donald skates around with a kite on his back, taunting Pluto. The wind kicks up and sends him flying over the waterfall. Mickey hears his cries for help and saves him by pulling on some loose threads on his sweater. Donald ends up landing right where Goofy is fishing. Goofy whacks Donald on the head with a tree branch before apologizing, explaining that he thought Donald was a fish. Pluto then arrives, barking (probably laughing) at Donald's predicament.
Characters
- The Fabulous Five:
- Mickey Mouse (voiced by Walt Disney)
- Minnie Mouse (voiced by Marcellite Garner)
- Donald Duck (voiced by Clarence Nash)
- Goofy (voiced by Pinto Colvig)
- Pluto (voiced by Pinto Colvig)
- Clarabelle Cow (cameo)
- Horace Horsecollar (cameo)
Songs
- "The World Owes Me a Living"
- "Oh Where, Oh Where, Has My Little Dog Gone?"
Trivia
- As revealed in the reenactments of the Bambi story meetings on the Diamond Edition, the gag involving Pluto on ice skates helped serve as the inspiration of the scene where Thumper teaches Bambi how to skate.
- This is the first cartoon in which Goofy sings "The World Owes Me a Living" from the Silly Symphony short The Grasshopper and the Ants. The track of him singing it, was one of his many vocal tracks reused in subsequent cartoons.
Releases
Television
- Disneyland, episode #1.6: "A Story of Dogs" (snippet)
- The Mouse Factory, episode #39: "Winter Fun"
- Good Morning, Mickey, episode #2
- A Disney Christmas Gift (syndicated version)
- Donald's Quack Attack, episode #7
- The Ink and Paint Club, episode #1.14: "Early Donald"
- Have a Laugh!, episode #40
- Treasures from the Disney Vault, December 21, 2014
Home video
VHS
DVD
- Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse In Living Color
- Walt Disney Treasures: The Complete Pluto
Blu-ray
Streaming
- Disney+, April 3, 2020
Have a Laugh! changes
The following scenes were deleted from the short release due to time constraints:
- The opening establishing shot of various skaters on the ice including Donald, Clarabelle and Horace, as well as the scene of Mickey and Minnie skating together; it opens with Mickey showing off his ice-skating prowess.
- Mickey's ice-skating prowess is partially edited, cutting his attempt to jump over a barrel, only to land on top of it and fall into the water on top of a "no swimming" sign.
- Goofy's main scene; he is not seen until the very end.
- Donald's opening proper scene, where he sings "Hi-Lee, Hi-Lo" and spots Pluto sleeping and decides to have some fun with him.
- Pluto's scene of him struggling to stay on the ice is shortened; it only shows his initial fall (as well as Donald laughing at his predicament) and then him sneezing himself backwards into the fire.
- Pluto's frozen rear end is also partially edited.
Gallery
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