The Golden Touch

The Golden Touch is a Silly Symphony short that was released on March 22, 1935. It was the last short Walt Disney would direct himself. It is a version of the story of King Midas.

Synopsis

King Midas never gets enough of gold and wishes that everything he touched would turn to gold ("The Golden Touch"). One day an elf named Goldie appears in front of him and offers him the Golden Touch, and demonstrates its magical power by turning his cat to gold, then claps his hands and it changes back, but warns him that it's a curse. Midas however derides this, exclaiming "Fiddlesticks! Give me gold, not advice!", and Goldie gives him the golden touch ("I gave thee advice, now I give thee gold."). At first Midas is happy about that (He turns many things in his garden to gold, then talks to himself in his mirror about turning the Earth and then the Universe to gold, his reflection applauds to him), but then he finds out he can't eat and can't drink anymore ("Is the richest king in all the world to starve to death?"). Deprived of his favourite meal and fear of starvation (he hallucinates himself in a golden skeleton form in his mirror; then as he runs away from this horrifying image, sees his shadow on the wall morph into a golden Grim Reaper, after which a terrified Midas flees back to his counting room), he summons the elf and agrees to surrender everything he owns. Finally he exchanges the golden touch and his castle for a hamburger ("With onions!").

Characters

King Midas (voiced by Billy Bletcher)
Goldie (voiced by Mary Moder)
Grim Reaper (voiced by Clarence Nash)

Behind the Scenes

Dissatisfied with some of his other directors' take on the short, Walt chose to direct it himself, something he hadn't done in five years. In the end however, Walt would consider it his greatest mistake and forbade his workers from ever speaking of it again.

Releases

Television

The Mickey Mouse Club, November 17, 1955
Mickey's Mouse Tracks, episode #17
The Ink and Paint Club, episode #1.7: "Storybook Silly Symphonies"
The Ink and Paint Club, episode #1.50: "Storyteller Mickey"
Treasures from the Disney Vault, March 29, 2018

Home video

VHS

Walt Disney Cartoon Classics: Disney's Tall Tales
Walt Disney's Fables: Volume 4

DVD

Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies
Walt Disney's Fables: Volume 4
Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films, Vol. 5: The Wind in the Willows

Streaming

Disney+, November 12, 2019

Gallery

v - e - d

1929
The Skeleton Dance • El Terrible Toreador • Springtime • Hell's Bells • The Merry Dwarfs

1930
Summer • Autumn • Cannibal Capers • Frolicking Fish • Arctic Antics • Midnight in a Toy Shop • Night • Monkey Melodies • Winter • Playful Pan

1931
Birds of a Feather • Mother Goose Melodies • The China Plate • The Busy Beavers • The Cat's Out • Egyptian Melodies • The Clock Store • The Spider and the Fly • The Fox Hunt • The Ugly Duckling

1932
The Bird Store • The Bears and Bees • Just Dogs • Flowers and Trees • King Neptune • Bugs in Love • Babes in the Woods • Santa's Workshop

1933
Birds in the Spring • Father Noah's Ark • The Three Little Pigs • Old King Cole • Lullaby Land • The Pied Piper • The Night Before Christmas

1934
The China Shop • The Grasshopper and the Ants • Funny Little Bunnies • The Big Bad Wolf • The Wise Little Hen • The Flying Mouse • Peculiar Penguins • The Goddess of Spring

1935
The Tortoise and the Hare • The Golden Touch • The Robber Kitten • Water Babies • The Cookie Carnival • Who Killed Cock Robin? • Music Land • Three Orphan Kittens • Cock o' the Walk • Broken Toys

1936
Elmer Elephant • Three Little Wolves • Toby Tortoise Returns • Three Blind Mouseketeers • The Country Cousin • Mother Pluto • More Kittens

1937
Woodland Café • Little Hiawatha • The Old Mill

1938
The Moth and the Flame • Wynken, Blynken and Nod • Farmyard Symphony • Merbabies • Mother Goose Goes Hollywood

1939
The Practical Pig • The Ugly Duckling