Art Babbitt

Among the many animation treasures celebrated here are the never-before-released 'Hell's Bells' and the original unedited 'Mother Goose Goes Hollywood', plus the Academy Award winning 'Three Orphan Kittens' (Best Cartoon, 1935). Enriching the collection even further are several options commentaries by some of the world's foremost animation and film music experts, who also take part in a lively conversation about the series that let Walt Disney push the envelope of animation art to unimaginable flights of fantasy.

It is written among the limitless constellations of the celestial heavens, and in the depths of the emerald seas, and upon every grain of sand in the vast deserts, that the world which we see is an outward and visible dream, of an inward and invisible reality ... Once upon a time there was a golden city. In the center of the golden city, atop the tallest minaret, were three golden balls. The ancients had prophesied that if the three golden balls were ever taken away, harmony would yield to discord, and the city would fall to destruction and death. But... the mystics had also foretold that the city might be saved by the simplest soul with the smallest and simplest of things. In the city there dwelt a lowly shoemaker, who was known as Tack the Cobbler. Also in the city... existed a Thief, who shall be... nameless.

Raggedy Ann and Andy leave their playroom to rescue Babette, a beautiful French doll kidnapped by a pirate.

A Hubley stand-in instructs iconic trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie on scoring a short commercial for an instant rope ladder.

A compilation reel of television commercials produced by Story Board Inc.

The story of Frankie and Johnny: Frankie walks into a bar, where she catches her boyfriend Johnny with the sensuous Nellie Bly and kills him in a fit of jealousy.

Five-year-old Patsy has competition for her father's attention from the family's new baby. Her attempts to win her father's praise receive instead a rebuke.

The mayor of a town gives a glowing introduction to the man who invented popcorn, while we're shown the much-different story of how popcorn came about.

A family's horse-drawn ice delivery business is threatened by a more modern automobile-using company.

Goofy goes duck-hunting.

An older beetle of a rare variety advises a young passerby against crossing a stream, where he is likely to get trapped by bug collector Donald, as he himself almost was when he was young.

Ben Buzzard runs a "used" (broken) plane lot. Donald takes one of the junkers out for a test fly after signing a life insurance policy payable to Buzzard. Buzzard then tries several schemes to get Donald to wreck.

Spoof of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) with an all-black cartoon cast.

Goofy takes a lighthearted look at self defense through the ages: cavemen, knights, the age of chivalry, and finally boxing.

Goofy has to get a box belonging to a magician in time for the next train to pick the baggage. Clumsy Goofy drops the box and a lot of magician's props appear.

Yet another sport is made 'easy' for us by Goofy's demonstration how- never, ever, to try anything for real, least of all with a glider-flying machine he launches in ways that would kill anything but a cartoon character, such as a giant catapult and even a canon. Meanwhile Goofy proves totally incapable to control any of its movements in the air, let alone the 'landing' which is too messy even for a bombshell.

Lonely toymaker Geppetto has his wishes answered when the Blue Fairy arrives to bring his wooden puppet Pinocchio to life. Before becoming a real boy, however, Pinocchio must prove he's worthy as he sets off on an adventure with his whistling sidekick and conscience, Jiminy Cricket.

Goofy goes fishing with his best friend, Wilbur, a grasshopper.

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are crewing a whaling ship. Their mishaps include Donald fighting off some hungry birds, Mickey and a bucket of water that keeps doing a boomerang impression, and Goofy firing the cannon and getting stuck high in the air, and ultimately inside a whale. And when he lands the whale well, let's just say they're gonna need a bigger boat.

Donald and Goofy are trappers in the frozen south (Antarctica) with different approaches. Donald sees a penguin and dresses as one to lure her to the chopping block; Goofy baits a trap with fish (then acts like a walrus to capture one that steals his bait bucket).

A beautiful girl, Snow White, takes refuge in the forest in the house of seven dwarfs to hide from her stepmother, the wicked Queen. The Queen is jealous because she wants to be known as "the fairest in the land," and Snow White's beauty surpasses her own.

Mickey hosts an amateur hour radio show.

Goofy (front) and Donald (rear) are dressed in a moose suit, trying to lure moose for hunter Mickey. When they do find one, it turns out to be more than they can handle.

Donald and Mickey are overdue on their rent, so the sheriff is preparing to evict them and sell their belongings. Goofy the ice-man comes by and helps them move out before the sale, but their piano doesn't want to stay on his truck. Meanwhile, Donald has a fight with a plunger and a fishbowl after removing a heater from the gas line.

Mickey leads his polo team Donald (on a mule), Goofy, The Big Bad Wolf against an all-star team: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Harpo Marx (on an ostrich), Charles Chaplin, in a game refereed by Jack Holt. Featured spectators include the Three Little Pigs with Shirley Temple, W.C. Fields, and Clarabelle Cow with Clark Gable. Game action proceeds pretty much as you might expect from this bunch of comedians.

A sailor doll, thrown into a toy dump, rallies the demoralized dolls that were already there.

Mickey shows off his ice-skating skills to Minnie; Goofy does some unconventional ice fishing; Donald straps skates to Pluto and laughs at his attempts to skate. Donald gets strapped to a kite and is about to be swept over a waterfall when Mickey pulls off an heroic rescue.

The insects have completely taken over Mickey's garden. He spritzes them with insecticide, but runs out and they keep feasting. He mixes a new batch. Meanwhile, Pluto stalks a bug and gets his head stick in a pumpkin. He stumbles around and bumps into Mickey and the sprayer, giving Mickey a faceful of bug juice. He awakens to a warped reality, where the bugs and plants are giant sized, and the bugs get drunk on the insecticide and chase our heroes. Mickey recovers from his nightmare, discovering the giant worm he was wrestling was the hose.

A colony of nymph babies bathe and play in a river.

Mickey, Goofy & Donald have 10 minutes to fix Pete's car. Or else!

Minnie rides into town and takes a large sack of money out of the bank. Pegleg Pete gathers his gang to take it from her, and they chase her out of town. Lonesome cowboy Mickey, who met Minnie earlier and was told she could take care of herself, sees this chase unfolding from his high perch, and rides down to save the day.

The goddess is greeted by dancing flowers and fairies. The devil comes and takes her away to be his queen. She's despondent, as winter settles in above ground. But the devil isn't happy either, and offers anything to make her happy. They reach an agreement: she'll spend six months above ground and six below. Thus we have seasons.

Penguins dance and play in Antarctica.

Join Donald Duck in his debut in the classic animated short The Wise Little Hen. The Little Hen is planting corn and would like to have help from Peter Pig and Donald Duck, but they refuse stating they each have a "tummy ache." When it comes time to harvest the corn, Peter Pig and Donald still refuse to help the Hen, so she and her chicks do the harvest by themselves. Finally, the hen cooks the corn and offers some to Donald and Peter Pig, but when they look more carefully they discover a surprise.

Mickey is first seen reading Gulliver's Travels while the mice orphan children are pretending to be sailors. After ruining their game Mickey tries to make it up to them by retelling the Liliput sequences of Gulliver's Travels pretending it was a real event that happened to him by portraying the role of Gulliver. The story ends with Mickey saving the town from a giant spider (Pete). However after telling the story, one of the children dangles a fake spider attached to a fishing rod which scares Mickey out of his witts.

We see bunny rabbits preparing for Easter, by making chocolate eggs and rabbits, decorating eggs, and weaving and filling baskets.

Mickey's trying to do some yardwork, but Pluto wants to play. They end up indoors; Mickey breaks a screen, spreads flypaper, and they both get stuck.

The gang is sitting around their campsite when a mosquito spoils their fun. And then he gets hundreds of his friends and they really cause trouble. Horace squirts some with molasses, which helps a bit. Everyone retreats to the tent, where they still get stung but can fight back a bit, eventually trapping all the mosquitoes in a pair of bloomers and sending them on their way.

As in the classic fable, the grasshopper plays his fiddle and lives for the moment, while the industrious ants squirrel away massive amounts of food for the winter. With his song, he's able to convince at least one small ant until the queen arrives and scares him back to work. The queen warns the grasshopper of the trouble he'll be in, come winter. Winter comes, and the grasshopper, near starvation, stumbles across the ants, who are having a full-on feast in their snug little tree. They take him in and warm him up. The queen tells him only those who work can eat so he must play for them. Written by Jon Reeves

The elderly owner of a china shop leaves for the night, and the various figurines and decorated mugs come to life. A demonic figure captures an upper-class lady and does battle with her lord, damaging much of the shop. But the demon proves to have a glass jaw and, literally, a yellow streak, and the happy couple is soon reunited. No dialogue, but some signs are in English, particularly the final punch-line.

Mickey Mouse's new job at Tony's Pet Store is jeopardized when Beppo the Gorilla escapes and kidnaps Minnie. Mickey fights back with the help of the other animals in the store.

Mickey is set to ride Thunderbolt in the big race; his owner, the Colonel, has bet everything. But the stable-hands goof off and incapacitate the horse. In desperation, Mickey rents a horse costume and puts the stable-hands inside. They manage to eventually clear the hurdles, but get hung up on one near a beehive; the bees propel them to victory.

The people of Hamelin, overrun with rats, offer a bag of gold to anyone who can get rid of the rats. A piper offers to do the job, and successfully lures the rats into a mirage of cheese, which disappears. The citizens, disappointed that all he did was play a tune, offer only pocket change. The piper, angered, plays a new tune that has all the children of the city follow him, even the new twins the stork is preparing to deliver.

A baby is transported to Lullaby Land, where pacifiers grow on trees, diapers, bottles, and potty chairs march on parade, and the gingham dog comes to life. He wanders into the "keep out" cave, full of things like scissors, knives, and fountain pens that are not for baby and begins smashing watches with hammers and playing with giant matches. The matches chase after him; baby escapes by riding a bar of soap across a pond, but the smoke from the matches turns into boogey-men. The benevolent sandman, dressed as a wizard, spots baby hiding and works his magic, bringing us back to the real nursery.

The two pigs building houses of hay and sticks scoff at their brother, building the brick house. But when the wolf comes around and blows their houses down (after trickery like dressing as a foundling sheep fails), they run to their brother's house. And throughout, they sing the classic song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".

The princess is to wed the Prince against her wishes. When she refuses, the king locks her in the tower. Minstrel Mickey sees her and rescues her, making a rope from the clothes of lady-in-waiting Clarabell. The king spots them and prepares to chop off Mickey's head until Minnie intercedes. The king calls for a joust. Mickey wins and they live happily ever after.

Two birds rejoice over the hatching of their three eggs; as they grow, the hatchlings are taught to sing and fly. One falls from the nest and has adventures with a rattlesnake and a beehive before finding his way home.

A dark and stormy night. Pluto is spirited away to the spooky mansion of an evil genius for a mad transplant scheme to put his head on the body of a chicken. Mickey gives chase, but find himself threatened severely by the house and its denizens.

Santa's little helpers must hurry to finish the toys before Christmas Day.

Two children wander the forest and get lured into a witch's house.

Mickey plays piano in the Klondike Bar. He rescues a depressed, half-frozen Minnie. Pegleg Pierre comes storming in and steals her away, after a gun battle. A dogsled chase follows, with Pluto pulling Mickey's sled. There's a battle at Pete's cabin that features a sequence with Pete and Mickey wearing bedsprings and bouncing. Meanwhile, Pluto, chasing a rabbit, makes a giant snowball that sends the cabin downhill and eventually traps Pete.

It's the mice versus the cats in a football stadium.

Various anthropomorphic animals flock to the stadium to watch a horse race. Released November 16, 1930