The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air
The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air was a 1938 musical-variety radio series for children, sponsored by
The show was originally contracted with Pepsodent for thirteen weeks, but it was successful enough to be extended to a total of twenty episodes.[1]
Production
Broadcasters had pursued a Mickey Mouse radio program for several years, but Disney rejected the idea, feeling that the cartoon characters' main appeal was visual, and that the voices might not be enough to carry a radio series. However, the opportunity to promote the Snow White film was too important to miss.[1] The first proposed version was a talk show, with Mickey interviewing guest stars, but that idea was scrapped in September 1937. The writers focused instead on the Disney characters' affinity with folk tales and nursery rhymes.[1]
Disney performed Mickey's voice for the first three episodes. Starting with the fourth episode, Mickey was voiced by comedian Joe Twerp.[1] Disney also appeared as himself in some early episodes. In later episodes, Disney was too busy to attend performances, and he was impersonated by announcer John Hiestand.[2] Radio actor J. Donald Wilson provided the voice for one episode.[3]
Other Disney characters featured on the program were
Music was provided by the Felix Mills Orchestra, Donald Duck's Swing Band and The Minnie Mouse Woodland Choir. The opening theme music was "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", and the closing theme was "Heigh-Ho" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Episodes
- Robin Hood (January 2, 1938)
- Snow White Day (January 9, 1938)
- Donald Duck's Band (January 16, 1938)
- The River Boat (January 23, 1938)
- Ali Baba (January 30, 1938)
- South of the Border show episodes(February 6, 1938)
- Mother Goose and Old King Cole (February 13, 1938)
- The Gypsy Band (February 20, 1938)
- Cinderella (February 27, 1938)
- King Neptune (March 6, 1938)
- The Pied Piper (March 13, 1938)
- Sleeping Beauty (March 20, 1938)
- Ancient Egypt (March 27, 1938) (guest appearance by Snow White)
- Mother Goose and The Old Woman in a Shoe (April 3, 1938)
- Long John Silver (April 10, 1938)
- King Arthur (April 17, 1938)
- Who Killed Cock Robin? (April 24, 1938)
- Cowboy Show (May 1, 1938)
- William Tell (May 8, 1938)
- Old MacDonald (May 15, 1938)
Trivia
- Sing a Song of Sixpence is sung by Stuart Buchanan.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-3-8365-5284-4.
- ISBN 978-0984341504.
- ^ Korkis, Jim. "A New Mouse Voice In Town by Wade Sampson". Mouseplanet. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
- ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
Listen to
- The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air in the Old-Time Radio Collection