Release Date (June 28, 1929)

Running Time 6:14

Synopsis

Mickey flirts with Minnie on the farm, but she spurns him - making him look bad in the eyes of his helper, Horace Horsecollar.

Characters

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Clarabelle Cow

Horace Horsecollar

Credits

Director : Walt Disney

Music : Carl Stalling

Milestones

The first appearance of Horace Horsecollar.

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #59 : Clarabelle and Horace

DVD

Disney Treasures : Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Black and White

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Cinephone; mono

Aspect ration : 1.33 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by Celebrity Productions, Inc.

Comments

From J. D. Weil : I noticed one big gaffe in "The Plow Boy" . There is a pan shot of Clarabelle where the background is moving in the wrong direction. It is certainly a jarring effect.

From Jerry Edwards : Mickey, with Horace Horsecollar as his plow horse, stops plowing when Minnie and Clarabelle Cow arrive. Mickey milks Minnie's cow for her, but Minnie clobbers Mickey with the full bucket when he sneaks a kiss from Minnie. When Horace is stung by a bee, Horace stampedes in pain - dragging Mickey and the plow behind him. After Mickey and the plow are thrown against rocks and trees, the plow is broken. Mickey then hitches up a rooting pig and uses it as a plow. The funniest gag for me is when a pig, rooster and goat are fleeing from the runaway Horace. They smash into a tree, resulting in one hybrid animal - a hilarious sight. I find the cartoon generally uninteresting, but the above gag makes this cartoon one that I rewatch often.

From Calvin Daprice : This is one of my favorite Mickey cartoons. One thing, I'm still puzzled with is what the name of the song is at the opening scene.

From Ryan : In this short, we are introduced to two new characters: Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow. They are not friends of Mickey and Minnie, but are livestock. Horace is pulling the plow while Mickey whistles an unknown tune. Minnie is playing on her little ukelele and singing "Comin' Through the Rye" (which are just a string of "Las") while getting ready to milk Clarabelle. As Jerry Edwards pointed out, there is a scene where a pig, goat, and chicken are running away from a gone mad Horace after being stung by a bee. They bump into a tree and all come together as a mutated animal. The fun gags and humor make this short worth watching.

From Lee Suggs : Here again Minnie doesn't seem to want to have much to do with Mickey. Her personality really seems very shallow and fickle in these early shorts. This may have something to do with her being modeled after a "Flapper", the modern party girl of the 1920's. Flappers had a reputation as being fun-loving and fickle. It's interesting to me that Horace and Clarabelle are so non-humanized here. Most characters who started out this way stayed animal like. (Pluto for example) Horace and Clarabelle, however, became humanized animals. They did tend to speak very little.

From Bill : I really love the early Mickey shorts. They are in the growing stage and it's so interesting to see Walt develop the characters. You can tell an Ub Iwerks cartoon right off. He has a distinctive drawing style. As Lee Suggs states, Minnie is still not Mickey's love; more of a tease. Her demeanor is very aloof. I think the early rubber hose method is still the most enjoyable way to see a cartoon. The story is simple, but this short had some very funny gags. Mickey and Horace tipping their hats to Minnie together was timed just right, and Mickey telling Horace to stay in the field while he milked the cow was also classic. I also enjoyed the way the bee got ready to sting Horace; another classic gag. And last, the pig, chicken and goat melding together after hitting the tree is another example of the early animators just having better imaginations than today.

There were also some great animation shots in this short. The front scene of Horace running toward the viewer and the perspective used is fantastic for the time. Good early short.

From Gijs Grob : In this weak cartoon Mickey and Minnie are farmers. The one remarkable thing about this cartoon is that marks the debut of Horace Horsecollar. One might say, it marks the debut of Clarabella Cow, as well, but the early Mickey Mouse cartoons contain a little too many nondistinct cows to state that clearly. This cartoon is also important in the development of Minnie: she now has lost the bra-like circles on her body and she's singing for the first time. Notice how the animation of the tongue is completely convincing. Although Minnie's only singing "lalalala" (something she would do in many cartoons to follow), this is an important step to the animation of speech. Something I guess Disney was eager to master. This cartoon contains a scene where the background moves the wrong way making the cow walk backwards.

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