In 1932, at the fifth Academy Awards banquet, Mickey Mouse made a special appearance with his cartoon friends to celebrate the acting nominees. He starred in an exclusive Disney short film projected for the guests at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Much of the animation was reused from a Silly Symphonies short from the previous year called Mother Goose Melodies. The elements were reproduced in color and caricatures of the Oscar nominees designed by future Disney Legend Joe Grant were added to the film. The general public did not get a chance to see the film until it was included with Disney short film collections on home video LaserDisc and DVD. This film was the beginning of a long Academy tradition of inviting actual cartoon characters to appear at Oscar ceremonies to present awards or simply to provide comic relief. The world can now watch the live Oscars telecast and see Mickey, Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker interacting with living Hollywood celebrities, as though they had been chauffeured from Toontown to the famous Red Carpet. This illusion has been accomplished through the decades with a variety of special effects techniques.
Donald Duck in The Three Caballeros
Oscar nominees and wannabees had to wait 26 years for the next visit from Toontown. Walt Disney Studios was asked to provide another short film for the 30th Academy Awards in 1958. This ceremony, which was broadcast live to homes across America, was co-hosted by Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon, David Niven, Bob Hope, Rosalind Russell and Donald Duck. It is reported that Donald starred in a 6-7 minute long short film documenting "The History of the Movies". The film was directed by Disney animator Ward Kimball (one of Walt's Nine Old Men) and Donald was voiced by Clarence Nash. Apparently, no footage or still frame from this film has been seen by anyone since the original broadcast. The Academy has posted the ceremony on YouTube, but has excluded the Donald Duck segment. Hopefully, some future media historian will rediscover this seemingly lost piece of TV history and will find a way to share it with the world. Until then, we can try to imagine what it would be like to learn film history through the twisted brain of this demented duck.
The next appearance by an authentic cartoon character would occur 21 years later. However, it must be noted that one year earlier, at the 50th Academy Awards in 1978, Jodie Foster and Paul Williams presented the nominees in the Short Films categories accompanied by a Disneyland-style costumed version of Mickey Mouse. Mickey was celebrating his 50th birthday, so he must have been too busy to appear in person. As Mickey enters the stage, he briefly encounters C-3PO and R2-D2 as they are making their exit. It wasn't as obvious then, but looking at the clip now, it is clear that Mickey is calculating their cost and the return on a potential investment.
Walter Lantz was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1979 at the 51st Academy Awards. He and award presenter Robin Williams had a brief onstage conversation with Universal Studio's most famous cartoon star, Woody Woodpecker, voiced by Walter's wife Grace Stafford. The animation was produced by former Warner Bros. "Termite Terrace" animator Virgil Ross. In his acceptance speech, Walter Lantz thanked Universal, "with whom I have been associated for fifty years." It must be noted at this point, with no disrespect to Walter Lantz, that he owed his 50 years of success to the swindling of Walt Disney by Charles Mintz in 1928. Disney lost not only his star cartoon character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but also most of his staff to Universal Studios's new cartoon unit. Disney's studio was saved only through Walt's quick thinking (shortening Oswald's ears and lengthening his tail) and imaginative animation by Ub Iwerks (hand drawing each frame of Plane Crazy in two weeks, almost by himself, and in secret). Serving as a supreme example of apparent catastrophe leaving a persevering visionary in better shape than he started, without this precise series of events in film history, there would be no Mickey Mouse.
Nine years later, Mickey Mouse appeared again (this time for real) to celebrate a birthday. At the end of a montage of Mickey cartoons, the Mouse himself literally walked out of the film and onto the Shrine Auditorium stage. He and Tom Selleck presented the Animated Shorts category. Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck made cameos as audience members. Wayne Allwine voiced Mickey and Tony Anselmo voiced Donald.
This post ends with an honorable mention of one of the most infamous moments in Oscar history. In an "unofficial" toon appearance, Snow White (played by actress Eileen Bowman) performed the song "Proud Mary" with actor Rob Lowe at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989. The Academy apparently failed to communicate with The Walt Disney Company about the use of their character. Disney found the performance distasteful and sued the Academy for copyright infringement. After an apology from the Academy president, the suit was dropped. As a final footnote, the Snow White dress that Ms. Bowman wore during the performance was sold after the ceremony for $23,000 to a man who intended to be buried in it.
Future posts will cover Academy Awards appearances by Bugs & Daffy, Beavis & Butthead, and the redemption of Snow White.
