Games - Minnie Mouse

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	Games - Minnie Mouse

Minnie Mouse is a fictional character of the Mickey Mouse universe featured in animated cartoons, comic strips and comic book by The Walt Disney Company. The comic strip story "The Gleam" (published January 19-May 2, 1942) by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse. Minerva has since been a recurring alias for her.

The earlier comic strip story "Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers" (published September 22–December 26, 1930) introduced her father Marcus Mouse and her unnamed mother, both farmers. The same story featured photographs of her grandparents Marshall Mouse and Matilda. Her best known relative however remains her uncle Mortimer Mouse and her two nieces, Millie and Melody. In some appearances, Minnie is presented as a close friend of Daisy Duck.

Origins of the character

In 1928, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created Mickey Mouse to act as a replacement to their previous star Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. But Mickey could not fill the void alone. Among the few consistent character traits Oswald had developed before moving on to Universal Studios was his near-constant pursuit of potential sweethearts. So for Mickey to have a chance to emulate his predecessor at flirting, someone had to replace Oswald's many love interests. This replacement to Miss Rabbit, Miss Cottontail, Fanny and an uncertain number of unnamed nurses and dancers was to become Minnie Mouse.

Minnie, who at the time was not yet named, was designed in the fashion of a "flapper" girl. She was so probably intended to follow the trends of then-modern youth culture in an effort to add to her audience appeal.

Mickey and Minnie debuted together in Plane Crazy, first released on May 15, 1928. Minnie is invited to join Mickey in the first flight of his aircraft. She accepts the invitation but not his chauvinistic and sexist commands for a kiss in mid-flight. Mickey eventually forces Minnie into a kiss but this only results in her parachuting out of the plane. This first film depicted Minnie as somewhat resistant to the demanding affection of her potential boyfriend and capable of escaping his grasp.

Their debut however featured the couple already familiar to each other. The next film featuring them was The Gallopin' Gaucho.The film was the second of their series to be produced but only the third to be released on December 30, 1928. We find Minnie employed as the barmaid and dancer of Cantina Argentina, a bar and restaurant established in the Pampas of Argentina. She performs the Tango for Mickey the gaucho and Black Pete the outlaw. Both flirt with her but the latter intends to abduct her while the former obliges in saving the Damsel in Distress from the villain. All three characters acted as strangers first being introduced to each other.

They appear together again in Steamboat Willie, the third short of the series to be produced but released second on November 18, 1928. Pete was featured as the Captain of the steamboat, Mickey as a crew of one and Minnie as their single passenger. The two anthropomorphic mice first star in a sound film and spend most of its duration playing music to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw".

A recurring co-star

The commercial success of Steamboat Willie helped introduce Mickey and Minnie into the audience. Twelve more films featuring Mickey were produced in 1929. But Minnie only co-starred in seven of them and was mentioned in an eighth.

The first of them was The Barn Dance, first released on March 14, 1929. Minnie stands at the center of attention as Mickey and Pete rival each other in order to win her favor. Both offer to pick her up for the dance but she chooses Pete's newly purchased automobile over Mickey's horse-cart. When the automobile breaks down she resorts to go with Mickey. The latter proves a clumsy dancing parter, repeatedly stepping on her feet, and so she turns to Pete again. She is surprised when Mickey asks for another dance and seems to be light on his feet. However she is disgusted when Pete points that his rival had placed a balloon in his shorts. She resumed dancing with Pete while Mickey is reduced to crying on the dance floor. Minnie proves to be rather demanding as a partner in a romantic relationship. Mickey obviously has yet to claim her as his girlfriend by this point.

The Opry House, first released on March 28, 1929, was the first short to feature Mickey but not Minnie. A poster, however, mentions Minnie as being member to the Yankee Doodle Girls. The later group of female performers remained unseen characters and were apparently short-lived. Minnie appears again in When the Cat's Away, first released on April 11, 1929. She is attending a party with Mickey along with several other mice. The short was unusual in the depiction of Mickey and Minnie with the size and part of the behavior common in regular mice. The set standard both before and after this short was to depict them as having the size of a rather short human being.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Minnie Mouse ]

Games - Minnie Mouse

Origins of the character

A recurring co-star

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