Mickey and the Seal (1948)

Mickey Mouse unwittingly brings home a baby seal from the zoo, but Pluto is the only one who knows it.

Director:

Charles A. Nichols

Writers:

Nick George (story), Milt Schaffer (story)

Stars:

Pinto Colvig, James MacDonald

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Pinto Colvig	...	Pluto (voice) (uncredited)
James MacDonald	...	Mickey Mouse (voice) (uncredited)

Storyline

Mickey visits the zoo, where he makes friends with a baby seal by feeding it a couple of fish from his picnic basket. The seal stows away and goes home with Mickey, where for a while, only Pluto sees it. But it climbs into Mickey's bath, and he eventually figures it out and returns the tot. He tells his elders of the wonders of Mickey's bath and scrub-brush, and Mickey returns home to find a welcoming committee.

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Plot Keywords:

seal | baby seal | zoo | mouse | picnic basket | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Animation | Short

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 December 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mickey e a Foca

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

7 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is one of a handful of cartoons played constantly on a special television channel at Walt Disney World resorts.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Seals: [begging from Mickey Mouse] Fish! Fish, fish, fish!

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Connections

Edited into Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color: At Home with Donald Duck (1956)

User Reviews

Mickey's Fine Flippered Friend

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

A baby seal creates happy havoc for Mickey & Pluto.

Although a far cry from the great Mouse classics of the 1930's, MICKEY AND THE SEAL was still considered competent enough to earn an Oscar nomination in 1948. The scene in which a frantic Pluto watches Mickey, all unawares, sharing his bathtub with the little creature is very humorous.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.