Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.
Mickey Mouse? Banned? You must be kidding!
No, I'm not. Mickey Mouse, that ultra-safe, conservative, harmless, beloved, world-famous cartoon character was banned -in the United States, no less. Or, to be exact, one of his cartoons was. The Mickey Mouse cartoon The Shindig was officially banned in America. But why?
Well, for one, in a scene in The Shindig, Clarabelle Cow is shown in the stable reading a book entitled Three Weeks.
Soon her date, Horace Horsecollar, knocks on her door to pick her up. Clarabelle quickly dresses, therefore she was technically naked while reading the book.
It was reported by TIME magazine in 1931 that the state of Ohio banned The Shindig because it showed a cow's udders. While TIME noted that many moviegoers didn't min viewing Clarabelle Cow's udders, many others were very offended. That was reason number one.
Reason number two is a bit more esoteric (although equally ridiculous).
The book Clarabelle was reading, Three Weeks, was a notorious book written by Elinor Glyn, a British novelist and screenwriter who pioneered women's mass market erotic fiction. It was Elinor Glyn who coined the word "it" to mean "sex appeal." This was considered very racy and suggestive by 1920s Middle-American standards.
Her book Three Weeks was declared obscene and banned in Canada in 1907. It was condemned by religious leaders in the United States. How it came to be included in the Walt Disney Mickey Mouse cartoon is a mystery to this day.
It has been noted in several books and websites that in the 1930s, Hitler officially banned Mickey Mouse in Nazi Germany and declared him "an enemy of the state." There is scant evidence for this claim and it is probably untrue.
However, once war with the United States was officially declared in 1941, Mickey Mouse was officially banned by Hitler and the Nazis.
Mickey Mouse? Banned? You must be kidding!
No, I'm not. Mickey Mouse, that ultra-safe, conservative, harmless, beloved, world-famous cartoon character was banned -in the United States, no less. Or, to be exact, one of his cartoons was. The Mickey Mouse cartoon The Shindig was officially banned in America. But why?
Well, for one, in a scene in The Shindig, Clarabelle Cow is shown in the stable reading a book entitled Three Weeks.
Soon her date, Horace Horsecollar, knocks on her door to pick her up. Clarabelle quickly dresses, therefore she was technically naked while reading the book.
It was reported by TIME magazine in 1931 that the state of Ohio banned The Shindig because it showed a cow's udders. While TIME noted that many moviegoers didn't min viewing Clarabelle Cow's udders, many others were very offended. That was reason number one.
Reason number two is a bit more esoteric (although equally ridiculous).
The book Clarabelle was reading, Three Weeks, was a notorious book written by Elinor Glyn, a British novelist and screenwriter who pioneered women's mass market erotic fiction. It was Elinor Glyn who coined the word "it" to mean "sex appeal." This was considered very racy and suggestive by 1920s Middle-American standards.
Her book Three Weeks was declared obscene and banned in Canada in 1907. It was condemned by religious leaders in the United States. How it came to be included in the Walt Disney Mickey Mouse cartoon is a mystery to this day.
The Shindig
(YouTube link)
The Barnyard Battle
(YouTube link)
It has been noted in several books and websites that in the 1930s, Hitler officially banned Mickey Mouse in Nazi Germany and declared him "an enemy of the state." There is scant evidence for this claim and it is probably untrue.
However, once war with the United States was officially declared in 1941, Mickey Mouse was officially banned by Hitler and the Nazis.
Mass hysteria!
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Cows and Horses living together!
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Mickey Mouse was, at one time, much less bland than he is today. The he became a "Public Figure" of sorts, and like many public figures, he became a cipher.
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Goebbels gave Hitler a Christmas present in 1947? That's a pretty good trick.
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