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- “Gosh, Minnie, you've always been a princess to me.”
- ―Mickey Mouse[src]
Minnie Mouse is an animated anthropomorphic mouse character created by Walt Disney. She is the longtime girlfriend of Mickey Mouse, known for her sweet disposition, large head bows, and polka-dotted dress. She is also identified by her signature catchphrase, “Yoo-hoo!”, which she affectionately calls out as a greeting. Inspired by flapper girls of the 1920s, Minnie first appeared in the short Steamboat Willie, released on November 18, 1928.
Minnie is traditionally depicted as a starving musician, singer, and songwriter. Her classy, yet no-nonsense demeanor serves as a foil to the troublemaking Mickey. Throughout the 1930s, Minnie was a frequent participant in Mickey's adventures, often serving as a damsel-in-distress whom finds herself kidnapped by Peg-Leg Pete. In the 1940s, Minnie was relegated to bit parts in cartoons starring her kitten, Figaro, and Mickey's dog, Pluto. By the 1950s, she faded into obscurity altogether, and remained dormant for three decades.
Minnie was revitalized with the premiere of the 1988 television special Totally Minnie, her first starring role. Since then, she has endured as one of The Walt Disney Company's most popular and significant characters. Typically partnered with Minnie's best friend, Daisy Duck, she has headlined her own cartoons, such as in Mickey Mouse Works, Minnie's Bow-Toons, and Electric Holiday. Paul Rudish's series of shorts sought to develop Minnie's comedy by highlighting her impulsivity and spunk while maintaining her endearing demeanor.
In 2018, Minnie was recognized for her contributions to animation with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Recently, she has also appeared as a fashion icon, appearing at events, such as New York Fashion Week and the Fashion Awards in Los Angeles, in addition to serving as the figurehead of the Rock the Dots apparel and merchandise promotions—inspired by her affinity for polka dots.
Background[]
Personality[]
- “Just imagine... He'll stride into the room, a light will glow from him. I'll hear music, he'll bring me flowers and he'll sweep me off my feet! And, I'll know he's the one when he makes me laugh.”
- ―Minnie dreamily fantasizing of her dream lover, giving an example of her romantic personality.[src]
Minnie is classy, cheerful, and feminine. She is filled to the brim with love and affection, sweet to nearly everyone she comes across, and can typically see the beauty in most things. Minnie's kindness is sometimes exploited by other characters, but Minnie values her good-natured spirit, as it often brings happiness to others, and is something she strives to accomplish regularly.[1] She is quite empathetic in this regard, to the point where she'll take someone else's problems and seek to rectify it herself, even if that someone may be her enemy.[2]
Intelligent and sophisticated, Minnie often serves as the "voice-of-reason" amongst her friends, specifically in House of Mouse. In the series, Minnie has repeatedly taken charge of hectic situations, usually as a result of Mickey's inability to handle too much pressure, despite being the co-owner of the club.[3] This is so much the case that Minnie became notably offended when Mickey believed she could not handle a task as mundane as traversing through the club's basement (granted, it was an extremely large basement).[4] Minnie is capable, and even when serving as the "damsel in distress" under the hands of the villainous Pete, Minnie would often retaliate if given the chance, thus assisting Mickey in taking down the villain and saving the day.[5][6][7] In the series Mickey Mouse, Minnie would sometimes fall into trouble, to which Mickey would go out of his way to rescue her — by the time he finds her, however, he learns that she was able to handle the situation herself.[8][9]
Minnie is not without her foibles, however, as she can be passive at times, which forces her to deal with an excessive amount of tomfoolery at the hands of her friends.[10][11] She can also be extremely stubborn and does not take orders (or even advice) from anyone, always going by her own rules and doing what she believes is best. Though this is a positive trait in that it makes her independent and confident, it also leads her to act rash and compulsive, at least until she realizes the troubles she's caused.[12][13]
Minnie is also outspoken when dealing with adversaries. She is intolerant toward any kind of rudeness or bullying, especially when the bullying is related to misogynistic and prejudiced viewpoints.[14][15] And while she can be passive at times, Minnie also has her limits. She has lost her temper numerous times at Daisy for her diva attitude and Mickey for his occasional selfishness.[16][17] Her aggression is also on regular display when Mortimer Mouse is involved, as she'll gladly make a fool out of the rodent for his constant harassment.[18]
To her core, Minnie is a lover — of life, nature, her friends, and most significantly Mickey, who serves not only as her boyfriend but also her best friend. As she believes in the "true love" commonly found in fairy tales, Minnie is rather dreamy and whimsical (contrary to her more no-nonsense side), something she is completely unapologetic for.[19]
Physical appearance[]
Minnie's trademark outfit is usually a dress revealing her white bloomers with a large matching bow and oversized high heel pumps that all are one color (depending on the cartoon). Like Mickey and Goofy, Minnie also wears white gloves for fashion. Her outfit is sometimes red or pink with white polka dots, other times it has been a blue outfit with a pink bow and shoes. In earlier cartoons, she wore a pillbox hat with a flower in place of her bow. In some cartoons, Minnie wore only a skirt, a bow, bloomers, and her oversized high heels. In Eau de Minnie, it is revealed she is seen wearing a black shirt with her skirt.
Voice[]
In Steamboat Willie, Minnie's vocal effects were provided by Walt Disney, who also lent his voice to Mickey. In subsequent short films throughout 1929, Minnie remained a largely silent character outside of brief vocalizations and one-word pieces of dialogue. Cartoons such as The Plowboy featured Minnie singing her signature leitmotif.
When production began for 1930's The Cactus Kid, Bert Gillett (a director on many of the short films), visited the Ink and Paint Department and asked if anyone could speak Spanish. Marcellite Garner answered the call, as did Marjorie Ralston, and both women were taken to the sound stage. They were told that a woman had already been hired to supply Minnie's speaking voice in the cartoon, and if either artists were interested in auditioning for the the singing part. Ralston opted out of the audition, leaving the role to Garner. Moving forward, Garner would become Minnie's official voice actress, and would be recognized as the first. Garner played an instrumental role in developing Minnie's onscreen persona. She imbued the character with a sweetness and emotion that would become a trademark moving forward. Garner also recorded her dialogue regularly with Walt Disney, who continued voicing Mickey after Steamboat Willie. To help Marcellite prepare for the role, Disney would take time from their recording sessions to describe and act out all the parts.[20]
Garner would continue to voice Minnie for over forty cartoons while simultaneously working as an ink-and-painter. Garner left the studio in 1941 and worked with other animation departments, though she recalled briefly returning to Disney for a recording. Archival recordings of Marcellite's performances were used for Minnie in the 2013 short film Get a Horse!.
After Garner's departure, Minnie's screen presence steadily dwindled. She nevertheless went through several actresses whenever dialogue was needed. From 1941 to 1942, and on the radio program, The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air, she was voiced by Thelma Boardman. Following this, from 1942 up to 1952, Ruth Clifford provided the character's voice.
After Disney's death, Janet Waldo voiced Minnie in the 1974 Disneyland record album, An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players.[21] and Barnette Ricci in A Magic Kingdom Yuletide Special. In the 1980s, Walt's nephew Roy E. Disney felt that each Disney character should have an official voice, to maintain the integrity and consistency of the characters. It was during this period that Wayne Allwine assumed the role of Mickey, while Tony Anselmo assumed the role of Donald Duck. Somewhere between 1985 and 1986, there was a push to revive Minnie's character with the television special Totally Minnie. There were roughly 160 people that auditioned for the part, among them being Russi Taylor. Taylor prepped for the role by listening to voice clips of Minnie from the 30's and 40's and creating a combination of the two. Taylor was also asked if she could improvise as Minnie, which prompted her to recite the balcony scene from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Russi Taylor was ultimately chosen for the role, and became Minnie's official voice actress for decades until her death in 2019. Notable to Russi Taylor's career, is her marriage to Wayne Allwine. While working on a Radio Disney project with Bill Farmer, Wayne and Russi spent time after hours to discuss the job and became fast friends. They eventually married in 1991, and remained a couple until Allwine's death in 2009.[22]
After Taylor's passing, Kaitlyn Robrock assumed the role. Her first performance as Minnie was on two Disney Junior stop-motion shorts released in November 2019.[23][24][25] Robrock would continue voicing Minnie in other projects, including Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures and The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse.
History[]
1928[]
Minnie made her debut when she starred alongside Mickey Mouse in the cartoon short Plane Crazy, which was screened to test audiences on May 15, 1928. Minnie and Mickey take a flight on the latter's makeshift aircraft. In during which, Mickey repeatedly tries to romance Minnie, but she politely refuses these particular advances.
The next film featuring the couple was The Gallopin' Gaucho. It was the second of their series to be produced but only the third to be released on March 14, 1929. In it, Minnie was 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.
Minnie and Mickey in 1928's groundbreaking Steamboat Willie.
They appear together again in Steamboat Willie, the third short of the series to be produced but released first 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 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 December 30, 1928. 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 going with Mickey. The latter proves a clumsy dancing partner, 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.
1929-1940[]
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 a member of the "Yankee Doodle Girls". This later group of female performers remained as 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.
Minnie was seen again in The Plowboy, first released on May 9, 1929, where she is featured as a farm girl and gets Mickey to milk her cow Clarabelle for her. When Mickey presents her with a bucket full of milk and proceeds to kiss her, Minnie answers by knocking the bucket on his head. This in front of his horse Horace Horsecollar who is just making his debut. Minnie obviously was not very appreciative of Mickey's affection at the time.
Their attempt at farming life would prove short-lived. Their next appearance in The Karnival Kid (May 23, 1929) cast Mickey as a hot dog vendor and Minnie as a carnival "shimmy" Dancer. Minnie then appears as a fiddle player in Mickey's Choo-Choo (June 26, 1929).
Minnie giving her signature "yoo-hoo!" in Mickey's Follies.
Her next appearance was arguably more significant. Mickey's Follies (June 26, 1929), featured the first performance of the song "Minnie's Yoo Hoo". "The guy they call little Mickey Mouse" for the first time addresses an audience to explain that he has "Got a sweetie" who is "Neither fat nor skinny" and proudly proclaims that "She's my little Minnie Mouse". Mickey then proceeds in explaining his reaction to Minnie's call. The song firmly establishes Mickey and Minnie as a couple and expresses the importance Minnie holds for her partner. The song would go on to become the theme song for their series as well as the theme to a Disney prime-time television series The Mouse Factory and Mickey Mouse Works (which also featured the song as a recurring theme in many of its shorts).
Minnie was soon shown herself to be the Damsel-in-Distress. In Wild Waves, Minnie was washed off the beach, but Mickey rescued her. Despite being saved, Minnie was left frightened by the experience, leading her to cry. With Mickey and his sea friends' performance, Minnie finally cheered up and made Mickey her new hero.
Minnie would appear in a number of shorts throughout the 1930s, co-starring alongside Mickey. In 1935, she appeared in the short On Ice, which was her first appearance in a color cartoon. The 1938 short The Fox Hunt was the final appearance of Minnie's early, Ub Iwerks design in the original theatrical run.
1940-1990[]
Minnie's modern redesign, first seen in Mickey's Surprise Party.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Minnie was redesigned alongside Mickey, given full eyes, a pear-shaped body as opposed her round body in previous shorts, and a cream face replacing the white tone previously used. The first short to show Minnie's new design was the 1939 short Mickey's Surprise Party, which was one of the few theatrical shorts that focused more on Minnie than Mickey.
Around this time, Mickey became less of a rascally adventurer and more of an Everyman character. As this shift in personality became increasingly utilized by Walt Disney and the animators, Minnie's significance would start to diminish. She would continue to appear sporadically as either Mickey's love interest or a supporting character that sets the plot for other characters, such as Pluto and Figaro (who famously became her pet cat after his popular demand grew from the 1940 animated feature, Pinocchio). Her last appearance in the original theatrical run of Disney animated shorts would be a brief cameo at the end of the 1952 short Pluto's Christmas Tree. In the following decades, Minnie would make occasional appearances on Walt Disney's television series and at the Disneyland theme park (and later Walt Disney World) as a mascot alongside Mickey.
After a long hiatus from animated feature films or short films, Minnie would reappear in Mickey's Christmas Carol in 1983, though in an extremely minor role as the wife of Bob Cratchit (played by Mickey) as well as a non-speaking appearance.
In 1988, Minnie was given her first starring role in the television special, Totally Minnie. This also marked the debut of Russi Taylor, who would go on to voice Minnie for over three decades. She also made brief appearances in the television special Mickey's 60th Birthday. Also in 1988, Minnie made a non-speaking appearance as a guest at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony, sitting alongside Donald and Daisy as Mickey announces the winner of Best Animated Short.
1990-2020[]
In 1995, Minnie played a more significant role as the co-star in Runaway Brain. In the short, a monstrous creature called Julius fell for her, forcing Mickey to come to her rescue.
1999 saw the television premiere of Mickey Mouse Works, which gave Minnie her first starring role in standalone cartoons. One such cartoon had Mickey once again dreaming that Minnie became his wife (he had dreamed this previously in Mickey's Nightmare) while the others were having a picnic.
Minnie in Electric Holiday.
Minnie was given a starring role in the 2012 animated short, Electric Holiday. In this story, Minnie spotted a beautiful dress in a store window, and this leads to a daydream where Minnie envisions herself as a prospering supermodel living in the city of Paris. Fortunately, Mickey just so happens to buy it for her, and she is very happy.
In 2013, Minnie appeared in the theatrical short Get A Horse!, where she had to be rescued by Mickey after being kidnapped by the villainous Pete. The short utilized a combination of archived dialogue from Marcellite Garner and new dialogue courtesy of Russi Taylor. Also in 2013, a new series of Mickey Mouse shorts premiered, with several episodes starring Minnie in her own solo cartoons.
On January 23, 2016, Minnie served as the inspiration for the "Rock the Dots" art and fashion show, taking place in Downtown Los Angeles, California. To coincide with National Polka Dot Day, the interactive exhibit celebrated the aesthetics of Minnie's signature look by displaying an array of apparel designed by various artists around the world, all inspired by Minnie.[26]
On September 27, 2016, Disney released The Art of Minnie Mouse, a book centering Minnie that features reinterpretations of her character design courtesy of various Disney artists, designers, illustrators, and animators from around the world. The book also features an extensive look at Minnie's filmography with a visual timeline.
On June 22, 2017, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced that Minnie Mouse would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018, forty years after Mickey, and on the year of her 90th anniversary.[27] The star was implemented on January 22, 2018, and is located at 6835 Hollywood Boulevard in front of the El Capitan Theatre. President and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Leron Gubler, also declared January 22nd as "Minnie Mouse Day" in Hollywood, to further honor the character.[28] Also in 2018, Minnie appeared in the ABC television special Mickey's 90th Spectacular where she joined Mickey Mouse in honor of their 90th anniversary, notably of their relationship, celebrated by several celebrities live on stage at the Shrine Auditorium.
2020-present[]
In January 2020, Disney launched Positively Minnie, a web series centered on Minnie's daily life, using recycled art and animation from Paul Rudish's Mickey Mouse shorts. Two months later on March 4, Minnie headlined the very first Mickey Mouse-themed dark ride in the Disney theme parks' history, with the opening of Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
In 2022, Minnie appeared in the stop-motion television special, Mickey Saves Christmas, and later in Mickey and Friends: Trick or Treats in 2023.
Minnie is set to make her theatrical return in the 2023 short film, Once Upon a Studio, in which she and Mickey emerge from the drawings within Walt Disney Animation Studios, and gather the Disney characters to take a group photo.
Film appearances[]
Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas[]
Minnie in Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas.
In Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, Minnie is Mickey's hard-working girlfriend who, despite her hard work, is in debt with bills and tries not to let Mickey know. She works a large store owned by Mortimer Mouse. She plans to use her Christmas bonus to buy a gift for Mickey, but she ends up receiving a fruitcake. She ends up trading her prized watch for a case for Mickey's beloved harmonica, but Mickey trades his harmonica for a chain for Minnie's watch. In the end, though, they realize their love is enough and they enjoy Christmas together.
Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers[]
Minnie in The Three Musketeers.
In the 2004 direct-to-video movie Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, Minnie plays the role of the ruling princess of France (and likely the daughter of King Louis XIII and Queen Anne, since this film can be considered a sequel to the original Three Musketeers story), who continually daydreams about finding her true love, who turns out to be Mickey. She's also the only monarch getting in the way of the plans of Pete, who cannot take over the kingdom if he cannot get rid of her. Interestingly, for this particular film, Minnie is drawn with hair bangs, which do not appear in any later cartoons.
In this film, Princess Minnie wants nothing more than to find her true love in life, however, she must put this dream on hold after she escapes a murder plot by the Beagle Boys. She demands that her captain of the musketeers Pete, find her bodyguards. Unknowing to Minnie, Pete is the mastermind behind the murder plot and desires to rule France as king. To avoid a threat to his plan, Pete hires three janitors, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, to be the musketeer bodyguards, believing they'll do a terrible job. Minnie then quickly falls in love with Mickey as soon as she sees him. After being rescued from a kidnapping scheme, Mickey and Minnie embrace their forbidden love on an evening date across the kingdom. That night, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are kidnapped by Pete and his minions. The next night, Minnie and Daisy head over to the Grand Opera. There, she learns Pete's plans and is captured. However, over the course of the show, Minnie and Daisy are rescued. Minnie is surprised that Daisy is kissing a commoner (Donald) and the two agree as she kisses her new lover. Minnie dubs the trio royal musketeers and presumably marries Mickey afterward.
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas[]
Minnie as she appears in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas.
In Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, Minnie and Daisy enter an ice skating competition. While excited, Minnie is concerned with the fact that she may not be as good as the other contestants. Minnie begins her performance, with the alligators from Fantasia to assist her, and is quickly praised. Daisy becomes jealous and jumps in to steal the spotlight. To further her performance, Daisy has the hippos from Fantasia to assists her. A rival battle follows. Eventually, Daisy pulls off an impressive stunt. Minnie decides to do her own, but she nearly injures herself in the process when she slipped on a bell. Daisy rushes to her side to comfort her friend. Minnie soon realized how foolish they've been acting from the start. They make up and finish the performance together in a grand finale.
In Mickey and Pluto's segment, Minnie hopes Mickey decides to pull off a simple Christmas party instead of overdoing it like he does every year. When Pluto goes missing, Minnie is the first to be notified. She takes the news to her friends including Scrooge McDuck who volunteers to buy a snow plow company to search the city for Pluto. Minnie, Scrooge, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max, Huey, Dewey, and Louie spend the entire day searching in the snow plow. In the end, they reach Mickey's house where Pluto has been found. They all enter the house to sing a carol and celebrate their special Christmas.
The Chipmunks and the Chipettes Join the Disney Family[]
Minnie will appear as a one of the deuteragonists and major characters in this film as Queen Minnie Mouse, the queen of Disney Kingdom, with Mickey as her King. After Dave Seville's tragic death in a huge fiery explosion by a massive army of Disney Villains led by Prince Hans, she becomes a mother figure to the Chipmunks and the Chipettes as a kinder, more nurturing and more understanding soul.
Other films[]
Although Minnie did not officially appear in Fun and Fancy Free, a scene with her, as Happy Valley's queen, was planned to be included in the Mickey and the Beanstalk segment before the decision was made to drop it from the film. In the scene, Mickey came before her to sell her his cow and in exchange, she gave him the magic beans.
In the live-action/animated hybrid film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Minnie made a small non-speaking cameo appearance at the very end of the film with Mickey and a crowd of many other cartoon characters. (Russi Taylor recorded dialogue but it was cut at the last minute.)
Television appearances[]
Mickey Mouse Works[]
Minnie in Mickey Mouse Works.
In Mickey Mouse Works, she finally appeared in her own segments and cartoons. Here, she is portrayed as Mickey's intelligent, mature, and beloved girlfriend. Occasionally, she starred in the "Maestro Minnie" shorts, and she dressed in a tuxedo, in which she conducts an orchestra of living instruments that she usually has to tame. In most of her starring cartoons, Minnie would be paired up with Daisy who, in contrast to her, is very wacky and talkative. Some of her other cartoons would involve her getting into her own mischief, such as when she accidentally turned Pluto's fur purple with dye. When she appeared in Mickey's cartoons, she was often the main subject with Mickey usually trying to find grand ways to impress her. She was also the focus in most cartoons with Mortimer Mouse. She also co-starred with Mickey in his short segments "Mickey to the Rescue" where she plays the role of some of her early cartoons: getting kidnapped by Pete, taken to his lair, and being rescued by Mickey.
House of Mouse[]
Minnie as she appeared in House of Mouse.
In House of Mouse, Minnie is in charge of planning the show and the club's bookkeeper. Her outfit, black and white undershirt with a skirt and with boots and a purple bow on her ear. She is often annoyed by Clarabelle's gossip, Daisy's wackiness, and Mickey's mischief. Minnie is often responsible for saving the club in times of crises using her cool and rational personality to calm things down.
Minnie appears in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. Minnie, along with Mickey and the Disney guests, are snowed in at the club. Mickey advises the gang to have a Christmas party while Minnie finds a box of the gang's Christmas stories to get Donald into the Christmas spirit.
Minnie also appears in Mickey's House of Villains. In it, Minnie is worried about the large number of villains in the club on Halloween night, thinking that they might be up to something, but Mickey is not worried about it. Unfortunately, Minnie is correct and the club is taken over by the Disney Villains. During their reign, Minnie threatens the leader Jafar to leave the club and change it back to normal, but this backfires when Captain Hook throws her out. After Mickey saves the day, Minnie and the others celebrate.
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse[]
Minnie, as she appears in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Minnie also appears in the children's television series, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Minnie is part of the clubhouse pals and Mickey's girlfriend. Like other appearances, Minnie enjoys cooking, gardening, singing, and dancing. Minnie also has an alter-ego known as Detective Minnie famous for solving mysteries in the clubhouse. Detective Minnie often teams up with Daisy's alias Secret Spy Daisy to solve major issues. Together they're known as The Friendship Team. Minnie has become the star of the most recent of the show's specials most notably Minnie's Bowtique where she opens a boutique selling all forms of bows.
She was notably the central character of several specials, including Minnie's Bow-Tique, The Wizard of Dizz, Pop Star Minnie!, Minnie-rella, and Minnie's Winter Bow Show.
Minnie is also a major character in the spin-off series, Mickey Mousekersize.
Minnie is also the central character of Minnie's Bow-Toons. Here, Minnie and Daisy open a store selling all types of bows. They are accompanied by her kitten Figaro, Minnie's nieces Millie and Melody, and a living cuckoo clock figure named Cuckoo-Loca. Like her previous television role, Minnie wears a pink dress with white polka dots, white bloomers, pink pumps, and pink bow also with white polka dots. Minnie's skills with bows have also been used to solve problems for her friends. At the end of almost every short, Minnie states the store policy: "There's no business like bow business!"
Mickey Mouse[]
Along with the rest of the gang, Minnie returns in the animated series. Like many of Mickey's classic shorts of the 1920s and 1930s, Minnie proves to be the driving force of some of Mickey's wacky adventures. She is the only character to star in her own shorts without even the presence or mention of Mickey. The song "Minnie's Yoo Hoo" serves as Minnie's theme throughout the series, and more specifically in her standalone episodes.
She played her first active role in "Cable Car Chaos", where she and Mickey are exploring San Francisco until a runaway cable car spoils the day, forcing Minnie to save herself and the other passengers.
Minnie plays her first role as the protagonist in "Eau de Minnie", where a special perfume Minnie obsesses over enchants the entire city.
She would play another lead role as a Dutch mouse in "Clogged", where she must fix her broken windmill in order to generate water for her garden.
Minnie also stars, alongside Pluto, in the episode "Doggone Biscuits", where she recklessly feeds the latter a bag of fattening dog treats despite Mickey's warnings, resulting in Pluto becoming massive in weight. For the remainder of the episode, Minnie tries to restore Pluto's health and figure. She also reveals that she used to be overweight herself before going into a sauna.
In "Sock Burglar", Minnie took the lead by appointing herself responsible for uncovering a mysterious series of thefts involving missing socks. She turns herself into a detective, and later a ninja, eventually discovering the thief to be Pete.
In "No Reservations", Minnie, Daisy, and Clarabelle butt heads with a snooty maitre d', who viewed the trio as too uncultured to be allowed entry into his restaurant, despite Minnie having made reservations far in advance.
In "Carried Away", Minnie sings Mickey a song for him while he saves them from a series of obstacles.
Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures[]
In the series, Minnie is an employee of Mickey's local car garage in Hot Dog Hills. Her transforming roadster is known as "Pink Thunder", which was designed to pay tribute to her bow. Outside of the races, Minnie and Daisy star in their own series of exploits as they try to run the "Happy Helpers" hotline business, with Pink Thunder transforming into the group's main mode of transport.
Other shows[]
In The Mickey Mouse Club, Minnie was seen in the animated opening of the series alongside Daisy in go-go boots.
In the series finale of At Home With Olaf, a short clip of On Ice featuring Minnie and Mickey appears during a montage of heartwarming moments from Disney films playing in Olaf's song "I Am with You".
Printed media[]
Minnie and Mickey in a comic story.
In the Mickey Mouse comics, Minnie plays key roles, much like in her animated appearances.
Wizards of Mickey[]
Minnie appears as a character in the comic series, as usual playing the role of Mickey's love interest. In the comics, she is a sorceress and princess of the kingdom of Dolmen whose people were turned to stone, leading her to seek a magical gemstone to restore them. In her quest, she partners with Daisy and Clarabelle as Team Diamond Moon, eventually meeting Mickey's group.
Kingdom Keepers[]
Minnie appears in the fourth book, Power Play. Here, she along with Pluto, help Finn and Amanda to get to Tom Sawyer Island. She knocks out a pirate guard and navigates the raft in order to get to the island. When asked about Mickey, she seems sad, suggesting something bad happened to him.
Video games[]
Mickey Saves the Day 3D Adventure[]
Minnie and Mickey are optional protagonists in the PC game. Should the player choose Minnie, she must traverse through Mickey's hometown to find and rescue Mickey, who has been kidnapped by Pete in his plot to usurp him as mayor. Should the player choose Mickey, the roles of the two would reverse, though the plot remains the same.
Toontown[]
Minnie can be found strolling in the Minnie's Melodyland playground. She also has her own Trolley Game called "Match Minnie". The players must correctly copy some dance moves Minnie makes by pressing the arrow keys. The fastest player wins the round. Minnie can be found in old Disney shows also.
Kingdom Hearts series[]
In the Kingdom Hearts series, Minnie is the queen of Disney Castle, a world of classic Disney characters with Mickey as its king. This is notably the only official continuity in which Mickey and Minnie are depicted as married rather than dating. When Mickey disappears in the first game, at Mickey's request, she sends Donald and Goofy to find him. She also sends Jiminy Cricket to accompany them, and she ruled the kingdom during the King's absence.
In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Minnie is holding The Annual Disney Town Dreams Festival is being held at the time, consisting of many games and events and the awarding of the Million Dreams Award, but because King Mickey is training with Master Yen Sid, Queen Minnie is struggling to carry it out on her own. Pete is making things more difficult, disguised as both Captain Justice, a hero, and Captain Dark, a villain. When Terra arrives in Disney Town arrives in Disney Town first, and begins to chase after Unversed that appeared on the Rumble Racing track, only to almost get run over by Pete, disguised as Captain Dark, saved only by a warning from Queen Minnie. The Queen and Chip and Dale reprimand Terra, who tries to explain that rules do not apply with the Unversed. However, the Queen insists that if Terra wants to chase down the Unversed on the track, he should do so without breaking the rules, and they suggest he enter the races. When Aqua finishes playing against the Unversed, Queen Minnie appears to thank her, and Horace introduces Aqua to the Queen. The Queen explains to Aqua the Dream Festival, and Horace pledges his vote for the Million Dreams Award to Aqua. Following this, Queen Minnie and the other residents of Disney Town are seen at the Ice Cream tent, where the Queen presents the Million Dreams Award to Terra, Ventus, and Aqua. Hearing this, Pete storms onto the stage, demanding a recount, sure that he had received all the votes. However, despite showing up in both his disguises, he receives no award, and the Queen calls for his arrest. The Magic Brooms appear and carry Pete off the stage and out of Disney Town.
In Kingdom Hearts II, Maleficent and Pete use a special door to threaten Disney Castle by changing the past in Timeless River. Minnie finds a solution in Sora, Donald, and Goofy, who go to the Timeless River and undo the changes done. During the end credits, Minnie is finally reunited with Mickey when he returns.
In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, a past incarnation of Minnie is found in the Country of Musketeers, where she is the princess taken hostage by Pete. She has a similar role to the film, but this time she is rescued by Sora, Riku, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. In the real world, Minnie is taken hostage by Maleficent and Pete to lure Mickey back to the castle, but this scheme is thwarted by Lea, which allows Minnie to escape them.
In Kingdom Hearts III, Minnie appears at the end with Daisy and Pluto, reuniting with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy after defeating Xehanort. She happily hold hands with Mickey and watched the fireworks together with the group in celebration.
Kinect: Disneyland Adventures[]
Minnie appears as a meet-and-greet character in the game near the entrance to Frontierland on Main Street USA and in front of her house in Mickey's Toontown. She and Daisy are given the task of decorating and organizing Toontown City Hall for the upcoming mayor election. One of the tasks that she gives to the player involves finding flowers for her decorations. Minnie also takes part in the Mickey's Soundsational Parade mini-game, dancing on Mickey's float.
Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion[]
In the game, Minnie's cartoon essence was drained by Mizrabel and trapped within the Wasteland. Mickey journeyed to the realm to free it, as well as the essence of other Disney characters. Minnie, herself, appears in the prologue searching for Mickey after he has left, and during the epilogue where she mentions having a strange dream involving a witch and castle.
Disney Infinity 3.0[]
Minnie is a playable character in the game, exclusive to the Toy Box. She was released alongside Mickey on August 30, 2015. She uses her purse as a melee weapon, and her special attack is known as "Everybody Loves Minnie"; this allows her to charm her enemies into obeying her and attacking all surrounding enemies.
Other games[]
Minnie has appeared in many video games alongside Mickey. Often, she either has to be rescued by Mickey (such as in Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Mickey Mouse: Magic Wands!), or she joins him on his adventures (such as in Mickey Mousecapade, The Great Circus Mystery starring Mickey and Minnie, and Disney's Hide & Sneak).
A costume of Minnie is also available in Disney Universe; it can be unlocked when the player completes the final Queen Anne's Revenge level in the Pirates of the Caribbean world at least twice.
Disney Parks[]
Minnie, posing for a photo in Disneyland.
Minnie Mouse is the most common Disney character in the Disney theme parks, after Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. She is normally dressed in a red polka dot dress and bow, with yellow heels.
Minnie's House is available for a tour in Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland. She also makes meet-and-greet appearances in her Disneyland home.
Disneyland Resort[]
In California, Minnie appears in Mickey's Soundsational Parade. A bronze statue of her is also featured in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
In World of Color: Celebrate!, Minnie made numerous cameos during the montage celebrating Mickey Mouse.
Walt Disney World[]
In the Magic Kingdom there is a statue of Minnie sitting next to Roy O. Disney on a bench. This represents their supporting roles helping Mickey and Walt.
In Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire, Minnie is given a surprise by Mickey towards the end of the show—that being the appearances of Anna and Elsa from Frozen.
Minnie also serves as a co-host in Mickey's PhilharMagic, though she makes no physical appearance. For meet-and-greets, she can be found at Pete's Silly Sideshow.
Tokyo Disney Resort[]
In Tokyo Disneyland, Minnie was the central character in the high-energy musical show, Minnie Oh! Minnie!, using the Latin-American flavor to make Disney style entertainment. Guests can also be able to meet Minnie and see the new dresses she has designed in her own meet-and-greet attraction Minnie's Style Studio.
Disney Cruise Line[]
Minnie is an active character on the Disney Cruise Line ships. She is also the head statue in the atrium of the Disney Fantasy and can be seen flying in the Toon Plane in the magical portholes on board the Disney Dream and Fantasy. In 2011, along with Karl Holz, Minnie laid the keel for the Disney Fantasy.
On April 18, 2019, Minnie was promoted to Captain for all of the DCL ships.[29]
Filmography[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Like Mickey, Minnie's ears always face the same way, no matter which direction she is facing.
- According to Mortimer Mouse, Minnie is his former girlfriend who left him.
- When Wheel of Fortune hostess Vanna White hosted while host Pat Sajak was recovering from emergency surgery, Mickey and Minnie helped out.[30]
- Minnie is occasionally cited as an unofficial member of the Disney Princesses and has been included in some of the franchise's material.
- The comic strip story The Gleam by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse. "Minerva" has since been a recurring alias for her. In the French translations, Minerva is actually her middle name, making her full name Minnie Minerva Mouse; in that case, Minnie is one of the two Disney icons to have officially a middle name (the other being Donald Duck, whose full name has been revealed to be Donald Fauntleroy Duck).
- Minnie appeared in concept art for Epic Mickey, but did not appear in the actual game herself (nor is she ever mentioned by Mickey). There was also no mention of her in Epic Mickey 2, but she did appear in Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion and appeared in one of the projectors at the end of the second Epic Mickey.
- According to Walt Disney, Mickey and Minnie Mouse have never been married on screen. But, in 1933, during an interview with Film Pictorial, Walt said, "In private life, Mickey is married to Minnie... What it really amounts to is that Minnie is, for screen purposes, his leading lady."
- Minnie's eyes are usually longer and wider than Mickey's, while her smile is slightly shorter and more closed than his. However, these details were not used in the earliest cartoon and some comic stories.
- In the popular ABC television series Once Upon a Time, several figurines of Minnie and Mickey can be seen, most notably in Mr. Gold's pawn shop.
- Minnie was used along with Mickey in a 1930 Aesop's Fables cartoon called "The Office Boy" and again in a 1931 Aesop's Fables cartoon called "Red Riding Hood" after Walt Disney admitted influence from this cartoon series which had been around even before Mickey was even created. But Walt sued its creator Paul Terry for "plagiarizing" his character which led to Aesop's Fables ending in 1933.
- It has been officially stated that Minnie shares the same birthday as Mickey Mouse (November 18). However, this is debatable, as numerous stories that take place on Mickey's birthday do not mention that it is also Minnie's birthday, and vice-versa.
- In Japanese Disney theme parks, it is more likely to find Minnie Mouse ears instead of Mickey Mouse ears.
- Minnie has over two-hundred outfits.
- Mickey, or Michael, means "the one who is like God", and Minnie or Minerva was the name of a Roman "goddess". This remarkable coincidence is, however, likely unforeseen.
- She is one of the few Disney characters to have received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[31] The other Disney characters that received Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame include Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Winnie the Pooh, Tinker Bell and Snow White.
- Bob Iger once referred to Minnie as "the official First Lady of the Walt Disney company".[28]
- Though Minnie does not appear in Legend of the Three Caballeros, she is briefly mentioned by Daisy in the episode "Mexico à Go-Go".
- Russi Taylor's co-stars Bill Farmer, Tony Anselmo and Tress MacNeille have revealed that after the passing of her then-husband Wayne Allwine in 2009, she had a very difficult time providing the voice of Minnie on various Mickey Mouse-related projects for a short period. She eventually recovered in the later years of her life.
References[]
- ↑ "Daisy's Big Sale"
- ↑ "Sock Burglar"
- ↑ "Thanks to Minnie"
- ↑ "Where's Minnie?"
- ↑ Building a Building
- ↑ "Pioneer Days"
- ↑ Get A Horse!
- ↑ "Cable Car Chaos"
- ↑ "Road Hogs"
- ↑ "Daisy Bothers Minnie"
- ↑ "Third Wheel"
- ↑ "Eau de Minnie"
- ↑ "Doggone Biscuits"
- ↑ "Mickey and the Goat Man"
- ↑ "No Reservations"
- ↑ Runaway Brain
- ↑ Belles on Ice
- ↑ "No"
- ↑ The Three Musketeers
- ↑ Working with Walt: Interviews with Disney Artists, by Don Peri
- ↑ Cartoon Research - "Mickey's Christmas Carol"
- ↑ Walt Disney Treasures, A Conversation with Russi Taylor and Wayne Allwine: The Voice Behind the Mouse
- ↑ https://d23.com/catching-up-with-mickey-and-minnie-a-d23-interview-with-bret-iwan-and-kaitlyn-robrock/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdFGbw5e0LY
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC0Fwv8o5zM
- ↑ Mynott, Nicole (August 6, 2016). "GO INSIDE THE MINNIE ROCKS THE DOTS EVENT" (Article). Twitter. Retrieved on January 26, 2016.
- ↑ Saad, Nardine (June 22, 2017). "Jennifer Lawrence, Mark Hamill, Minnie Mouse, Bernie Mac among 2018 Walk of Fame inductees" (Article). Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 "Minnie Mouse honored with Hollywood Walk of Fame star". ABC News (January 22, 2018).
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ Valerio, Brit. "Minnie Mouse, Mark Hamill, Zoe Saldana, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and More Will Receive Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame". Oh My Disney.
External links[]
Minnie Mouse on Disney.com- Minnie Mouse at INDUCKS
- Minnie Mouse on Wikipedia
- Minnie Mouse character page (Japanese 日本)
- Minnie Mouse on Kingdom Hearts Wiki
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