As it’s the early part of 2024, and we at ArtInsights are in a new era with our hybrid in-person and online model, I thought it would be a good idea to start a fresh, fun new Spotlight blog series, and since I grew up in a family always surrounded by canine companions, I decided on Disney Dogs. There are just so many to love! Of course it makes sense to start at the beginning, with Mickey’s faithful dog Pluto, who is probably the oldest pup still appearing onscreen, at 94 years old!
Pluto’s actual birthday is pretty soon, too. He was introduced on March 19th, 1930, in The Chain Gang. If there was any doubt what breed he favors, it’s bloodhound! (Who knew?) Years later, after he was more than just a nameless bloodhound, he was declared a mixed breed by the Disney folks.
Unlike characters like Goofy, who is an anthropomorphized dog, Pluto is a dog who acts like a dog….mostly. Did you know before his character was set, in one cartoon, he actually spoke? It was in 1931’s Moose Hunt, where he was officially made Mickey’s pup. At one point, Mickey says, “SPEAK!”, and Pluto gets on his knees and says, “MAMEE!” (that’s a reference to Al Jolsen in The Jazz Singer, which was released in 1927, and was the first full length feature with synchronized sound)
Pluto was designed by animator Norm Ferguson, who is best known for animating the witch in Snow White, and worked on many of the greatest Disney classics, including Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, and Cinderella. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson, two of the Nine Old Men of Disney, who together wrote the essential 1981 tome Disney Animation: The Illusions of Life, believed in the genius of Ferguson’s work. They called the flypaper sequence featuring Pluto in the short Playful Pluto (a 1934 cartoon in which the pup went from a minor character to getting his first key role) a “milestone in personality animation…through it all, his reaction to his predicament and his thoughts of what to try next are shared with the audience. It was the first time a character seemed to be thinking on the screen, and, though it lasted only 65 seconds, it opened the way for animation of real characters with real problems.”
If you click here you can see a comparison of the color sequence from 1939’s Beach Picnic in which Shamus Culhane reworked the original work by Ferguson in 1934’s black and white cartoon, Playful Pluto. Ferguson’s animation is a thing a beauty!
Pluto appeared in 24 Mickey Mouse cartoons before his first solo performance. He began as the headliner with the Silly Symphony cartoons Just Dogs (1932) and Mother Pluto (1936).
In the first installment of his own series of cartoons, Pluto has puppies! He has 5 rambunctious sons in 1937’s Pluto’s Quin-puplets, a short in which his puppy love Fifi the Peke is the mommy to his babies. One of those puppies appears again in 1942’s Pluto Junior. Pluto also has a brother named K.B, who appears in 1946’s Pluto’s Kid Brother.
Although there are several cartoons featuring Pluto as the star, there aren’t consistent shorts with him as the lead until 1940, when the series called “PLUTO” begins, starting with Bone Trouble.
Of the 89 shorts Pluto appeared in between 1930 and 1953, 4 were nominated for Academy Awards. It was one in which he was heavily featured, though, 1941’s Lend a Paw, (which you can see HERE), that won an Oscar. While, like all but one of his cartoons, he still only barks, his “devil” and “angel” alter-egos do speak!
Pluto has two love interests in his history. Minnie’s pet Fifi, was his paramour early on, and their love was strong! They appear together in Puppy Love (1933), Pluto’s Quin-puplets (1937), Mickey’s Surprise Party (1939), and Society Dog Show (1939).
She is replaced with Dinah the Dachshund (what happens to Fifi? unclear…), who first appeared in The Sleep Walker (1942). Dinah is a bit of a flirt, in that she also dates Butch the Bulldog, but eventually she dumps him for his bad attitude. The most charming short with them together is Pluto’s Heartthrob, which you can see here.
Pluto as a character wasn’t in a short for nearly three decades. He was last seen in 1953’s The Simple Things, and then finally returned in the 1990 short The Prince and the Pauper as, once again, Mickey’s trusty pup. Since then, he has continued to be one of the most popular characters of the Disney animated family, and a beloved part of what Disney fans call “The Sensational Six”, along with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy.
YOU CAN SEE ALL THE DISNEY FINE ART OF PLUTO AVAILABLE AT ARTINSIGHTS HERE, but here are a few of my favorites:
