Mickey's Amateurs is a 1937 Disney cartoon, co-directed by Pinto Colvig, Erdman Penner, and Walt Pfeiffer.
Mickey Mouse acts as compere to a radio amateur variety showcase; as the short opens, he is banging a gong to make a pair of mechanical hands remove Pete from the stage as he butchers "Asleep in the Deep". He introduces the next act, Donald Duck, whose attempt to recite "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" dries up two words into the second line, resulting in mocking laughter from the audience and his forcible removal from the stage (despite his defiance).
The next act, Clara Cluck singing Luigi Arditi's waltz "Il Bacio" with piano accompaniment by Clarabelle Cow, is more successful, despite the force of Clara's voice causing the microphone to swing back and forth like a pendulum, forcing her to run back and forth to keep up. A heavily-disguised Donald takes to the stage with a Thompson submachine gun, and when he dries up two words into the second line of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" again and the audience laughs again, he opens fire and is even more forcibly removed from the stage.
The final act is "Bandmaster Goofy" and his 50-piece band... a mechanical contraption that allows him to play multiple instruments as a one-man band. His performance of "In the Good Old Summertime" mostly goes as planned, but when he cranks things up for "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight", the machine goes berserk and explodes in a shower of instruments, leaving a sheepish Goofy sitting among the wreckage. Just then, Donald bursts out of Goofy's hat, fixes the audience with a Death Glare, and rattles through "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in four seconds, just in time for the Iris Out (which catches him around the neck at first).
This short provides examples of:
- Apple for Teacher: As Donald takes to the stage for the first time, he hands Mickey an apple in the hope that it will persuade him not to gong him offstage. When he gets gonged anyway, he snatches the apple back before being dragged off.
- Call-Back: As in the 1934 short Orphans' Benefit, which also saw Mickey act as compere for a variety show, Donald's act involves his attempts to recite a nursery rhyme repeatedly failing, leading to him getting a Vaudeville Hook (although this time, he keeps forgetting the words rather than getting interrupted by snarky audience members).
- Disproportionate Retribution: Donald's first attempt at reciting "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" ends badly when he can't remember more than two words of the second line, reducing the audience to laughter. When he returns in disguise and tries - and fails - again, he reacts to the audience laughter by opening fire on them with a Tommy gun. Naturally, no-one is killed or injured, although the recoil from the gun propels Donald all over the stage until the mechanical hands can shut him in his violin case and drag him off stage.
- Dreadful Musician: The short opens as Pete gives a tuneless, gravelly rendition of "Asleep in the Deep". Thankfully, we're not subjected to his assault on music for long as Mickey quickly gongs him offstage.
- Explosive Overclocking: Goofy's mechanical one-man band is able to keep pace with the leisurely "In the Good Old Summertime" (apart from a clarinet being pointed everywhere but towards Goofy's mouth at first), but when he says, "Okay, fellers! Let's get hot!" and cranks things up for "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight", the machine proves unable to cope. At first, the worst that happens is Goofy struggling to keep up with the parade of instruments being put in front of him, but eventually the instruments change so fast they can't even get out of each other's way in time (at one point, a clarinet gets stuffed into the bell of a trumpet). Then the machine goes berserk, repeatedly shoving a clarinet halfway down Goofy's throat and out again, swishing his harmonica back and forth across his mouth like a toothbrush... until the whole contraption finally explodes in a mess of gears and band instruments.Goofy: (guffaws) It busted.
- Gale-Force Sound: Clara Cluck's vocal rendition of "Il Bacio" runs into problems when the force of her singing voice keeps blowing the microphone back, so that it eventually swings back and forth like a pendulum. She tries running back and forth to keep up with it, but this just makes it swing further until she finally jumps up and grabs the cable with both hands and both feet to hold it in place for the final notes.
- Iris Out: When Donald finally gets through "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", the iris closes around his neck; he forces it open for just long enough to get out of the way before it closes to end the cartoon.
- Senseless Violins: When Donald returns to the stage in disguise, he is carrying a violin case which he opens to reveal a Thompson submachine gun. After shedding his disguise, he trains the gun on the audience as he tries to recite "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" again, daring them to laugh at him again. Again, he fails, they laugh, and he makes good on his threat of shooting at them.
- Shout-Out: The idea of using a gong to cut bad performances short was based on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour; Mickey also repeats host Edward Bowes' Catchphrase of "Okay! Okay!" between acts.
- Vaudeville Hook: Not a hook as such, but if Mickey finds an act subpar, he hits a gong to summon a pair of mechanical hands to escort the performer from the stage. The short opens as the hands drag Pete offstage before he can further butcher "Asleep in the Deep", and Donald's first two attempts end with him being dragged offstage (despite his attempts to resist).
