Day 2: Who Ya Gonna Call?

October 2, 2022

Dear Disney,

In college, Darling and I took a Disney and Film class and some of the early Mickey Mouse shorts were featured to show how Mickey has changed throughout the years. That was the first time I had watched this short, the 1937 Mickey Mouse feature, “The Lonesome Ghosts.”

Darling remembers watching this short when she was young during the Halloween season or when the Disney Channel had its free trial weeks throughout the year.  I may have watched it then as well, but I do not recall.

“The Lonesome Ghosts” starts with four ghosts lamenting the fact that there is no one left to scare.  When reading the paper, one of the ghosts sees the Ajax Ghost Exterminators ad and convinces the other ghosts that they should call and get the exterminators to come to their haunted house.  The scene cuts to the Ajax Ghost Exterminators office where Donald, Goofy, and Mickey are sleeping around a phone.  The phone rings and the three characters wrestle for the phone. The phone is answered, and Mickey says they will be right over.  Mickey, Donald, and Goofy split up to surround the ghosts.  The three characters get tricked by the ghosts: Mickey by being almost drowned; Donald by the ghosts causing Donald to hurt himself by trying to capture the ghosts, and Goofy by the ghosts pretending to be Goofy’s reflection in a mirror.  Finally, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey fall into molasses and flour making them look like ghosts. The four lonesome ghosts thinking that Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were ghosts, get scared and run away.

I think that the animation and colorwork are wonderful for 1937.  The characters are recognizable as Goofy, Donald, and Mickey to a modern audience.  The voice acting is great. I told Darling that I was happy that Disney+ had subtitles as Donald’s words were unrecognizable to me, but they were fun to hear. Finally, hearing Walt as Mickey always brings a smile to my face.  

The humor is slapstick, like an animated 3 Stooges feature.  I am not overly fond of that style of humor, but I do understand its place.  

The sound design is amazing.  The music is fun, and the sound effects portrayed exactly what I wanted them to portray. 

Disney+ stated that this was a “Halloween” title and part of their Halloween collection, but I felt that this was more a Christmas tale than Halloween. At the turn of the century, and earlier, it was common to tell ghost stories at Christmas.  Modern American society has stopped this practice, but I imagine in 1937 it was still relatively common.

Nevertheless, I am glad Darling and I watched this short for Halloween and we will watch it again next year.

Sincerely,

Jim Dear