Mickey "hoozoo"

David A Gerstein David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu
Mon May 24 02:14:56 CEST 1993


	Dear Folks,

	Just looked over the MM "Hoozoo" again.  A few corrections:

	Aunt Marissa is Minnie's aunt, not Mickey's (Agatha then being
Mickey's only aunt, presumably), as is shown by the Walsh/Gottfredson
story reprinted in WDC&S 95 (and again in #575).  This has been
confused because the "Between the Lines" column for the reprint
mentioned her as being *Mickey's* aunt.

	Uncle Mortimer's status is uncertain, since both Minnie and
Mickey refer to him as their uncle.  Nonetheless, it would seem that
he's *really* Minnie's uncle, because in the first story to feature
him Minnie was shown as being in his will, Mickey was not, and he was
introduced as "*your* Uncle Mortimer" (Shyster to *Minnie*).

	As for famous phrases:  "heh-heh" being the only one??  In
Gottfredson's stories he says, "Oh, fer gosh sakes," "Good gosh!"
"Hot diggety dog!" and "Fer th' luvva Mike!" more frequently than his
nervous laugh (which was mainly confined to the screen).

	As for his personality, allow me to submit:

	Mickey is ruled by his own enthusiasm.  Although this has its
good points -- giving him compassion, kindness and forthrightness --
it also is his Achilles heel, because Mickey looks before he leaps,
gets carried away by his excitement, and ambitiously dives into
situations that he's not prepared for.  Mickey is an emotional
character:  overcome by grief or panic, he is likely to make clumsy
moves (and, in one case, attempted suicide) when things seem at their
worst.  Mickey loves nothing more than a good practical joke on
Minnie, Goofy, Horace or Clarabelle, but by being too impulsive,
Mickey finds himself more often than not to end up with the joke
played on him.  Mickey is a bit of a chauvinist, believing that 
Minnie's faults are representative of all women, but always discovers 
after making generalizations that he has essentially the same faults 
himself.  Mickey's greatest foils are destructive animals -- although
others may find them cute, he is bothered by that and regards
nuisances as nuisances.  Mickey possesses great powers of deduction
and thought, but must contain his integral exuberance to make them
work properly, which he seldom does.  Only when confronted by an
aggressive foe is Mickey intimidated and unsettled enough for his
logic and decisive thought to come to the fore.

	---

	The above is based on the pre-Bill-Walsh Gottfredson Mickey.
It seems to me that the person who wrote the hoozoo was going by the
later Paul Murry Mouse:  really, there's not much there, which is I
guess why I found the description, although well-written, exemplary of
why many people find Mickey bland.

	I hope you guys find this useful.  If it gets someone to give
Mickey another chance, it's worth every moment it took to write.  I'd
also like to do Hoozoos for Minnie and Goofy, if you'd let me.

	Your friend,

	David Gerstein
	<now at:  Larry.J.Gerstein at Dartmouth.edu>





More information about the DCML mailing list