Little Golden Book Monday #41

Today's Little Golden Book is Walt Disney's Surprise for Mickey Mouse. This is the second printing from 1972.
This story has a cavalcade of characters in it including: Mickey's nephews Fredie and Morty Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horse, the Three Little Pigs, Geppetto and Pinocchio, Figaro the kitten., Cleo the goldfish, Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Dumbo and Timothy, Daisy Duck, and Pluto.
The story ends when Mickey, Fredie, Morty and Pluto end up at Wald Disney World at the Mickey Mouse Revue. Turns out that all of Mickey's pals are part of the Mickey Mouse Revue orchestra. Mickey had never been so happy. His musical revue was wonderful. The audience clapped and cheered, and Mickey's orchestra took twenty-seven bows. They would have taken twenty-eight, but Donald Duck got so excited that he fell into a bass drum.

The Mickey Mouse Revue was an attraction that opened on October 1, 1971 in Walt Disney World, Florida. It played from 1971 - 1980, and moved to Tokyo Disneyland to continue to this day. This attraction was a musical Animatronic show much like the Country Bears and America Sings. The show started with the Audio-Animatronic orchestra figures conducted by Mickey Mouse rising up from the stage while playing cartoony warm up music. Mickey then laughed and counted an intro and the characters began an instrumental medley of various Disney songs including: Heigh Ho, Whistle While You Work, When You Wish Upon a Star, and Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life for Me).

Even with the large number of characters that appeared in this Little Golden Book, there were a ton that had to be left out due to lack of pages/space. If all 81 characters from the Mickey Mouse Revue had been included, this would not have been a "Little" Golden Book.



This is a list of the characters that perform in Mickey's orchestra:
1. Mickey Mouse - baton
2. Mad Hatter - bass clarinet
3. March Hare - helps with bass clarinet
4. Dormouse
5. Winnie the Pooh - kazoo
6. Rabbit - slide whistle
7. Piglet - harmonica
8. Minnie Mouse - violin
9. Daisy Duck - cello
10. Uncle Scrooge - ukulele
11. Monty (city mouse) - clarinet
12. Abner (country mouse) - saxophone
13. Pluto - high-hat cymbal
14. Huey - trumpet
15. Dewey - trumpet
16. Louie - trumpet
17. Gus - trombone
18. Jaq - helps with trombone
19. Goofy - bass viola
20. Dumbo - tuba
21. Timothy - helps with tuba
22. Kaa - his own tail!
23. King Louie - xylophone, wood blocks, timpani, etc.
24. Baloo - flute
25. Practical Pig - brick organ
26. Fifer Pig - accordion
27. Fiddler Pig - fiddle
28. Snow White
29. Bluebird
30. Doe
31. Fawn
32. & 33. Squirrels
34. & 35. Quail
36. through 40. Rabbits
41. Raccoon
42. Sneezy - oboe
43. Dopey - flute
44. Grumpy - pipe organ
45. Doc - lute
46. Bashful - accordion
47. Happy - mandolin
48. Sleepy - fiddle
49. Alice
50. through 52. Pansies
53. Daffodil
54. & 55. Tulips
56. & 57. Shy Little Violets
58. White Rose
59. Red Rose
60. Iris
61. & 62. Morning Glories
63. Dandelion
64. Tiger Lily
65. Donald Duck - maracas
66. Panchito - pistols
67. Jose Carioca - guitar
68. Donald #2
69. Panchito #2
70. Jose #2
71. Donald #3
72. Panchito #3
73. Jose #3
74. Fairy Godmother
75. Cinderella - workmaid
76. Cinderella #2 - ballgown
77. Cinderella #3 - ballgown
78. Prince Charming
79. Brer Fox
80. Brer Rabbit
81. Brer Bear

The original date for the first printing of Surprise for Mickey Mouse, was 1971, the same year that the Mickey Mouse Revue attraction opened at WDW. So, it would seem that even back then, the Mouse was king when it came to promotional tie-ins and promotion for their new parks and attractions.