Mickey Mouse in "The Simple Things" (1953)

The Simple Things was the last cartoon of the original Mickey Mouse series of theatrically released shorts. Part of the reason for this was the fact that by the 1950's short subjects were no longer making much money. This was especially a problem for a cartoon producer like Walt Disney. Walt Disney spent a lot of money on short subjects and would not cut down costs to the level that many other cartoon producers had. He refused to put out what he considered an inferior product for finical reasons. As such the amount of animated short subjects the studio was making began to heavily decrease in the 1950's.

Another factor into this was Mickey himself. Mickey Mouse was often looked on as a bit of a role model for kids. However this did not fit his early screen image in which he would often do mischievous things that parents would not want heir kids doing. With this the Disney studio was made to calm Mickey down and take out this part of his personality. However with this he became a harder character to make funny. As such characters that weren't as restricted such as Donald Duck and Goofy would become more popular than the once biggest star in cartoons, Mickey Mouse.

 Still Mickey's career remained extremely successful after these short subjects ended. He would go on to be the master of ceremonies at Walt's new venture, a little thing called Disneyland, and he would have a hit TV show with The Mickey Mouse Club.

A working title for The Simple Things was Gull Crazy. This was a reference to the 1943 Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland MGM feature, Girl Crazy.

The film was directed by Charles Nichols. Nichols was one of the studio's three major directors of animated short subjects at this time. The other two were Jack Hannah and Jack Kinney. Nichols mostly handled the Pluto cartoons and Mickey Mouse cartoons.  

AnimationMarvin Woodward (Seashore- Pan- Seagulls flying off rock. Mickey in followed by Pluto; Mickey skips through scene whistling; Mickey sets up equipment on rock; Clam snoozing over seagull - into water - gull wakes up and gives chase; Gull lands on Pluto's head- catches wiener; Seagull in happy take; Mickey's hand holding fish; Gull catches fish- is yanked out of scene; Gull streaking through space; Gull ricochets across water- hits rock- flips over it; Bump rises on gull's head- get's mad; Mickey fishing- seagull circles overhead; Mickey sees gull- puts on hat- gull in- lands on Mickey's hat; Seagull steals bait from Mickey (split with Fred Moore); Mickey flails at gull with hat- hat flies away (split with Fred Moore); Pluto lifts hat off bucket, reveling seagull eating fish bait; Gull combs hair with fishbone; Gull puts tail feather back in his tail; Gull flies out squawking; Gull up in dive pose- shoots down out of scene; Gull dives into bucket- up with fish; Gull hands Mickey bones; Gull up out of bucket, whistles at o.s. gulls; Gulls on rock look up; Gull signals for help; Seagulls fly off rocks; Gull in bucket floating out to sea) 

Norm Ferguson (Pluto sniffs through water - comes up with starfish on face; Pluto with starfish over eyes- sniffing- hits rock; Starfish jumps off Pluto's nose- goes back into water; Pluto stops by water spout- gets squirted- pushes spout down- spout squirts him in his fanny- digs up clam; Clam looks around- takes- closes lid; Pluto cautiously sniffs clam- clam squirts Pluto in eye; Pluto's eye full of water- eyeball floats; Pluto into mad barking; Clam clacks back at Pluto; Pluto gets mad anticipates leap out; Pluto lands on clam- shuts it up; Clam lifts Pluto- peaks out; Clam tosses Pluto out of scene; Pluto jammed in rocks; Clam jumps off rock- pan to Pluto- Clam bites Pluto's tail; Pluto up in air- big take; Pluto opens mouth- clam looks out- starts to clacking; Pluto befuddled - clam spits; Pluto with tooth clacking- runs for help)
George Kreisl (Pluto tries to snap clam off tail- into yo-yo action. Clam flies into Pluto's mouth; Pluto tries to push clam out of his mouth)
Fred Moore (Mickey eating interrupted by whimpering Pluto; Mickey shushes Pluto; Pluto points to clacking clam; Mickey reaches into lunchbox- pulls out wiener; Pluto befuddled as clam eats wiener; Clam squirts Mickey- grabs sandwich; Mickey reprimands Pluto; Mickey continues reprimand; Mickey's hand in picks up sandwich and pepper; Mickey puts pepper on sandwich- Pluto snaps at pepper; Clam squeezes into Pluto's mouth- bounces around; Mickey laughs at o.s. Pluto; Pluto sneezes clam out; Clam lands in Mickey's hand; clam sneezes- blows Mickey's hat off; Mickey gets another wiener for Pluto; Mickey shows Pluto empty lunch pail, says "too bad pal"; Mickey starts to bait hook; Mickey baits hook- starts casting; Seagull steals bait from Mickey (split with Marvin Woodward); Mickey flails at gull with hat- hat flies away (split with Marvin Woodward); Mickey reaches for bait; Mickey takes at bones; Mickey tries to catch gull- throws rock; Pluto hits Mickey- knocks him flat; Mickey and Pluto take at oncoming gulls)
Charles Nichols (Pluto takes; Hat sails in and lands over bucket- Pluto takes; Pluto reacts to o.s. gull; Pluto snaps at gull- gets his tail feather; Pluto goes mad- gull scrams; Gull and bucket hit Pluto- Pluto tumbles down rocks)
George Nicholas (Pluto picks up bait bucket- chuckles; Gull in tippie-wing sneak; Gull threads Pluto's tail through collar; Gull ties up Pluto with tail and ears)
Dan MacManus (all effects animation)

Story: Taking along his dog Pluto, Mickey Mouse decides to go fishing. However the relaxing day runs into a little trouble when Pluto finds a clam. Pluto and the clam soon begin fighting. Pluto runs to Mickey for help, but at first Mickey doesn't understand. The clam is in Pluto's mouth and Mickey thinks Pluto is eating all his food. Mickey decides to play a practical joke by giving the dog a sandwich with lots of pepper. Pluto sneezes the clam out. However the clam wakes up a seagull. Mickey seeing he was wrong tries to give Pluto some food, but the seagull eats it. Next the seagull has his eyes on Mickey's bait (small fish). He starts eating Mickey's bait, which the mouse doesn't appreciate. Pluto tries to protect his master's bait but is no help. The seagull gets some friends and they chase Mickey and Pluto away.

-Michael J. Ruhland