Minnie Mouse is one of Walt Disney's cartoon characters, she is the girlfriend of Mickey Mouse, and first appeared in the short Plane Crazy along with him. Minnie is sweet in nature, fun-loving and very beautiful. She is widely recognized by her pink or red polka-dotted bow. In most appearances, Minnie is presented as a best friend of Daisy Duck. Her favorite hobbies are cooking, dancing, gardening, shopping, music, fashion and spending time with Mickey.
"Just imagine... He'll stride into the room, a light will glow from him. I'll hear music, he'll bring me flowers, he'll swing me off my feet! And I'll know he's the one when he makes me laugh."
―Minnie dreamily fantasizing of her dream lover, giving an example of her romantic personality.
Minnie Mouse has, over the years, grown into a strong, rather complex, and easily identifiable character in the Disney universe. Her many personality traits are more than noticeable, as well as consistent, in every incarnation of the character.
Generally speaking, Minnie is incredibly sweet, often tame, and highly intelligent. More so than Mickey half the time. Because of this, she tends to be the one to keep ordinance in her circle of friends, as well as in the life of Mickey, who's constant mischief leads to chaos, ranging in relevance and danger. This also gives a motherly persona, which is seen whenever she's dealing with animals or children. Her nature, kindness, and tendency to see the good in others also ties into the fact that she's a hopeless romantic, as well as deeply affectionate. She takes love and loyalty very seriously, and is quite possibly the most dependable character, as well as the most loving, in the Mickey Mouse franchise.
Despite the various reasons Minnie stands out as a perfect being, she's not without her flaws. Unlike Mickey, who is usually laid-back no matter the situation, Minnie has a habit of becoming easily frustrated, can be impulsive, obsessive, and occasionally naive.
In spite of the popular belief that the character of Minnie is passive, she is outspoken and has been shown to openly lose her temper due to Mickey's forgetfulness, Daisy's diva persona, and Goofy's tomfoolery. Her temper can also be stemmed from any amount of rudeness, as well as a lack of order. She's also shown dislike and hatred towards flirtatious men, selfishness, and narcissism. Additionally, she refuses to let these factors go on without word, no matter how harsh or brutally honest her opinions are. Exceptions to this fact come into play whenever she's dealing with a close fried, such as the aforementioned Daisy, who she cares a great deal for, despite her few annoying tendencies.
Despite her sweetness and beauty, Minnie is often described as "feisty" by other characters. Being as strong-willed as she is, Minnie has no problem assisting Mickey in battling an enemy, no matter their size or power. She can be a key part in saving the day because of this.
Appearance[]
Minnie's trademark outfit is usually a dress revealing her frilly white bloomers with a large bow and high heel shoes that all are one color (depending on the cartoon). Like Mickey and Goofy, Minnie also wears white gloves for fashion. Her outfit is sometimes red with white polka dots. It has sometimes been a blue dress with a pink bow and shoes. In earlier cartoons, she wears a pillbox hat with a flower in place of her bow. In some cartoons, Minnie was shirtless with only a dress, a bow, bloomers and her high heel shoes.
Voices of Minnie Mouse[]
Minnie was first voiced by Walt Disney, who was also the original voice of Mickey Mouse. Marjorie Ralston, a Disney inker, voiced her in one cartoon in 1929. Then, from 1929 up until 1939, she was voiced by Marcellite Garner. Then from 1941 to 1942, and on the radio program, The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air, she was voiced by Thelma Boardman. Following this, from 1942 up to 1952 Ruth Clifford provided the character's voice. Currently, Russi Taylor has voiced Minnie since 1987.
Development[]
In 1928, Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse to act as a replacement for his previous star, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. But Mickey could not fill the void alone. Among the few consistent character traits Oswald had developed before moving on and capable of escaping his grasp.
The next film featuring the couple was The Gallopin' Gaucho. It was the second of their series to be produced but only the third to be released on December 30, 1928. In it, Minnie was employed as the barmaid and dancer of Cantina Argentina, a bar and restaurant established in the pampas of Argentina. She performs the tango for Mickey the gaucho and Black Pete the outlaw. Both flirt with her but the latter intends to abduct her while the former obliges in saving the "damsel in distress" from the villain. All three characters acted as strangers first being introduced to each other.
They appear together again in Steamboat Willie, the third short of the series to be produced but released second on November 18, 1928. Pete was featured as the captain of the steamboat, Mickey as a crew of one and Minnie as their single passenger.
The commercial success of Steamboat Willie helped introduce Mickey and Minnie into the audience. Twelve more films featuring Mickey were produced in 1929, but Minnie only co-starred in seven of them and was mentioned in an eighth.
Mickey Mouse Short Series[]
Along with the rest of the gang, Minnie returns in the animated series. Like many of Mickey's classic shorts of the 20's and 30's, Minnie proves to be the driving force of some of Mickey's wacky adventures.
In "No Service", Mickey and Donald went through comical mayhem to order take-out for a planned picnic with Minnie and Daisy.
In "Yodelberg", Minnie is an enchanting yodeler who owns a mountaintop home. Mickey, of course, is ecstatic to meet her at the top and goes through a perilous journey to do so.
In "New York Weenie", Mickey and Minnie are enjoying a date in New York's Central Park when a hot dog they ordered bounces off the bun and off into the rest of the large park, causing Mickey to chase after it.
Like many previous incarnations, Minnie is shown as Daisy's closest friend and vise versa. They are shown together in the episodes "No Service" and "Croissant de Triomphe", with the latter showing them in business together in Paris.
She played a more active role in "Cable Car Chaos", where she and Mickey are exploring San Francisco until a runaway cable car spoils the day, forcing Minnie to save herself and the other driving passengers.
Minnie plays her first role as the main protagonist, serving as the protagonist of the short, in "Eau de Minnie", where a special perfume Minnie obsesses over enchants the entire city.
She would play another lead role in "Clogged", where she must fix her broken windmill in order to generate water for her garden.
In Duck the Halls Minnie and her friends were preparing for Christmas but end up saving Donald from his sickness from Winter.
Disney Parks[]
Minnie posing for a photo at Disney California Adventure.
Minnie Mouse is the most common Disney character in the Disney Parks after Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. She is the third most requested character at Disney theme parks, behind Mickey and Winnie the Pooh.
In the Magic Kingdom there is a statue of Minnie sitting next to Roy O. Disney on a bench. This represents their supporting roles helping Mickey and Walt.
She has a starring role in a handful of shows especially at the Tokyo Disney Resort.
Minnie's House is available for a tour in Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland. She also makes meet and greet appearances in her Disneyland home.
Minnie can be spotted in several entertainment entries including: Fantasmic!, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Dream Along with Mickey, Mickey's Soundsational Parade and others.
Similar to Mickey now being able to talk and blink, the same mechanisms are being used for Minnie too.
Minnie Oh! Minnie![]
In Tokyo Disneyland, Minnie is the central character in the high-energy musical show using the Latin American flavor to make Disney style entertainment.
Twas the Night Before Christmas[]
Minnie was one of the main stars in the Christmas show in Walt Disney World. In the middle of the show, Minnie performs a solo number, her version of Santa Baby.
Disney Cruise Line[]
Minnie is an active character on the Disney Cruise Line ships. She is also the head statue in the atrium of the Disney Fantasy and can be seen flying in the Toon Plane in the magical portholes on board the Dream and Fantasy. In 2011, along with Karl Holz, Minnie laid the keel for the Disney Fantasy.
Trivia[]
Minnie as she appeared in House of Mouse.
Like Mickey, Minnie's ears always face the same way, no matter which direction she is facing.
According to Mortimer Mouse, Minnie is his girlfriend who left him.
Minnie's voice actress, Russi Taylor, was married to Mickey's voice actor, Wayne Allwine. Due to Allwine's death in 2009, she WAS widowed until her death in 2019.
After Wayne's death, Russi was said to have an extremely difficult time returning to recording sessions for Minnie during the first few recordings following his departure.
A new voice actress for Minnie has yet to be announced by Disney.
Minnie is often cited as an unofficial member of the Disney Princesses and has been included in some of the franchise's material.
Minnie appeared in concept art for Epic Mickey, but did not appear in the actual game herself (nor is she ever mentioned by Mickey). There was also no mention of her in Epic Mickey 2, but she did appear inEpic Mickey: Power of Illusion and appeared in one of the projectors at the end of the second Epic Mickey.
Minnie in Electric Holiday.
According to Walt Disney, Mickey and Minnie Mouse have never been married on screen. But, in 1933, during an interview with Film Pictorial, Walt said, “In private life, Mickey is married to Minnie... What it really amounts to is that Minnie is, for screen purposes, his leading lady.”
Minnie's eyes are longer and wider than Mickey's, while her smile is slightly shorter and more closed than his.
In the popular ABC television series Once Upon a Time, several figurines of Minnie and Mickey can be seen, most notably in Mr. Gold's pawn shop.
Minnie was used along with Mickey in a 1930 Aesop's Fables cartoon called "The Office Boy" and again in a 1931 Aesop's Fables cartoon called "Red Riding Hood" after Walt Disney admitted influence from this cartoon series which had been around even before Mickey was even created. But Walt sued its creator Paul Terry for "plagiarizing" his character which lead to Aesop's Fables ending in 1933.
In the Pucca episode "Tame That Toon", the classic cartoon version of Pucca strongly resembles Minnie Mouse.
In fact, one of Pucca's inspirations could possibly be Minnie Mouse.
It has been officially stated that Minnie shares the same birthday as Mickey Mouse (November 18). However, this is debatable, as numerous stories that take place on Mickey's birthday do not mention that it is also Minnie's birthday, and vice-versa.
Compared to Daisy, Minnie acts more proper and lady-like.
Minnie appears to not have a hot temper, but is angered easily.
In Japanese Disney theme parks, it is more likely to find Minnie Mouse ears instead of Mickey Mouse ears.
