In the Mickey Mouse cartoon short The Pet Store, released on this day in 1933, Tony’s Shop is hiring, and Mickey gets the job and promptly gets to work. When Tony steps out, Minnie happens to visit. Meanwhile, the gorilla Beppo, “the movie monk,” is in his cage browsing a movie magazine and doing impressions of the stars he sees. First it’s Stan Laurel, and then he spots King Kong. Beppo escapes from his cage and captures Minnie, carrying her to the top of a tower of sale items.
Mickey manages to save his sweetheart . . .
. . . from the impersonating ape and the two flee the store for good.
The Pet Store was particularly relevant at the time, for just six months earlier the classic Fay Wray version of King Kong had hit the big screen.
