Long before American Idol, Mickey Mouse hosted his own amateur talent competition, in the cartoon short Mickey’s Amateurs, released on this day in 1937. If any act was not deemed worthy, Mickey would bang a gong, signaling that the act must exit the stage. The first contestant was Pete, whose voice was as bad as his attitude, and he was summarily gonged. Donald Duck attempted to recite, but not without forgetting the words to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” and he too fell victim to the gong. Other contestants include “the two Clara’s: Cluck and Belle,” Clara Cluck and Clarabelle Cow, that is, with Cluck clucking to Belle’s piano accompaniment, and Goofy and his 50-piece one-man band. This cartoon short is a parody of a popular radio program of the era, Major Bowes Amateur Hour, hosted by “Major” Edward Bowes who, like Mickey, would bang the gong on any act who simply had no hope of becoming any type of American idol.
