Drawn to the Game: Classic Disney Short Subjects that Celebrate Football

By Michael Lyons

Whether you’re a fan of the game, the half time show or the commercials, there’s no denying that Super Bowl Sunday is, well, Super.

There are plenty of ways to prep for the big game: some may toss a football around the backyard, while others might consume enough Buffalo Wings to fill the city of Buffalo.

A less strenuous and low calorie way to get ready for the Super Bowl is to watch football themed movies.  And, a most unexpected genre features some fun football centered entertainment.

Several classic short subjects from the Walt Disney Studio featuring some of their most iconic characters take to the grid iron and all of them make for winning Super Bowl Sunday viewing.

“Touchdown Mickey” (1932)

In glorious black and white, Mickey Mouse, oh so young with his vintage look and button eyes, must lead his football team  (Mickey’s Manglers) and square off against the rough and tumble Alley Cats.

Made only four years after the introduction of Mickey Mouse, this short features animation that can best be described as quaint and comfortable.

Sight gags are predictable and repetitious (a player rolls down the field, flattening other players like pancakes), but there is such earnest innocence to “Touchdown Mickey,” especially when realizing how far animation has come since this short was originally made.

Minnie and Pluto are also featured, as is an early version of Goofy, as the game’s announcer, in this entertaining trip back to the early days of the Mouse that Walt built!

“How to Play Football” (1944)

Of all of the “Goofy How To” short subjects during this time period, this is one of the best, filled with not only great animation, but also a great, satiric look at the game.

In it, “Anthropology A&M” goes head-to-head with “Taxidermy Tech,” and all of the players seem to look exactly like Goofy, as everyone from the spoiled star player to the rabid coach find themselves lampooned.

Helmed by veteran Disney shorts director Jack Kinney, “How to Play Football” is a seven minute blur of creatively paced cartoon violence that craftily comments on the real life violence of the game itself, while somehow never letting you forget you’re watching a Disney cartoon.

“Football Now and Then” (1953)

Also directed by Kinney, this is a seldom seen entry in the Disney cartoon shorts canon.  In it, a grandfather and his grandson watch a football game between players from “yesteryear” (called “Bygone U.”) and today (“Present State”).

Like “How to Play Football,” this short also serves as a satirical commentary on the game, this time during the age of television, as the camera literally swoops in for the huddle and a strange commercial for dishwashers continually interrupts the game.

The short also comments on how the game has changed through the years and without Mickey, Goofy, or any of the standard Disney players in it, “Football Now and Then” is that rare, stand alone Disney short and one with a very off-kilter perspective.

So, as the Super Bowl drifts into it’s seventh hour on Sunday, consider any of these shorts to break up the night and bring a little, well, character to the game.

Sources:

IMDb

Wikipedia