| Cow | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Unknown |
|
First Appearance |
Alice on the Farm (1926) |
|
Original Publisher |
Winkler Pictures |
|
Created by |
Walt Disney |
Origins[]
The predecessor to the more well known Clarabelle Cow, she was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in the 1920s. The cow first appeared as an unnamed cow in the Alice Comedies short "Alice on the Farm" in 1926. She later became a recurring character in the early Mickey Mouse cartoons, often appearing as a background character or a minor antagonist. She was usually depicted as a plump, brown cow with a pink udder and a bell around her neck. She did not have a distinct personality or voice and was mostly silent or made mooing sounds.
In the cartoon Alice on the Farm, Julius is milking his musical cow when Pete kidnaps Alice. Julius chases him on a sawhorse and then wins Alice back in a duel.
In the cartoon Steamboat Willie, the ship arrived at Podunk Landing with two chickens, a duck, and a cow stationed on the dock. Steamboat Willie makes its way around the bend and backs up into the dock. Mickey is lowered down to the dock by a crane near the cow. He fastens a belt around the cow in order to lift him onto the ship. However, the belt is far too big and the cow far too skinny, so all that happens is the cow being caught by the udder hanging upside down.
In a panic, Mickey attempts to bring the cow back down by grabbing her tail and gets sprayed by the udder with milk. The cow is lowered back to the dock and Mickey attempts to tighten the belt to no avail. He looks distraught until he sees a wagon of hay and grabs a big fork load to feed to the cow. The cow happily swallows the entire bale and is easily fattened up to the size of the belt and is loaded onto the ship.
Later when playing Mickey plays the song Turkey in the Straw using the livestock as instruments, he used the cow's teeth as a makeshift xylophone.
In the cartoon Plane Crazy, Mickey asked his girlfriend Minnie to join him for its first flight after she presents him with a horseshoe for good luck. They take an out-of-control flight with exaggerated, impossible situations. The Cow briefly "rides" the aircraft.
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- Alice on the Farm (1926)
- Plane Crazy - Silent Version (1928)
- Steamboat Willie (1928)
Notes[]
- Not to be confused with The Mechanical Cow who was Oswald The Lucky Rabbit's one-time roommate or Clarabelle Cow who first appeared in her humanized form in The Shindig (1930) and will enter the public domain on January 1, 2026 .
- The 1931 book The Adventure of Mickey Mouse featured a cow character that greatly resembled Clarabelle's finalized design, though she was referred to in the book as "Carolyn Cow." This name was used for the Cow as Steamboat Mickey's Epic Crew member in the racing game Disney Speedstorm.