| Dancing Sea Lions | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Unknown |
|
First Appearance |
Wild Waves (December 18, 1929) |
|
Original Publisher |
Disney |
|
Created by |
Walt Disney & Ub Iwerks |
Origin[]
The animals enjoy Mickey's banjo music
The Dancing Sea Lions made their first appearance in Wild Waves, a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on December 18, 1929, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was the fifteenth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the twelfth of that year, as well as the last to be released by Celebrity Productions before Columbia Pictures took over distribution.
In the cartoon, Mickey Mouse is a lifeguard, sitting on his beach chair and playing the banjo to amuse an appreciative audience of ducks, pelicans, penguins, and sea lions. To his annoyance, the chair dances along. Singing "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean", Minnie Mouse changes into a bathing costume and walks to the edge of the beach. A huge wave crashes onto the beach, dragging her out to sea.
Minnie cries for help, and Mickey rushes to her rescue, swimming through the waves (and midair) to locate her. He brings her back to the beach and the audience/animals cheers. When Minnie regains consciousness, she sadly starts to cry, disoriented and frightened by the experience. Mickey tries to comfort her and lets her blow her nose on his handkerchief. With her calmed down a bit, Mickey tells Minnie to look at him and soon begins singing and dancing to "The Sailor's Hornpipe", and the animals join in, leading to a lengthy sequence of penguins and sea lions dancing while Mickey plays an impromptu harp to "Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep", uses sticks to bang on items.
A deep-voiced walrus joins in with a solo. Mickey performs the final with do-dos while tapping moving his arms and everyone, including Minnie, cheer for him. At the end of the performance, Minnie, now cheered up and happy, coos to Mickey, "My hero!" and he responds, "Oh that's nothing!" while sweeping his foot to the sand. Minnie kisses him gratefully and repeatedly on the cheek that Mickey stops her and kisses her in the lips twice, and the mice hug each other
Public Domain Animated Appearances[]
- Wild Waves (1929)
Notes[]
- The character was unnamed in the original animated short. The name of this article is a conjecture based on the character's actions during the short.
- The dancing sea lions were reused in the 1931 Mickey Mouse short The Castaway.