May 15 - The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air

Image courtesy fredallensotrhome.blogspot.com

On this day, in 1938, the final episode of The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air, “Old MacDonald,” was broadcast on the NBC radio network from the Disney Little Studio on the RKO Pictures lot. Originally created as a way to promote Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Theater of the Air’s first episode was broadcast on January 2, 1938 (Snow White premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater December 21, 1937 but wouldn’t be shown nationwide until February 1938). Pepsodent, the toothpaste company, sponsored the musical variety series to run on consecutive Sunday afternoons, geared mainly towards children. Theater of the Air proved so popular it expanded from its thirteen show contract into twenty episodes all together. Every episode opened with Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, from The Three Little Pigs, and closed with Heigh-Ho from Snow White.

Image courtesy 2719hyperion.blogspot.com

Each week, the songs and skits revolved around a different story theme. Some of them were based on stories that had appeared in the Silly Symphony series (King Neptune, Mother Goose and Who Killed Cock Robin?) while others concerned tales that the studio wouldn’t revisit until decades later (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, King Arthur and Robin Hood). All the central Disney characters, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy, made regular appearances on the show with frequent visits from Snow White herself (it was her movie being promoted after all). Walt himself did the voice of Mickey for the first few episodes then passed the baton off to Joe Twerp (who only ever voiced the Big Cheese for these broadcasts). Walt got so busy at during the run of Theater of the Air, that even his voice was impersonated during the latter half.

After the last show aired, Theater of the Air quietly disappeared. Walt was too busy working on Pinocchio to devote any time to it and he wasn’t enamored of the radio to begin with (he felt his characters had to be seen to truly be enjoyed). But, for a few months at the beginning of 1938, kids got a regular dose of Disney without having to leave their living rooms, something that wouldn't happen again for seventeen years (and then everyone would see the characters).