The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air was a 1938 musical-variety radio series for children, sponsored byPepsodent and heard onNBC on Sunday afternoons, featuringMickey Mouse and other characters fromWalt Disney cartoons. There were a total of twenty broadcasts from the Disney Little Theater on theRKO lot from January 2 to May 15, 1938, the program was created to promote the February 1938 release of Disney's first animated feature film,Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In addition toSnow White featured in the second episode, the series featured otherfairy tale andnursery rhyme characters, including "Mother Goose Land," "Cinderella," "King Neptune," "The Pied Piper," "The Old Woman in the Shoe" and "Old MacDonald".
The show was originally contracted with Pepsodent for thirteen weeks, but it was successful enough to be extended to a total of twenty episodes.[1]
Broadcasters had pursued a Mickey Mouse radio program for several years, but Disney rejected the idea, feeling that the cartoon characters' main appeal was visual, and that the voices might not be enough to carry a radio series. However, the opportunity to promote theSnow White film was too important to miss.[1] The first proposed version was a talk show, with Mickey interviewing guest stars, but that idea was scrapped in September 1937. The writers focused instead on the Disney characters' affinity with folk tales and nursery rhymes.[1]
Disney performed Mickey's voice for the first three episodes. Starting with the fourth episode, Mickey was voiced by comedian Joe Twerp.[1] Disney also appeared as himself in some early episodes. In later episodes, Disney was too busy to attend performances, and he was impersonated by announcerJohn Hiestand.[2]
Other Disney characters featured on the program wereDonald Duck (Clarence Nash),Minnie Mouse (Thelma Boardman),Goofy (Stuart Buchanan)[3] andClara Cluck (Florence Gill).[1]
Music was provided by the Felix Mills Orchestra, Donald Duck's Swing Band and The Minnie Mouse Woodland Choir. The opening theme music was "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", and the closing theme was "Heigh-Ho" fromSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs.