Short Subject aka "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam" (found unofficial animated short film; 1968): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 22:06, 15 August 2023

This article has been tagged as NSFW due to its disturbing subject matter.

Screenshot originally supplied by the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Status: Found

Date found: 22 Apr 2013 (original version) / 31 Jul 2018 (complete version)

Found by: abadhiggins (original version) / CDCB2 (complete version)

In 1968, Lee Savage (father of Adam Savage, of MythBusters fame) and Milton Glaser (best known as the creator of New York's iconic "I ♥ NY" logo) collaborated to produce a short, silent animated film titled Short Subject, more commonly referred to as Mickey Mouse in Vietnam. The short was created, primarily, as a form of protest towards the then-ongoing Vietnam War.

Plot

The underground, anti-war short ran just over a minute in length and (unofficially) starred Mickey Mouse, depicted as a happy-go-lucky recruit travelling to the war-torn country of Vietnam via boat. Upon his arrival, Mickey is almost immediately shot in the head, at which point he falls to the ground, blood trickling from the bullet wound as the film abruptly ends.^[1]

Availability

The film was shown exclusively to associates of Savage and Glaser from 1970 onward (bar the odd film festival screening). The short is rumored to have attracted the unwanted attention of Disney themselves, much to the point that they are said to have attempted to obtain and destroy as many prints of the film as was possible (this, however, has never been proven and is generally considered false).

Short Subject quickly faded into obscurity, where it remained for several decades, finally re-emerging momentarily at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2010. In addition to the existence of the copy held by the Sarajevo Film Festival, it was also discovered that The Film-Makers' Coop in New York held a copy of the short as part of a 38-minute, 16mm collection reel titled For Life, Against the War (Selections) and while the reel was technically available for rent, rental was restricted solely to relevant organizations (such as film festivals and museums); this made it tough to actually see the short, the closest thing being a brief series of online screenshots, the majority of which were originally published in the 1998 French book Bon Anniversaire, Mickey! (i.e.,. Happy Birthday Mickey!).^[2]

Findings

Much to everyone's surprise, in April of 2013, a YouTuber by the name of "abadhiggins" miraculously discovered, ripped, and uploaded a copy of the silent short (albeit with System of a Down's "Soldier Side (Intro)" dubbed over the top of it), where it quickly gained traction, garnering the attention of both Glaser and Adam Savage (son of the late Lee Savage), who gave interviews and blog posts (respectively) on the short's re-discovery. Perhaps most incredible of all is that, when abadhiggins was contacted regarding additional background information, it was revealed that he had purportedly discovered the short in a scrap film bin of sorts (presumably at an unnamed college or similar) and had likely saved it from simply being thrown away or destroyed.

Possibly due to fear of copyright-related penalties, abadhiggins has since removed his original upload, though a flood of mirrored versions has since appeared on various websites.

Five years after the original short was found, YouTuber CDCB2 discovered a VHS copy of the short that had the original soundtrack intact (as well as previously missing opening and closing titles) and uploaded it to his channel on July 31st, 2018.

Gallery

Images

Page 1/3 from Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!.
Page 2/3 from Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!.
Page 3/3 from Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!.

Footage

The original copy of the short.

The VHS copy of the short (with soundtrack and title plus the end cards).

Videos

TheGamerFromMars' video on the subject.

References

↑ MousePlanet Disney Cartoons That Aren't Disney article, in which the short is detailed; 28 Nov 2007. Retrieved 24 Sep '14
↑ Disney History blog post featuring scans from Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!; 02 Jul 2007. Retrieved 07 Oct '14

[1] MousePlanet Disney Cartoons That Aren't Disney article, in which the short is detailed; 28 Nov 2007. Retrieved 24 Sep '14

[2] Disney History blog post featuring scans from Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!; 02 Jul 2007. Retrieved 07 Oct '14

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{NSFW|disturbing subject matter}}
 {{InfoboxFound
-|title=<center>Short Subject</center>
+|title=<center>Short Subject (Mickey Mouse in Vietnam)</center>
-|image=Mickey sarajevo.jpg
+|image=MickeyMouseInVietnam-SarajevoFilmFestival.jpg
 |imagecaption=Screenshot originally supplied by the Sarajevo Film Festival.
 |status=<span style="color:green;">'''Found'''</span>
-|datefound=22 Apr '13 / 31 Jul '18
+|datefound=22 Apr 2013 (original version) / 31 Jul 2018 (complete version)
-|foundby=[https://www.youtube.com/user/abadhiggins abadhiggins] / [https://www.youtube.com/user/CDCB2 CDCB2]
+|foundby=[https://youtube.com/user/abadhiggins abadhiggins] (original version) / [https://youtube.com/user/CDCB2 CDCB2] (complete version)
 }}
-In 1968, Lee Savage (father of Adam Savage, of ''MythBusters'' fame) and Milton Glaser (best known as the creator of New York's iconic "I ♥ NY" logo) collaborated to produce a short, silent animated film titled '''''Short Subject'''''. It has been more commonly referred to as '''''Mickey Mouse in Vietnam'''''. The short was created, primarily, as a form of protest towards the then-ongoing Vietnam War.
+In 1968, Lee Savage (father of Adam Savage, of ''MythBusters'' fame) and Milton Glaser (best known as the creator of New York's iconic "I ♥ NY" logo) collaborated to produce a short, silent animated film titled '''''Short Subject''''', more commonly referred to as '''''Mickey Mouse in Vietnam'''''. The short was created, primarily, as a form of protest towards the then-ongoing Vietnam War.
 ==Plot==
-The underground, anti-war short ran just over a minute in length and (unofficially) starred Mickey Mouse, depicted as a happy-go-lucky recruit traveling to the war-torn country of Vietnam via boat. Upon his arrival, Mickey is almost immediately shot in the head, at which point he falls to the ground, blood trickling from the bullet wound as the film abruptly ends.<ref>[http://www.mouseplanet.com/8223/Disney_Cartoons_That_Arent_Disney MousePlanet ''Disney Cartoons That Aren't Disney'' article, in which the short is detailed; 28 Nov 2007.] Retrieved 24 Sept '14</ref>
+The underground, anti-war short ran just over a minute in length and (unofficially) starred Mickey Mouse, depicted as a happy-go-lucky recruit travelling to the war-torn country of Vietnam via boat. Upon his arrival, Mickey is almost immediately shot in the head, at which point he falls to the ground, blood trickling from the bullet wound as the film abruptly ends.<ref>[http://mouseplanet.com/8223/Disney_Cartoons_That_Arent_Disney MousePlanet ''Disney Cartoons That Aren't Disney'' article, in which the short is detailed; 28 Nov 2007.] Retrieved 24 Sep '14</ref>
 ==Availability==
-Shown exclusively to associates of Savage and Glaser from 1970 onward (bar the odd film festival screening), the short is rumored to have attracted the unwanted attention of Disney's themselves, much to the point that they are said to have attempted to obtain and destroy as many prints of the film as was possible (this, however, has never been proven and is generally considered false).
+The film was shown exclusively to associates of Savage and Glaser from 1970 onward (bar the odd film festival screening). The short is rumored to have attracted the unwanted attention of Disney themselves, much to the point that they are said to have attempted to obtain and destroy as many prints of the film as was possible (this, however, has never been proven and is generally considered false).
+''Short Subject'' quickly faded into obscurity, where it remained for several decades, finally re-emerging momentarily at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2010. In addition to the existence of the copy held by the Sarajevo Film Festival, it was also discovered that The Film-Makers' Coop in New York held a copy of the short as part of a 38-minute, 16mm collection reel titled ''For Life, Against the War (Selections)'' and while the reel was technically available for rent, rental was restricted solely to relevant organizations (such as film festivals and museums); this made it tough to actually see the short, the closest thing being a brief series of online screenshots, the majority of which were originally published in the 1998 French book ''Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!'' (i.e.,. ''Happy Birthday Mickey!'').<ref>[http://disneybooks.blogspot.com/2007/07/jenny-lerew-mentioned-last-week-on-her.html Disney History blog post featuring scans from ''Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!''; 02 Jul 2007.] Retrieved 07 Oct '14</ref>
-''Short Subject'' quickly faded into obscurity, where it remained for several decades, finally re-emerging momentarily at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2010. In addition to the existence of the copy held by the Sarajevo Film Festival, it was also discovered that The Film-Makers' Coop in New York held a copy of the short as part of a 38 minute, 16mm collection reel titled ''For Life, Against the War (Selections)'' and while the reel was technically available for rent, rental was restricted solely to relevant organizations (such as film festivals and museums); this made it tough to actually come across an opportunity to see the short, the closest thing being a brief series of online screenshots, the majority of which were originally published in the 1998 French book ''Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!'' (i.e.,. ''Happy Birthday Mickey!'').<ref>[http://disneybooks.blogspot.com/2007/07/jenny-lerew-mentioned-last-week-on-her.html Disney History blog post featuring scans from ''Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!''; 02 Jul 2007.] Retrieved 07 Oct '14</ref>
 ===Findings===
-Much to everyone's surprise, in April of 2013, a Youtuber by the name of "abadhiggins" miraculously discovered, ripped, and uploaded a copy of the silent short (albeit with System of a Down's "Soldier Side (Intro)" dubbed over the top of it), where it quickly gained traction, garnering the attention of both Glaser and Adam Savage (son of the late Lee Savage), who gave interviews and blog posts (respectively) on the short's re-discovery. Perhaps most incredible of all is that, when abadhiggins was contacted regarding additional background information, it was revealed that he had purportedly discovered the short in a scrap film bin of sorts (presumably at an unnamed college or similar) and had likely saved it from simply being thrown away or destroyed.
+Much to everyone's surprise, in April of 2013, a YouTuber by the name of "abadhiggins" miraculously discovered, ripped, and uploaded a copy of the silent short (albeit with System of a Down's "Soldier Side (Intro)" dubbed over the top of it), where it quickly gained traction, garnering the attention of both Glaser and Adam Savage (son of the late Lee Savage), who gave interviews and blog posts (respectively) on the short's re-discovery. Perhaps most incredible of all is that, when abadhiggins was contacted regarding additional background information, it was revealed that he had purportedly discovered the short in a scrap film bin of sorts (presumably at an unnamed college or similar) and had likely saved it from simply being thrown away or destroyed.
 Possibly due to fear of copyright-related penalties, abadhiggins has since removed his original upload, though a flood of mirrored versions has since appeared on various websites.
-Five years after the original short was found, YouTuber CDCB2 discovered the original soundtrack for ''Short Subject'', as well as previously missing opening and closing titles and uploaded it on July 31, 2018.
+Five years after the original short was found, YouTuber CDCB2 discovered a VHS copy of the short that had the original soundtrack intact (as well as previously missing opening and closing titles) and uploaded it to his channel on July 31st, 2018.
 ==Gallery==
+===Images===
+<gallery mode=packed heights=300px>
+VW1.jpeg|Page 1/3 from ''Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!''.
+VW2.jpeg|Page 2/3 from ''Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!''.
+VW3.jpeg|Page 3/3 from ''Bon Anniversaire, Mickey!''.
+</gallery>
+===Footage===
 {{Video|perrow  =2
    |service1     =youtube
    |id1          =5uaaO57dTbg
-   |description1 =A higher quality copy of the short.
+   |description1 =The original copy of the short.
    |service2     =youtube
    |id2          =hAtnOkqO_l0
-   |description2 =The short in its entirety.
+   |description2 =The VHS copy of the short (with soundtrack and title plus the end cards).
 }}
+===Videos===
+{{Video|perrow  =1
+  |service1     =youtube
+  |id1          =W9Oqx9rQvio
+  |description1 =TheGamerFromMars' video on the subject.
+}}
+==See Also==
+===Mickey Mouse===
+*[[Mickey and Minnie Mouse (lost unauthorized pornographic animated short film; existence unconfirmed; 1936)]]
+*[[Mickey's Man Friday (partially found production material of unproduced remake of Disney animated short film; 1939-1941)]]
+*[[Minnie Takes Care of Pluto (found original English audio of Mickey Mouse Works animated short; 2000)]]
+*[[‎The Mouse Factory (found Disney live-action/animated TV series; 1972-1973)]]
+*[[The Search for Mickey Mouse (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2002)]]
+*[[Walt Disney (lost physical Mickey Mouse animation reference footage of animator; late 1930s)]]
+===Advertisements===
+*[[The Incredibles (found full version of McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Pixar animated film; 2004)]]
+*[[The Incredibles (found online promotional trailers for Pixar animated film; 2004)]]
+*[[Pixar (partially lost early CGI animated commercials from animation studio; 1989-1998)]]
+===Animation (Disney)===
+*[[Alice in Wonderland (partially lost original draft of Disney animated film; 1939)]]
+*[[Aladdin (found Howard Ashman treatment of Disney animated film; 1988)]]
+*[[American Dog (partially found original version of "Bolt" Disney animated film; 2007-2008)]]
+*[[The Black Cauldron (partially found deleted scenes of Disney animated film; 1985)]]
+*[[Chanticleer (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 1940s-mid 1960s)]]
+*[[Chicken Little 2 (partially found production material of cancelled sequel to Disney animated comedy film; 2006)]]
+*[[Disney Circle Seven Animation (partially lost production material of cancelled Pixar sequel films; 2004-2006)]]
+*[[Dumbo II (partially found production material from cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2000s)]]
+*[[Fantasia 2006 (partially lost production material for cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002-2004)]]
+*[[Fraidy Cat (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2004-2005)]]
+*[[Frozen (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 1937-2012)]]
+*[[Gigantic (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2013-2017)]]
+*[[The Jungle Book (lost Bill Peet version of Disney animated film; 1963-1964)]]
+*[[Kingdom of the Sun (partially found original version of "The Emperor's New Groove" Disney animated film; late 1990s)]]
+*[[The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (partially found production material and deleted scenes of Disney animated sequel film; 1995-1998)]]
+*[[Maleficent (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2003-2005)]]
+*[[Music Land (lost Disney animated anthology film; 1955)]]
+*[[My Peoples (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-early 2000s)]]
+*[[Phineas and Ferb (lost production material of cancelled theatrical film of Disney Channel animated series; 2010s)]]
+*[[The Seven Dwarfs (partially found production material of cancelled direct-to-video prequel to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" Disney animated film; 2000s)]]
+*[[Tangled (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 2001-2010)]]
+*[[Tinker Bell (partially found first draft of Disney animated film; 2007)]]
+*[[Treasure Planet II (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002)]]
+*[[Wild Life (lost production material for cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-2000)]]
+*[[Zootopia (partially found pre-rewrite version of Disney animated film; early 2010s)]]
+===Animation (Pixar)===
+*[[A Tin Toy Christmas (lost production material of cancelled Pixar animated Christmas TV special; early 1990s)]]
+*[[Cars 3 (lost deleted scene of Pixar animated sequel film; 2017)]]
+*[[The Good Dinosaur (lost original version of Pixar animated film; 2011-2013)]]
+*[[Inside Out (lost original Bing Bong death scene of Pixar animated film; 2015)]]
+*[[Made in Point Richmond (found miscellaneous content from Pixar DVD; 1986-2000)]]
+*[[Newt (partially found production material of cancelled Pixar animated film; early 2010s)]]
+*[[Toy Story (partially found early test footage of Pixar animated film; 1992)]]
+*[[Toy Story 4 (found original script of Pixar animated sequel film; 2013-2017)]]
+*[[Toy Story & Toy Story 2 (partially found intermissions for 3D double feature re-release of Pixar animated films; 2009)]]
+*[[Toy Story "Black Friday Reel" (partially found rough cut of Pixar animated film; 1993)]]
+*[[Toy Story "Jessie" (found Patsy Montana Award acceptance speech animation of Pixar character; 2000)]]
+*[[WALL·E (partially found original treatments of Pixar animated film; 1994-2008)]]
+===Audio===
+*[[Enchanted (lost deleted song from Disney live-action/animated fantasy comedy film; 2007)]]
+*[[Fantasia (partially lost original audio of Disney animated film; 1940)]]
+*[[Jack Wagner (partially lost Disney Park background music collection from American actor; 1970s-2001)]]
+*[[Mars Needs Moms (found Seth Green vocal performance of Disney motion-capture animated film; 2011)]]
+*[[The Nightmare Before Christmas (lost original Vincent Price audio of Disney stop-motion animated film; early 1990s)]]
+*[[Pinocchio (lost Mel Blanc's "Gideon the Cat" dialogue from Disney animated film; 1940)]]
+*[[Toy Story 2 (partially found Bullseye dialogue test footage from Pixar animated sequel film; late 1990s)]]
+===Live Action===
+*[[101 Dalmatians (found "Spotted Landmarks" teaser trailer of Disney live-action film; 1995-1996)]]
+*[[Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (found deleted scenes from Disney live-action film; 1993)]]
+*[[Sleeping Beauty (partially found live action reference material for Disney animated film; 1959)]]
+*[[Something Wicked This Way Comes (lost original cut of Disney dark fantasy film; 1982)]]
+===Short Films===
+*[[Alice Comedies (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1920s)]]
+*[[Blowin' in the Wind (found Pixar animated short film; 1985)]]
+*[[Lafflets (lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1922-1923)]]
+*[[Language Arts Through Imagination (found series of Disney educational short films; 1988-1989)]]
+*[[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1927-1928)]]
+*[[Poor Papa (found "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" Walt Disney animated short film; 1927)]]
+*[[The Princess Academy (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated short film; 2009)]]
+*[[Tales from Radiator Springs "To Protect and Serve" (lost episode of "Cars" animated miniseries; 2015)]]
+*[[Totally Twisted Fairy Tales (partially found Disney animated short series; 1997)]]
+*[[Uncle Walt (lost unauthorized Disney short film; 1964)]]
 ==External Links==
-*[http://film-makerscoop.com/rentals-sales/search-results?fmc_filmid=3424 The Film-Makers' Coop's page on ''For Life, Against the War (Selections)''.] Retrieved 29 Aug '14.
+*[http://film-makerscoop.com/rentals-sales/search-results?fmc_filmid=3424 The Film-Makers' Coop's page on ''For Life, Against the War (Selections)''.]
-*[http://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/rare-1968-anti-war-short-mickey-mouse-in-vietnam-resurfaces Buzzfeed article on the short, including an interview with Milton Glaser; 20 Jun 2013.] Retrieved 29 Aug '14.
+*[http://buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/rare-1968-anti-war-short-mickey-mouse-in-vietnam-resurfaces BuzzFeed article on the short, including an interview with Milton Glaser; 20 Jun 2013.]
-*[http://www.tested.com/art/movies/456548-mickey-mouse-vietnam-lee-savage-and-milton-glaser/ Adam Savage's Tested blog post on the short's re-discovery; 22 Jun 2013.] Retrieved 29 Aug '14.
+*[http://tested.com/art/movies/456548-mickey-mouse-vietnam-lee-savage-and-milton-glaser/ Adam Savage's Tested blog post on the short's re-discovery; 22 Jun 2013.]
+*[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S7GFpt8XjTUHyjwS4C7n4K9fOUvbTQl9/view A raw copy of the complete short.]
+*[https://youtu.be/J7HTQ3wjMSg Remastered version with film and sound restored.]
+*[https://www.cinematheque.fr/henri/film/139952-mickey-mouse-au-vietnam-whitney-lee-savage-milton-glaser-1969/ HD scan of the complete short.]
 ==References==
@@ Line 39: / Line 142: @@
 [[Category:Found media]]
+[[Category:Found animation]]
+[[Category:Found films]]
 [[Category:Historic]]