Horace Horsecollar is certainly one of the better known of Disney's secondary cartoon players. Like his female counterpart of sorts Clarabelle Cow, Horace predated even Goofy, Donald Duck and Pluto. Significantly, his debut was in the Mickey Mouse short The Plow Boy, which was released on this date in 1929.In Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland, Horace is a fitness entrepreneur, being the proprietor of the Horace Horsecollar Gym. The image that appears on a punching bag sign is drawn from the 1941 color version of Orphan's Benefit.
In the book Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters, author John Grant noted:" . . . it must have been galling for Horace and Clarabelle to take part in so many of the early Disney "greats" and then watch Johnny-come-latelies like Goofy and Donald Duck ascend to the heights while they remained forever struggling to reach the first rung of the ladder of stardom."
Lovely post.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge fan of Horace and Clarabelle.
One of my proudest moments as a "Disney Geek Dad" was watching the film at the end of "One Man's Dream" at the Studios with my one year old son on my lap. When a brief image of Horace Horsecollar appeared on the screen my infant son yelled out (with glee) "Horsecollar!" in the otherwise quiet theatre.
ReplyDeleteHorace is one of my favorite characters, too.
ReplyDeleteAnybody remember that proposed Disney Animated Series That Wasn't that had Horace Horsecollar as a hero on an alien planet?
ReplyDeleteWell, at least he got a role on House of Mouse.