Walt Disney Studios Animated Shorts

The Nifty Nineties

Released on June 20, 1941 by the Walt Disney Studios, featuring RCA sound and Technicolor.

Image © Walt Disney Studios

The Nifty Nineties

The Nifty Nineties is set in the 1890's. Mickey Mouse takes Minnie to a Vaudevillian Show and later, for a drive in his horseless carriage.

Image © Walt Disney Studios

The Nifty Nineties - Mickey & Minnie

Dressed in period costumes, Mickey meets Minnie in the park. Behind Mickey, the cannonballs seem to create a Hidden Mickey.

Image © Walt Disney Studios

The Nifty Nineties - Two Clever Boys from Illinois

The caricatures and voices of legendary Disney Studio animators Wad Kimball and Fred Moore appear in The Nifty Nineties (1941) as a Vaudevillian Comedy act. They are billed as Two Clever Boys from Illinois, despite the fact that Kimball was born in Minnesota and Moore is a Los Angeles Native.

Image © Walt Disney Studios

The Nifty Nineties - Ward Kimball & Fred Moore

The Two Clever Boys from Illinois are actually Ward Kimball and Fred Moore, animators from the Walt Disney Studios.

Image © Walt Disney Studios

The Nifty Nineties - Ward Kimball & Fred Moore

Both known as real-life characters, Ward does a wild jig while Fred stares into a 3-D stereoscope.

The Nifty Nineties - Ward Kimball & Fred Moore

With his hat, cane and spats, Ward Kimball resembles Pinocchio's Jiminy Cricket, a character he designed. Though Fred Moore seems dumbfounded in this scene, he is the genius who designed Mickey Mouse's modern appearance.

The Nifty Nineties - Horse & Carriage

As Mickey & Minnie drive by in a horseless carriage, they startle this horse who climbs into a tree. The Nifty Nineties horse seems to be the inspiration for Cyril Proudbottom, J. Thaddeus Toad's equine buddy in The Wind in the Willows segment of The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949).