Mickey Mouse's 60th Birthday Bash (1988)

1988 marked a year long celebration for the 60th birthday of Mickey Mouse. There were publicity events throughout the year including many you see in this special. There was a Mickey Mouse hot air balloon sailing around the world, a cow with Mickey Mouse's head shape in its spots, a farmer's field with a Mickey Mouse silhouette that could be viewed from outer space and more. At Disneyland Mickey Mouse's Birthdayland debuted, it would later become Mickey Mouse's Toontown. A highlight of this 1988 celebration was a one hour TV special that aired on NBC. Because this was an NBC spectacular, the show includes the casts of several contemporary NBC television shows from that time, including Family Ties, Cheers, Hunter, L.A. Law and The Cosby Show. You also see cameos by such celebrities as Carl Reiner, John Ritter, Cheech Marin, Jill Eikenberry, and more. Several real life NBC affiliate newscasters also cameo throughout the special.Show more

The plot of the special is simple enough. Mickey Mouse steals the hat from the sorcerer used in the infamous Sorcerer's Apprentice short and the sorcerer casts a spell on Mickey so no one recognizes them. (Oddly enough, this sorcerer isn't Yen Sid from the cartoon but a new design.) The world tries to find the hidden Mickey in time for his big birthday bash and Donald Duck is suspected of murdering the mouse to take his place. The new animated star is also presented as Mickey's best friend, a role that would have been much better suited for Goofy. Who Framed Roger Rabbit had just premiered a few months before this and there was already high hopes for all on the future of this character. At the time, Roger had been integrated into the stable of main Disney shorts characters. Because the copyright on the character is shared with Steve Spielberg, Roger was eliminated after Dreamworks was founded as Disney's greatest competitor of the 1990's and 2000's.

This imaginative special demonstrates just how important Disney and Mickey Mouse was to American pop culture in 1988. It also shows how the past and Walt Disney's legacy was still very much revered. This special only aired once and was never released to VHS or DVD but it should be. In hopes of generating interest in it again, we present it here for your rediscovery.

Starring

Carl Reiner as Mel Fellini
Charles Fleischer as Charlie the Stage Manager & Roger Rabbit
John Ritter as Dudley Goode
Jill Eikenberry as Mia Loud
Michael Eisner as Himself
Brian Bonsall as Andy Keaton
Justine Bateman as Mallory Keaton
Michael J. Fox as Alex P. Keaton
Tina Yothers as Jennifer Keaton
Ed McMahon as Himself
Fred Dryer as Sergeant Rick Hunter
Michael Tucker as Stuart Markowitz
Jimmy Smits as Victor Sifuentes
Alan Rachins as Douglas Brackman, Jr.
Richard A. Dysart as Leland Mackenzie
Corbin Bernsen as Arnie Becker
Blair Underwood as Jonathan Rollins
Harry Hamlin as Michael Kuzak
George Wendt as Norm Peterson
Woody Harrelson as Woody Boyd
Ted Danson as Sam Malone
Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane
Rhea Perlman as Carla Tortelli
John Ratzenberger as Cliff Clavin
Kirstie Alley as Rebecca Howe
Cheech Marin as the Disneyland custodian
Phylicia Rashad as the Disneyland dancer
Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak
Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo
Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux
Betty White as Rose Nylund
Burt Reynolds as Himself
Dyan Cannon as Herself
Phil Collins as Himself
Annette Funicello as Herself
Bette Midler as Herself
Barbara Hershey as Herself
Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse
Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
Peter Cullen as the Wizard
Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse

Original air date November 13, 1988

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.