Clarabelle Cow

Clarabelle Cow

In "Camping Out" (1934)
First appearance Plane Crazy (1929)
Created by

Ub Iwerks

Walt Disney
Voiced by Marcellite Garner (1930-1935)[1]
Elvia Allman (1935-1990)[2]
April Winchell (1990-Present)[3][4]
Aliases Carolyn Cow
Species Cow
Gender Female
Significant other(s) Goofy
Horace Horsecollar

Clarabelle Cow is a Disney fictional character within the Mickey Mouse universe of characters. Clarabelle Cow was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1928. Clarabelle is one of Minnie Mouse's best friends and is usually depicted as the girlfriend of Horace Horsecollar, although she has also been paired with Goofy occasionally. Clarabelle has never been anything more than a supporting character in the USA, her country of origin; only in Italy has she been treated as one of Disney's leading lights. Nevertheless, the character remains famous in the United States, surprisingly so in light of her decades of relative disuse.

Appearances

Animation

Clarabelle first appeared as a farm cow in the cartoon Plane Crazy in 1928.[5] She appeared frequently from 1930 to 1932 and less frequently afterward, making her final classic-era bow in Symphony Hour (1942).[6] As with most Disney characters, she was given small cameos in the featurettes Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and The Prince and the Pauper (1990), and the 1988 feature Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Clarabelle mostly played bit-part characters in the approximately 30 cartoon shorts in which she appeared, and her character was never as fully developed as Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald Duck or Pluto. She and Horace Horsecollar changed from normal farmyard animals into anthropomorphized beings as necessary.

In modern animation, Clarabelle has returned to active use, appearing first in a few segments of Mickey Mouse Works and in a brief scene in Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas. In Disney's House of Mouse she regularly turned up as a gossip columnist, with the tagline "Gossip is Always True". Recently, Clarabelle has also made appearances in the preschool series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and is featured as Goofy's girlfriend (in which she owns a puppy named Bella) and in the direct-to-video movie, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers as Pete's lieutenant and Goofy's love interest. Clarabelle also makes a cameo in Kingdom Hearts II in the Timeless River world as one of its citizens. Clarabelle is a playable character in Disney TH!NK Fast.

Theatrical film appearances

  1. 1928 - Plane Crazy
  2. 1929 - The Plow Boy
  3. 1929 - Mickey's Choo-Choo
  4. 1929 - The Karnival Kid
  5. 1930 - The Barnyard Concert
  6. 1930 - The Shindig
  7. 1930 - The Chain Gang
  8. 1930 - Pioneer Days
  9. 1931 - The Birthday Party
  10. 1931 - Mother Goose Melodies
  11. 1931 - Blue Rhythm
  12. 1931 - The Barnyard Broadcast
  13. 1931 - The Beach Party
  14. 1932 - The Mad Dog
  15. 1932 - Barnyard Olympics
  16. 1932 - Mickey's Revue
  17. 1932 - Mickey's Nightmare
  18. 1932 - The Whoopee Party
  19. 1932 - Touchdown Mickey
  20. 1932 - Parade of the Award Nominees
  21. 1933 - Mickey's Mellerdrammer
  22. 1933 - Ye Olden Days
  23. 1933 - Mickey's Gala Premiere
  24. 1934 - Camping Out
  25. 1934 - Orphan's Benefit
  26. 1935 - The Band Concert
  27. 1935 - On Ice
  28. 1935 - Mickey's Fire Brigade
  29. 1936 - Mickey's Grand Opera
  30. 1936 - Mickey's Polo Team
  31. 1937 - Mickey's Amateurs
  32. 1941 - Orphan's Benefit (remake)
  33. 1942 - Mickey's Birthday Party
  34. 1942 - Symphony Hour
  35. 1983 - Mickey's Christmas Carol
  36. 1988 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
  37. 1990 - Roller Coaster Rabbit
  38. 1993 - Bonkers (Stork Exchange/Rubber Room Song (Casabonkers))
  39. 1990 - The Prince and the Pauper
  40. 2004 - Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
  41. 2013 - Get a Horse!

Comics

When the Disney characters started to feature in comics, Clarabelle Cow was one of the first. Her first appearance was in the Mickey Mouse dailies April 1, 1930. Along with Horace Horsecollar, Clara Cluck, Goofy, Minnie and Mickey she appeared in comics on a regular basis in the fifties, sixties and seventies.

For a brief time, during the late 1960s, Clarabelle began dating Goofy, perhaps in an attempt to give Goofy a girlfriend. During this time Horace's whereabouts are unknown. Clarabelle's status with Goofy was challenged by another gal named Glory-Bee.[7] In later comics, Clarabelle and Horace were a couple again. Clarabelle also has a young cousin, Bertie the Jinx, a niece, Itsy-Betsy, and a socialite aunt named Miss Bovina, who have appeared in several issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories.

From the eighties forward only a few stories with Clarabelle Cow were made in USA. In Europe on the other hand, especially in Italy, the production of stories continued and is still going strong today. In Italian comics Clarabelle (called Clarabella) is very popular and she is the girlfriend of Horace Horsecollar (Orazio Cavezza in Italy)

Disney theme parks

From September 2006 to September 2008, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar appeared together for meet-and-greets in Town Square at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Also, they were in the Main Street Family Fun Day Parade. Since Family Fun Day's ending, the two haven't been easy to see outside "Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween Parade", "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade" and the occasional special event. Currently, you will find them dancing in the Frontierland Hoedown in the Magic Kingdom.

Clarabelle also appears (without Horace) at Disneyland Park. She has also appeared in several Disneyland parades and shows over the years, including The World According to Goofy, Light Magic, the Parade of the Stars, Fantasmic, A Christmas Fantasy Parade and Celebrate! A Street Party. Clarabelle and Horace come out for meet-and-greets and appear in parades and shows on a regular basis at Tokyo Disneyland as well. In 2009, Clarabelle played a leading character in the New Year's Greeting at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea.

Clarabelle Cow was chosen to meet and greet for Character Fan Days at Disneyland. She's accompanied by Horace Horsecollar which is his first meet and greet at Disneyland in Anaheim.

At Disney California Adventure at the Disneyland Resort, in the Buena Vista Street area there is an ice cream shop named Clarabelle's Hand-Scooped Ice Cream.

Video games

Though Clarabelle is now very rarely seen in animation today, she is a character in Disney's Toontown Online. She plays the role of giving the player furniture to decorate their estates, with the catalog players must order from is a "Cattlelog". Her appearance is also somewhat changed to look like an operator.

She also makes a minor appearance in Kingdom Hearts II in the Timeless River World using her old black and white design.

Clarabelle is also seen in the Epic Mickey video games, as one of the forgotten characters that Mickey sees during his journey. She lives in OsTown, one of the games environs, and is known to be romantically involved with Horace Horsecollar.

References

  1. ↑ Marcellite Garner. The Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB). Retrieved on May 30, 2008.
  2. ↑ Elvia Allman. The Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB). Retrieved on May 30, 2008.
  3. ↑ April Winchell. The Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB). Retrieved on May 30, 2008.
  4. ↑ Clarabelle Cow. The Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB). Retrieved on May 30, 2008.
  5. ↑ Plane Crazy. The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts. Retrieved on March 16, 2008.
  6. ↑ Don Markstein: Disney HooZoo. Retrieved on March 16, 2008.
  7. ↑ Glory-Bee. Disney's HooZoo. Retrieved on March 16, 2008.

External links