Jimmy MacDonald (sound effects artist)
Encyclopedia
John James "Jimmy" MacDonald (19 May 1906 – 1 February 1991) was a Scottish voice actor and the original head of the Disney
sound effects department, and the voice of Mickey Mouse
from 1946 to 1977.
(1938), he developed many original inventions and contraptions to achieve expressive sounds for characters like Casey Jr., the circus train engine from Dumbo
(1941); Evinrude the dragonfly from The Rescuers
(1977); the bees in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
(1966); and Buzz-buzz (later called "Spike"), the bee who gets the best of Donald Duck
in his 1950s short films.
MacDonald also added voice effects, like on-screen humming for Kirk Douglas
in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
(1954), and chipmunk chatter from various Chip & Dale cartoons, starting with 1943's Private Pluto
.
was getting too busy and too hoarse from smoking
to continue voicing Mickey Mouse
, so he was replaced by MacDonald, starting with the film Fun and Fancy Free
(1947). MacDonald voiced the mouse on a regular basis until 1953, and a recurring one until 1977, until he was replaced by young Disney sound effects man Wayne Allwine
for The New Mickey Mouse Club in the late 1970s (Allwine's first theatrical role of Mickey was in the 1983 featurette Mickey's Christmas Carol
).
MacDonald also provided the voice of Jaq and Gus and Bruno the dog in Cinderella
(1950), the Dormouse
in Alice in Wonderland
(1951), Humphrey the Bear
, and the Wolf in The Sword in the Stone (1963). He also appeared in the feature film Toby Tyler
as the Circus Band Drummer, but was uncredited.
MacDonald also found time to play drums in the famous Firehouse Five Plus Two
jazz band. He played with the band on and off from its inception until it disbanded in the early 1970s.
.
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
sound effects department, and the voice of Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
from 1946 to 1977.
Career and sound effects
In addition to directing sounds for animated shorts as aurally complicated as Mickey's TrailerMickey's Trailer
Mickey's Trailer is a 1938 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The cartoon stars Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy on a near disastrous road trip in a travel trailer...
(1938), he developed many original inventions and contraptions to achieve expressive sounds for characters like Casey Jr., the circus train engine from Dumbo
Dumbo
Dumbo is a 1941 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures.The fourth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Dumbo is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a...
(1941); Evinrude the dragonfly from The Rescuers
The Rescuers
The Rescuers is a 1977 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney Productions and first released on June 22, 1977. The 23rd film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film is about the Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization headquartered in New York and shadowing...
(1977); the bees in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree is a 1966 animated featurette released by The Walt Disney Company. Based on the first two chapters of the book Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne, it is the is the only Winnie the Pooh production released under the production of Walt Disney before his death later that...
(1966); and Buzz-buzz (later called "Spike"), the bee who gets the best of Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
in his 1950s short films.
MacDonald also added voice effects, like on-screen humming for Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954 film)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a 1954 adventure film starring Kirk Douglas as Ned Land, James Mason as Captain Nemo, Paul Lukas as Professor Pierre Aronnax, and Peter Lorre as Conseil. It was the first science fiction film produced by Walt Disney Productions, as well as the only science-fiction...
(1954), and chipmunk chatter from various Chip & Dale cartoons, starting with 1943's Private Pluto
Private Pluto
Private Pluto is a cartoon made by The Walt Disney Company in 1943. In this cartoon Pluto is in the army and he gets antagonized by two chipmunks. This is the cartoon that introduced Chip 'n' Dale, although their names were not mentioned in this cartoon....
.
Voice acting
By 1947, Walt DisneyWalt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
was getting too busy and too hoarse from smoking
Smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them...
to continue voicing Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
, so he was replaced by MacDonald, starting with the film Fun and Fancy Free
Fun and Fancy Free
Fun and Fancy Free is a 1947 animated feature produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures on September 27, 1947. It was one of the "package films" that the studio produced in the 1940s...
(1947). MacDonald voiced the mouse on a regular basis until 1953, and a recurring one until 1977, until he was replaced by young Disney sound effects man Wayne Allwine
Wayne Allwine
Wayne Anthony Allwine was an American voice actor, a sound effects editor and foley artist for The Walt Disney Company. He was born in Glendale, California. He was the voice of Mickey Mouse for 32 years, narrowly the longest to date, and was married to voice actress Russi Taylor.Allwine was the...
for The New Mickey Mouse Club in the late 1970s (Allwine's first theatrical role of Mickey was in the 1983 featurette Mickey's Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution Company. It was directed and produced by Burny Mattinson...
).
MacDonald also provided the voice of Jaq and Gus and Bruno the dog in Cinderella
Cinderella (1950 film)
Cinderella is a 1950 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault. Twelfth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film had a limited release on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures. Directing credits go to Clyde Geronimi,...
(1950), the Dormouse
Dormouse
Dormice are rodents of the family Gliridae. Dormice are mostly found in Europe, although some live in Africa and Asia. They are particularly known for their long periods of hibernation...
in Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)
Alice in Wonderland is a 1951 American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based primarily on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with a few additional elements from Through the Looking-Glass. Thirteenth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film was released in New...
(1951), Humphrey the Bear
Humphrey the Bear
Humphrey the Bear is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney studio in 1950. He first appeared in the Goofy cartoon Hold That Pose, in which Goofy tried to take his picture. After that he appeared in four classic Donald Duck cartoons: Grin and Bear It, Bearly Asleep, Rugged Bear, and Beezy...
, and the Wolf in The Sword in the Stone (1963). He also appeared in the feature film Toby Tyler
Toby Tyler
Toby Tyler is a Disney film released on January 21, 1960 by Buena Vista Distribution Company, based on the 1880 children's book Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus by James Otis Kaler....
as the Circus Band Drummer, but was uncredited.
MacDonald also found time to play drums in the famous Firehouse Five Plus Two
Firehouse Five Plus Two
The Firehouse Five Plus Two was a Dixieland jazz band, popular in the 1950s, consisting of members of the Walt Disney Studios animation department;-Members:Danny Alguire — cornetHarper Goff — banjo...
jazz band. He played with the band on and off from its inception until it disbanded in the early 1970s.
Death
Having retired in 1977, MacDonald died of heart failure in February 1991 at the age of 84. He was buried in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park CemeteryForest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original location of Forest Lawn, a chain of cemeteries in Southern California. The land was formerly part of Providencia Ranch.-History:...
.
See also
- The Disney Channel's "Disney Family Album: James MacDonald", circa 1985
- Some of his SFX can be heard in non-Disney cartoons like Rocko's Modern LifeRocko's Modern LifeRocko's Modern Life is an animated series created by Joe Murray. The show aired for four seasons between 1993 and 1996 on Nickelodeon. Rocko's Modern Life is based around the surreal, parodic adventures of an anthropomorphic wallaby named Rocko, and his life in the city of O-Town...
, CatDogCatDogCatDog is an American animated television series which premiered on April 4, 1998, and ended with an unaired episode on September 22, 2004. The series was created for Nickelodeon by Peter Hannan. It was also shown as a sneak peek in theaters with The Rugrats Movie...
, Disney's House of MouseDisney's House of MouseDisney's House of Mouse is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television, that originally aired from 2001 to 2003-Premise:...
, Fish HooksFish HooksFish Hooks is an American animated television series created by Noah Z. Jones. Twenty-one episodes have been ordered for the first season. It premiered on September 24, 2010. An 11-minute preview was shown on September 3, 2010, following the Disney Channel Original Movie, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam...
, Johnny BravoJohnny BravoJohnny Bravo is an American animated television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network. The series stars a muscular beefcake young man named Johnny Bravo who dons a pompadour hairstyle and an Elvis Presley-like voice and has a forward, woman-chasing personality...
, Mickey Mouse WorksMickey Mouse WorksMickey Mouse Works is a television show that features the cartoon character Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animated segments. It is somewhat of an update of Mickey's Mouse Tracks....
, Ed Edd n Eddy, and SpongeBob SquarePantsSpongeBob SquarePantsSpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
, Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of OzTom and Jerry and the Wizard of OzTom and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz is a 2011 animated direct-to-video film starring Tom and Jerry, produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is a crossover film version of MGM's famed 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, with characters from the Tom and Jerry/Droopy universe sharing screen with Dorothy and her...
, Timon & PumbaaTimon & Pumbaa (TV series)The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa is an American animated television series made by the Walt Disney Company. It centers on Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog from the Disney film franchise The Lion King, without most of the other characters in the franchise...
, Trail Mix-Up and also various UPAUnited Productions of AmericaUnited Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio of the 1940s through present day, beginning with industrial films and World War II training films. In the late 1940s, UPA produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Pictures, most notably the Mr. Magoo series. In...
cartoons - Disney-related SFX are included in Cartoon Trax, the Hanna-Barbera Sound FX Library and the International Sound Effects Library
External links
- Biography at Disney LegendsDisney LegendsEstablished in 1987, the Disney Legends program recognizes people who have made an extraordinary and integral contribution to The Walt Disney Company. The honor is awarded annually during a special ceremony....
website - The Voice of Mickey Mouse at The ScotsmanThe ScotsmanThe Scotsman is a British newspaper, published in Edinburgh.As of August 2011 it had an audited circulation of 38,423, down from about 100,000 in the 1980s....
website - The Voice of Mickey Mouse at BBC Radio Scotland
- Dundee honours the voice of Mickey Mouse at The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...