Clarabelle Cow

Clarabelle Cow
First appearance	Plane Crazy (1928)
Created by	Ub Iwerks Walt Disney
Voiced by	Marcellite Garner (1930)[1] Elvia Allman (1935-1990)[2] April Winchell (1996-Present)[3][4]
Aliases	Carolyn Cow
Species	Cow

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 (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

Clarabelle Cow and Goofy in Mickey Mouse Works (1999)

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

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.

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 game, as one of the forgotten characters that Mickey sees during his journey.

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

• Clarabelle Cow at the INDUCKS
• Clarabelle's Profile @ HooZoo
• Whither Clarabelle Cow?: 11 Semi-Forgotten Disney Characters
• WeirdSpace Encyclopedia: Clarabelle Cow
• Clarabelle Cow at the Internet Movie Database
• The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts: Clarabelle Cow