Mickey's Menagerie is a weird, dusty relic of 1930s childhood

If you have twenty minutes to kill and want to see a very young Mickey Rooney acting like he’s on five cups of coffee, then yeah, this is for you. Most people will probably find it a bit too loud and frantic, but for anyone who likes seeing how child actors used to work back in the day, it’s a fascinating watch.

It’s based on those old Toonerville Folks comics. You can really tell because the logic is very much 'cartoon logic' even though there are real kids and real animals involved.

Mickey is wearing that iconic oversized captain’s hat. It looks like it’s about to swallow his whole head in every other shot.

The whole plot is just the kids trying to make a zoo in their backyard. They have a goat that looks like it wants to be literally anywhere else on Earth.

I honestly felt bad for the goat. It gets shoved around quite a bit while the kids try to dress it up.

There is this one moment where Mickey is trying to bark orders and his voice cracks. They just kept it in the movie.

I love that kind of stuff because it makes the whole thing feel less like a 'production' and more like they just filmed some kids playing in the dirt. It’s much more raw than the polished child acting you see in something like Headin' Home from the same era.

The set is just a dusty alleyway. You can see the actual grime on their knees and the frayed edges of their clothes.

It’s not 'pretty' to look at. Everything is gray and gritty, but in a natural way, not like a modern movie trying to look edgy.

Jimmy Robinson is in this too, playing the 'Hambone' character. It’s hard to talk about these old shorts without mentioning how uncomfortable the racial tropes are.

They have him doing all the stereotypical stuff that was common in 1933. It’s a total bummer to see because Robinson actually has great comedic timing.

He reacts to things faster than the other kids. You can tell he’s the one actually paying attention to the blocking.

There is a scene where they try to turn a dog into a zebra by painting stripes on it. The dog looks so confused.

I think I saw a fly land on the camera lens during that scene. Nobody bothered to wipe it off or redo the take.

That’s the charm of these Mickey McGuire shorts, I guess. They were cranked out so fast that they didn't care about perfection.

The pacing is a bit of a nightmare though. It just jumps from one gag to the next without much of a breather.

One second they are arguing about a fence, and the next second there’s a full-blown riot with animals running everywhere. It’s exhausting to keep up with.

Mickey Rooney is just... he's a lot. Even as a kid, he had this unbelievable energy that feels like it’s going to burst through the screen.

He doesn't just walk; he struts. He doesn't just talk; he yells every single line like he’s trying to reach the back of a theater.

If you’ve seen The Deuce, you know how these early comedies loved their chaotic group dynamics. This is that, but with more manure.

I noticed one kid in the background of the zoo scene just staring directly into the camera for about five seconds. He looks completely lost, like he forgot he was in a movie.

It’s moments like that which make me glad these things are preserved. It’s a weird little window into a world that doesn’t exist anymore.

The 'menagerie' itself is mostly just a collection of very bored-looking farm animals. The 'lion' is clearly just a very fluffy dog with a fake mane.

It’s so fake that it actually becomes funny. You can see the string holding the mane on if you look closely.

I think Delia Bogard is underused here. She’s mostly just there to react to the boys being idiots.

She has this one face she makes—a sort of 'I can’t believe I’m friends with you' look—that is the most relatable thing in the whole film. I wish the script gave her more to do than just stand there.

The ending is pretty abrupt. It doesn't really resolve anything, the movie just kind of stops because they ran out of film or ideas.

It reminded me a bit of the random endings in A Man About Town. Just a quick fade to black and you're left wondering what happened to the goat.

Ultimately, it’s a loud, dusty, slightly offensive, but energetic piece of history. Watch it if you want to see where Mickey Rooney started his path to being a megastar.

Don't expect a masterpiece. It's just kids in a backyard with some paint and a very grumpy goat.

• The 'zebra' dog is the MVP of the movie.
• Mickey’s hat deserves its own billing in the credits.
• Watch for the kid picking his nose in the far left of the crowd shot.

It’s definitely better than some of the drier shorts from that time, but it’s definitely an acquired taste. If you like Our Gang, you’ll probably find this interesting, even if it feels a bit more 'rough around the edges'.