28 Newly Restored Classic Disney Shorts to Debut on Disney+

 by Beth Keating

News

DisneyBizJournal.com

June 19, 2023

 

Disney giveth, and Disney taketh away.  Or maybe, in this case, it’s the opposite way around.  With recent cost-cutting measures, Disney removed a number of lesser viewed titles from the Disney+ catalog, but in July, they’ll be debuting a collection of 28 newly restored Walt Disney Animation Studios classic shorts. The restored shorts are being shared as part of this year’s Disney100 celebration.

 

Beginning Friday, July 7, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and the gang will join Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the studio’s first star, in entertaining a new generation of audiences.  The first six of the shorts will drop on July 7, including 1929’s famed The Skeleton Dance. 

According to the Walt Disney Company, “Ranging from classics to lesser known titles, this package of short films includes examples of Disney’s earliest theatrical shorts, as well as a wide range of entertaining shorts featuring Disney’s most beloved characters. Chips Ahoy, a 1956 CinemaScope short starring Donald Duck and his chipmunk rivals, will conclude the series in October, leading up to The Walt Disney Company’s 100th anniversary on Monday, October 16.”

 

The Walt Disney Studios Restoration and Preservation team was led by director Kevin Schaeffer, along with Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Dorothy McKim, Mike Giaimo and Eric Goldberg. Among the team’s accomplishments is a recent restoration of Cinderella and an in-progress restoration of the 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney’s first fully animated feature film. Walt Disney won an Honorary Academy Award in 1939 for the “significant screen innovation” of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The statue was one large Oscar, with seven miniature statutes following alongside.

McKim, special projects and 2D animation producer with Walt Disney Animation Studios, noted, “Two of our top artistic talents have lent their expertise and passion to the project to make sure that the films look their very best and are authentic to the creative intentions of the original filmmakers. We’re very excited to be sharing these wonderful shorts with the Disney+ audience. They have never looked or sounded better.”

The 28 shorts have been divided into four different drop dates, and will appear as follows: 

 

Premiering Friday, July 7:

The Skeleton Dance (1929)

Building a Building (1933)

Bath Day (1946)

Figaro and Frankie (1947)

Goofy Gymnastics (1949)

Aquamania (1961)

 

Premiering Friday, August 11:

Barnyard Olympics (1932)

Mickey’s Steam Roller (1934)

Donald’s Nephews (1938)

Goofy and Wilbur (1939)

Donald’s Cousin Gus  (1939)

The Flying Jalopy (1943)

 

Premiering September 5–8:

Trolley Troubles (1927)

All Wet (1927)

The Barn Dance (1929)

Playful Pluto (1934)

Mickey’s Kangaroo (1935)

Merbabies (1938)

Bone Trouble (1940)

Pluto, Junior (1942)

 

Premiering Friday, October 6:

When the Cat’s Away (1929)

Fiddling Around (1930)

Camping Out (1934)

Wynken, Blynken and Nod (1938)

Old Macdonald Duck (1941)

Inferior Decorator (1948)

Chips Ahoy (1956)

 

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.