Chef Horace
House of Mouse
Mickey Mouse Works
Horace Horsecollar
| GENUS PEDIGREE: | Anthropomorphized horse | ||
| KNOWN ALIASES: | Henry Horse | ||
| KNOWN RELATIVES: | unknown | ||
| KNOWN PETS: | unknown | ||
| CITIZENSHIP: | Mouseton, USA | ||
| KNOWN CONFIDANTS: | Mickey Mouse; Minnie Mouse; Daisy Duck; Clarabelle Cow; Clara Cluck; Donald Duck; Chief O'Hara. | ||
| KNOWN RIVALS: | Bad Pete; Sylvester Shyster; Donald Duck. | ||
| PARAPHERNALIA: | Horse collar and bow tie. | ||
| 1st PRINT APPEARANCE: | "Mickey Mouse" daily in "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley" (Apr. 1, 1930). | ||
| 1st FILM APPEARANCE: | "The Plow Boy" (1929). | ||
| VOICE ACTOR: | unknown (early shorts); Bill Farmer ("Prince and the Pauper" -Nov. 16, 1990). | ||
| SIGNATURE: | Neighing laugh, and his claim to fame: "The Horace Touch" (his personal seal of approval for his usually less than adequate handiwork). | ||
| BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS: | In his earliest incarnation he was presented as Mickey Mouse's four-legged plow horse who could walk upright on his hind legs, place gloves on his forelegs and they become hands, then, when Mickey needs a horse again, he reverts to form. Horace mostly played bit-part characters in the approximately 30 cartoon shorts in which he appeared, and his character was never as fully developed as the "Fab Five." Like Goofy in his early "Dippy" appearances, Horace's body seemed to be formed of rubber tubing. In film he has been most recently seen in "The Prince and the Pauper" where he had a bigger role as Mickey's pompous tutor. Horace plays a much bigger role in his comic books where he often accompanies Mickey on his many sleuthing adventures or as Clarabelle Cow's paramour and fiance. Clarabelle and Horace have been engaged since 1931, but they both seem too shy to follow through (apparently neither thinks they are worthy of the other). 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. Toward the end of this time Clarabelle's status with Goofy was challenged by another dogface named Glory-Bee and Clarabelle seems to have returned to her former paramour, Horace. | ||
| HISTORICAL FACTS: | Thanks to the efforts of comic book writer David Gerstein the following is a fairly exhaustive list of Horace's film appearances: 1929 THE PLOW BOY (anthropomorphic draft horse) 1929 THE JAZZ FOOL (plays percussion solo and uses his teeth as a xylophone) 1930 THE BARNYARD CONCERT (plays cymbals with drumsticks) 1930 THE CACTUS KID (anthropomorphic draft horse, as in The Plow Boy) 1930 THE FIRE FIGHTERS (Mickey's second-in-command) 1930 THE SHINDIG (takes Clarabelle to dance on bicycle) 1930 PIONEER DAYS (seen blowing his nose musically in a cameo appearance) 1931 THE BIRTHDAY PARTY (dances with Clarabelle in extended sequence) 1931 BLUE RHYTHM (member of band's percussion section) 1931 THE BARNYARD BROADCAST (playing musical saw) 1931 THE BEACH PARTY (in comic diving sequence) 1932 MICKEY'S REVUE (chews soda crackers to spit down as snowflakes in ballet) 1932 BARNYARD OLYMPICS (Mickey's trainer, gives him backrub prior to triathlon) 1932 TOUCHDOWN MICKEY (cheering in crowd with Mickey's friends) 1932 THE WHOOPEE PARTY (part of the kitchen help) 1933 MICKEY'S MELLERDRAMMER (acting as Simon Legree) 1933 MICKEY'S GALA PREMIERE (guest, with Clarabelle) 1934 CAMPING OUT (starring alongside Mickey, Minnie and Clarabelle) 1934 ORPHANS' BENEFIT ('muscle-horse' in pantomime) 1935 THE BAND CONCERT (drum and cymbal player; clobbers Goofy with mallet) 1935 ON ICE (brief cameo appearance with Clarabelle) 1936 MICKEY'S GRAND OPERA (orchestra member in brief cameo) 1938 THE FOX HUNT (cameo appearance in hunting troupe) 1941 ORPHANS' BENEFIT (remake of 1934 version) 1942 SYMPHONY HOUR (trumpeter) 1942 MICKEY'S BIRTHDAY PARTY (brief appearance congratulating MM) 1983 MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL (cameo appearance) 1988 WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (cameo appearance) 1990 THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER (the Prince's pompous tutor) | ||
| LITTLE KNOWN SECRETS: | unknown | ||
| WORKING THEORIES: | none |