Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers is a storyline from the Mickey Mouse comic strip, which originally ran from September 22 through December 29 of 1930. It was the third major story arc of the comic strip, and also the first Mickey Mouse story written entirely by Floyd Gottfredson (the preceding arc, "Mickey Mouse in Death Valley" was only partially written by Gottfredson). It notably marks the first appearances of Minnie Mouse's parents, Mickey's friend Butch, and the character who eventually became Mortimer Mouse (named Mr. Slicker here).
Synopsis[]
Mickey opens up a miniature golf course on his farm, with the animals in his barnyard working as the golf course's hazards. One day, a tall mouse called Mr. Slicker comes to Mouseton and begins charming Minnie, much to Mickey's chagrin. At one point, Mickey thinks to have seen Minnie kissing Slicker, and he becomes so depressed about it that he makes several failed attempts at suicide (this particular sequence is often cut from reprints), though he eventually snaps out of his depression.
Meanwhile, Minnie's father, Marcus Mouse, finds that his hens' eggs have been disappearing. He at first suspects the hens are playing a prank on him, but he soon finds reason to believe that the eggs are being stolen, and because a drought has ruined his family's crops, he is unable to pay the mortgage. Mr. Slicker offers to help Minnie's family out of debt, but only if Minnie agrees to marry him, which she does not want to. When Mickey finds out, he tells Minnie and her folks that he will lend them the money from his own bank account (into which he has deposited the money he made off of his golf course); however, the bank is robbed the very next day. They also try sending a telegram to Minnie's Uncle Mortimer for help, but he is too busy "hunting wild salami" to help.
That night, Mickey sees the gang of robbers stealing Marcus's hens' eggs again, and decides to catch them red-handed tomorrow night. But the next night, he ends up making so much noise that Marcus comes and mistakenly believes Mickey is the thief. To make matters worse, Mr. Slicker also convinces the police that Mickey may have robbed the bank as well. Mickey escapes out of Mouseton and hides out in a tree with a family of squirrels, one of whom he nicknames Squeaky.
The following day, Mickey becomes suspicious as to why Slicker is trying to pin the robberies on him, and soon finds out that Slicker is secretly behind everything. Accompanied by Squeaky, Mickey secretly follows Slicker to a hidden cabin in the woods, where he sees that Slicker is indeed in league with the robbers. After Slicker leaves, Mickey pretends to have gotten lost and convinces the robbers to let him and Squeaky stay with them. Mickey manages to befriend Slicker's second-in-command, Butch, to the point that Butch hides him in the attic when Slicker comes back. Afterwards, Mickey manages to convince Butch and his two cohorts to turn against Slicker, telling them that Slicker has no intention of giving them the money he said he would pay them with.
On the day that Minnie is to marry Slicker, Mickey and the robbers make their way back to Mouseton to stop the wedding, but are caught and sent to jail by the police. Butch helps Mickey break out, saying that he and the others will catch up. Disguising himself as a woman, Mickey shows up to object to the wedding, claiming to be Slicker's "wife", but Slicker unmasks him. Fortunately, Butch and his cohorts show up just in time and expose Slicker as the real thief, and in Slicker's attempt to escape, he and the thieves are arrested. With the gang of robbers in jail now, Minnie and friends throw a dinner party to celebrate Mickey's heroics.
Trivia[]
- "Minnie's Yoo Hoo" is playing on the phonograph at Mickey's golf course in the strip published on October 28.
- The story features several parallels to a 1926 Alice Comedies short titled "Alice Helps the Romance", with Julius the Cat making several failed suicide attempts after a tall skinny cat charms his feline girlfriend away.