"Mickey's Orphans" is a 1931 animated short film (7 minutes) by Disney, starring Mickey Mouse. It was directed by Burt Gillett.
It's Christmas time at the Mouse house, with Mickey decorating the Christmas tree while Minnie plays the piano and sings carols and Pluto sleeps by the fire. A stooped old woman stops at the front door, leaves a basket, and rings the bell. Mickey opens the door, picks up the basket, and is surprised to find a kitten peeking out from under the top blanket. As Mickey and Minnie coo over the kitten, Pluto whips the blanket off the basket, revealing something like two dozen kittens.
The kittens proceed to wreck the house.
"Mickey's Orphans" provides examples of:
- Bratty Half-Pint: All of the kittens.
- Christmas Episode: The second-oldest Disney Christmas cartoon, beaten only by Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short "Empty Socks" from 1927.
- Doorstop Baby: An old woman dumps a basket of kittens at Mickey's door. Although given what the kittens do, that might be understandable.
- The Faceless: The face of the old woman who dumps the kittens is never seen.
- It Amused Me: The kittens wreck Mickey's house! They destroy his furniture and shatter all of his crockery! Why?
- Karma Houdini: Not only do the kittens receive no punishment for wrecking the house, Mickey and Minnie indulge them.
- Low Clearance: Unfortunately Mickey is facing backward when riding on the toy train the kitten is driving, which is why he doesn't see the table before the kitten drives under it and Mickey is knocked off.
- Rump Roast: One kitten dumps a piece of coal from the stove down the back of Mickey's pants.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Minnie as always, looking just like Mickey except for her long lashes, frilly skirt, and heeled shoes.
- Too Many Babies: A lot of kittens, a whole basket full, too many for Mickey and Minnie to deal with.
