Mickey's voice

[Wilmer Rivers]

Torsten Adair writes:
> And why does Mickey have such a high voice?  Is it because of the lobotomy
> he received in 1940?  Or is it something more controversial?
>
I suppose the straightforward answer is just that he's a mouse, and
mice squeak.  However, a more controversial explanation, if you want
one, is that maybe his lungs are still filled with gas from his
suicide attempt!!!  (Now that I think about it, though, gas from your
stove would have the opposite effect of helium in your lungs in that
it would lower, not raise, the pitch of your voice, wouldn't it?  In
that case, never mind.)  If you don't believe that Mickey once tried
to end it all, see Another Rainbow Publishing's magnificent collection
Mickey Mouse in Color.  You will probably need to take out another
mortgage on your house to buy a copy of that book, but it's far prettier
than most houses anyway.  Gottfredson's artwork looks like the master-
pieces (O.K., mousterpieces) that they deserve to be seen to be.

Wilmer Rivers
rivers at seismo.css.gov