Lonesome Ghosts is a 1937 Disney animated cartoon, released through RKO Radio Pictures on Christmas Eve. It was directed by Burt Gillett and animated by Izzy (Isadore) Klein, Ed Love, Milt Kahl, Marvin Woodward, Bob Wickersham, Clyde Geronimi, Dick Huemer, Dick Williams, Art Babbitt, and Rex Cox.[2] In the cartoon, four ghosts named Jasper, Grubb, Boo, and Moss are bored because they have scared away all of the inhabitants of a haunted house. The ghosts decide to hire Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy, who are ghost exterminators, in order to prank them. It was the 98th short in the Mickey Mouse film series to be released, and the ninth for that year.[3] This short marked the first use of one of Goofy's catchphrases, "Somethin' wrong here!".
Four ghosts named Jasper, Boo, Moss and Grubb are alone inside a haunted house, complaining about how there is no one remaining inside the house to scare. Grubb says that they might be too good because they scared them all away. Moss finds an advertisement in a newspaper for the Ajax Ghost Exterminators whose members consist of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy. The ghosts decide to hire them in order to prank them. The ghosts call them with Grubb impersonating a woman and claiming that the house is haunted.
When they arrive at the house, Mickey knocks on the front door but no one answers. He knocks on it again, causing it to fall down. He announces their arrival but they discover that there is no one inside. The door lifts up and throws them inside before putting itself back in place, making a mousetrap fall shut on Goofy's nose. After hearing the ghosts’ laughter, Mickey decides that he, Donald and Goofy should split up in order to surround them.
Jasper knocks Mickey on the head and Mickey tries to shoot him but he puts his fingers in Mickey’s gun’s barrels, causing it to explode. Mickey chases Jasper upstairs in frustration and tries to open a door that he disappears into which falls down. All of the ghosts, forming a marching band, come out of the door and go into another. When Mickey opens the door, water pours out. Jasper, Boo and Moss surf on surfboards and Grubb drives a motorboat that goes in a circle around Mickey until he and the water disappear.
Grubb scares Donald with the sounds of breaking dishes and rattling chains and whacks Donald in the butt with a wooden board twice. Donald punches Grubb, who falls on the floor but then he transforms into water and disappears. Grubb comes out of the floor and spits water at Donald’s face before disappearing again when Donald tries to follow him. Donald gets soaked with water when he puts his hat back on.
Moss scares Goofy by banging a wooden spoon on a pan and playing a trombone, making Goofy run into a bedroom. When Moss kicks him in the butt, he chases him into a dresser and sees Moss in the mirror instead of his reflection. After a mirror gag, Moss punches him in the face. Soon Goofy becomes tangled in the dresser and stabs his butt with a pin, mistaking his pants for Moss.
The ghosts shove Goofy and the dresser into the basement where Mickey and Donald are. Mickey and Donald take cover behind boxes of molasses, flour and syrup that the dresser crashes into, getting the three covered in the substances. This makes them look like ghosts and it scares the actual ghosts out of the house. At the end, the trio walk up to a window that the ghosts crashed through and watch them run off in victory, although unsure how they drove them out. Donald calls them sissies and laughs, closing the short.
An edited (and silent) version of the cartoon was released as a cartridge for the Fisher-Price Movie Viewer, a small crank-operated toy.
In 1957, the scream sound effect heard at the beginning of this short was used in the fourth episode of Zorro, "The Ghost of the Mission", which appropriately aired on Halloween.
In 1977, singer/songwriter Rod McKuen used the scream sound effect as well as the ghosts' laughter in his instrumental song "Full Moon over the Ansonia Hotel" on his album "Slide... Easy In".
A snippet was used telling about New Year's superstitions near the end of Disney's "Wonderful World of Winter" 1983 educational short.
Many people believe this cartoon was the inspiration for Ghostbusters. Also, the phrase "I ain't scared of no ghost" occurs in this cartoon, which may have inspired the Ghostbusters theme song written by Ray Parker Jr. Disney made a D-TV of the song to footage from the cartoon for their Halloween special DTV Monster Hits.
The Lonesome Ghosts and The Ajax Ghost Exterminators were incorporated into a painting by artist Randy Souders. Entitled "A Haunting We Will Go", it was created for the 1997 Disneyana Convention at Walt Disney World.[6]
The ghosts make a cameo in the episode "When the Spirit Moves You" of the TV series Bonkers.
In the "House Ghosts" episode of House of Mouse, The Lonesome Ghosts make a cameo scaring Pete during the musical number "Grim Grinning Ghosts". The Lonesome Ghosts also appear in the direct-to-video film Mickey's House of Villains, as part of the villains from the film, with the Lonesome Ghosts short being also seen by the characters during the film's plot.
In the "Houseghosts" episode of The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, The Lonesome Ghosts appear to take advantage of Mickey's kindness and moved into his house after their house was torn down and become homeless for scaring the entire neighborhood.
A shortened version aired on the Disney Channel in October 2009, as part of a show called Have a Laugh!, which featured remastered and redubbed versions of old cartoons.
There is a travel map in the video game Epic Mickey based on this cartoon. The Lonesome Ghosts appear as Wasteland denizens and are named Gilbert, Ian, Gabriel, and Screechin' Sam.
A newspaper clipping of the advertisement for The Ajax Ghost Exterminators is inside of the ticket booth of the El CapiTOON Theater, which houses the Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway attraction at Disneyland. In addition, Mickey, Donald and Goofy's telephone and the ghosts' dresser are on display inside the attraction's queue as props from the short, with the ghosts occasionally appearing in the dresser's mirror.[7][8][9][10]
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