Looking through Mickey Mouse films to watch this evening, as it had been too long, and found The Shindig which I thought I might have already seen before due to its similarity to others, but I had not!
Wow - what a treat from 1930 - sound quality was pretty poor, but still so enjoyable, because of the good music, and most of all due to the characters of Mickey, Minnie, and the now much rarer and more mysterious Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow! They really aren't the most refined or consistent character designs at this point, and the entire plot is simply "they go to a shindig and have a shindig", but a real delight for me! Definitely past the all-time Mickey Mouse low point of "The Picnic" for example!
I am extremely weak of heart (at the moment), so I was happy to see an episode with so very little conflict! Horace's motorcycle was rough, but Clarabelle put up with it (reminding me very much now of the Merrie Melodie "You Don't Know What You're Doin'" which as former Disney employees Harman and Ising often did, ripped off a Disney cartoon idea the next year (though improved on the execution I think) and Mickey teased Minnie with snapping back her panties, and she eventually told him to stop - both really character-revealing moments I think!
Perhaps most fascinating of all is that Mickey dances with another woman! And then another! I was shocked; especially the attractive and very long weiner dog girl, and somewhat surprised that there was no conflict with Minnie, although I think this is early enough that Mickey and Minnie were still not yet a really exclusive couple!