Jimmy MacDonald (sound effects artist)

John James MacDonald (May 19, 1906 – February 1, 1991) was an English-born American foley artist and voice actor. He was the original head of the Disney sound-effects department and was also the second official voice of Mickey Mouse from 1947 to 1976 after Walt Disney stopped playing the character and before Wayne Allwine became the third voice of Mickey in 1977.

Early life MacDonald was born on May 19, 1906, in Crewe, Cheshire. His parents were Richard William MacDonald and Minnie Hall. The family emigrated to America when MacDonald was a month old. They travelled via the SS Haverford from Liverpool, England, arriving in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 15 days later.

Career Sound effects As a young man, MacDonald landed a job as a musician on the Dollar Steam Ship Lines, which in 1934 led to an opportunity to record music for a Disney cartoon. He went on to secure a permanent contract with Disney, becoming head of the sound department.

In addition to directing sounds for animated shorts as aurally complicated as Mickey's Trailer (1938), he developed many original inventions and contraptions to achieve expressive sounds for characters such as Casey Jr. the circus train from Dumbo (1941); Evinrude the dragonfly from The Rescuers (1977); the bees in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966); and Buzz-buzz (later called "Spike"), the bee that gets the best of Donald Duck in his 1950s short films. He also made the sound effects of Tick Tock the crocodile from Peter Pan (1953) and Dragon Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (1959) by using castanets.

MacDonald also added voice effects, including on-screen humming for Kirk Douglas in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).

Most of his effects are available on Cartoon Trax Volume 1, from The Hollywood Edge, which was released in 1992. A few of his other effects showed up on other non-Disney sound libraries, such as the International Sound Effects Library, BBC Sound Effects Library, and the Hanna-Barbera Sound Effects Library, both from Sound Ideas. Some other releases containing MacDonald's sound effects include a few specialty sound-effect record releases from Disneyland Records, most notably Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House.

At the time of his death, he was preparing to work on the sounds for Splash Mountain in Tokyo Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Voice acting James MacDonald did the first test yodeling for the dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) before they brought in professional yodelers as well as doing some sounds for Dopey, such as his hiccuping and sobbing. He also did some of the Dwarfs whistling and sneezing.

By 1947, Walt Disney was getting too busy and hoarse from smoking to continue voicing Mickey Mouse, so he offered the job to MacDonald. MacDonald voiced Mickey Mouse until his retirement in 1976, when he was replaced by his sound-effects protégée, Wayne Allwine, for The New Mickey Mouse Club. MacDonald returned to voice Mickey again, though, for an appearance at the 50th Academy Awards in 1978 and the opening of Star Tours at Disneyland in 1987. Despite formally retiring, MacDonald remained involved with several Disney productions; he voiced Evinrude from The Rescuers (1977) and was often consulted for sound-effects projects.

MacDonald was the original voice actor for Chip, one half of the duo Chip and Dale. He provided the voice of Lumpjaw in Fun and Fancy Free, Jaq and Gus the mice and Bruno the dog in Cinderella (1950), the Dormouse in Alice in Wonderland (1951), Humphrey the Bear, the howling of the dogs at the pound (along with Thurl Ravenscroft) in Lady and the Tramp (1955), the Wolf in The Sword in the Stone (1963), and the hyena in Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). He appeared in the film Toby Tyler (1960) as the Circus Band Drummer, but was uncredited and appeared in Fantasia (1940) as one of the musicians

MacDonald played drums in the Firehouse Five Plus Two jazz band. He played with the band on and off from its inception until it disbanded in the early 1970s. MacDonald also voiced Doc in Snow White's Enchanted Wish.

Later life and death MacDonald married Sarah Roberta Cullen in 1936, they remained married until his death in 1991.

MacDonald died of heart failure at his home in Glendale, California, on February 1, 1991, at the age of 84. He was buried in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Filmography Sound-effects work Film Year Title Position Notes1937Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Sound effectsSound effects1938Mickey's TrailerSound effects1940PinocchioSound effects 1941The Reluctant DragonSound effectsBaggage BusterSound effectsDumboSound effects 1942BambiSound effectsSaludos AmigosSound effects1943Victory Through Air PowerSound effects1944The Three CaballerosSound effects 1946Make Mine MusicSound effectsSong of the SouthSound effects1947Fun and Fancy FreeSound effects 1948Melody TimeSound effectsInferior DecoratorSound effectsSeal IslandDocumentary film, sound effectsSo Dear to My HeartSound effects 1949Honey HarvesterSound effectsThe Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. ToadSound effects 1950CinderellaSound effectsBeaver ValleyDocumentary film, sound effects 1951Nature's Half AcreDocumentary film, sound effectsAlice in WonderlandSound effects 1952The Olympic ElkDocumentary film, sound effectsWater BirdsDocumentary film, sound effects 1953Peter PanSound effectsBear CountryDocumentary film, sound effectsPowlers of the EvergladersDocumentary film, sound effectsThe Living DesertDocumentary film, sound effects 1954The Vanishing PrairieDocumentary film, sound effects20,000 Leagues Under the SeaSound effects 1955Lady and the TrampSound effectsThe African LionDocumentary film, sound effects1956Secret of LifeDocumentary film, sound effects1957PerriSound effects1958White WildernessDocumentary film, sound effects1959Sleeping BeautySound effects1960Jungle CatDocumentary film, sound effects1961One Hundred and One DalmatiansSound effects1963The Sword in the StoneSound effects1964Mary PoppinsSound effects1966Winnie the Pooh and the Honey TreeSound effects1967The Jungle BookSound effects 1968Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery DaySound effectsThe Love BugSound effects1970The AristocatsSound effects1971Bedknobs and BroomsticksSound effects1973Robin HoodSound effects1974Winnie the Pooh and Tigger TooSound effects1977The Many Adventures of Winnie the PoohSound effects1977The RescuersSound effects1979The Black HoleSpecial sound effects

Music Year Title Position Notes1964Mary Poppins Assistant conductor Credited as James MacDonald1968The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band1971Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Acting credits Film Year Title Role Notes1936The Cowboy StarStill PhotographerSound effects1937Snow White and the Seven DwarfsDopey (voice, hiccuping and crying), Dwarfs (sneezing and whistling) 1940Donald's VacationVarious voicesFantasiaPercussionist1941The Reluctant DragonSound effects man1942Out of the Frying Pan Into the Firing LineButcher (voice)1943Private PlutoChip (voice)1946Squatter's RightsChip (voice) 1947Fun and Fancy FreeBongo, Lumpjaw (voice)Chip an' DaleChip (voice) 1948Mickey Down Under Mickey Mouse (voice)Pluto's PurchaseThree for BreakfastChip (voice)Mickey and the Seal Mickey Mouse (voice) 1949Pueblo PlutoWinter Storage Chip (voice)All in a NutshellToy Tinkers 1950CinderellaJaq, Gus, Bruno (voices)Crazy Over Daisy Chip (voice)Trailer HornSuspenseJeffEpisode: "Wisteria Cottage"Food for Feudin''' |rowspan="4"| Chip (voice)

|Test Pilot Donald|Chip (voice)

|Alice in Wonderland|Dormouse (voice)

|R'coon Dawg|Mickey Mouse (voice)

|Out of Scale|rowspan="2"| Chip (voice)

|2 Chips and a Miss|Chip (voice)

|Pluto's Party|Mickey Mouse (voice)

|Pluto's Christmas Tree|Mickey Mouse, Chip (voices)

|rowspan="3" | 1953 |The Simple Things|Mickey Mouse (voice)

|Rugged Bear|Humphrey the Bear (voice)

|Working for Peanuts|rowspan="3"| Chip (voice)

|Social Lion|Lion (voice)

|20,000 Leagues Under the Sea|Ned Land humming "Whale of a Tale" (voice)

|rowspan="3" | 1956 |Chips Ahoy|Chip (voice)

|Hooked Bear|rowspan="2"|Humphrey the Bear (voice)

|1960 |Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus|Drummer

|1963 |The Sword in the Stone|Wolf (voice)

|1966 |Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree|Bees (voice)

|rowspan="2" | 1967 |The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin|Saloon Percussionist

|The Jungle Book|Shere Khan, Bagheera (voice, roaring)

|1968 |The Mickey Mouse Anniversary Show|Mickey Mouse (voice)

|1971 |Bedknobs and Broomsticks|Hyena (voice)

|1977 |The Rescuers|Evinrude (voice)

|1981 |The Fox and the Hound''The Bear (voice, archive audio only)

Television Year Title Role Notes1955–1968The Magical World of DisneyMickey Mouse, Chip, Lumpjaw (voices)Episodes: "The Mickey Mouse Anniversary Show", "This Is Your Life", "Pluto's Day", "Adventures of Mickey Mouse", "Jiminy Cricket Presents Bongo"1989Chip 'n Dale: Rescue RangersHumphrey the Bear (voice)Episode: "Bearing Up Baby"

Theme park attractions + Year Title Role 1971 Mickey Mouse Revue Mickey Mouse (voice) 2021 Snow White's Enchanted Wish Doc (voice)

References

External links

Biography at Disney Legends website

The Voice of Mickey Mouse at The Scotsman website The Voice of Mickey Mouse at BBC Radio Scotland

Jimmy MacDonald (sound effects artist)

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