Clarabelle Cow
From Freepedia
Clarabelle Cow is a cartoon character from the Mickey Mouse universe.
She is the girlfriend of Horace Horsecollar and one of Minnie Mouse's best friends. She appears in Minnie n Me. Clarabelle was never anything more than a supporting character in the USA but she was quite popular in Italy. On modern television, she appeared in a few segments of Mickey Mouse Works. She also appeared in House of Mouse as a gossip columnist. The character is famous in the United States, ironically for her comparative non-existence in the cartoon world for many decades.
Clarabelle is a brave fighter when she has to be -- in Blaggard Castle, she defends herself with a rifle, and in Mickey Mouse and the Gypsies she threatens a horde of villains with a large carving knife. However, her faults balance out her heroism: in the gypsy story, she would never have been called to arms had she not accidentally blabbered out secrets of Minnie's wealth to the Gypsy Queen in the first place. And in The Bar-None Ranch, her planned attempt to outwit Pete faded out when lovesickness took hold.
Clarabelle had a famous ancestor, pioneer Durham Cow. Her earlier ancestors may not have been far removed from domestic cattle -- in her earlier animated appearances she sometimes walked on all fours, and in The Great Orphanage Robbery she actually says, I'm so excited I could break down on all fours and moo!
Some comic-book stories show Clarabelle as being in love with Goofy. In fact, Clarabelle shows contempt for Goofy, presumably because he reminds her of her own barnyard origins, in earlier strips. Later on, Clarabelle becomes a good friend of the Goof, but seems to draw the line at romance.
Both Clarabelle and Horace appeared in a large number of Mickey Mouse cartoons. In fact, both were major stars until the mid-1930s, with the cow slightly edging out her paramour in popularity. The two were, however, ultimately supplanted by Goofy; not because they were not interesting, but because Disney's staff in both cartoons and comics simply found Goofy more so.
A cow with all the hallmarks of Clarabelle, including her enormous multi-studded utter, appeared in a pre-Mickey Mouse Disney film called Alice on the Farm (from Disney's Alice Comedies series) was perhaps Clarabelle's earliest appearance in film.
Both Clarabelle and Horace Horsecollar had an uncanny ability to change from somewhat normal farmyard animals into anthropomorphized beings as necessary.
