90 years of Mickey Mouse

     On November 18, 1928 a little cartoon short was shown at Universal's Colony Theater in New York City and the world was changed on that day. On that day, Steamboat Willie was shown to before the independent feature film Gang War. Steamboat Willie became a smash hit, while Gang War has been lost to time. The success of the short led to the two previous Mickey Mouse shorts (Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho) to be reproduced as sound cartoon and given wide theatrical releases.

     Since the release of Steamboat Willie, there has been a total of 149 shorts/theater film (some of the films include Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Mickey's Christmas Carol, and Prince and the Pauper) with the last short being Get A Horse that was shown before the Disney hit Frozen.

     Besides Steamboat Willie, one short that Mickey is known for is The Sorcerer's Apprentice that was in the movie Fantasia. What is interested in that short, The Sorcerer's name is YenSid...which is Disney spelled backwards. Mickey doesn't speak in the whole short itself, but only after when he thanks conductor Leonard Stokowski.

     There is so much history of Mickey Mouse that it can't be contained in this blog post. If you would like to read more on the history and secret stories on Mickey Mouse...get the books The Book of Mouse: A Celebration of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse and Secret Stories of Mickey Mouse: Untold Tales of Walt's Mouse written by Disney historian Jim Korkis. In both books, you will learn about the history of the making of Steamboat Willie, all the Mickey Mouse shorts, some interesting stories of Mickey's secret history, quotes from famous Hollywood people about Mickey Mouse, quotes from Walt and the animators about Mickey Mouse.

     What has Mickey meant to us Disney fans? For a lot of us, he has meant the world to us. He was not only the first Disney plush we got as kids, first Disney cartoon we saw, but also the first Disney meet and greet we go to when we go to the Disney parks. I can remember that when my mom made me a special VHS of Mickey Mouse and Disney cartoons she would record off from tv (and yes I still have that VHS)

     Thank you Uncle Walt for creating a character that has meant the world to us even after 90 years. Happy 90th birthday Mickey Mouse and here is to another 90 years.