It is funny to think how that delectable little mouse in red shorts,
couple white buttons and white gloves we all know so well started off in black
and white driving a steamboat. Partly written, produced and directed by Mr.
Disney himself Steamboat Willie was released on November 18th 1928,
a date which became known as Mickey’s official birthday years later. Although
it was not Mickey’s first ever cartoon, it is famous for being his first sound
cartoon as well as the first cartoon in history to feature synchronized sound.
Even though the film is less than 10 minutes long and even though we do not
hear any of the characters properly speak, it was enough for audiences to get
to know Mickey’s resonating character. Mickey's charismatic nature is seen from
the opening scene where we see him driving a steamboat, dancing and whistling
‘steamboat bill’’, then when rescuing Minnie as she runs helplessly to board
the steamboat and finally when making a joke over the goat chewing up Minnie’s
music by using the boat’s farm animals as music instruments to ‘Turn in the
Straw.’
Steamboat Willie was greeted as a worldwide success and led to international
fame for both Mr. Disney and Mickey Mouse. It premiered at Universal’s Colony
Theater in New York City and was inducted to the National Film Registry in
1928. As we all know, this was only the beginning of the little mouse’s
universal story that has transcended through generations of Disney fans
worldwide. ‘It all started with a mouse’ Mr. Disney said. It is extraordinary
how a creature so small, skyrocketed into one of the world’s biggest
celebrities, into one of children’s greatest mascots, into a Hollywood walk of
fame star, into our most popular Disney park hero and in the main, an
international phenomenon. So thank you
Mr. Disney for giving him to us; our one and only Mickey Mouse.
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| Mickey Mouse in Disney's Steamboat Willie |
By Tasneem Mahmoud
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