Mickey Mouse is as much of a universal icon as you can get. The brainchild of American animator and producer Walt Disney, this beloved cartoon has been claimed as the most-famous character for nearly a century.
Nov. 18, 2024, marks Mickey’s 96th birthday, and his rich history is quite impressive and lasts even today.
Disney first sketched the famous character in 1927.
“He popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when the business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb, and disaster seemed right around the corner,” Disney wrote his 1948 essay “What Mickey Means to Me.”
However, Mickey Mouse was not the mouse we know and love today. Not yet.
Disney’s earliest inspiration for Mickey came in the form of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The disaster mentioned in the quote above refers to Universal distributor, Charles Mintz, and his theft of Oswald and his success.
Walt Disney was rightfully dismayed by the loss of rights over his cartoon. It was on the train ride that he first sketched his mouse, originally named Mortimer, but later rebranded as Mickey.
However, Mickey didn’t rocket to stardom overnight. May 15, 1928, was the mouse’s on-screen debut in the cartoon “Plane Crazy,” which was inspired by famous pilot Charles Lindenburgh’s first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The cartoon flopped with test audiences and it was never distributed.
The same fate ensued just a few months later when the cartoon “The Gallopin’ Gaucho” also failed to pass test audiences.
Disney didn’t give up. On Nov. 18, 1928, “Steamboat Willie” was released, starring none other than Mickey Mouse, in his first appearance alongside Minnie. It became the first film to be released to the public.
The cartoon was a major success and Disney received the highest amount of money paid for a cartoon on Broadway at the time.
Mickey’s first cartoon appearances hailed him as a bit juvenile and troublesome. It wasn’t until 1929, when he began to talk on screen, that his personality became more authentic and mature. His more mischievous side was passed on to Donald Duck in later cartoons.
Mickey’s appearance was subject to change for the first few years of his life, from the addition of gloves to the shape of his eyes. In 1935, animator Fred Moore created the traditional Mickey Mouse that we all know best: big eyes, white gloves, red shorts and full cheeks.
The famous mouse has been featured in about over 120 cartoons. “Mickey Mouse Club” was a variety show running from 1955-1959 featuring “mouseketeers,” or club members that performed song and dance numbers.
Mickey also graces theme parks, TV series, a comic strip, has infinite amounts of merch and could also be considered the symbol of the Disney brand.
While we celebrate Mickey’s birthday on Nov. 18, his actual birthday was up for debate for much of his early lifespan, due to his rocky start and insufficient details regarding his original sketching.
It wasn’t until 1978 that the founder of the Disney archives, Dave Smith, reinstated that Mickey’s first real appearance was on Nov. 18, the release date of “Steamboat Willie”, which is why that was the date that has survived.
Mickey Mouse’s legacy lives on today, 96 years later, and his popularity shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Happy birthday to an international icon!