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 All About Art
Happy Birthday, Mickey Mouse!
Since his debut in 1928s Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse has been The Walt Disney Companys most recognized icon, a playful symbol whose plucky personality has delighted children and adults around the world.
Mickey was created in Walt Disneys imagination in 1928, on a train ride from New York to Los Angeles. Only 26-years-old at the time, and with an active cartoon studio in Hollywood, Walt had gone East to arrange for a new contract and more money to improve the quality of his Oswald the Lucky Rabbit pictures. The money men declined, and since the character was copyrighted under their name, they took control of it. Walt spent the train ride conjuring up a little mouse in red velvet pants and named him Mortimer, but by the time the train screeched into the station in Los Angeles, Walts new character had been re-christened. Walts wife, Lillian, didnt like the name Mortimer and suggested Mickey.
A star was born on November 18, 1928. Walt Disney and his partner and fellow animator, Ub Iwerks, quickly got to work on Mickey Mouses first cartoon. The mouse starred in the worlds first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie, with Disney himself providing the characters voice. The artistic success of the animators was recognized in 1932 when an Oscar was presented to Walt Disney for the creation of Mickey Mouse.
The original drawings of Mickey Mouse used circles for his head, body and ears. In 1939, there was a new design for Mickey as his body became more pear-shaped and pupils were added to his eyes to increase his range of expression. Later on, animators of the 1940s added a perspective aspect to his ears, giving them a three-dimensional effect. However, the Mickey Mouse of today appears much as he did in the early days, with the exception of a costume change here and there.
More than 75 years later, Walt Disneys toon titan continues to shape popular culture in many ways, from the retro Mickey Mouse T-shirts spotted on trendsetters such as Lenny Kravitz, Sarah Jessica Parker and Leonardo DiCaprio, to pop stars like Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, whose careers received an early boost from their Mouseketeer days in televisions Mickey Mouse Club.
Source: The Walt Disney Company, copyright 2005.
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