On November 18, 1928, Steamboat Willie premiered in Universal’s Colony Theater. Important for a number of reasons, Steamboat Willie was the first Disney animated cartoon to have fully synchronized pictures and sound. It was also the first premiered cartoon to feature the iconic Mickey Mouse. The popularity of this short-film would become the foundation of the legacy of Disney movies and the Walt Disney franchise that has become famous throughout the world.
And thus, a legend was born…
I thought the first short with Mickey was Plane Crazy? It was shown to a small audience May 15th, 1928. Wouldn’t that mean that Mickey actually turned 90 in May? (Not trying to argue with anyone just confused)
No worries! If I get something wrong, I want people to tell me about it! After all, my blog is all about education and the beauty of animation, so if I don’t take time to educate myself, wouldn’t that make me a hypocrite? I love questions! Don’t be afraid to ask them in the future.
Technically, you are correct. Plane Crazy is the first cartoon short to feature Mickey Mouse as it’s star and it “premiered” on May 15th, 1928. However, things get a little bit tricky when you look into it.
Plane Crazy premiered to a test audience in an unnamed theater in California. This small test audience failed produce any distributors and thus, Plane Crazy was placed on the back shelf for a while until Disney could get some company backing to disperse his cartoon in theaters across America. It wasn’t until Disney and his fellow colleagues managed to be able to sync up sounds and music to his cartoons— as in the case of Steamboat Willie— that he was able to get companies interested in showing his cartoons in Theaters. Once Steamboat Willie premiered in November 18, 1928 and gained a huge market success, Plane Crazy was revisited, sounded was added, and it was finally released to the general public on March 17, 1929— 5 months after the release of Steamboat Willie.
So, “technically”, yes. You are correct. Plane Crazy was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon. It also “premiered” on May 15, 1928. But really, that’s splitting hairs when you look at it—- Does one small audience screening mean that it was actually released to the general public? I would argue that no, it doesn’t. Test screenings rarely produce the exact same product before and after the showing, and since sound was added to the cartoon afterwards, you could argue it’s a whole new product. So, while you could say that this screening means that a small number individuals outside of the company got to see a relatively finished product and thus it was technically released to the public, I maintain that Steamboat Willie is the origins of Mickey Mouse. And thus, I rest my case!
If you have any further questions or would like to debate this further, feel free to leave a message in my inbox and I’ll back to you as soon as I am available! This research/chat was rather enjoyable! And I love being able to flex my animation knowledge!
@thingsidowheniambored
Yes! Of course! I just thought since Mickey is the “Disney Icon,” it would be important to highlight that fact instead of including every single character that premiered in this cartoon!
On November 18, 1928, Steamboat Willie premiered in Universal’s Colony Theater. Important for a number of reasons, Steamboat Willie was the first Disney animated cartoon to have fully synchronized pictures and sound. It was also the first premiered cartoon to feature the iconic Mickey Mouse. The popularity of this short-film would become the foundation of the legacy of Disney movies and the Walt Disney franchise that has become famous throughout the world.
