| Mickey Mouse | |
|---|---|
 Mickey Mouse as he appears in Steamboat Willie | |
|
Real Name |
Mickey Mouse |
|
First Appearance |
Plane Crazy (1928) (production) Steamboat Willie (1928) (release) |
|
Original Publisher |
Pat Powers (Celebrity Productions) |
|
Created by |
Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks |
Origin[]
Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Created as a replacement for a prior Disney character, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, Mickey first appeared in the 1928 short Plane Crazy, which was not originally picked up for distribution; his public debut was in the same year's Steamboat Willie.
The longtime icon and mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse. Inspired by such silent film personalities as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, Mickey is traditionally characterized as a sympathetic underdog who gets by on pluck and ingenuity in the face of challenges bigger than himself, but was initially portrayed as a cheeky troublemaker. The character's depiction as a small mouse is personified through his diminutive stature and falsetto voice, the latter of which was originally provided by Disney. Mickey is one of the world's most recognizable and universally acclaimed fictional characters of all time.
His girlfriend is Minnie Mouse and is longtime rivals with Pete the Cat.
In the Steamboat Willie, Mickey is mocked by the Parrot, but he threw a half-peeled potato at the bird, sending the parrot splashing into the river yelling, "Help! Help! Man overboard!" Triumphant, Mickey begins to laugh and brings the picture to a close.
In addition to the parrot, He also torments many other animals during Steamboat Willie including "playing" them like musical instruments. This includes pulling the tail of a cat, stretching a goose's throat, tugging on the tails of baby pigs, playing with the teats of their nursing mother pig, and using a cow's teeth and tongue to play the song as a xylophone.
During his adventures, Mickey also met many other animals who were his friends or allies including the Dachshund from Plane Crazy and the Rhea from The Galloping Gaucho who assisted him with his goals to build a plane or save Minnie from Pete respectively.
Public Domain Appearances[]
Public Domain Cartoons[]
- Plane Crazy (1928) (silent version only)
- Steamboat Willie (1928)
- The Galloping Gaucho (1928) (silent version only)
- Minnie's Yoo Hoo (1930)
- The Mad Doctor (1933)
- Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Firing Line (1942)
- Short Subject/Mickey Mouse in Vietnam (1969)
Public Domain Film appearances[]
- March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934)
Public Domain Comics[]
- Mickey au Camp de Gurs (1942)
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- As of 2024, only Mickey's earliest appearances in 1928 and two later shorts are in the public domain - the latter two shorts' copyrights expired in the 1959 and 1962, as copyright terms at that time required manual renewals of intellectual property.
- Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Firing Line was a WWII propaganda film that fell in the public domain due to being a wartime film made for the US government.
- Despite The Mad Doctor, and Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Firing Line being in the public domain, elements of the short, including Pluto and a few aspects of Mickey's design (the more recognizable roundness of the appearance), will remain under copyright until 2026, 2029, and 2035 respectively.
- Although the silent version of Plane Crazy and The Galloping Gaucho are on the public domain, their sound versions are still under copyright until 2025.
- "Mickey Mouse" is still held as a trademark by the Walt Disney Company. This means that although Mickey can legally be used within a work of fiction, it cannot be advertised in a way that makes it appear as if it's a Disney-endorsed product, and Mickey cannot be used for consumer goods such as food and toys.
- It is a common misconception, particularly in relation to the public domain, that the early iteration of Mickey Mouse as a character is named "Steamboat Willie" - this is untrue, as Mickey's name is featured in the titlecard of Steamboat Willie, however, the rumor is not completely without merit, as, according to official Disney historian Dave Smith, it is the name of the character he plays in the short as an animated actor, as opposed to the boat itself as some may believe.
- Mickey has often been seen as a symbol of the copyright extension acts, as Disney was among the companies lobbying for them, and they all occurred less than a decade before Steamboat Willie was primed to enter the public domain.
- Warner Bros' Foxy has design similarities to Mickey.
- Milton and Rita Mouse from the Aesop's Fables cartoons both got redesigned in 1929 to bear a striking resemblance to Mickey and Minnie Mouse, which led to them getting a lawsuit from Walt Disney.