{"id":42656,"date":"2015-11-18T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T17:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/?p=42656"},"modified":"2022-05-04T22:57:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T02:57:25","slug":"forever-young-celebrating-mickey-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/forever-young-celebrating-mickey-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Forever Young: Celebrating Mickey Mouse on his Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mickey<\/a><\/p>\n

Setting the stage: It was 1928 and Walt Disney, along with his small team at the Disney Studios, had been producing a very popular series of cartoon shorts starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. \u00a0The cartoons and character, though Disney creations, were owned by Charles Mintz and his company – Universal Studios. \u00a0When Mintz swindled Oswald away, along with most of Walt\u2019s staff, Walt nearly lost everything.\u00a0 It was not the first hit that Walt had taken, but he took the same stance he had before \u2013 the company needed to start looking for their next big \u2018thing\u2019.<\/p>\n

Enter our very small and inoffensive hero, Mortimer Mouse.\u00a0 Oh, sorry, I mean, Mickey Mouse.\u00a0 Several concepts of the jovial little mouse were conjured by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks.\u00a0 Once that young Mickey was chosen, Ub went on to begin production of Plane Crazy<\/em>.\u00a0 Originally shown in May of 1928, Plane Crazy<\/em> did not attract an audience or a distributor.\u00a0 Undaunted, Walt and Ub gave Mickey a second chance as the star of The Gallopin\u2019 Gaucho<\/em>.\u00a0 Alas, this short was no more popular than the first.\u00a0 It was not until Walt gave Mickey a voice and his third starring role that Mickey Mouse took off.<\/p>\n

On November 18, 1928, Mickey Mouse starred in Steamboat Willie<\/em> as the happy \u2013 if often bullied – pilot of a riverboat.\u00a0 Steamboat Willie<\/em> was the first cartoon short to use the new technique of synchronized sound.\u00a0 The synchronized sound was put to excellent effect.\u00a0 Everything on the boat was musical and Walt ensured that there were lots of sounds to go along with the gags in the show.\u00a0 Steamboat Willie<\/em> was the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to attract a distributor, enabling the mischievous mouse to travel throughout the United States and later the world.<\/p>\n

Unlike the first two Mickey Mouse shorts, Steamboat Willie<\/em> took its place in cinematic history, pulling little Mickey Mouse and the Disney Studios along with it.\u00a0 Mickey has starred in cartoons, movies, on television, and in comics and storybooks.\u00a0 He was seen on stage and in ice skating shows.<\/p>\n

With the advent of Walt Disney\u2019s theme parks, Mickey became a celebrity you could visit, interact with, and build memories with.\u00a0 Mickey has been seen on the most amazing array of products \u2013 including as a stuffed doll from the early 1930\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Walt Disney was reported to have said:<\/p>\n

When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it\u2019s because he\u2019s so human, and that is the secret of his popularity. \u00a0I only hope that we don\u2019t lose sight of one thing \u2013 that it was all started by a mouse.<\/p>\n

And Mickey is a very likeable guy.\u00a0 He is most often optimistic, imaginative, kind, and someone most of us would love to have as our best friend.\u00a0 Of course, he is also mischievous, forgetful, and seems to attract trouble.\u00a0 Fortunately for Mickey and his pals, this trouble usually ends up as an amazing adventure.<\/p>\n

It was not until the 1970\u2019s that anyone thought that Mickey Mouse deserved his own birthdate.\u00a0 It is reported that there was a big debate behind the doors of the Studios regarding choosing that very important birthdate.\u00a0 Should Mickey\u2019s birthday be the date on the trial sketches?\u00a0 After all, that would be the day that he was \u2018born\u2019 at least in looks.\u00a0 What about the day that Plane Crazy<\/em> was released?\u00a0 Some argued that this was the first short that showed his personality.\u00a0 Finally, the date 18 November was chosen because that was the first time that Mickey in his full being was introduced to the world.\u00a0 That date he not only had movement but also sound.\u00a0 He had his own voice and his own purpose in life.\u00a0 And so, we now recognize Mickey and his contributions to pop culture on his birthday, November 18, 1928.<\/p>\n

On this, Mickey Mouse\u2019s 87th<\/sup> birthday, let us all be thankful to the brave little mouse who started the juggernaut that is Disney.\u00a0 Without him, we would not have the movies, parks, and products that bring our families together.\u00a0 We would not have that cute guy in his red pants to make us smile.<\/p>\n

Happy birthday Mickey! \u00a0Thank you for being someone who brings so much joy to so many. \u00a0Here\u2019s to another adventurous, entertaining, and human 87 years and more.<\/p>\n

\"Mickey<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Setting the stage: It was 1928 and Walt Disney, along with his small team at the Disney Studios, had been producing a very popular series of cartoon shorts starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. \u00a0The cartoons and character, though Disney creations, were owned by Charles Mintz and his company – Universal Studios. \u00a0When Mintz swindled Oswald…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":42657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42656"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42670,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42656\/revisions\/42670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}