One autumn evening in 1928, a new actor appeared at the Colony Theatre in New York in a movie called Steamboat Willie, the first cartoon ever produced with sound.
He had ears bigger than Clark Gable’s, legs like rubber hose, a grin wider than Joe E. Brown’s, and a heart of gold. His name was Mickey Mouse.
Beginning that night, Mickey and his creator, Walt Disney, grabbed the world’s funny bone and have never lost their grip.
The New York Times praised the new film as “ingenious.”
“A wow!” cried the Weekly Film Review.
Thus was born history’s most influential mouse. Mickey led the way in the development of animation as a new art, to the exploration of the world of animals and faraway people and of their adventures and geography.
Mickey Mouse has skipped from triumph to triumph-always preceded by three words in big letters: “WALT DISNEY PRESENTS.”
Mickey is featured in comic strips and books in 15 languages, became the star of television’s Mickey Mouse Club, and, finally, founded a magic kingdom called Disneyland.
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