MICKEY MOUSE has always been a star. When Mickey first played New York City's Music Hall, Cole Porter would bring his dinner guests there just to see the cartoon. In 1935, Arturo Toscanini asked that The Band Concert be stopped and re-run because he so enjoyed the Mousetro's sly caricature.
Arguably the best-known imaginary creature in history, Mickey Mouse will be 50 years old on November 18. From poor kids to presidents and once-and-future kings, millions have given their hearts to this cartoon personality. The New York Times reported in 1935 that "the King of England won't go to the movies unless Mickey Mouse is on the bill." Today, Emperor Hirohito wears a Mickey Mouse watch.
That this mouse is still so loved is indicated by the dimensions of his 50th birthday party. Celebrations will include a black-tie dinner attended by the President of the United States at the Library of Congress; a party at the White House for Mickey and some heretofore underprivileged children, hosted by Amy Carter; an NBC television special; and retrospectives at the Chicago Film Festival, the American Film Institute Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. , and the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. At New York’s Broadway Theater – which was called the Colony when Mickey made his debut in Steamboat Willie, "the FIRST animated cartoon with SOUND," at 2 PM on Sunday, November 18, 1928 – a plaque will be dedicated exactly a half century later.
[…]
