Games and Contests

The History of Mickey Mouse

November 18, 2016, marks the 87th birthday of our favorite Mouse. You’d think after 87 years he’d run out of adventures. With all the changes made to Mickey throughout the years, one thing is for sure, he will always be loved.

Mickey Mouse was first created in the Disney short Plane Crazy, which wasn’t released until 1929.

tumblr_made4nsI7C1qbrdf3o1_r2_500

His first official debut was the 1928 cartoon Steamboat Willie. It has the distinction of being the first cartoon with synchronized sound. The original reel was preserved and inducted into the National Film Registry in 1998.

steamboat-willieMickey slipped on his iconic gloves for the first time in The Opry House (1929).

Opryhouse01

It wasn’t long until Mickey spoke his first words, “Hot dogs,” in The Karnival Kid (1929). He was voiced by Carl Stalling. Walt Disney later took over as the voice of Mickey until 1946. Since then, only four other people have officially voiced Mickey Mouse in Disney cartoons: Jim MacDonald, followed by Wayne Allwine, and currently by both Bret Iwan and Chris Diamantopoulos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMp46V53Wc8

The first licensed product by the Disney Company, featuring Mickey Mouse, was a writing tablet, from 1930, when Mickey was only two years old.

mickeymouseslate

The Band Concert (1935) was the first short in which Mickey appeared in color.

tumblr_m59srnv5GX1rx4kgro1_500

In 1939, Mickey gets a re-design that resembles the more familiar face we love, in The Pointer.

1939-the-pointer

Shortly thereafter, Walt Disney felt that the Disney studio’s star character Mickey Mouse needed a boost in popularity. He decided to feature the mouse in The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in the 1940 classic, Fantasia. A cartoon short based on a poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

fantasia

Mickey has been featured in almost 50 video games over the last 30 years. Most notably in Kingdom Hearts where you get to fight along side his friends Donald and Goofy.

KH mickey 2--article_image

Since 2013, Mickey got a vintage redesign for the new Mickey Mouse cartoon on Disney Channel.

giphy (1)

Which is your favorite rendition of Mickey Mouse? What do you think he’ll look like down the road? Let us know in the comments below.

Related Articles

Sign up for our newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter and join America’s premier community dedicated to helping students reach their full potential.