The icon of a global entertainment empire was born on Nov. 18, 1928.
That was the day that "Steamboat Willie," starring Mickey Mouse, debuted in New York's Colony Theatre. Walt Disney received $1,000 for a two-week run, according to the Walt Disney Family Museum, saving Walt Disney Studios and giving birth to a cartoon star.
Even though Disney himself first drew the mouse on a cross-country train ride from New York to Hollywood, the museum credits Mickey and Minnie Mouse’s actual birthday as Nov. 18.
Credit: Disney
Credit: Disney
At the time, Disney was desperate to create a new cartoon character after the theft of his successful character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit at the hands of a Universal distributor.
“He popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad ... on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when the business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb, and disaster seemed right around the corner,” Disney himself penned in a 1948 essay titled “What Mickey Means to Me.”
Credit: Kent Phillips
Credit: Kent Phillips
“It was on that long train ride that dad conceived of a new cartoon subject, a mouse who was then refined and further developed by Ub Iwerks and given his name by my mother,” said Diane Disney Miller.
In 1978, Dave Smith, the founder of the Disney Archives, determined “Steamboat Willie” ’s premiere to be Mickey Mouse’s first public appearance, therefore his date of birth.
Credit: Janette Pellegrini
Credit: Janette Pellegrini
Minnie Mouse was seen in the film as well, hurrying along to catch the steamboat.
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