11/07/97

Mickey Mouse

Mickey's career began on November 18, 1928, when he debuted in Steamboat Willie, a short black-and-white animated film. A year later, Mickey got another starring role, this time in a comic strip called Lost on a Desert Island. Over the last sixty-nine years, Mickey has become an international icon. He has starred in more than 130 films. He has his own theme parks. He has been recreated on millions of toys. This is my tribute to the hardest working mouse in show business.

Evolution of Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse evolved from a failed cartoon character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who starred in a series of cartoons in 1927 and 1928. After Oswald's failure, Walt Disney lost most of his artistic staff and his future in animation looked bleak. However, after some brainstorming with his wife, Disney created a new character: the infamous Mickey Mouse. This quality site by a UCLA student (she calls herself simply Maria) is based on a term paper written in high school. It details Mickey's physical evolution (note the many similarities between him and Oswald the Rabbit) and the development of his character.

Hidden Mickeys of Disney

A Hidden Mickey is a Mickey Mouse image concealed in the design of a Disney attraction. Started as an inside joke among Walt Disney Imagineers, the Mickey silhouette (circular head with two circular ears) was "hidden" in plain sight. Soon, word spread and fans everywhere were searching for Hidden Mickeys in Disney movies and theme parks. Today the definition of a Hidden Mickey has been expanded to include any Mickey Mouse image, be it a silhouette or a full-featured Mickey. This site catalogues hundreds of Hidden Mickeys, and they welcome your new sightings or your confirmation of existing entries.

History of Mickey Mouse

Disney once said, "Sometimes I've tried to figure out why Mickey appealed to the whole world. Everybody's tried to figure it out. So far as I know, nobody has. He's a pretty nice fellow who never does anybody any harm, who gets into scrapes through no fault of his own, but always managed to come up grinning." Despite Disney's conclusion, Eleanor Heard, a student at Brown University, tries to answer the age-old question "What does Mickey Mouse represent?"

Mickey Mouse Gallery

Here you'll find a gallery of stills from Mickey's early work (1928 to 1948). While I enjoyed the graphics, I had some technical difficulties navigating around the gallery. To view each picture, click on the word "Show" beside each description. A second browser window will open with your selection. In order to correctly view a second picture, be sure to first close the browser window displaying your previous selection.

Todd Clatterbuck's Mickey Mouse Fanatics Page

Todd's fan page includes a complete listing of Mickey's movies, a gallery of Mickey clip art, and a short Mouse history. The evolution of Mickey's image is cleverly illustrated with graphics from each of his four eras: Pro-Magnum Mickey (1928 to 1939), Fantasia Mickey (1940), Post-Fantasia Mickey (1941 to 1979) and Modern Mickey (1980 to present)

The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!

Angel's Digital Mickey Mouse Cards

History of Disney Studio

How to Say Mickey Mouse in Different Languages

Mickey Mouse ASCII Art

Please send questions or comments to feldman@surfnetkids.com.