Today, November 18th, marks the 85th anniversary of the debut of Mickey Mouse in the groundbreaking 1928 cartoon Steamboat Willie. We’re celebrating over at The Moviola today with a look back at the cartoon that started an animation empire. Happy birthday, Mickey, ol’ pal, and thanks for all the memories over the years.
1929 was a good year for Walt Disney: his seminal creation, Mickey Mouse, had just broken out as a huge star in the wake of the immensely popular short Steamboat Willie (1928). That cartoon’s success led to a series of sound-synchronized Mickey cartoons being released to theaters, two of which (Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho) had been…
After leaving Disney Brothers, Ub Iwerks’ own self-named animation venture, the Iwerks Studio, opened in 1930. Backed by Celebrity Pictures, with a distribution deal from major studio MGM, Iwerks was in an enviable position right out of the gate, making more money than he had ever made working with Walt Disney. He hired a group…
Strange to think that a dinosaur eventually gave birth to a talking mouse … but that is essentially what happened when two young animators named Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks met in 1919. Disney is, of course, a legendary name in the history of animation, having arguably done more for the field than any other…
True Classics 