Sunday, November 18, 2007

Willie Is Seventy-Nine Today...



On this day, seventy-nine years ago...

Walt Disney and an associate sat in the back of a darkened theater watching people's reaction to their new cartoon, "Steamboat Willie". Although this is the third Mickey Mouse cartoon, it's the first to actually have sound. Walt made a gamble on new technology(something he will do the rest of his life) to get people interested in his new creation. The first two shorts, don't provoke much audience interest...

Not tonight. This time, they laugh. They cheer.

This one proves to be a huge hit. And although his third cartoon, this is actually considered Mickey's birthday. Walt and Carl Stalling, Disney Studios Music Director breath a sigh of relief as they leave the theater very happy men. The whole world now awaits Walt and his creation.

And it all started with a mouse...

2 comments:

Greg said...

Happy Birthday Mick!

bsmith13 said...

When we visited Disneyland in October, we went into the theater on Mainstreet USA to see black and white Mickey cartoons. My kids were mesmerized! They loved the old stuff. Happy Birthday!