Today is Mickey & Minnie Mouse’s 95th Birthday. On November 18, 1928, Mickey & Minnie Mouse made their first big screen appearance in Walt Disney’s animated short film Steamboat Willie.
Steamboat Willie was one of the first animated films to have synchronized sound. The short film starred Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Peg Leg Pete. Walt Disney, himself, voiced Mickey & Minnie Mouse in the film.
There were actually two Mickey Mouse shorts produced by Walt and his team before Steamboat Willie but Walt could not find a distributor for either of the films. Plane Crazy was actually Mickey & Minnie’s first film to be produced, followed by the Mickey Mouse short The Gallopin’ Gaucho. Since Walt could not find a distributor for either of these short films, Steamboat Willie became the first film to be distributed and therefore marking the birth of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
As the story is told, Walt thought up Mickey Mouse on a train ride home from New York after learning that he had lost the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Walt originally wanted to name the new character Mortimer Mouse but his wife Lillian didn’t like that name and suggested Mickey instead.
Walt Disney, himself, was the voice for both Mickey and Minnie Mouse in the beginning. Walt remained the voice of Mickey through 1946 until Jimmy MacDonald took over the role. Walt did reprise his role as Mickey’s voice from 1955 to 1959 for The Mickey Mouse Club television series on ABC.
In 1977, Wayne Allwine took over as the voice for Mickey Mouse until his death in 2009. Wayne married Russi Taylor in 1991 who was the voice of Minnie Mouse from 1986 until her death in 2019.
After Wayne Allwine’s death in 2009, Bret Iwan took over as the voice of Mickey Mouse and remains Mickey’s primary voice today. Kaitlyn Robrock took over Minnie Mouse’s voice in 2019 after Russi Taylor’s death and remains the voice of Minnie today.
As many of you may know, Mickey Mouse is my favorite Disney Character. I have been in love with Mickey and have been collecting Disney memorabilia (especially Mickey Mouse collectibles) ever since I can remember. So, I will be spending the day with Mickey Mouse at Disneyland Park to celebrate his and Minnie’s 95th Birthday.
I will have a second post about the merchandise for Mickey & Minnie’s 95th Birthday tomorrow.
Happy 95th Birthday Mickey & Minnie!
