In the earliest films, Mickey’s limbs resemble sections of plastic tubing: They stretch to any length when he reaches for something, and lack discernible knees and elbows.īut by “Gulliver Mickey” (1934) the character has become a solid, three-dimensional figure, whose movements convey a sense of weight.

The Mickey in “Steamboat Willie” was a blocky figure who looked a lot like Pat Sullivan’s phenomenally successful Felix the Cat. These shorts also enable the viewer to follow the growing skill of the studio artists as both animators and filmmakers. The Disney artists could use the character to parody scenes from other films, including Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush” (“The Klondike Kid,” 1932) and “King Kong” (“The Pet Store,” 1933), or turn the infinitely flexible mouse into a cowboy (“Pioneer Days,” 1930), football hero (“Touchdown Mickey,” 1932) or aviator (“The Mail Pilot”), without losing his charm. His snappy tap dance routines in “Mickey Steps Out” (1931) and “Mickey’s Revue” (1932) radiate good cheer.

The early Mickey was a cheerfully rambunctious imp with inexhaustible reserves of energy and imagination. It’s easy to see why people loved the star of these cartoons. By 1933, Disney could spoof his character’s popularity in “Mickey’s Gala Premiere,” in which a gaggle of caricatured Hollywood stars-Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Bros., Mae West and Greta Garbo among them-attend the opening of his newest cartoon. When Mickey whistled “Steamboat Bill,” he sounded the funeral knell of the silent cartoon as surely as Al Jolson’s “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet” marked the end of the silent feature.ĭuring the ‘30s, Mickey’s fans ranged from the millions of children who belonged to the first Mickey Mouse Club to Mary Pickford, Benito Mussolini, Franklin Roosevelt and George V of England. Long unavailable on videocassette or laser disc, these gems from the early sound era are visual delights.Īlthough other cartoon studios had experimented with synchronized sound during the ‘20s, the imaginative blending of music and image in “Steamboat Willie” (1928) caused a sensation. “The Black and White Years” surveys Mickey’s early career in 34 cartoons Disney released between November, 1928, and March, 1935. The success of the Walt Disney Co.'s multibillion-dollar empire was built on the popularity of Mickey Mouse. that it all started with a mouse.” Viewers may remember that comment while watching “Mickey Mouse: The Black and White Years (Volume One)” (five discs, CAV, $124.95). Walt Disney often remarked, “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing.

Mickey mouse mail pilot production