Greetings family, friends and Disney buddies! Attached is a short vignette about Mickey Mouse's 94th Birthday that will be celebrated tomorrow, November 18th.

Smiles encouraged! Bill

MICKEY MOUSE....IT’S ABOUT TIME !

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When Disney Studios major cartoon star “Oswald The Lucky Rabbit”

was lost to a competitor, a new character, Mortimer Mouse, was co-

created by Walt and Ub Iwerks, however Walt’s wife Lillian suggested

a far less pretentious name for the plucky new character....Mickey

Mouse. Although the spirited and brave new animated cartoon

character made his movie debut along with Minnie in the short Plane

Crazy, it was Walt Disney’s classic sound cartoon Steamboat Willie

that made it’s debut at the Colony Theatre on Broadway in New York

on November 18, 1928 and would become fixed in Disney lore as

Mickey Mouse’s “Birthday”.

Mickey Mouse has appeared in more than 130 films,10 of which were

nominated for Academy Awards. He has also been featured in

countless comic strips, comic books children’s books, magazines as

well as on television and in video games. Walt Disney’s original

concept for a family oriented amusement destination was even

initially to be named Mickey Mouse Park. One of the first of an

endless string of licensed Disney character merchandise items was a

hand sewn Mickey Mouse doll created by Charlotte Clark in 1930

leading to an exclusive licensing contract with nationally recognized

advertising man Kay Kamen. The Waterbury Clock Company,

producer of inexpensive pocket watches for the Ingersoll brothers,

found themselves in financial trouble and through Kamen’s urging,

submitted a patent application for a child’s Mickey Mouse wrist watch.

The inexpensive cheerful watch was a huge hit with eleven thousand

selling in a single day at a special Macy’s promotion. In a two year

period more than two and a half million watches were sold for $2.95

with Mickey’s picture on the dial and his hands telling the time in

minutes and hours, saving the Ingersoll-Waterbury Company from

bankruptcy and creating a Disney merchandising frenzy that

continues to this day. I’ve had a Mickey Mouse watch on my wrist for

most of the past eight decades as a daily reminder how quickly time

passes and the value of striving to stay young at heart.

Happy Birthday Mickey! -Bill