Mickey Mouse

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