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''Mickey Mouse'' (originally known as ''Mickey Mouse Sound Cartoons'') is a series of American
animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
s produced by
Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
. The series started in 1928 with
Steamboat Willie ''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black and white by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Studios and was released by Pat Powers, under the name of Celeb ...
and ended in 1953 with ''
The Simple Things ''The Simple Things'' is a 1953 animated short subject, part of the ''Mickey Mouse'' series, produced by Walt Disney Productions. Released by RKO Radio Pictures on March 27, 1953, the short is notable as the 126th and final regular entry in the ...
''. Four additional shorts were released between 1983 and 2013. The series is notable for its innovation with sound synchronization and
character animation Character animation is a specialized area of the animation process, which involves bringing animated s to life. The role of a character animator is analogous to that of a film or stage actor and character animators are often said to be "actors wit ...
, and also introduced well-known characters such as
Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
,
Minnie Mouse Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers, and low-heeled shoes occasionally w ...
,
Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...
and
Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled f ...
. The name "Mickey Mouse" was first used in the films' title sequences to refer specifically to the character, but was used from 1935 to 1953 to refer to the series itself as in "Walt Disney presents a Mickey Mouse." In this sense "a Mickey Mouse" was a shortened form of "a Mickey Mouse sound cartoon" which was used in the earliest films. Films from 1929 to 1935 which were re-released during this time also used this naming convention, but it was not used for the three shorts released between 1983 and 1995 (''
Mickey's Christmas Carol ''Mickey's Christmas Carol'' is a 1983 American Animation, animated family comedy-drama featurette directed and produced by Burny Mattinson. The cartoon is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'', and stars Scrooge ...
'', ''
The Prince and the Pauper ''The Prince and the Pauper'' is a novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its 1882 publication in the United States. The novel represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction. Set in 1547, ...
'', and ''
Runaway Brain ''Runaway Brain'' is a 1995 American animated comedy- horror short film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Featuring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, the short centers on Mickey attempting to earn money to pay for an anniversary gift for Mi ...
''). Mickey's name was also used occasionally to market other films which were formally part of other series. Examples of this include several ''
Silly Symphonies ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animation, animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally inte ...
'' and ''
Goofy and Wilbur ''Goofy and Wilbur'' is a 1939 animated cartoon short produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures on March 17, 1939. Although the cartoon is billed as a ''Mickey Mouse'' cartoon (as said on the theatrical poster), it was ...
'' (1939).


Production

Disney began secretly producing the first ''Mickey Mouse'' films while still contractually required to finish some
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit or Oswald Rabbit) is a cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 19 ...
cartoons for producer
Charles Mintz Charles Bear Mintz (November 5, 1889 – December 30, 1939)''Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014''. Social Security Administration. was an American film producer and distributor who assumed control over Margaret J. Winkler's Winkler Pictu ...
. The first two films, ''
Plane Crazy ''Plane Crazy'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The cartoon, released by the Walt Disney Studios, was the first Mickey Mouse film produced, and was originally a silent film. It was given a test sc ...
'' and ''
The Gallopin' Gaucho ''The Gallopin' Gaucho'' is the second short film featuring Mickey Mouse to be produced, following ''Plane Crazy'' and preceding ''Steamboat Willie''. The Disney studios completed the silent version in August 1928, but did not release it in order ...
'', were previewed in theaters but failed to pick up a
distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...
for a broad release. For the third film, Disney added synchronized sound, a technology that was still in its early stages at the time. ''
Steamboat Willie ''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black and white by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Studios and was released by Pat Powers, under the name of Celeb ...
'' debuted in New York in November 1928 and was an instant success. The revenues from the film provided the studio with much needed resources, and the studio quickly began to produce new cartoons as well as releasing sound versions of the first two. Production slowed towards the end of the 1930s as the studio began to focus on other characters and feature-length films. The series was informally retired in 1953 with the release of ''
The Simple Things ''The Simple Things'' is a 1953 animated short subject, part of the ''Mickey Mouse'' series, produced by Walt Disney Productions. Released by RKO Radio Pictures on March 27, 1953, the short is notable as the 126th and final regular entry in the ...
'', but was revived in 1983 and 1990 with two
featurette In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...
s, or three reel short films. 1995's ''
Runaway Brain ''Runaway Brain'' is a 1995 American animated comedy- horror short film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Featuring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, the short centers on Mickey attempting to earn money to pay for an anniversary gift for Mi ...
'' returned the series to its single reel format, while the most recent installment, 2013's ''
Get a Horse! ''Get a Horse!'' is a 2013 American animated comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by Lauren MacMullan. Combining black-and-white traditional animation, hand-drawn animation and color computer animation, the sho ...
'', was produced in the black-and-white style of the early films. The cartoons were directed by 20 different people. Those with the most credits include
Burt Gillett Burton F. Gillett (October 15, 1891 – December 28, 1971) was a Film director, director of animation, animated films. He is noted for his Silly Symphonies work for Walt Disney Pictures, Disney, particularly the 1932 short film ''Flowers and Tree ...
(34),
Wilfred Jackson Wilfred Jackson (January 24, 1906 – August 7, 1988) was an American animator, arranger, composer and director best known for his work on the ''Mickey Mouse'' and ''Silly Symphonies'' series of cartoons and the ''Night on Bald Mountain''/''Ave M ...
(18),
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
(16), David Hand (15), and
Ben Sharpsteen Benjamin Sharpsteen (November 4, 1895 – December 20, 1980) was an American film director and producer for Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment con ...
(14); the director of the most recent installment,
Lauren MacMullan Lauren Hunter MacMullan (born April 30, 1964) is an American animation director. She grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs of Havertown, Lansdowne and Swarthmore, and graduated from Swarthmore High School in 1982. She attended Harvard University, ...
, was the first female director. Notable animators who worked on the series include
Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentious ...
, Norm Ferguson,
Ollie Johnston Oliver Martin Johnston Jr. (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008) was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last surviving at the time of his death from natural causes. He was recognized by The Walt ...
, Frank Thomas, and Fred Moore. Mickey's voice is mostly provided by Walt Disney, with some additional work by
Carl Stalling Carl William Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts produced by War ...
and
Clarence Nash Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor. He was best known as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma, and ...
. By 1948, Jimmy MacDonald had taken over Mickey's voice.
Wayne Allwine Wayne Anthony Allwine (February 7, 1947 – May 18, 2009) was an American voice actor, sound effects editor and foley artist for The Walt Disney Company. He is best remembered as the 3rd official voice of Mickey Mouse. He is the longest-tenured ...
voiced the mouse in the three films released from 1983 to 1995. In the most recent film, ''Get a Horse!'', Mickey's dialogue was compiled from archival recordings primarily of Walt Disney's voice work.


List of films

The following is a list of ''Mickey Mouse'' films. The early films released by
Celebrity Productions Patrick Anthony Powers (8 October 1870 – 30 July 1948) was an American businessman who was involved in the movie and animation industry of the 1910s, '20s, and '30s as a distributor and producer. His firm, Celebrity Productions, was the f ...
(1928–1929) and
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
(1930–1932) were distributed by region and state, so there is no definitive release date. The dates used in the list from 1928 to mid-1932 are shipping dates, reflecting when the Disney studio shipped the completed films to the distributors, per the 2018 Disney Enterprises book ''Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History''. The shorts released by
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
(1932–1937) and
RKO Radio RKO General, Inc. (previously General Teleradio, RKO Teleradio Pictures, and RKO Teleradio) was, from 1952 through 1991, the main holding company for the noncore businesses of the General Tire and Rubber Company and, after General Tire's reorganiz ...
(1937–1940) have official release dates announced by the distributors. Gray headers indicate black-and-white films, while yellow headers indicate color films.


1928


1929


1930


1931


1932


1933


1934


1935


1936


1937


1938


1939


1940


1941


1942


1943


1946


1947


1948


1951


1952


1953


1983


1990


1995


2013


Releases

Every ''Mickey Mouse'' cartoon was originally released theatrically, typically appearing before feature films. In 1929, some theaters began to host the "Mickey Mouse Club", a children's program which would exclusively show Mickey's cartoons. The series was
distributed Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...
distributed by
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
(1930–1932),
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
(1932–1937), and
RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
(1937–1953). The four most recent films were released by Disney's own company,
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. until 2007, is an American film distribution studio within the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. It ha ...
(formerly known as Buena Vista Pictures Distribution). Many of the films were also broadcast on television, beginning in 1936 on
BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
. Here the series was shown on a regular basis except during World War II. In the United States, selected films were shown on the
Walt Disney anthology television series The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 to the present. The p ...
, and later on other series such as ''
The Mouse Factory ''The Mouse Factory'' is an American syndicated television series produced by Walt Disney Productions and created by Ward Kimball, that ran from 1972 to 1973. It showed clips from various Disney cartoons and movies, hosted by celebrity guests (cre ...
'' (1971–1973), ''
Mickey's Mouse Tracks ''Mickey's Mouse Tracks'' is an American animated television series on The Disney Channel which ran from 1992 to 1995, and featured Disney cartoons and animated short films, dating from before the advent of The Disney Channel. A similar show was ...
'' (1992–1995), and '' Ink & Paint Club'' (1997–1998).


Home media

The films have also been released in various forms of
home media Home media refers to media used for recording, copying, delivery, and playback of various types of entertainment and information in the home. Forms of home media include: * Home video * Magnetic tape * Phonograph record See also * ''Home Media M ...
. In the 1960s there were several 8 mm and Super 8 releases, although these were often silent, black-and-white, or condensed versions. In 1978, Disney began to release selected films on VHS, laserdisc, and later DVD. Starting in 2010, some of the cartoons were made available on the
iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
as digital downloads. Disney has also released films online. At the Disney website, cartoons are shown on a rotating basis under the video page
Mickey & Friends
. On Walt Disney Animation Studios' official
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel, three complete cartoons have been released:
Plane Crazy
' (1928),
Steamboat Willie
' (1928), and
Hawaiian Holiday
' (1937), and most of
Thru the Mirror
' (1936) as seen on the ''Disneyland'' episode "
The Plausible Impossible "The Plausible Impossible" is an episode of the ''Disneyland'' television program, originally broadcast on October 31, 1956. Walt Disney explains how drawings and animation make things that are impossible seem plausible, as evidenced in ancient hi ...
" (1956). As of 2018, the only complete re-release of the entire series has been in the "
Walt Disney Treasures Walt Disney Treasures is a series of two-disc DVD collections of Disney cartoons, television episodes and other material. They cover material from the studio's earliest days to its more recent work. There were nine waves, each containing two t ...
" DVD sets. The vast majority''Donald and Pluto'' appears on "The Chronological Donald" and several others which prominently feature Pluto appear on "The Complete Pluto" of the series appears between four two-disc sets: " Mickey Mouse in Black and White" (2002), " Mickey Mouse in Black and White, Volume Two" (2004), " Mickey Mouse in Living Color" (2001), and " Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two" (2004). Film critic
Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...
, who hosts the collection, implied that there was opposition to releasing the complete series because of some content now considered politically incorrect, such as racial and ethnic stereotypes. Maltin argued that releasing the material uncensored was the only way to "learn from the past". The only film not included in this collection was the subsequently released ''
Get a Horse! ''Get a Horse!'' is a 2013 American animated comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by Lauren MacMullan. Combining black-and-white traditional animation, hand-drawn animation and color computer animation, the sho ...
'' (2013) which first premiered at the
Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...
and was shown ahead of '' Frozen''.


See also

*
List of Walt Disney Animation Studios short films This is a list of animated short films produced by Walt Disney and Walt Disney Animation Studios from 1921 to the present. This includes films produced at the Laugh-O-Gram Studio which Disney founded in 1921 as well as the animation studio now o ...
**''
Alice Comedies The ''Alice Comedies'' are a series of animated/live-action shorts created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice (originally played by Virginia Davis) and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an ...
'' **''
Silly Symphony ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces ...
'' *
Donald Duck filmography This is a list of appearances made by Donald Duck in Disney features and cartoons. Theatrical animated shorts 1930s 1934 * ''The Wise Little Hen'', released on June 9, 1934 – in a Silly Symphony cartoon * ''Orphan's Benefit'', released on Au ...
* List of Mickey Mouse films and appearances * ''Mickey Mouse'' (TV series)


Notes


References


Bibliography


The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts
(EDAS) * * *
The Internet Movie Database
(IMDb) * * * *Tomart's Illustrated Disneyana Catalog and Price Guide


External links



at The Encyclopedia Of Disney Animated Shorts
Mickey Mouse Theatrical Cartoon List
at the
Big Cartoon DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts. The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated featu ...

Synopsis for the Mickey Mouse
at the Big Cartoon Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Mickey Mouse film series Film series introduced in 1928 Animated film series Children's film series Lists of animated films by character * Walt Disney Studios (division) franchises Disney-related lists American comedy films Slapstick comedy