Disney Icon Mickey Mouse Turns 75

[newyawker99]

Mickey Mouse arrived on the world's cultural stage 75 years ago Tuesday as a scrawny but buoyant black-and-white product of the Jazz Age.

He was a symbol of American pluck in his screen debut, "Steamboat Willie," on Nov. 18, 1928. The film at New York's Colony Theatre showed an irreverent rodent who takes Captain Pete's steamboat on a joyride and woos Minnie Mouse by making music on the bodies of various farm animals.

The years have dulled Mickey's personality, a result of him becoming the corporate face of a multibillion-dollar entertainment empire. In the process, Mickey also has become a cultural Rorschach test - a symbol of American optimism, resourcefulness and energy or an icon of cultural commodification and corporate imperialism.

"There are a number of qualities Mickey represents on which people like to stick their particular view of the world," said Janet Wasko, a University of Oregon professor and author of "Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy."

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[spinbaby]

1. Happy birthday, Mickey

I always liked the little fellow.