Happy 90th Birthday Mickey!

Mickey Mouse turns an astonishing 90 years old this month. The exact day is up for debate, although the consensus seems to land on November 18. That’s the day Steamboat Willie premiered in New York City as the first animated film with sound. Obviously Walt Disney and his team had been working on him for a while before that memorable day. Today’s short post explores the history and brilliance of this animated icon.

Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse in 1928. It was the roaring twenties, after World War I and before the country knew that World War II was around the bend. It was a time of silent movies, jazz music and The Great Gatsby. Felix the Cat was in his prime and Betty Boop was yet to be born. It was an optimistic and celebratory time in America’s history, right before the depression of the 1930s and the rise of organized crime.

This isn’t intended to be a history lesson, so why do I mention this?

Because it’s pretty incredible, don’t you think? That we’re still celebrating Mickey 90 years after Walt Disney first introduced him to the world? Think of all that has happened in the United States and around the world since Mickey first arrived on the scene. It’s too much to list. Yet, his iconic image would be prevalent throughout the historical highlight reel.

Mickey wasn’t even Walt Disney’s first character. If you recall, Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse almost out of a forced necessity. Disney lost the rights to another successful character, Oswald the Rabbit, in a questionable business deal. The deal cost him most of his staff and some of his pride too. Disney needed something big to save his company from bankruptcy and he needed to find it quickly.

In other words, Mickey was kind of like a Hail Mary.

So that makes it even more remarkable doesn’t it? That a character developed out of such adversity would still be going strong today? Maybe it’s part of his appeal. Maybe it even makes him more relatable to all of us.

Mickey has been so popular for so long that the Walt Disney Company will have to fight some more upcoming legal battles to keep him from passing into the public domain soon. Even our legal system didn’t anticipate a creative product remaining so popular (and profitable) for so long.

So what’s the secret to his longevity?

It’s hard to say, although many have tried. In my opinion, it’s pretty simple.

Mickey brings joy. He’s friendly, loyal and kind. In some ways he acts the way we wish all humans would. His image represents the good and helps us forget the bad, if only for a moment. In other words, Mickey brings happiness. His image translates seamlessly across languages, cultures and decades. He’s a happy constant in a rapidly changing world.

Walt Disney understood this completely. In fact, Mickey embodies a lot of Walt Disney’s qualities too. Disney is often quoted as saying “It was all started with a mouse.”

Indeed it did.

Add a little Mickey magic to your world!