History of mickey mouse

                                                   Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse is a funny animal cartoon character and the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company. He was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at the Walt Disney Studios in 1928. ... Mickey officially debuted in the short film Steamboat Willie (1928), one of the first sound cartoons.

 Mickey Mouse turns 80 years old today, and there's not a gray hair on him. Sure, he's a little rounder, a little squatter, and he's been wearing the same clothes for decades, but all in all he looks pretty good. Sure, Mickey hasn't had a movie in two years (his last one went direct-to-video), but his cheerful face remains one of the most recognizable images in the world, even beating out Santa Claus. Disney threw a big party for the mouse's 75th birthday, so this year's festivities will be comparatively subdued. But TIME has been following the adorable mouse since the beginning, and 80 years is still a big number to us. (Read TIME's 1937 cover story on Walt Disney)

The first two Mickey shorts drew no attention, but then came Steamboat Willie, the first animation to feature synchronized music and sound effects, hit the screen. The film premiered in New York on Nov. 18, 1928 and was an instant hit. A series of Mickey Mouse shorts appeared within a matter of months — including Plane Crazy, a short that predated Steamboat Willie in which Mickey plays a rodent Charles Lindbergh. The mouse was a national fad by the end of the year, and it wasn't long before the real genius of Walt Disney kicked in: marketing. Walt quickly started up a line of Mickey merchandise, and within two years the Mickey Mouse Club, a fan club for children, was up and running.

Two different people have taken credit for giving Mickey Mouse his first name. History has it that Walt Disney’s wife Lillian came up with it because she thought his original name, Mortimer, was too pompous. But child-star-turned-movie-star Mickey Rooney frequently claimed that it was his meeting with Walt in 1920 that provided the inspiration. Walt, being a very smart man, sided with his wife on that one.In January of 1930, the now legendary Mickey Mouse Club was created. Within a few months there were 60 theaters hosting clubs across the country, and within two years, there were over a million members enjoying the club song, secret handshakes, a

special greeting, and even a code of behavior. The TV series, basically a variety show for kids, didn’t launch until the 1950s, but clearly it resonated, returning multiple times across the decades. Famous on-screen members included Dennis Day, Annette Funicello, Don Grady (of My Three Sons), Keri Russell, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake.