Internal B-Day note....

[gorilla]

Shhhh........

Since tomorrow is Mickey's birthday, here is some information you might want to share with your guests.

Happy 77th Birthday Mickey!

Facts about Mickey Mouse

· Mickey Mouse was born of necessity. In the spring of 1928 Walt Disney discovered that he had lost the rights to his previous character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The plucky mouse was selected as the successor to the lucky rabbit.

· Mickey Mouse was "born" on November l8, 1928, when STEAMBOAT WILLIE opened at the Colony Theater in New York. STEAMBOAT WILLIE was the first completely-synchronized sound cartoon, and it created an immediate sensation.

· Two Mickey Mouse films had been made before STEAMBOAT WILLIE, PLANE CRAZY and THE GALLOPIN' GAUCHO, but Walt Disney had been unable to sell them since they were silent films. The previous year, THE JAZZ SINGER had changed movie history forever, and theater audiences were no longer satisfied with silent films. After the success of STEAMBOAT WILLIE, sound was added to Mickey's two previous efforts and they were released later.

· Mickey Mouse was the first cartoon character to be extensively merchandised. Beginning in l929, companies were licensed to use Mickey Mouse on their products, and the resulting cooperative efforts helped both the manufacturers and Disney.

· The first Mickey Mouse book was published in 1930. Ingersoll produced the first Mickey Mouse watch in 1933. Soon, Mickey was appearing on everything imaginable--toys, games, clothing, household products.

· The first Mickey Mouse Clubs were organized through movie theaters beginning in l929. By 1932, there were over 800 chapters with a total membership of over a million kids.

· Mickey Mouse's heyday was in the l920's and l930's. During that period, 102 of Mickey's 120 cartoons appeared. The last regular Mickey Mouse cartoon was THE SIMPLE THINGS in 1953, but he returned 30 years later for the featurette, MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL and in 1995 in RUNAWAY BRAIN.

· The first Mickey Mouse cartoon in color was THE BAND CONCERT in 1935. Over 60% of the Mickey Mouse cartoons were made in black and white. 10. Walt Disney was presented with an honorary Academy Award in 1932 for the creation of Mickey Mouse.

· Mickey Mouse made his first feature film appearance as the star of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" in FANTASIA (1940). He also appeared in the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment of FUN AND FANCY FREE (1947).

· During World War II, the code word used during the D-Day landings in Normandy was "Mickey Mouse."

· In 1955, the Mickey Mouse Club, featuring a talented group of 24 original Mouseketeers, began airing on television. It was to become one of the most popular children's television shows of all time during its original three-year run and has enjoyed continued success in syndication, on The Disney Channel, and on videocassette.

· When Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California, in 1955, Mickey Mouse was on hand to greet the guests, and he has continued acting as official host not only there but at Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.

· Mickey Mouse is well-known throughout the world. In Italian, Mickey is known as Topolino; in German he is Micky Maus; in Spanish, Raton Mickey; in Swedish, Musse Pigg; and in Mandarin Chinese, he is Mi Lao Shu.

· Walt Disney always had a fond place in his heart for Mickey Mouse. He once said, "All we ever intended for him or expected of him was that he should continue to make people everywhere chuckle with him and at him. We didn't burden him with any social symbolism; we made him no mouth piece for frustrations or harsh satire. Mickey was simply a little personality assigned to the purposes of laughter."

· Mickey Mouse has been for more 60 years the logo for The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney was fond of saying, "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing--that it was all started by a mouse."

[subsonic]

That's an awesome list of facts! Thanks!

I like the Normandy one.

[Mickeymac]

Wicked cool - is that from your bother?

[Esmeralda]

Happy Birthday Mickey! You're ageless as ever and continue to make millions around the world smile. What's your secret? Perhaps it is magic.

I do wish I could be at a Disney theme park so I could wear my mouse ears proudly and eat a Premium Mickey Ice Cream Bar to celebrate this very special day!

[Beaker]

Buon Compleanno Topolino! Ho ancora ottenere i miei orecchi del mouse, ma la volontà presto!

[eagle4life69]

here is a basic translation of what beaker was saying

Buon Compleanno Topolino! Ho ancora ottenere i miei orecchi del mouse, ma la volontà presto!

Good Topolino Birthday! I have still to obtain my ears of the mouse, but the volontà soon!

And Beaker

Scriva prego in inglese in modo da tutto può capirlo

Grazie

[G2-4T]

A very happy birthday Mickey. Now enough celebrating and get back to work signing autographs and getting your picture taken with kids and their sticky multi-colored suckers!

Cool it eagle, this was just a birthday wish using one of his many names [and is neat to see all of them]... Very cool Beaker! Known so well around the entire globe, too bad we can't have birthday wishes from all corners of the world! That would be a neat project, get all his names and a birthday wish from each. Too bad the online translators only work go so far...

[eagle4life69]

what I said was please write in english so all can understand thats all

[Esmeralda]

That's a fantastic thought G2-4T. Birthday wishes for a magnificent mouse from all over the world in every language. Isn't it amazing how one little mouse can have such a profound effect on the world?

[spaulo]

Mi Lao Shu? Love it!

[Jwc247]

· Mickey Mouse was "born" on November l8, 1928, when STEAMBOAT WILLIE opened at the Colony Theater in New York. STEAMBOAT WILLIE was the first completely-synchronized sound cartoon, and it created an immediate sensation.

I'm sorry that is incorrect Mickey Mouse does not play Steamboat Willie, The first movie that Mickey Mouse starred in was Plane Crazy. Steambot Willie was played by Steamboat Willie. Then later because Mickey Mouse in Plane Crazy, so Mickey was born when Plane Crazy came out.

[AlexLoup]

/\ Did you read the rest of it?

· Two Mickey Mouse films had been made before STEAMBOAT WILLIE, PLANE CRAZY and THE GALLOPIN' GAUCHO, but Walt Disney had been unable to sell them since they were silent films. The previous year, THE JAZZ SINGER had changed movie history forever, and theater audiences were no longer satisfied with silent films. After the success of STEAMBOAT WILLIE, sound was added to Mickey's two previous efforts and they were released later.

You last sentence doesn't make sense to me sorry. It's my mind.

[js3901]

· Mickey Mouse was "born" on November l8, 1928, when STEAMBOAT WILLIE opened at the Colony Theater in New York. STEAMBOAT WILLIE was the first completely-synchronized sound cartoon, and it created an immediate sensation.

I'm sorry that is incorrect Mickey Mouse does not play Steamboat Willie, The first movie that Mickey Mouse starred in was Plane Crazy. Steambot Willie was played by Steamboat Willie. Then later because Mickey Mouse in Plane Crazy, so Mickey was born when Plane Crazy came out.

Not according to Kingdom Hearts 2, which is a game which features Disney prominently, and is made by BVG (Buena Vista Games - formerly Disney Interactive).

[jbvenn]

According to Walt's bio on the official Disney website, "Mickey made his screen debut in 'Steamboat Willie'..." It acknowledges that "Plane Crazy" was Mickey's first movie, but was not released right away because of the advent of sound movies.

[Cheshire Cat]

I've always been told Steamboat Willie was when Mickey made his premiere, so just clear this up for me: Mickey had two cartoons before Steamboat Willie, but Steamboat Willie was realeased first...is that right?