Steamboat Willie
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Steamboat Willie (released on November 18, 1928), is an animated cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse. Contrary to claims by some sources it was not the first cartoon produced to feature Mickey (previous Mickey films were Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho), but it was the one that made Mickey Mouse famous. Steamboat Willie was also the first sound cartoon to attract widespread notice and popularity.
The cartoon was written and directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks; the title is a parody of the Buster Keaton film Steamboat Bill Jr.. Music for Steamboat Willie was put together by Wilfred Jackson, one of Disney's animators (and not, as sometimes reported, by Carl Stalling), and comprises popular melodies including "Steamboat Bill" and "Turkey in the Straw".
It has been (and continues to be) in the history books as the first animated short with a completely post-produced soundtrack of music, dialogue, and sound effects, although other cartoons with synchronized soundtracks had been exhibited before, notably by Max Fleischer's My Old Kentucky Home (1926) and Paul Terry's Dinner Time (1928).
The film has been the center of some attention regarding the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act passed in the United States. Steamboat Willie has been close to entering the public domain in the United States several times; each time, copyright protection in the United States has been extended. Many people have claimed that these extensions were a response by the U.S. Congress to extensive lobbying by Disney. However, the copyright extensions that Congress has passed in recent decades have followed extensions in international copyright conventions to which the United States is a signatory. (See U.S. copyright law, Universal Copyright Convention, and Berne Convention.) The U.S. copyright on Steamboat Willie will be in effect through until 2023 unless there is another change of the law. However, it is already in the public domain in Australia, Canada and Russia, the last due to a non-retroactive enactment of the Berne Convention.
The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Synopsis
Mickey is serving aboard Steamboat Willie under Captain Pete (a longtime Disney villain). He is first seen piloting the steamboat while whistling. Pete arrives to take the helm and angrily throws him off the bridge. They soon have to stop for cargo. Almost as soon as they set off again, the as-of-then unnamed Minnie arrives, too late to board. Mickey manages to pick her up from the river shore. Minnie accidentally drops her sheet music for the popular folk song "Turkey in the Straw," which is eaten by a goat. Mickey and Minnie use its tail to turn it into a phonograph, which plays the tune. Mickey uses various other animals as musical instruments, disturbing Captain Pete, who puts him back to work. Mickey is reduced to peeling potatoes for the rest of the trip. A parrot attempts to make fun of him, but Mickey strikes him with a potato, knocking him into the river.Video games
A Steamboat Willie-themed world named Timeless River is featured in the Disney/Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II. This "World" is actually Disney Castle in the past, hosting the yet to be safe-guarded Cornerstone of Light that prevents the darkness from consuming their world. However, Maleficent decided to alter the past when Pete somehow summoned a pathway leading to Timeless River. To counter it, Merlin created another pathway for Sora and company to use.In this grayscale world, Sora's character model has been simplified (making him look more like a 1960s' Osamu Tezuka-style character), Goofy and Donald Duck have the same designs when they first appeared in Disney Cartoons. The trio encountered the Pete of that time, attacking him on the assumption that he was the Pete they knew. Later Sora is confused and mentions these versions of Pete and Mickey seem very different than the one he knows (an intentional fourth wall reference to their early characterizations and designs).
Appropriately, this version of Mickey does not speak. However, his design is slightly inaccurate in having white gloves and drawn with an increased 'roundness' more similar to the modern Mickey Mouse.
Steamboat Willie was also the basis for, and title of the first level in the game, Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse [(for Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega CD and Sony PlayStation (as Mickey's Wild Adventure)].
Cameos
- Toward the end of Disney's 1996 animated film, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Genie comes out of the Giant Turtle disguised as 'Steamboat Willie.' The disguise is all but perfect, except for Genie's pointed shoes, beard, and lack of rounded ears.
- In [[Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie|an episode]] of The Simpsons, the violent cartoon pair, Itchy & Scratchy, are said to have risen to fame because of their famous 1928 film, Steamboat Itchy.
See also
- Mickey Mouse: Addition of sound to the series
- The Golden Age of American animation
External links
- [The Test Screening of Steamboat Willie]
- [Chronology of Animation]
- [Steamboat Willie at The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts]
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