It is hard to believe but Mickey Mouse is now more than eighty years old, and the character looks good even now despite nothing really being changed apart from a costume here and there. It is true to say that Mickey Mouse really does not look bad for his age. It is a bit sad but the film work seems to have dried up a bit for Mickey Mouse movies over recent years, and he has not made a new film in over three years. The last movie that Mickey Mouse made went straight to video.

The face of Mickey Mouse is one of the most iconic images within the world nowadays, and there is probably not one person that would not be able to recognize the face of Mickey Mouse. When Mickey Mouse turned seventy-five Disney threw a big birthday party, and this celebration happened a couple of years ago.

It is strange to imagine but Mickey Mouse began his film career alongside a rabbit, who was called Oswald. Back in the early days, the studio for Disney Brothers was part of the animations for Universal Pictures. The character of Oswald was created by Disney during 1927. Oswald had a white face that was round in shape and a big button shape nose and also big floppy ears that were black in color. This character was an instant hit and he was approved to do a series of different short films.

During 1928 Walt Disney met with the executives of Universal in an attempt to negotiate a new contract for Oswald, as he was still very popular. Oswald’s popularity led Disney to think that it would be straightforward to secure a deal. However, Universal had different ideas. The studio was prepared to keep working with Disney but only if he took a cut in his wages.

Walt Disney and one of the animators that stayed loyal to Disney worked together to do some brainstorming, and they often stayed up to past midnight doing this. They came up with a replacement for Oswald, which had shorter ears and some additional padding around its middle. This then led to the rabbit becoming a mouse, originally named Mortimer. However, this name did not last and he became known as Mickey Mouse.

However the first two short Mickey Mouse movies made were not that popular. These were followed by Steamboat Willy, which saw Mickey Mouse put at the cutting edge of animations. This cartoon was able to secure sound effects and synchronized music and this enabled this movie to hit the big screens. This film was shown for the first time on the 18th November 1928, and it was a massive success straight away.

Following this film there were a number of short Mickey Mouse movies that were made, and these included Plane Crazy. This actually predated the Steamboat Willy movie. These films saw Mickey Mouse grow into an icon nationally, and by the end of 1928 Mickey Mouse was a mouse that had superstar status.