Mickey Mouse, the most popular character of Walt Disney’s animated cartoons
Walt Disney began his first series of fully animated films in 1927, featuring the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. When his distributor appropriated the rights to the character, Disney altered Oswald’s appearance and created a new character that he named Mortimer Mouse; at the urging of his wife, Disney rechristened him Mickey Mouse.
Two silent Mickey Mouse cartoons Plane Crazy and Gallopin’ were produced before Disney employed the novelty of sound for the third Mickey Mouse production, Steamboat Willie (1928), though Mickey did not utter his first words (“Hot dogs!”) until The Karnival Kid. Steamboat Willie was an immediate sensation and led to the studio’s dominance in the animated market for many years.
