The little rodent was co-created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks to replace a prior Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Although created by the Disney studio Oswald was actually then-owned by Universal Pictures. When it came time to renew Oswald's contract, Universal's middleman informed Disney that his budget was being cut severely, adding that a number of Disney animators were moving over to the Mintz Studio. So a new character was workshopped in secret between Disney and Iwerks, with Disney instructing Iwerks to come up with character designs based on various animals. Dogs, cats, a cow, a horse, and a frog were all rejected until Iwerks came up with a mouse supposedly based on an earlier Disney design. Much of this early process is shrouded in mystery as various s tories and explanations arose to add luster to Disney's legend.
In any event, they had a mouse. Walt wanted to call the mouse Mortimer, but his wife preferred the name Mickey. Mickey made his public debut in Steamboat Willie, although he had appeared in two previous shorts -- Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho -- which had not then been distributed. Disney himself provided all of the voices in the cartoon, "although there is little intelligible dialogue." Although Steamboat Willie is commonly recognized as the first cartoon with synchronized sound, that honor actually belongs to Paul Terry's Dinner Time -- but that cartoon was a flop, and history is written by the winners. With the exception of two cartoons in 1929 in which Mickey was voiced by Carl Stallings, Walt Disney provided the voice of Mickey through 1947 and from 1955 to 1962.
Mickey has appeared in over 130 films, and has appeared extensively in comic strips, comic books, and on television. His merchandise has appeared everywhere and the character has remained a major cash cow for Disney. It is not for nothing that Disney is referred to as the House of Mouse.
Here's Steamboat Willie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4
Although the Mickey went into public domain in 2024, Disney has kept a tight control on the character because he is trademarked into perpetuity, as long as the character is continued to be used by its owners. Mickey may not be used as a trademark without authorization. Disney had lobbied extensively for the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act to the point where it is often referred to as the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act." The Walt Disney company zealously protects its intellectual property and has even sued day care centers which painted likenesses of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters on their walls.
It is acknowledge that Mikey Mouse is one of the most recognizable characters in the world -- rivalling, or perhaps even surpassing, Santa Claus.
But enough about Mickey Mouse. (I am much more a Donald Duck fan, myself.) Mickey's birthday gives me an opportunity to do a little dive into the Mickey-adjacent world of The Mickey Mouse Club. I distinctly remember being traumatized because, for some reason now forgotten, I was not able to watch the premier episode of The Mickey Mouse Club, and of eagerly devouring detailed descriptions of the program from friends, knowing that, Thank God!, at least I would be able to catch every show from the second episode onward. (Yes, these were simpler tomes and I was a much simpler kid.)
Here's the introduction to the Mickey Mouse Club (1960s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4C_lUy58Rw
-- with the original Mouseketeer Roll Call
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_teSvw34ZlY
39 Mouseketeers appeared over the show's four-year run, with nine appearing for the full run of the show: Sharon Baird, Bobby Burgess, Lonnie Burr, Tommy Cole, Annette Funicello, Darlene Gillespie, Cubby O'Brien, Karen Pendleton, and Doreen Tracy. Other notable Mouseketeers included Johnny Crawford (who went o star in The Rifleman), Jay-Jay Solari (mentioned here because at one time he was a frequent, entertaining, and controversial commenter on Bill Crider's blog), Don Agrati (wholater became Don Grady of My Three Sons fame), voice actress Sherri Alberoni (the nasty rich-girl on Josie and the Pussycats), Dick Dodd (lead singer on the Standel's hit record "Dirty Water" [."...Boston, you're my home."]), Bonnie Lynn Fields (whose films included Angel in My Pocket, Bye Bye Birdie, and Funny Girl), singer, novelist, actor, and activist Paul Peterson (who went on to The Donna Reed Show, recorded several hit records, including "Lollipops and Roses", and who also wrote at least seven paperback originals in the spy-guy "The Smuggler" series), Mickey Rooney, Jr. (son of you know who), Tim Rooney (another son of you know who), and Ronnie Steiner (member of the popular Canadian singing trio The Steiner Brothers, who performed on numerous television variety shows in the 50s and 60s.
Of the original 39, 21 are still alive. Annette died in 2013 from complications from multiple sclerosis; she had had a long and successful recording and acting career. Karen passed away in 2019 from a heart attack; a 1983 automobile accident left her paralyzed from the waist down, and served on the board of the California Association of the Physically Handicapped. Doreen died of pneumonia in 2018 following a two-year bout with cancer; she had posed nude twice (in 1976 and 1979)for the sex magazine Gallery, which earned her the wrath of the House of Mouse, but they later reconciled; Dennis disappeared in 2018 and was found dead several months later, his cause of death was never announced but a roommate was charged with his death in 2019 and was due to stand trial in early 2024; Johnny Crawford continued acting in television and films and fronted a California vintage dance band that appeared in special events, he succumbed to Alzheimer's disease in 2019 after contracting both COVID-19 and pneumonia; Mike Smith appeared in television briefly and in a dance act in Las Vegas before dropping out and into obscurity, working various menial jobs until his early death in 1982 at age 37; According to her obituary, Bonnie Lou Kern worked at Lowe's for many years following her career at Disney, she died in 2020 at age 79; Tim Rooney appear in the ABC sitcom Room for One More, and co-starred with his father in the short-lived Mickey, he was 59 when he died in 2006 from pneumonia, complicated by the rare muscle disease dermatomyosis; Bronson Scott, at 7, was the youngest Mouseketeer, appearing for only one season, her IMDb listing notes only that she died in 2023, giving no further credits beyond The Mickey Mouse Club; Mark Sutherland, nicknamed "PeeWee," was let go after the first season and left show business, refusing to participate in the 25th anniversary celebration of the show, he died in 2022; Mickey Rooney, Jr. went on to a career in film and television production, and also ran an evangelical ministry, he died in 2022; Dickie Dodd was a Boston Red sox fan and performed "Dirty Water" at the 2004 World Series and at the team's opening game in 2005, he died from cancer in 2013; Cheryl went on to many television and film roles, including an occasional role as Wally Cleaver's girlfriend in Leave It to Beaver, and retired from acting after marrying race car driver Lance Reventlow (she had previously dated Australian singer Lucky Starr, Tim Considine, Fabian Forte, Elvis Presley, Tony Dow, Ricky Nelson, Bobby Rydell, Don Grady, Tommy Kirk, and Michael Anderson, Jr.), after Reventlow's 1972 death in a crash she reportedly dated Michael Crichton, her second husband was indicted for being the ringleader of an international drug smuggling operation, her third husband -- 26 years her elder -- was a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser and the treasurer of the California campaigns of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, she died of lung cancer in 2009, age 64; Charley Laney's only credit on IMDb is for The Mickey Mouse Club, he died in 1997 of undisclosed causes; Larry Larsen is perhaps not the actor from Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. the Mickey Mouse Larry Larsen was born in 1939, making him the oldest of the Mouseketeers, coincidentally the Sigmund Larry Larsen was also born in 1939, but if they were the same person, no one told IMDb about it, the Sigmund Larry Larsen died in 2018 of multiple internal organ failure; Don Agrati (Don Grady), among other things wrote the theme song for The Phil Donahue Show, myeloma took him in 2012; Bonnie Lynn Fields died from throat cancer in 2012, age 68; and Lynn Ready went to play a fraternity brother in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, he also wrote the soundtrack for Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, he died in 2008 of cancer.
Other tidbits from the first incarnation of The Mikey Mouse Club:
- The very first person hired to be a Mouseketeer was 13-yer-old Dallas Johann, who suffered from stage fright so badly that he could not perform and was let go before the first episode was filmed.
- Both Mickey Rooney, Jr. and his brother Tim were fired for sneaking into the Disney Ink and Paint Department and switching paints into different containers.
- Paul Peterson was canned for punching a crew member who had been continually teasing him; unfortunately Peterson threw the punch while Walt Disney was watching.
- Eager to get out of the image of young Mark McCain in The Rifleman, Johnny Crawford jumped into a full frontal role in the Hugh Hefner-produced The Naked Ape. Crawford then went on to be the first man to appear completely nude in Playboy. Neither stunt significantly helped his acting career.
- Mouseketeer Billie Jean Beanblosson appeared for only one season one the show, but she made history in 1995 when she became the only Mouseketeer to be robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot of Disneyland when she was with her children and grandchildren at the park. To make matters worse, she said, Disney security refused to help following the robbery and later held her group "against their will" for several hours questioning them. Her grandkids were also traumatized when they saw Disney Characters remove their heads in from of them.
- In 1998, Darlene Gillespie was convicted of 12 "counts of conspiracy, securities fraud, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, and perjury," and sentenced to two years. She maintained her innocence. Darlene had also been sentenced to three months for check fraud, battled Disney in court for compensati0on, and was gain accused of mail fraud in 2005.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxdrkdlPbj8
-- and three different Roll Calls from 1977
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bq_SceIips
This incarnation of the show was well after my time and, as such, not really worth my consideration. The notable cast member from this group was Lisa Welchel, who went on to star in the sitcom The Facts of Life and became a well-known Christian author. We should also note that one of the Mouseketeers was Mindy Feldman, sister of actor Corey Feldman. Rock musician Courtney Love claimed to have auditioned for the show, reading a Sylvia Plath poem, but was not selected.
And here's the introduction to The New Mickey Mouse Club, 1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0_NZbSq3kM
Again, much after my time, the show ran from 1989 to 1996. The episodes from 1993 to 1996 version are notable for a number of Mouseketeers who went on to bigger things: Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake, JC Chavez, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kerri Russell, Deedee Magno, Rhona Bennett, and Nikki DeLoach, some of whom brought about a bad-boy/bad-girl image that seemed to telescope as other Disney shows began to burn through child stars at a rapid rate.
Over 41 years and through various incarnation, The Mickey Mouse Club has seen some of its actors rise to height, some to fall to depths, and others to vanish into mediocracy and obscurity. I feel bad for many of the children who were caught in Disney's grasp.
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