November 18, 1928

Birth of Mickey

On November 18, 1928, in New York, the spectators of the Colony Theater discover and applaud Mickey Mouse in a seven-minute short film, Steamboat Willie.

This cartoon created by the young Walt Disney (27 years old) is the talking parody of a success by Buster Keaton, a rival of Charlie Chaplin in the cinema.

The little mouse, who was initially to be called Mortimer, was renamed Mickey at the insistence of Mrs. Disney, the wife of his creator.

The latter lent his voice to Mickey but the result was so distressing that in the film Fantasia, the mouse would become mute!