Mickey Mouse

 It’s the birthday of Mickey Mouse, as officially celebrated by Walt Disney. Mickey Mouse was actually “born” about six months before his official birthday, debuting in a cartoon where he played pilot Charles Lindbergh, but the cartoon failed to pick up a distributor. And so did a second cartoon, “The Gallopin’ Gaucho,” in which Mickey rides a rhea around Argentina, smoking, drinking, challenging men to duels, and acting like an outlaw.

But in his third reincarnation, released on this day in 1928, the creators of Mickey found success, in a cartoon entitled “Steamboat Willie,” shown at New York’s Colony Theatre. The cartoon featured a soundtrack synchronized to follow the visual animation of the story, which was new at the time. “Steamboat Willie” included a memorable scene in which Minnie drops her sheet music for the song “Turkey in the Straw,” a goat eats the paper and the tune comes out of his tail, and Mickey uses the bodies of other farm animals on board the steamboat as instruments in an effort to impress Minnie — and all this was perfectly synchronized.

Within a decade, Mickey had appeared in more than 100 cartoons, and during these 10 years, he underwent some changes. White oval eyes with little black pupils replaced solid black ones, and his face became less angular and more rounded, to make him look friendlier. His personality became less cunning and more winsome. He was a commercial hit right away, and even during the Great Depression, Mickey merchandise sold well.

The name “Mickey Mouse” took on connotations that Walt Disney never intended. The name is used as an adjective to describe something foolish, amateurish, fake, or not to be taken seriously. A “Mickey Mouse class” at a college is an easy course. “Mickey Mouse hands” are used to explain the rules of card games, where hands are open and everyone can see the cards. In the military “Mickey Mouse work” refers to unnecessary tasks. And when she was Prime Minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher called the European Parliament a “Mickey Mouse parliament.”

“Mickey Mouse” has also become a standard write-in name on U.S. election ballots as a protest vote. Mickey has been a contender in nearly all the American presidential elections since his birth.