"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing—that it was all started by a mouse." (Walt Disney)
ickey Mouse, Walt Disney Studios's most famous creation, publicly debuted in the animated short Steamboat Willie (1928). One of the early “talkies,” it remains one of the greatest cartoons ever made. It's impossible not to smile when you hear Mickey whistle enchantingly while captaining the steamboat, or watch his girlfriend Minnie wind the tail of a goat to make it play the old folk song “Turkey in the Straw.”
The Mouse's might grew with each well-received animated short, so much so that King Features Syndicate approached Walt Disney in 1930 about starting a comic strip. Ub Iwerks handled the art and Win Smith the inking. When Iwerks left after the 18th strip to start his own animation studio, Smith served in a dual role that, quite frankly, didn't strike his fancy.
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