Posted By Dan Greenfield on Nov 18, 2024 | 1 comment

When cartoon shorts got movie posters of their own…

ABC special birthday celebration for Mickey when he was a mere 90 years old. Now he’s 96!

By PETER BOSCH

Let the candles be lit and the celebrations begin! November 18 is considered the annual birthday for Mickey Mouse, tying into the release of his first cartoon short, Steamboat Willie, on that date in 1928. Who knew the animated star of such a quaint cartoon would quickly became the symbol of the Walt Disney Studio — and the beginning of an entertainment empire that now owns Marvel, Pixar, 21st Century Fox, ABC, ESPN, and Lucasfilm, among many others?

In celebration of Mickey’s 96th birthday, here are 13 early posters of Mickey Mouse shorts, back when Walt himself was the voice of Mickey — except in Squatter’s Rights, 1946, when it was both him and Jimmy McDonald. (This was McDonald’s first time as the voice of Mickey and he would go on to be it for many years after that.)

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1928

1929

1932

1932

1933

1934

1937

1937

1939

1940

1941

1946

1940

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MORE

— Have a HAWAIIAN HOLIDAY With Mickey Mouse and the Gang. Click here.

— 13 COVERS AND PAGES: A Ducky CARL BARKS Birthday Celebration. Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. A sequel, about movie comics, is coming in 2025. Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.