About Steamboat Willie (1928)
The story behind the film
Steamboat Willie is the cartoon that made Mickey Mouse a star. Walt Disney and his lead animator Ub Iwerks had created Mickey in 1928 after losing the rights to their earlier character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Two silent Mickey cartoons, Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho, had been made first, but Disney couldn't find a distributor. After seeing the success of The Jazz Singer, he decided Mickey's next film would have fully synchronised sound — music, effects and voices all timed to the animation.
The soundtrack was arranged by Wilfred Jackson and Bert Lewis, using songs including "Steamboat Bill" and the folk tune "Turkey in the Straw", and Disney himself provided the few voice sounds. The title is thought to be a nod to Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill, Jr., released earlier the same year. Steamboat Willie premiered at Universal's Colony Theater in New York on November 18, 1928 — the date Disney still treats as Mickey's birthday.
Cast & crew
- Directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks
- Animation largely by Ub Iwerks
- Voices (whistles, squawks and the odd line) by Walt Disney
- Music arranged by Wilfred Jackson and Bert Lewis
- Characters: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Captain Pete
Why it's worth watching
In just over seven minutes, Steamboat Willie shows why audiences in 1928 went wild. Mickey, piloting a riverboat and whistling cheerfully, is chased off the bridge by the bad-tempered Captain Pete. When Minnie misses the boat and a goat eats her sheet music, Mickey turns the goat — and then a whole menagerie of farm animals — into musical instruments, all perfectly in time with "Turkey in the Straw". The joy of the cartoon is that sound isn't just added on; the jokes are built from it.
It's also a fascinating look at the early Mickey: cheekier and rougher than the polished corporate mascot he later became.
Fun facts
- Steamboat Willie was not the first cartoon with sound, but it was one of the first with a fully synchronised, post-produced soundtrack, and it was by far the most successful.
- Disney was paid $500 a week for the initial run at the Colony Theater.
- The opening shot of Mickey whistling at the wheel has been used for decades as part of the Walt Disney Animation Studios logo.
- The Library of Congress added the film to the National Film Registry in 1998.
Public-domain status
Steamboat Willie entered the US public domain on January 1, 2024, after its extended copyright term expired. That covers this film and this early version of Mickey and Minnie as they appear in it; later versions of the characters, and Disney's trademarks, are not public domain. Starlite TV is not affiliated with or endorsed by Disney. See "Rights & source" below.