Monday, November 12, 2018

Mickey Goes Bananas

Mickey Mouse turns ninety this month! The last place I expected to see this milestone noted was on a bunch of Dole bananas. But stickers don't lie.

The earliest cartoon short with Mickey Mouse was "Plane Crazy" (1928), and that seems to be the origin of the Mickey Mouse we see on the label. It was actually Mickey's second animated short subject, "Steamboat Willie," that was the first Ito be released on November 18, 1928. These early incarnations are not the bland, well-behaved Mickey we have come to know, but he does already show some spunk. What is also on display here is Disney's "udderly" bad taste, some casual cruelty to animals, and what today we would term Mickey's harassment of Minnie while airborne.

Walt Disney's "Plane Crazy" (1928)
Animated by Ub Iwerks



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