Steamboat Willie

'Steamboat Willie'' (1928) is an animated cartoon released on November 18, 1928. It was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon (Mickey had appeared in two earlier cartoons, Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho). It was also the first Disney cartoon to feature synchronized sound. Disney used Pat Powers' Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee De Forest's Phonofilm system without giving De Forest any credit. Steamboat Willie premiered at New York's 79th Street Theatre, and played ahead of the independent film Gang War. Steamboat Willie was an immediate hit while Gang War is all but forgotten today.

The cartoon was written and directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The title is a parody of the Buster Keaton film Steamboat Bill Jr. Music for Steamboat Willie was put together by Wilfred Jackson, one of Disney's animators — not, as sometimes reported, by Carl Stalling — and comprises popular melodies including "Steamboat Bill" and "Turkey in the Straw".

It is noted in the history books as the first animated short feature film with a completely post-produced soundtrack of music, dialogue, and sound effects, although other cartoons with synchronized soundtracks had been exhibited before, notably by Max Fleischer's series Song Car-Tunes made in DeForest Phonofilm starting in May 1924, including My Old Kentucky Home (1926), and Paul Terry's Dinner Time (released September 1, 1928).

The film has been the center of a variety of controversies regarding copyright. The copyright of the film has been repeatedly extended by acts of the United States Congress. However, recent evidence suggests that the film may be in the public domain due to technicalities related to the original copyright notice. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, maintained by the Library of Congress. In 1994, it was voted #1 of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.

Copyright
The film has been the center of some attention regarding the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act passed in the United States. Steamboat Willie has been close to entering the public domain in the United States several times. Each time, copyright protection in the United States has been extended. Many people have claimed that these extensions were a response by the U.S. Congress to extensive lobbying by Disney; others claim that the copyright extensions that Congress has passed in recent decades have followed extensions in international copyright conventions to which the United States is a signatory. (See U.S. copyright law, Universal Copyright Convention, and Berne Convention.) The U.S. copyright on Steamboat Willie will be in effect through 2023 unless there is another change of the law.

In the 1990s, former Disney researcher Gregory S. Brown determined that the film was likely in the public domain in the United States already due to errors in the original copyright formulation. In particular, the original film's copyright notice had two additional names between Disney and the copyright statement. Thus, under the rules of the Copyright Act of 1909, all copyright claims would be null. Arizona State University professor Dennis Karjala suggested that one of his law school students look into Brown's claim, as a class project. Lauren Vanpelt took up the challenge and produced a paper agreeing with Brown's claim. She posted her project on the Web in 1999. Disney later threatened to sue a Georgetown University law student who wrote a paper confirming Brown's claims.

DVD release
Steamboat Willie has been released uncut as part of the Walt Disney Treasures DVD collections twice:
 * Disc One of Mickey Mouse in Black and White.
 * Disc Two of The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, as part of a tribute to animator Ub Iwerks.
 * It was also released on a DVD titled "Vintage Mickey" which is a small collection of black and white Mickey cartoons.

Video games
Steamboat Willie was the basis for, and title of, the first level in the game Mickey Mania: The Timeless Adventures of Mickey Mouse for Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sega CD and Sony PlayStation (as Mickey's Wild Adventure). Save for Mickey Mouse himself and collectible items, the entire level remains black and white initially, though color is gradually added as the level progresses. In the Sega CD and PlayStation versions of the game, the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey returns in the penultimate level along with the other featured Mickeys to help defeat Pete.

A Steamboat Willie-themed world named Timeless River is featured in the Disney/Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II, featuring appropriately "period" versions of the familiar characters.

References in subsequent Disney works

 * Toward the end of Disney's 1996 animated film, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Genie comes out of the Giant Turtle disguised as Mickey at the helm of Steamboat Willie. The disguise is all but perfect, except for Genie's pointed shoes, beard, earrings, and lack of rounded ears.
 * In one Goofy cartoon on Mickey Mouse Works, the entire opening scene, even the title card, is spoofed with Goofy (resembling Dippy Dawg, his earliest form) substituting for Mickey. His steamboat rear-ends another in front of it. This boat has the real Steamboat Willie Mickey on it, who squeaks at Goofy's boat madly, while it inexplicably sinks into the water.
 * In the 1995 cartoon Runaway Brain, Mickey goes through pictures of himself, one of which being from Steamboat Willie, commenting "Aw, that's old..."
 * In the first episode of House of Mouse, Donald Duck attempts to imitate the opening scene of Steamboat Willie, trying to please the crowd.
 * The new logo for Walt Disney Animation Studios features Steamboat Willie.
 * The entire short can be seen playing in WDW hotels, and also is one of the cartoons played in the Main Street Cinema at Disneyland.
 * In a Mickey Mouse cartoon on House of Mouse, in order to prove his identity to inherit a million "bucks", Mickey goes through various forms, including his Steamboat Willie form. His rival, Mortimer Mouse, did the same thing when impersonating Mickey.
 * In the spectacle Fantasmic! in Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disneyland, Steamboat Willie and the Mark Twain Riverboat are driven by Mickey Mouse.

References in other media

 * In an episode of The Simpsons, the violent cartoon pair Itchy & Scratchy are said to have risen to fame because of their famous 1928 film, Steamboat Itchy.
 * In the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan, a German POW speaking in English to an American soldier says, "American...I like American. Steamboat Willie. *toot-toot*." The character is referred to in the movie credits as Steamboat Willie.
 * The South Park episode "The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer" contains scenes from a fictional TV show, Russell Crowe Fightin' Around the World, in which Russell Crowe travels the world on a tugboat to fight people of various ethnicities. He is shown on the bridge of his boat whistling and spinning the steering wheel as a parody of Steamboat Willie.
 * In the second series of the UK comedy series Alexei Sayle's Stuff, Steamboat Willie and the creation of Mickey Mouse are parodied as Steamboat Fatty featuring a crudely animated Alexei Sayle.
 * In the pilot episode for the cartoon Duckman, Duckman reviews a collection of home movies, the first of which involves young Duckman bullying a very Mickey Mouse-esque character for control of the steering wheel to a steamboat.
 * An episode of Pokémon has the parody title "Steamboat Willies".
 * The Futurama movie The Beast with a Billion Backs contains a short black-and-white Futurama cartoon clip within its opening sequence that is drawn in the style of Steamboat Willie.
 * FoxTrot have referenced Steamboat Willie twice.
 * Once Jason dressed up as Mickey (as he appears in this short) celebrating the fact that the short was in public domain, only to realize later on that the copyright has been extended.
 * A later daily strip features Jason reimagining Steamboat Willie as an anime.