Happy Birthday Mickey

Nov, 18,1928- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICKEY MOUSE- At the Colony Theater in New York Walt Disney’s cartoon "Steamboat Willie" debuted- The first major sound cartoon success and the official birth of Mickey Mouse. Two earlier silent Mickey's had been done, but they were held back when the sound experiment went ahead.

From Tashjin Ozgur in Istanbul yesterday: It was in 2005; the future of traditional, hand-drawn animation, the original "animated cartoon", seemed dark, with a diminishing number of die-hards trying to keep it alive, when some participants of a Turkish webforum on animation proposed a day to celebrate the art. The date chosen was November 18, in commemorationof the 1928 release of 'Steamboat Willie', the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to reach audiences.We hoped our idea would spread across borders and be taken up by all who consider the art of the hand-drawn animation to be something special and worth preserving. We here, at least, have observed and celebrated the day for the last two years, and are gearing up to do so again.So this year, on Novemeber 18th, take some time to watch an old fashioned cartoon, and appreciate it for what it is- drawings that seem to move. The heritage of the Renaissance that runs through the centuries has culminated at the tip of the animators' pencil. Happy Cartoon Animation Day!

(Thanks to tomsito.com)