Artigenda
Minnie Mouse Day
When: Annually, November 18.
On 18 November, in addition to Mickey Mouse Day (Mickey Mouse Day), it is also Minnie Mouse Day. This has everything to do with its introduction on November 18, 1928 in the film “Steamboat Willie.”
Source: Unsplash.
Why Mickey and not Minnie?
The question is, of course, why did Mickey become the symbol of Disney and not Minnie? The answer is simple. In the short film “Steamboat Willie”, Mickey Mouse plays the lead role. Minnie plays only a supporting role and she would actually continue to do so for the most part. Compare it to the supporting role Daisy Duck (Katrien Duck) would play as Donald Duck’s girlfriend.
It was Mickey who got the spotlight in “Steamboat Willie” and in doing so, he did behave quite differently at certain moments from later ones. The same was not true of Minnie. For a long time, she would count as the gentle type. A stereotype you might say.
Only in recent years has there been a visible change. Minnie Mouse is portrayed differently. No longer is she the docile type. Yet the image is still that of lovely and cute. Perhaps today is a good time to move away from that?
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Did you know that Mickey was the first cartoon character to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978? Do you know when Minnie got it? Only in 2018. That does show that it wasn’t very fair of course. Both characters were introduced in the same year. Surely you would say then, especially since they are connected, that they would get a star at the same time…
Plane Crazy
Was Steamboat Willie the first film they appeared in together? Actually no. The film Plane Crazy, which featured both mice, was screened for a select few on 15 May 1928. The difference was that this film did not yet feature sound.
Later, the general public would still be able to learn about the film, making it seem as if Steamboat Willie had been released earlier. That was not the case. Plane Crazy got a ‘new’ premiere on March 17, 1929, and this time it did have sound.
That’s not all, because, after Plane Crazy, another film was made, The Gallopin’ Gaucho. In this film, Minnie loses her heels, which are much too big for her feet. The original version is from 8 August 1928 and is without sound. The version with sound is from December 30, 1928, so again after the official release of Steamboat Willie.
Full name
What exactly about the name Minnie? It is just an abbreviation of a longer name. That name is only rarely used and is called Minerva. In the 1942 comic strip, The Gleam (January 19 – May 2 1942), for example, this name appears.
Still, we apply today, 18 November, as the day for Minnie, along with that for Mickey, because this is the day Steamboat Willie was first seen. That other movie had been made earlier seems less important. This is the film we know Mickey from above all. With that, so is Minnie Mouse.
Image at the top of this page: Unsplash.
