‘Mickey Mouse’: What’s Not to Love?

Walt Disney often remarked, “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing . . . that it all started with a mouse.” Viewers may remember that comment while watching “Mickey Mouse: The Black and White Years (Volume One)” (five discs, CAV, $124.95). The success of the Walt Disney Co.’s multibillion-dollar empire was built on the popularity of Mickey Mouse.

“The Black and White Years” surveys Mickey’s early career in 34 cartoons Disney released between November, 1928, and March, 1935. Long unavailable on videocassette or laser disc, these gems from the early sound era are visual delights.

Although other cartoon studios had experimented with synchronized sound during the ‘20s, the imaginative blending of music and image in “Steamboat Willie” (1928) caused a sensation. When Mickey whistled “Steamboat Bill,” he sounded the funeral knell of the silent cartoon as surely as Al Jolson’s “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet” marked the end of the silent feature.

During the ‘30s, Mickey’s fans ranged from the millions of children who belonged to the first Mickey Mouse Club to Mary Pickford, Benito Mussolini, Franklin Roosevelt and George V of England. By 1933, Disney could spoof his character’s popularity in “Mickey’s Gala Premiere,” in which a gaggle of caricatured Hollywood stars--Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Bros., Mae West and Greta Garbo among them--attend the opening of his newest cartoon.

It’s easy to see why people loved the star of these cartoons. The early Mickey was a cheerfully rambunctious imp with inexhaustible reserves of energy and imagination. His snappy tap dance routines in “Mickey Steps Out” (1931) and “Mickey’s Revue” (1932) radiate good cheer. The Disney artists could use the character to parody scenes from other films, including Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush” (“The Klondike Kid,” 1932) and “King Kong” (“The Pet Store,” 1933), or turn the infinitely flexible mouse into a cowboy (“Pioneer Days,” 1930), football hero (“Touchdown Mickey,” 1932) or aviator (“The Mail Pilot”), without losing his charm.

These shorts also enable the viewer to follow the growing skill of the studio artists as both animators and filmmakers. The Mickey in “Steamboat Willie” was a blocky figure who looked a lot like Pat Sullivan’s phenomenally successful Felix the Cat. In the earliest films, Mickey’s limbs resemble sections of plastic tubing: They stretch to any length when he reaches for something, and lack discernible knees and elbows.

But by “Gulliver Mickey” (1934) the character has become a solid, three-dimensional figure, whose movements convey a sense of weight. “Steamboat Willie” is little more than a plotless string of gags, but by 1933, the artists could create a genuinely eerie mood and present a well-paced story when they parodied horror movies in “The Mad Doctor.”

A selection of preliminary sketches enables the viewer to step through the storyboards of some of the films. Although storyboarding a film during pre-production is a common procedure today, the technique was invented at the Disney studio to help the directors organize their films. Even rarer is a partial pencil test for “The Mail Pilot.” Another technique devised at the Disney studio, the pencil test involved filming the animator’s rough drawings, enabling them to see if the movements looked fluid and believable.

Also included is an odd little trailer from November, 1932, with the first color footage of Mickey (predating “The Band Concert,” the first color Mickey short, by almost three years). Disney received a special Oscar for the creation of Mickey Mouse that year, which might explain why he made this brief film in which Mickey leads a parade of stars that includes Marie Dresslar, Lionel Barrymore and Frederick March.

Mickey Mouse turns 65 this year, and “The Black and White Years” offers his many fans a great way to celebrate. With any luck, the series will be expanded to include other Disney cartoons no longer in circulation, including the Silly Symphonies and more of the Mickey shorts.