Mickey Mouse is 89...

Next Year will be Mickey's 90th...and what celebrations will there be when Mickey Mouse is 100?

Looking at those first Mickey Mouse cartoons, you have to be astonished by how far animation has come in 90 years. There was no color, and even sound was still a novelty.

Speaking of which: the early Mickey Mouse from Plane Crazy borrows heavily from the playful rogue archetype of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who was wrested from Walt Disney when Charles Mintz lured co-animator Ub Iwerks away. In Plane Crazy, Mickey is an opportunist and a daredevil, and even lures Minnie aboard to steal kisses, knowing she can't escape at altitude. Later, once Mickey caught on with the public, Walt Disney realized that Mickey was poised to become the figurehead of the studio. Walt duly gave Mickey the enema of a lifetime, flushing all the Satan juice out of him. All further villainy would be handled by designated villains for Mickey to thwart, earning his Smooch Of Victory.

I bet, to say the least, Walt Disney World in Florida will have something big to honor Mickey's 100th birthday. Ironically, I don't think the theme park did anything special for Donald Duck's 75th birthday, unless I missed something.