Disney Series Part 1: Steam Boat Willie (Patreon)

Steam Boat Willie

By Ub Iwerks

1928

Intro

I've started this series to take the time to watch each Disney animated film and discuss the history around the film and its creation. I plan to do one of these a week, starting with Steamboat Willie from 1928 to today. With each part, I will be discussing my thoughts on the film, the history of the Disney Corporation at the time of the film, and the Cultural impact the film has. I will also be posting a piece of fanart of the film, no ocs, just fan art of the work.

Part 1: The History

I don't feel like anyone could really do a Disney project like this without including Steamboat Willie. I personally feel this is the beginning bookmark where Disney the company starts. Walt Disney, by this time, has worked for several different studios, Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio, Kansas City Slide Company, and Laugh-O-Grams Studio. At these studios, he worked creating advertisements alongside his friend Ub Iwerks. It isn't until they create Laugh-O-Grams that Walt and Ub begin to create cartoons, which didn't go as planned. Laugh-O-Grams goes bankrupt and Disney decides he needs to move to California since that's where the movies are being made. Ub stays in Kansas City, finding work at these advertisement studios. After two years he receives a message from Walt asking him to come to California to join his new studio, The Disney Brothers Studios.

The Disney Brothers Studios was contracted for a short animation series called the “Alice Comedies.” They center around a small girl traveling to the cartoon world. Alice would be played by a girl and would have to interact with a world full of animated characters, including a pre-cat Peg Leg Pete, who was a bear during this time. Eventually, Disney created a flagship character for this studio, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. However, Disney’s distributor, Charles Mintz, asserts the trademark rules on Oswald, taking him to Universal Studios. This is an action that still affects trademark and copyright rules to this day. Defeated, Walt and Ub decide to create a new character for a new series. They finally decide on a mouse for their character, after a quick sketch session, Ub Iwerks sketches up the first original design for Mickey Mouse.

Renaming the studio to Walt Disney Studios, Disney and Iwerks worked to rebuild everything from the ground up. Producing 700 frames a day, Ub Iwerks single handily animated the rough animation for Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy, a trend that would continue till the early 1930s when Ub left to start his own studio.

Part 2: The Review

Steamboat Willie is a seven-minute Mickey Mouse short that was released in 1928. It is considered the first animation that is synced with sound. The establishing shot is the title steamboat, funnels bouncing in sync with the sound. A sharp cut and we see our “captain” Mickey Mouse himself, one should take note of Mickey’s missing gloves. Gloves in early animation were used to show the hands of the characters. Black and white animation is cheaper to produce due to the materials needed to make colored ink. So to show that the characters have hands with fingers, the animators would draw them wearing gloves. However, Steamboat Willie was released before this became the trend. Mickey whistles the song “Steamboat Bill” being presented as natural behind the wheel of the steamboat. However, we are tricked as the real captain of Willie sets onto the bridge, Peg Leg Pete, now in his third design. A stilly gag, but by doing this we have established Mickey’s character, he is a trickster, a character trait that I feel has been lost over the almost 100 years he’s been around. Pete takes the wheel and the two travel down the river to pick up cargo including livestock and an early Minnie Mouse. Being early Disney the character of Minnie mouse doesn't look any different than Mickey, she’s literally just Mickey in a dress, bloomers, and a hat.

After picking up the cargo and Minnie, she loses her ukulele and sheet music to a goat onboard the board the ship. Mickey wrestles the instrument from the jaws of the goat. Thus starting Turkey in the Straw segment. My main problem with Steamboat Willie is the sound quality, which is something that can't be helped. I find some of the sound effects to be ear piercing, like nails on a chalkboard. However, this makes sense as this is the first time sound really has been synced to animation.

What always makes me laugh during this part is how abusive Mickey is to all these animals. They’re just going about their business and he comes over and starts bashing them with spoons or mallets. Not to mention when he grabs the mother pig from her babies and starts using her breasts as an instrument. (Note: while writing this review I had the youtube version playing, which censors this part. However, on Disney Plus the animation hasn't been altered. If you wish to view Steamboat Willie in its entirety, watch the version on Disney Plus.) Another mickey trait that has been scrubbed away in recent decades, is Mickey as a show-off. Throughout this short, the mouse is trying to show off to Minnie to win her affection, which of course he does. However, unlike later shorts, mickey gets his come uppens, as Pete punishes him by sending him to cut potatoes in the Gallery.

Overall, I love Steamboat Willie, I'm a nautical fan myself and any story around a boat is always a favorite of mine. It's hard to really say anything negative about this short due to being the beginning of the Walt Disney company’s filmography. It's really just nit-picks. Sound for sure is a problem, but seeing as how the film is almost 100 years old, that can be excused. Smaller things include several animation errors, such as the cow on the dock, several frames the cow loses their ears. Of course, this is repeated due to the use of looped animation. Mickey’s size is also inconsistent. This short was released before the character sheet was established, The next short, Plane Crazy, has mickey standing at half of his height in, Steamboat Willie. I love the character designs of Pete and Mickey in this short. I feel when you think classic Mickey you think of the Steamboat Willie Mickey. Pete feels well established here, this is the Pete that all the future Pete is based off. As mentioned before Pete was originally a bear with a pegleg in the Alice shorts. He appears again against Oswald as a dog, but here is where the Pete we all know and love is really established. The design I don't care for really is Minnie Mouse, Her design isn’t too inspiring. She’s just Mickey in a dress and heels, but there are some odd choices with her design in this short. First, when we see her she is like Mickey, dressed and what once assume is shirtless. Then the next shot she has these strange circles on her chest, maybe to not seem like she’s naked, but they look like the buttons on Mickey’s shorts, personally, I’d have made it more like a bow.

Part 3: Cultural impact

This part I'm going to keep brief with this entry. Steamboat Willie I feel has the strongest cultural impact that any Disney animation can have. This 7 minute short was a juggernaut establishing Mickey Mouse as a cultural icon and phenomenon still felt today. Countless animated series and films have paid their respects to this short including the Simpsons and even Disney itself.

Overall, Disney’s Steamboat Willie is an important cornerstone of the Disney animation experience, I feel that any Disney Marathon should at least start with this short, whether it’s before an animation or on its own. I do think that this animation deserves a little bit of love and restoration, but overall I give Steamboat Willie a solid 7/10.

Peg Leg Pete, Mickey Mouse, and Steamboat Willie © Walt Disney Company

Citation

Welcome to the Walt Disney Family Museum. The Walt Disney Family Museum. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.waltdisney.org/