Mickey Mouse and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks again served as the head animator, assisted by Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Wilfred Jackson and Dick Lundy. This short was intended as a parody of Buster Keaton's "Steamboat Bill, Jr.", first released on May 12 of the same year. Although it was the third Mickey cartoon produced, it was the first to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey's debut. "Willie" featured changes to Mickey's appearance (in particular, simplifying his eyes to large dots) that established his look for later cartoons and in numerous Walt Disney films. The cartoon was
Building a Building Best Animated Short Film at the 6th Academy Awards, but lost to Disney's own "Three Little Pigs". This was the second Mickey Mouse cartoon nominated for an Oscar. The steam shovel Mickey pilots in this short reappeared in "Epic Mickey" during the Mickeyjunk Mountain level, while the short itself appears as a 2D level in "". "Building a Building" is an area in the Timeless River world in "Kingdom Hearts II". Other shorts that are featured as areas of that world are "Steamboat Willie", "Gulliver Mickey", "The Fire Fighters" and "Mickey's Orphans". Mickey is operating a steam shovel at a