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
Steamboat Bill, Jr. Walt Disney's "Steamboat Willie" (1928), which was released six months later and is considered the debut of Mickey Mouse. The famous falling house stunt has been re-created several times on film and television (although with lighter materials and more contemporary safety measures in place) including the 1991 "MacGyver" episode "Deadly Silents"; the 2004 "Arrested Development" episode "The One Where They Build a House" (performed by the show's character named Buster); and episode 7 in the first season of "Lucha Underground", with a ladder. "Deadpan", a 1997 work by English film artist and director Steve McQueen, was also inspired by "Steamboat