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 Willie a paper confirming Brown's claims, alleging that publishing the paper could be slander of title. A full 30 seconds was removed from some versions of "Steamboat Willie" because they might be considered cruelty to animals, including Mickey pulling a cat's tail and then swinging the cat by the tail above his head, picking up a nursing sow and "playing" her babies, and using a duck as bagpipes. The full version of the film was included on the "Walt Disney Treasures" DVD set "Mickey Mouse in Black and White." "Steamboat Willie" themed levels are featured in the video games "" (1994),