Steamboat Willie and included the songs "Steamboat Bill", a composition popularized by baritone Arthur Collins during the 1910s, and "Turkey in the Straw," a composition popularized within minstrelsy during the 19th century. The title of the film is a parody of the Buster Keaton film "Steamboat Bill, Jr." (1928), itself a reference to the song by Collins. Walt Disney performed all of the voices in the film, although there is little intelligible dialogue. While the film has received some criticism, it has also received wide critical acclaim, not only for introducing one of the world's most popular cartoon characters, but for its
Mickey Mouse being they were still employed by Disney. This short would be the last they animated under this somewhat awkward situation. Mickey was first seen in a test screening of the cartoon short "Plane Crazy", on May 15, 1928, but it failed to impress the audience and, to add insult to injury, Walt could not find a distributor. Though understandably disappointed, Walt went on to produce a second Mickey short, "The Gallopin' Gaucho", which was also not released for lack of a distributor. "Steamboat Willie" was first released on November 18, 1928, in New York. It was co-directed by Walt Disney