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 not only led to international fame for Walt Disney, but for Mickey as well. On November 21, "Variety" magazine published a review which read in part "Not the first animated cartoon to be synchronized with sound effects, but the first to attract favorable attention. ["Steamboat Willie"] represents a high order of cartoon ingenuity, cleverly combined with sound effects. The union brought laughs galore. Giggles came so fast at the Colony [Theater] they were stumbling over each other." The response led to the two previous "Mickey" films being reproduced as sound cartoons and given wide theatrical releases. The film has been