Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse - Gallopin' Gaucho (1928)

This is the second Mickey Mouse cartoon animated but the second one released.Show more

When the silent versions of Plane Crazy and the Gallopin' Gaucho failed to gain distribution, Walt decided to make the third Mickey Mouse, Steamboat Willie, cartoon the world's first fully synchronized sound cartoon after seeing The Jazz Singer (Itself being the first synchronized live action film.) The short was animated by Ub Iwerks and the title came from a parody of a Buster Keaton film, Steamboat Bill. A test with live sound was done for the staff in July 1928. Walt Disney voiced all the characters in the short. The film was distributed by Pat Powers.

Steamboat Willie premiered at Universal's Colony Theater in New York City on November 18, 1928 and became the most popular cartoon of its day and launched Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney into stardom. Walt added sound to the previously silent Mickey Mouse cartoons, Plane Crazy and the Gallopin' Gaucho. The Gallpoin' Gaucho is a parody of the Douglas Fairbanks film The Gaucho.

It fell into the public domain in 2024.

Release date December 30, 1928
(Silent version) August 2, 1928

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.