The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 87

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to inspire and entertain those suffering
through the Depression. Animated
characters like Mickey championed and
celebrated average Americans’ wisdom,
dignity, and the ability to survive, and
Disney’s films often focused on family,
hope, and self-confidence. 25
Steamboat Willie premiered about
a year before the stock market crash that
kicked off the Depression. It featured a
dancing, whistling Mickey Mouse piloting
a steamboat down a river, thwarting
attempts by the nefarious Pete, and
genuinely having a swell time with his
girl, Minnie Mouse. Resourcefulness
and ingenuity are expressed in Mickey’s
ability to turn anything into a musical
instrument. When a goat eats Minnie’s
ukulele and sheet music, they turn the
goat into a phonograph by cranking its
tail. Mickey also plays the tinging xylophone
on a cow’s teeth. 26 And when
Pete finally puts Mickey back to work
peeling potatoes, Mickey gets in one
last jab by throwing a potato peel at the
parrot laughing at him. The short ends
with Mickey laughing again. 27
Steamboat Willie premiered to
rave reviews. Film Daily called the short
“a real tidbit of diversion” days after its
premiere in 1928. 28 Variety’s critic Robert
J. Landry wrote “giggles came so fast
at the Colony (theater) they were stumbling
over each other.” 29 Carolina A.
Lejeune’s article in a December 8, 1929
observer foreshadowed how Mickey
cartoons would become reflective of
attitudes during the Depression when
she described the character as a “wicked
commentary on Western civilization.”
30 From his beginnings, Mickey