It’s Mickey Mouse’s birthday. Here’s 9 of our favorite Mickey facts

It’s Mickey Mouse’s birthday today. Mickey made his debut on Nov. 18, 1928, when “Steamboat Willie” was released at the Colony Theatre in New York. This is the first Mickey Mouse cartoon. It also featured the first appearance of Minnie Mouse.

The story of Mickey’s creation goes like this. On March 28, 1928, Walt Disney goes to New York to ask for more money from Charles Mintz to produce more Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts. Mintz says no and reminds Disney that, as the producer, Mintz owns the rights to Oswald. With no more main character, Disney takes a train back to California. This is where, Disney legend has it, Walt creates what would become the most important Disney character and the future symbol of the company — Mickey Mouse.

So we thought it would be fun to gather up our nine favorite fun facts about the big cheese.

Here’s a look:

1. There are many people who fudge their birthdays. Especially those in show business. In most cases, stars shave off a few years. In Mickey Mouse’s case, Disney shaved off a few months. The reason, Mickey’s first appearance was not a success. “Steamboat Willie” debuted on  Nov. 18, 1928. But that wasn’t really Mickey’s first appearance.  It was actually  “Plane Crazy.”  The silent cartoon was screened May 15, 1928.  Here’s the whole story.

2. While everyone know Nov. 18 is an imporant date in Mickey’s history. But there is  another date and an important number that has helped keep Mickey Mouse special. The date is Sept. 19, 1928 and the number is 247,156.That number is the Trademark Number for Mickey Mouse.

3. Mickey Mouse a film celebrity and on Jan. 13, 1930, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon strip appeared in newspapers around the U.S.  and Mickey became even more popular. Walt Disney wrote the story himself with Ub Iwerks doing the drawings and Win Smith inking the strip.

4. Walt Disney knew how to throw a party for Mickey.  For Mickey Mouse’s 20th-anniversary party  Disney held gala event. The 1948 party featuring ice cream and hot dogs was attended by 600 guests, including some of the biggest Hollywood stars and their kids.

5. When Mickey turned 50 in 1978, he broke another barrier. That year, he became the first fictional character to receive his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

6. In his first eight sound cartoons, Mickey Mouse laughed, whistled and even cried, but never spoke. It wasn’t until his ninth film “Karnival Kid” in 1929 that Mickey Mouse, while selling some very animated hot dogs, (take a look below) shouted ” Hot dogs! Hot dogs!” Listen closely and you will hear that Mickey’s normal falsetto voice is a few octaves deeper. That’s because his voice was not that of Walt Disney. The voice belonged to composer Carl Stalling.

7. Long before Google and Wikipedia the most comprehensive gathering of facts was the Encyclopedia Britannica. And being added to this prestigious resource was a big deal. So in 1934, when Mickey Mouse was added to the Encyclopedia Britannica, it made news. According to a 1934 New York Times report, “The most significant item of this week’s film news was the announcement that Mickey Mouse has crashed the Encyclopedia Britannica. The editors of the voluminous publication – according to United Artists – intend to present the history and mechanics of the animated cartoon in their next edition.”

8. It’s amazing the details that Disney goes through when it comes to Mickey Mouse, including giving him a Social Security number. In the 1995 cartoon short “Runaway Brain ” we finally learn Mickey Mouse’s Social Security number – 746-55-2769.

9. Mickey Mouse’s fifth short, “The Opry House,” introduced a major addition to Mickey’s wardrobe – his white gloves. The gloves debuted in the film short that was releassed March 28, 1929. For this first four films, Mickey hadn’t had the gloves, so why now? The reasons are bit more practical than you might think. One reason is the white gloves contrast the Mickey’s body, which was black. The second reason, was to save time and money. By having Mickey, and later other characters wear gloves the artists didn’t have to worry about drawing hands for the various characters. They didn’t have to spend time doing detail work on hands, this saving time and money.