When people think of Walt Disney, they almost always think of his most famous character, Mickey Mouse, known throughout the world. Mickey’s head outline with his large round ears has become the company’s staple symbol and appears on Disney merchandise, decorations and theme parks.

How Mickey Mouse came to be is not quite clear. The story seems to change depending on who tells it. Since all parties involved and mentioned in Mickey’s original creation have passed away, the absolute truth may never be known. Many claim that Walt Disney himself created the popular mouse. Disney is said to have drawn the cartoon mouse and his close friend Ub Iwerks revised the drawing into a form that would be faster to draw. Mickey’s personality and voice were done by Walt Disney himself. Another story claims that Hugh Harman turned a picture of Walt Disney into Mickey. In any case, this mouse started out as Mortimer Mouse until Walt’s wife convinced him that the name didn’t fit the characters’ audience and would sound too snobbish. Walt Disney has also said that part of Mickey’s personality was based on silent film superstar Charlie Chaplin.

In 1928 the first short called Plane Crazy was made available, but Disney was unable to find a distributor. A second short called The Gallopin’ Gaucho also failed to find a company unwilling to distribute the cartoon short. In November 1928, Steamboat Willie became the first Mickey Mouse short to find a distributor. In November 1928 the short became an instant hit and audiences loved that music and sound effects were used to add humor to the cartoon. This success encouraged Disney to adopt sounds in all future animation and the 1929 short film The Karnival Kid featured Mickey’s first spoken words. In 1935, a new animator redesigned Mickey to the more familiar look of him that we’ve loved today.

In 1978, to celebrate Mickey Mouse’s 50th birthday, he was awarded his own Hollywood Boulevard star, a first for an animated character. Over eighty years later, Mickey Mouse is still around and new mouse cartoons are still being made. Currently, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, designed for preschool-age children, airs daily on Disney’s own cable channel.

From humble beginnings, Mickey Mouse has grown into an international cartoon icon. Today you can find Mickey Mouse in Christmas ornamentssnow globes and many, many other types of merchandise.