The Walt Disney Company
In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a mouse character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California, drawing up a few simple drawings. The mouse was later renamed Mickey Mouse (Disney's wife, Lillian, disliked the sound of 'Mortimer Mouse') and starred in several Disney produced films. Ub Iwerks refined Disney's initial design of Mickey Mouse. Disney's first sound film "Steamboat Willie", a cartoon starring Mickey, was released on November 18, 1928 through Pat Powers' distribution company. It was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho". "Steamboat Willie" was an immediate smash hit, and its initial success was attributed not just to Mickey's appeal as a character, but to the fact that it was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound. Disney used Pat Powers' Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee de Forest's Phonofilm system. "Steamboat Willie" premiered at B. S. Moss's Colony Theater in New York City, now The Broadway Theatre. Disney's "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho" were then retrofitted with synchronized sound tracks and re-released successfully in 1929.
Mickey's Mouse Tracks
Mickey's Mouse Tracks is an American animated television series on The Disney Channel which ran from 1992 to 1995, and featured Disney cartoons and animated short films, dating from before the advent of The Disney Channel. A similar show was "Donald's Quack Attack". The show premiered on November 2, 1992, along with "Donald's Quack Attack", on The Disney Channel. The show was made to replace "Good Morning, Mickey!". A show identical to this show called "Mickey Mouse and Friends" premiered in 1994. It was not possible to know what episode was going to be shown on any given day, but the show "did" feature showings of some shorts that do not show up on "The Ink and Paint Club" along with some shorts made by the "Fleischer" brothers, and clips from the animated features, such as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Pinocchio", "Dumbo", "Cinderella", and "Alice in Wonderland". In 1999, the show was replaced by "Mickey Mouse Works", later given a plot as "House of Mouse". In between each cartoon, a short segment featured a small clip of a Mickey Mouse cartoon, accompanied by the "Mouse Tracks" logo. In addition to airing on The Disney Channel from 1992 to 1996, the show also ran on Toon Disney from 1998 to 1999.