Mickey Mouse (film series)
The name "Mickey Mouse" was first used in the films' title sequences to refer specifically to the character, but was used from 1935 to 1953 to refer to the series itself as in "Walt Disney presents a Mickey Mouse." In this sense "a Mickey Mouse" was a shortened form of "a Mickey Mouse sound cartoon" which was used in the earliest films. Films from 1929 to 1935 which were re-released during this time also used this naming convention, but it was not used for the three shorts released between 1983 and 1995 ("Mickey's Christmas Carol", "The Prince and the Pauper", and "Runaway Brain"). Mickey's name was also used occasionally to market other films which were formally part of other series. Examples of this include several "Silly Symphonies", "Don Donald" (1937), and "Goofy and Wilbur" (1939).
"Mickey Mouse" began production in April 1928 after the Disney studio lost the license to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The first two films, "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho", were previewed in theaters but failed to pick up a distributor. For the third film, Disney added synchronized sound, a technology that was still in its early stages at the time. "Steamboat Willie" debuted in New York in November 1928 and was an instant success. The revenues from the film provided the studio with much needed resources, and the studio quickly began to produce new cartoons as well as releasing sound versions of the first two.
Minnie Mouse
Minnie was first voiced by Walt Disney, who was also the original voice of Mickey Mouse. Marjorie Ralston, a Disney inker who joined the animation team as Disney's thirteenth employee, voiced her in the 1929 short "Wild Waves", but did not further pursue the role out of shyness. Then, from 1930 until 1939, she was voiced by Marcellite Garner. Then from 1941 to 1942, and on the radio program, "The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air", she was voiced by Thelma Boardman. Following this, from 1942 to 1952 Ruth Clifford provided the character's voice. Janet Waldo voiced Minnie in the 1974 Disneyland record album, "An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol, Performed by The Walt Disney Players". Minnie Mouse would go without any spoken dialogue until 1986, when Russi Taylor inherited the role, which she continues to perform to this day (her late husband, Wayne Allwine, voiced Mickey from 1977 until his death in 2009).