Editing Mickey Mouse (section)

====Black and white films (1929–1935)====
[[File:The Mad Doctor (1933) Poster.jpg|thumb|Poster of the 1933 short ''[[The Mad Doctor (1933 film)|The Mad Doctor]]''.]]
In Mickey's early films he was often characterized not as a hero, but as an ineffective young suitor to Minnie Mouse. ''[[The Barn Dance]]'' (March 14, 1929) is the first time in which Mickey is turned down by Minnie in favor of [[Pete (Disney)|Pete]]. ''[[The Opry House]]'' (March 28, 1929) was the first time in which Mickey wore his white gloves. Mickey wears them in almost all of his subsequent appearances and many other characters followed suit. The three lines on the back of Mickey's gloves represent darts in the gloves' fabric extending from between the digits of the hand, typical of glove design of the era.

''[[When the Cat's Away (1929 film)|When the Cat's Away]]'' (April 18, 1929), essentially a remake of the ''[[Alice Comedies|Alice Comedy]]'', "Alice Rattled by Rats", was an unusual appearance for Mickey. Although Mickey and Minnie still maintained their anthropomorphic characteristics, they were depicted as the size of regular mice and living with a community of many other mice as pests in a home. Mickey and Minnie would later appear the size of regular humans in their own setting. In appearances with real humans, Mickey has been shown to be about two to three feet high.<ref>Mickey was first pictured with a real human in ''[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]]'' in silhouette. Later a famous statue of Mickey and Walt Disney at Disneyland would maintain Mickey's size.</ref> The next Mickey short was also unusual. ''[[The Barnyard Battle]]'' (April 25, 1929) was the only film to depict Mickey as a soldier and also the first to place him in combat. ''The Karnival Kid'' (1929) was the first time Mickey spoke. Before this he had only whistled, laughed, and grunted. His first words were "Hot dogs! Hot dogs!" said while trying to sell hot dogs at a carnival.{{sfn|Apgar|2015|p=105}} ''[[Mickey's Follies]]'' (1929) introduced the song "[[Minnie's Yoo-Hoo]]" which would become the theme song for ''Mickey Mouse'' films until 1935. The same song sequence was also later reused with different background animation as its own special short shown only at the commencement of 1930s theater-based Mickey Mouse Clubs.<ref name="club1">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=133|title=Disney Shorts: 1930: Minnie's Yoo Hoo|access-date=November 13, 2011|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130402204042/http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=133|archive-date=April 2, 2013}}</ref><ref>Polsson, Ken (June 2, 2010). [http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/mmouse/mick1930.htm Chronology of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse (1930–1931)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205075800/http://islandnet.com/~kpolsson/mmouse/mick1930.htm |date=December 5, 2010 }} Ken Polsson personal page.</ref> Mickey's dog [[Pluto (Disney)|Pluto]] first appeared as Mickey's pet in ''[[The Moose Hunt]]'' (1931) after previously appearing as Minnie's dog "Rover" in ''[[The Picnic (1930 film)|The Picnic]]'' (1930).

''Wild Waves'' was the last Mickey Mouse cartoon to be animated by [[Ub Iwerks]].<ref name=Ryan>{{cite book|author=Ryan, Jeff|year=2018|title=A Mouse Divided: How Ub Iwerks Became Forgotten, and Walt Disney Became Uncle Walt|publisher=Post Hill Press|pages=181–183|isbn=978-1-68261-628-4}}</ref> Iwerks left to start his own studio, bankrolled by Disney's then-distributor [[Pat Powers (businessman)|Pat Powers]]. Powers and Disney had a falling out over money due Disney from the distribution deal. It was in response to losing the right to distribute Disney's cartoons that Powers made the deal with Iwerks, who had long harbored a desire to head his own studio. The departure is considered a turning point in Mickey's career, as well as that of Walt Disney. Walt lost the man who served as his closest colleague and confidant since 1919. Mickey lost the man responsible for his original design and for the direction or animation of several of the shorts released till this point. Advertising for the early Mickey Mouse cartoons credited them as "A Walt Disney Comic, drawn by Ub Iwerks". Later Disney Company reissues of the early cartoons tend to credit Walt Disney alone. ''Wild Waves'' was also composer [[Carl Stalling]]'s last film with the [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Studio]]. Stalling joined Iwerks at his new studio.<ref name=movies>{{cite book |last1=Grob |first1=Gijs |title=Mickey's Movies: The Theatrical Films of Mickey Mouse |date=2018 |publisher=Theme Park Press |chapter=Wild Waves |isbn=978-1683901235}}</ref>

Disney and his remaining staff continued the production of the Mickey series, and he was able to eventually find a number of animators to replace Iwerks. As the [[Great Depression]] progressed and Felix the Cat faded from the movie screen, Mickey's popularity would rise, and by 1932 The Mickey Mouse Club would have one million members.<ref>Polsson, Ken (June 2, 2010). [http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/mmouse/mick1932.htm Chronology of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse (1932–1934)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419232408/http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/mmouse/mick1932.htm |date=April 19, 2022 }} Ken Polsson personal page.</ref> At the [[5th Academy Awards]] in 1932, Mickey received his first Academy Award nomination, received for ''[[Mickey's Orphans]]'' (1931). Walt Disney also received an honorary Academy Award for the creation of Mickey Mouse. Despite being eclipsed by the ''[[Silly Symphony]]'' short the ''[[Three Little Pigs (film)|Three Little Pigs]]'' in 1933, Mickey still maintained great popularity among theater audiences too, until 1935, when polls showed that [[Popeye]] was more popular than Mickey.<ref>DeMille, William (November 1935). "Mickey vs. Popeye". The Forum.</ref><ref name="Koszarski">Koszarski, Richard (1976). [https://books.google.com/books?id=rR9CegFLYCAC&q=A+vote+was+taken+recently+among+schoolchildren+of+the+United Hollywood directors, 1914–1940, Volume 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420095535/https://books.google.com/books?id=rR9CegFLYCAC&q=A+vote+was+taken+recently+among+schoolchildren+of+the+United |date=April 20, 2023 }}. Oxford University Press. (Quotes ''DeMille. 1935'').</ref><ref>Calma, Gordan (May 17, 2005). [http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/showthread.php?t=2907 Popeye's Popularity – Article from 1935] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711104313/http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/showthread.php?t=2907 |date=July 11, 2011}} GAC Forums. (Quotes ''DeMille, 1935'').</ref> By 1934, Mickey merchandise had earned $600,000 a year.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Solomon|first1=Charles|title=The Golden Age of Mickey Mouse|url=http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/mickeymousegoldenage/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301100751/http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/mickeymousegoldenage/index.html|archive-date=March 1, 2007|access-date=August 27, 2015|publisher=Disney.com}}</ref> In 1935, Disney began to phase out the Mickey Mouse Clubs, due to administration problems.<ref>Polsson, Ken (June 2, 2010). [http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/disnehis/disn1935.htm Chronology of the Walt Disney Company (1935–1939)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115191141/http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/disnehis/disn1935.htm |date=January 15, 2023 }}. Ken Polsson personal page.</ref>

About this time, story artists at Disney were finding it increasingly difficult to write material for Mickey. As he had developed into a [[role model]] for children, they were limited in the types of gags they could present. This led to Mickey taking more of a secondary role in some of his next films, allowing for more emphasis on other characters. In ''[[Orphan's Benefit]]'' (1934), Mickey first appeared with [[Donald Duck]] who had been introduced earlier that year in the ''[[Silly Symphony]]'' series. The tempestuous duck would provide Disney with seemingly endless story ideas and would remain a recurring character in Mickey's cartoons.