Mickey Mouse is a classic character that people have enjoyed for decades. While some of his younger fans might know him through merchandise or through a lot of his more modern cartoons, and some children of yesteryear possibly know him as the namesake of the Mickey Mouse Club, he got his start in a variety of animated shorts.
While Mickey has gone through a lot of transformations over the year, both in his personality and his appearance, some of his older shorts are still fun to watch in spite of the passage of time. After all, there's a reason he's become such an icon.
10 Steamboat Willie (1928)
This is arguably the cartoon that started it all, being one of the first appearances of both Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Technically speaking, though, they appeared in shorts that were produced first, including Plane Crazy, which had a test screening a few months earlier, but this was one of the first distributed. It's also the first Disney cartoon with synchronized sound and the first cartoon with a post-produced soundtrack.
Despite the iconic image of Mickey at the wheel, the actual short quickly reveals Peg Leg Pete, whose even older than Mickey, having gotten his start in Disney's Alice comedies, as the real captain of the ship, with Mickey as just a crewmember. He meets up with Minnie, puts on a musical act with farm animals, and gets put on kitchen duty peeling potatoes. It's a surprisingly unhappy ending for a Disney cartoon, but Mickey at least gets the last laugh on an annoying parrot.
9 Mickey's Gala Premier (1933)
Even this early in his career, Mickey knew that he was part of Hollywood's biggest stars, as this short showcases in full. Mickey is getting a new cartoon debuting at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. For example, Caricatures of various celebrities, from Laurel and Hardy to the Marx Brothers, make cameos. Many actors appear dressed as famous characters they've played. For example, Bela Lugosi appears dressed as Count Dracula and Boris Karloff is dressed as Frankenstein's monster.
The cartoon, which involves Mickey saving Minnie from Peg Leg Pete and misadventures with a kangaroo, impresses the Hollywood elite so well that even Greta Garbo rewards him with a bunch of kisses. Of course, the whole thing turns out to be a dream: it was just Pluto giving Mickey his morning licks.
8 Giantland (1933)
A group of little mice asks their "Uncle Mickey" to tell them a story and he shares the book he just read: Jack and the Beanstalk. Mickey climbs up a beanstalk and rides a butterfly to a beautiful castle in the sky, which is unfortunately owned by the self-proclaimed "king of the giants."
Much of the short's humor comes from Mickey hiding from the giant but has the less-than-bright idea to hide in food during the giant's mealtime. Mickey even ends up in the giant's mouth at one point, in a scene eerily predicting Disney's Pinocchio, as well as Mickey making his escape by making the giant sneeze. In a twist, Mickey even burns down the beanstalk.
7 Orphans' Benefit (1934)
This classic short has a lot of firsts, most notably being one of the first shorts to star Mickey Mouse alongside Donald Duck. Most of the plot revolves around Mickey and his friends putting on a show to entertain a theatre full of little mouse orphans. A running joke involves Donald Duck performing nursery rhymes for the kids, only to get interrupted by the bratty orphans, ultimately accepting defeat at the end.
But Donald got the last laugh: he proved to be such a presence he appeared in more and more shorts, becoming one of Disney's most popular characters. The short is also notable for getting a 1942 color remake.
6 Gulliver Mickey (1934)
Once again, Mickey finds himself in a classic story. This time, he takes on the role of Gulliver, while telling the story to his nephews. This time, he gets to be the giant, encountering a world of miniature people.
As with many classic shorts, Peg Leg Pete appears as a villain. Considering fans have debated what he is supposed to be over the years, with people guessing he's a bear, a cat, or a dog, it's interesting to note that he actually appears as a villainous spider who faces off against Mickey in the climax.
5 Thru the Mirror (1936)
After reading Alice Through The Looking Glass, Mickey dreams he too enters the world inside his bedroom mirror. In this new world, Mickey encounters living versions of inanimate objects, even shrinking down to their level after eating a walnut.
Mickey does a little dance and meets some living playing cards, even getting the Queen of Hearts, who resembles Greta Garbo, as a dancing partner. Unfortunately, in a twist, this enrages the King of Hearts who unleashes his wrath on the poor mouse. Luckily, Mickey escapes through the mirror and returns to his body, waking up safely in his bed.
4 Magician Mickey (1937)
While Mickey seems to always get the last laugh over Donald, there are a few times when the duck seemed to have it coming. When Donald keeps heckling Mickey during a magic show, even destroying his props onstage, Mickey gets the last laugh with his magic.
First, he makes Donald cough up a set of cards. When Donald throws his drink at Mickey in revenge, a tap of Mickey's wand sends it in the other direction. Donald manages to get a hold of the wand, but it doesn't work out in his favor, creating him an ice cream cone that blows up in his face. And Mickey doesn't even need a wand to do his tricks, like shrinking Donald and turning him into a paper cut-out, an egg, a kangaroo, and more. Let's just say the short ends with Donald bringing down the house, complete with rainbows and fireworks.
3 Brave Little Tailor (1938)
Mickey would face off against a giant once more in this adaptation of the Grimm Brothers fairy tale. Mickey is a peasant tailor who accidentally spreads a rumor that he killed seven giants at one time. This gets the king to hire Mickey to take on a giant terrorizing the realm. Interested in the reward, which includes Princess Minnie, he takes on the job.
Luckily, Mickey manages to put his sewing skills to good use to subdue the giant. It's a happy ending all around: the kingdom gets a giant-powered amusement park, with Mickey, Minnie, and the king enjoying a ride on a carousel.
2 The Nifty Nineties (1941)
Long before people got nostalgic for the 1990s, there were people getting nostalgic for the 1890s, which seems to include Mickey and Minnie. Showcasing a slice of this early Americana, complete with songs from the period, Mickey and Minnie meet each other while strolling through the park, enjoy a vaudeville show, and go for a ride in a Brass Era car. Donald Duck, his three nephews, and Daisy also make a cameo riding a bicycle built for five.
Another notable aspect of this short is that it features a rare appearance from humans with Mickey and his friends: two vaudeville performers, Fred and Ward, who are actually caricatures of two animators from Disney called Fred Moore and Ward Kimball. This pair even provided the voices for the two characters.
1 Mickey's Birthday Party (1942)
Minnie and the rest of Mickey's friends throw a surprise birthday party. Luckily, this isn't one of those stories where Mickey thinks his friends forgot him until the end, with Mickey and his friends having fun dancing, but there's one hiccup: it was Goofy's job to make the cake. After various failed attempts to bake one, he eventually does the sensible thing and buys one at a bakery. This being Goofy, things still go wrong, as he accidentally drops the cake on Mickey, but the birthday boy seems happy enough.
Technically, the short is a remake of The Birthday Party, an earlier short, but allowing for more of Mickey's friends who were created since then to appear, like Donald and Goofy.