Yup, it was 83 years ago that walt disney and his moltly crew of animators got their cartoon, "Steamboat Willie" to premiere after the sad loss of Oswald and the two failed shorts that came before Steamboat Willie (Plane crazy and the Galloping Gaucho). It was a truly groundbreaking moment in animation history, since it was the first real cartoon to have synchronized sound. I think animator Shamus Chlhane says it best, "If sound hadn't come in, the cartoon would have vanished."

Happy Birthday Mickey! Thank you for creating not only my childhood memories, but the childhood memories of my parents and grandparents!

Now, one thing I find very curious is that while this was clearly one of the most famous cartoons in existance, and practicaly everyone knows the famous, "Mickey at the wheel" scene, but not many has seen the short in it's entirety (I myself only saw it a couple months ago). So to celebrate Mickey's (and of course Minnie's) here is the original cartoon in all of it's animated glory: