So this weekend is Mickey’s 90th birthday. Well technically ABC is celebrating it this weekend. And I can’t believe it! I remember when he turned sixty. He has been around a long time and I love him. I was trying to come with a tribute, but had trouble. In the years of doing this I’ve obviously talked about Mickey. In fact five years ago I did a run down of his changing appearances in TV and movies in one of my personal favorite articles. But then I remembered an area I covered back in June for Garfield (and even earlier for Star Trek) which Mickey sure as hell has more impact. Merchandise!
And as I said, Mickey is all over this! I mean all you have to do is go to Disney World. Or Disneyland. Or The Disney Store in dozens of malls. Or mail order. Or Disney.com. Or really any store anywhere. He is a merchandise machine and there are people out there who have dozens of collectibles and memorabilia. So for his 90th birthday let’s take a look back at the character through some of the things his face has been put on. No, not all, you want to be here all day? Just a sample.
Let’s start with the obvious…
Yes there are stuffed animals. In my day I owned more than one Mickey Mouse. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, in fact they fit pretty much every theme you can think of. I shared this pic because it comes to looking the Mickey I had as a small child.
By the way, has Mickey been a Macy’s balloon? Are you kidding?????
In fact Mickey was around when the parade was just getting started (with a hideous balloon which matched the hideous costumes used back then).
Games
There came a time when Disney through there name onto every popular bord game. Obviously Monopoly would have a special Mickey version. There was a straight forward Mickey Mouse game but I think it was before my time.
And yes there are video games, tons of them, including Kingdom Hearts. Not one have I ever played.
Got this back backscratcher in 1982. Still have it.(not mine pictured)
T-Shirts
Much when I discussed this topic with Garfield and Star Trek, the range of T-Shirts is way to numerous to really cover. There are tons of them
Books
Mickey books were a huge thing, I had plenty of Disney books growing up. Some Little Golden Books others just Disney titles. There were comics also but I can’t say I ever got into those.
Ornaments
Not gonna lie, I still have a lot of these. I love having Mickey ornaments on my tree and Hallmark always has a nice collection.
Speaking of Christmas Danbury Mint makes tons of cool stuff and you better believe I had and still have this train.
Ok folks gonna let you in on a secret. When I got married my wife was a craxy Mickey fan. So out wedding was Mickey themes. Not even kidding. We had Mickey and Minnie on top of our cake, all the dishes and glasses were Mickey and Minnie and of course the knife for the cake was Mickey…and it was kind of nuts. No not joking at all.
Didn’t everyone have a Mickey telephone like this at some point in their life? It’s almost iconic.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Mickey Mouse watch since it’s one of those items that is practically iconic thanks to Mickey’s hands doing the time keeping. How long have these been around? Since 1933!!!!!!
I mentioned collectors plate’s in my other two articles, and you better believe Disney has plenty of them for Mickey.
And one final thing which is also almost iconic. If you go to Disney World and don’t have these at least once, I have nothing more to say to you.
Course Mickey’s face is on tons of food. Pretty much whatever you can think of. Oh and yes Mickey is a lot of ice cream too, in fact if I go to Disney I have to eat one of these :
although it appears they don’t have them anymore. How sad
Another thing I missed in my other article were video clips. So let’s cover a little history via TV commercials. Let’s start with a true gem. Ever wonder why you don’t see Mickey hawking products that aren’t Disney related? Check this out…
To be fair it’s not nearly as back as The Flintstones pulling for Winston Cigarettes.
Why can’t Mickey be a power toothbrush?
What happens when you take the Teddy Ruxpin idea and put it with Mickey Mouse? You get a doll which is still creepy when it comes to life.
Not enough to rip Teddy Ruxpin off? We can do Glo Worms too!
You simple were not a kid of the 80’s if you did not have this or a variation of it.
Of course he was a cereal!!
Or two..
I never got why putting Mickey on diapers makes any sense. Do babies buy there own diapers? Do they even care if mickey is on something they never see? Oh well
So for a few years Disney closed their commercials with a shot of Mickey waving at the top of the Epcot ball. I always wondered, was it worth helicoptering that actor in so he can stand there and wave? And I sure hope he wasn’t afraid of heights!
Here is an M&M commercial which I just don't get. It's a Halloween ad, why is Mickey here exactly??? Ok it was his 60th anniversary but...huh?
Was he ever a happy meal? ARE YOU KIDDING??
Finally something recent using the style of those awful awful new cartoons
Oh and one last little item before I go….
What, you didn’t have your own set of Mickey ears? "Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me?"
Folks that obviously doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface on this enduring icon. And I didn’t even get into stuff from other countries! I have loved Mickey for as long as I can remember, as I am sure many millions have before and after me. Mickey is just a fun, positive character and he makes you feel good when you see or hear him. What more can you say? He’s been around for ninety years and I’m sure will still be here for another ninety.
Let me know what Mickey stuff you had or have in the comments below. And HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY MICKEY!!!!!
By the way I noticed this is the only third article like this I’ve done. Maybe time to do a few more. And yes, ABC is doing a big two hour special which is rare these days. So watch it and enjoy.
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