What can you say about Mickey Mouse that hasn't been written already? Someone
once said that more people knew the name of Mickey Mouse than knew who the
President of the United States was. Just the shape of his head alone is
one of the most recognizable icons in American culture. And his presence
on the movie screen forever changed a minor animation company into a world-wide
entertainment power.
It is interesting while watching the shorts to note that Mickey is one of the only Disney characters to have evolved over the years. Donald, Goofy, Chip 'n' Dale all reached the form they were to stay on throughout the years early on in their careers. Mickey was continually developed: he was given a more "realistic" body, ears that worked in symmetry, whites in his eyes, different costumes. No other Disney character was allowed to go through as many changes as Mickey.
Besides the fact that Mickey was one of the first "modern" Disney characters to be created, the nature of the mouse made him a natural leader for the gang. However, unfortunately, it was this very nature that made him not quite as funny as some of the others. Mickey had too much of a laid-back, easy-going nature about him. You didn't find yourself laughing so much at what was happening to him (in the way that you did with Donald Duck) because Mickey would usually laugh it off himself. He was never much of an out-and-out funny character (like Goofy.) He did have the reputation of being somewhat of a troublemaker in the earlier years (like Chip 'n' Dale) but that tendency quickly wore off. As a result, Mickey was usually somewhat of a straight man, with the real laughs coming from the actions and reactions of those he was playing against.
Mickey's voice was done by Walt Disney himself until the mid 40's when he got too busy to keep up with it. The voice was then taken over by Jimmy McDonald, then a Disney sound-effects man. When Mickey's career was revived in the 80's, the torch was passed to Wayne Allwine, curiously enough, another Disney sound-effects man.
Mickey appeared in 132 short subjects (not including his starring turn in "Fantasia".)