Steamboat Willie

Not to be confused with Steamboat Bill, Jr..

Steamboat Willie (1928)
Walter Elias Disney and Ub Iwerks

Steamboat Willie is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, considered the debut of both Mickey and Minnie Mouse, although both characters appeared several months earlier in a test screening of Plane Crazy. The film notably entered the public domain in the United States in January 1, 2024, along with all other works from 1928. The film is particularly famous in the subject of US copyright law, for being the apparent reason behind the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, often referred to as the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" of 1998, which extended most major US copyright properties to 95 years after publication.

Key (info)
	Dialogue
	In scene
	Storyline

Cast and Crew
Cast
Role	Actor
Mickey Mouse	Walt Disney
Crew
Production company	The Walt Disney Company
Distributor	Celebrity Productions
Director	Walt Disney (d. 1966), Ub Iwerks (d. 1971)
Producer	Roy O. Disney (d. 1971), Walt Disney
Screenwriter	Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks
Composer	Carl W. Stalling (d. 1972), Wilfred Jackson (d. 1988), Carl Edouarde (d. 1932)
Animator	Johnny Cannon (d. 1946), Les Clark (d. 1979), Ub Iwerks, Wilfred Jackson
Storyboard artist	Ub Iwerks
Based on available information, the latest crew member that is relevant to international copyright laws died in 1988, meaning that this film may be in the public domain in countries and jurisdictions with 35 years p.m.a. or less, as well as in the United States.

The following is a transcription of a film. The contents below represent text or spoken dialogue that are transcribed directly from the video of the film provided above. On certain screen sizes, each line is represented by a timestamp next to it which shows when the text appears on the video. For more information, see Help:Film.

4388220Steamboat Willie1928Walter Elias Disney and Ub Iwerks

Disney Cartoons
present
A
Mickey Mouse
Sound Cartoon

Steamboat
Willie

A Walt Disney Comic
by Ub Iwerks
Recorded by Powers Cinephone System
Copyright MCMXXIX

Pete
Get down there!

Parrot
I hope you don't feel hurt, big boy! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha— Help! Help! Man overboard!

Pete
Hahahahaha!

Boat
Tickets

Podunk
Landing

FOB

C.L.O.D.

Hay

Kitchen

Turkey
in the
Straw
Hey! Hey!

Cat
Meow! Meow! Meowwwwwowwwww... [etc.]

Potato
Bin

Parrot
Hope you don't feel hurt, big boy! Hahahahahahahaha! Hahahahahaha! Help! Man overboard! Help!

Mickey
Hahahahahahahaha!

Mickey Mouse
Sound Cartoon

The
End

A Walt Disney Comic

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1928, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929.

Copyright law abroad tends to consider the following people authors of a film:

The principal director
The screenwriter, and/or other writers of dialogue
The composer/lyricist (if the film is accompanied by sound)
The cinematographer
By extension, the authors of any works that may serve as the basis for a film's plot

The longest-living of these authors died in 1988, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 35 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse