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Steamboat Willie premieres at New York’s Colony Theatre as the first widely released Mickey Mouse cartoon with synchronised sound

On 18 November 1928 Steamboat Willie opened at the Colony Theatre in New York, the first Mickey cartoon released, with synchronised sound. In the causal graph this event strengthens Digital Learning Access, a driver that weakens Learning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries) — an improving welfare path.

Read the full account

On 18 November 1928 Steamboat Willie opened at the Colony Theatre in New York, the first Mickey cartoon released, with synchronised sound. Plane Crazy and Gallopin’ Gaucho had been made silent and held. Disney and Iwerks made the film; Disney voiced Mickey. He did not invent the phonograph. Later copyright extensions are other decades’ statutes. Archival locator: Library of Congress — Steamboat Willie (moving image) at https://www.loc.gov/item/mbrs01843181/ (opens in a new tab) (Library of Congress). Independent locator: Library of Congress — Dave Smith, Steamboat Willie (National Film Registry essay) at https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/steamboat_willie.pdf (opens in a new tab) (Library of Congress / National Film Preservation Board).

Context

The Jazz Singer had already shaken live action. Oswald’s loss is the prior industrial wound. Education here is mass access to a new audiovisual form, not a school district.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Why it matters

High confidence on the event. Later streaming and public-domain 2024 are not his lifetime acts.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Walt Disney

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.52 · verified

    He directed and produced with Iwerks; he voiced Mickey. Pat Powers’s Cinephone system was licensed. Direct as producer-director-voice.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Library of Congress — Steamboat Willie (moving image)Library of Congress · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Library of Congress — Dave Smith, Steamboat Willie (National Film Registry essay)Library of Congress / National Film Preservation Board · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Library of Congress moving-image item and the National Film Registry essay by Dave Smith independently fix 18 November 1928 at the Colony. Britannica independently calls it the first Mickey released and a sensation. D23 celebrates the date.

Established: 18 November 1928 Colony premiere with synchronised sound. Not established: that no other cartoon had any sound experiment; the public first for Mickey is the claim. Not a 1998 copyright statute.

The contribution type is direct. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Later copyright-term fights and 2024 public-domain status are not 1928 acts. Mixed effects of Steamboat Willie premieres at New York’s Colony Theatre as the first widely released Mickey Mouse cartoon with synchronised sound are separate paths.

Shared responsibility is part of Steamboat Willie premieres at New York’s Colony Theatre as the first widely released Mickey Mouse cartoon with synchronised sound. Naming Walt Disney does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1928-11-18 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorWalt Disney
  2. contributed toFactSteamboat Willie premieres at New York’s Colony Theatre as the first widely released Mickey Mouse cartoon with synchronised sound
  3. strengthensDriverDigital Learning Access
  4. weakensIndicatorLearning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Steamboat Willie premieres at New York’s Colony Theatre as the first widely released Mickey Mouse cartoon with synchronised sound. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/wd-steamboat-willie

https://factrail.ai/facts/wd-steamboat-willie

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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