Mickey Mouse Turns 80!

Who would guess that the world's most famous cartoon character was created nearly by accident? According to Washington, if Walt Disney had never lost the rights to his first cartoon character - a rabbit named Oswald - he might have never come up with his world-famous alternative, better known as Mickey Mouse.

Yesterday marked the 80th birthday of our beloved animated character. Most of us don't know that Mickey would have been named Mortimer had not Disney's wife convinced him "it was the worst possible name for a cartoon star," as stated by BBC.

We saw Mickey's face for the first time in his 1928 film debut, "Steamboat Willie," the first cartoon ever to include synchronized sound, reports BBC. The rest is history. Mickey went on to star in 120 different cartoons, got his own television show, The Mickey Mouse Club, became the symbol for the Disney theme parks, and has had his beaming face on numerous children's commodities (Laughingplace.com). Even to this day, the good-humored anthropomorphic character puts smiles on faces of people young and old.