Mickey Mouse's 50th Birthday

Background

In 1978, Walt Disney Productions was celebrating Mickey Mouse's 50th anniversary. As part of the birthday celebration, Disney created a special animated logo, which appeared on theatrical releases and re-issues. Later, the logo was modified to be used as the logo for Disney's new home media division.

(1978)

UK variant
Italian variant
Textless variant

Logo: A solid red Mickey appears with purple dashed outlines surrounding it. The Mickey starts to rotate. After a while, the text "Congratulating Mickey Mouse on his 50th Birthday!", in white and in a fancy font, zooms in. After a few seconds, it zooms in towards the screen until vanishing from sight, and the top and bottom halves of the 1978 Buena Vista logo wipe in over the logo.

Trivia: The rotating "Neon Mickey" is a silhouetted image of the animatronic Mickey conductor that was used in the former Walt Disney World/Tokyo Disneyland attraction "The Mickey Mouse Revue".

Variants:

On British theatrical releases, the text reads "Happy birthday MICKEY On Your Golden Jubliee".
On Italian theatrical and Super 8 releases, the text reads "Congratulazioni Topolino per il tuo Giubileo d'Oro".
A rare textless variant also exists.

Technique: Rotoscoped cel animation.

Music/Sounds: Same as the Walt Disney Home Entertainment logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:

On the DVD of The Cat from Outer Space, the logo is silent due to the fact they were unable to restore the audio.
On a bootleg reel of the Italian Super 8 release Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse, a swooshing sound is used.

Availability: Appears on 1978 theatrical releases and theatrical re-issues from the time. It also appears on Italian Super 8 releases.

Legacy: A very important and beautifully animated logo, which would later be used (in a modified form) as described above.