Mickey Mouse's 50th Birthday

Background

In 1978, Disney was celebrating Mickey Mouse's 50th Birthday. As part of the birthday celebration, Disney created a special animated logo, which appeared on thetrical 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 "Stripes" variant of the Buena Vista logo wipe in over the logo.

Variants:

On UK theatrical releases, the text reads "Happy birthday MICKEY On Your Golden Jubliee".
On Italian thetrical 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: A loud orchestral fanfare, composed by longtime Disney composer Buddy Baker.

Availability: Appears on 1978 thetrical releases (The Cat from Outer Space, Return from Witch Mountain) and theatrical re-issues (Pinocchio, The Jungle Book).

Legacy: A very important and beautifly animated logo, which would later be used (in modified form) as the first logo for Walt Disney Home Entertainment.