Mickey Mouse's 50th Birthday

Credits

Compiled by
Davidthelogohunter

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.

Logo (1978)

• 
• 
  UK variant
• 
  Italian variant
• 
  Textless variant

Visuals: 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 Jubilee".
• On Italian theatrical and Super 8 releases, the text reads "Congratulazioni Topolino per il tuo Giubileo d'Oro" ("Congratulating Mickey Mouse on his Golden Jubilee").
• A rare textless variant also exists.

Technique: Rotoscoped cel animation.

Audio: A loud orchestral fanfare, composed by longtime Disney composer Buddy Baker.

Audio Trivia: The score for this logo is the first track of the Intrada release of Return from Witch Mountain titled Main Title - Pt. 1 "1978 Mickey Mouse Birthday Logo" (Buddy Baker). It lacks the string section and the last timpani beat at the end, likely meaning it’s an alternate take.

Audio 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, the last part of the music from the 1987 Walt Disney Home Video logo is used.

Availability:

• Appears on 1978 theatrical releases such as The Cat from Outer Space and Return from Witch Mountain (it is intact on current releases of the former, including the Disney+ print, but is deleted from Anchor Bay releases), and theatrical re-issues such as Pinocchio and The Jungle Book.
• It also appears on Italian Super 8 releases such as Peter Pan.
• The textless variant appears on the Venezuelan VHS of Mickey's Golden Jubilee.

Legacy: Contrary to the 1978 WDHE and 1981 WDHV logos, this does not receive as much negative community reception, thanks to the brighter color scheme.