For Silent Saturday, Meet the Mouse Who Built an Empire

The Silent Saturday program of 'Cinema 80' at the Franklin Historical Museum continues April 20 at 6 pm with Early Animation Shorts, including not-so-silent Steamboat Willie, The Dinosaur and The Missing Link, and other gems.

Steamboat Willie was produced in black and white by Walt Disney Studio and became a landmark in the history of that enterprise, helping to establish 'the mouse' that would become a global phenomenon. The film was released by Pat Powers, under the name of Celebrity Productions.[3] The cartoon is considered the debut of both Mickey and Minnie Mouse, although both characters appeared several months earlier in a test screening of Plane Crazy. Steamboat Willie was the third of Mickey's films to be produced, but it was the first to be distributed, because Disney, having seen The Jazz Singer, had committed himself to produce one of the first fully synchronized sound cartoons.

The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy is a 1915 American comedy silent film animated with stop motion by Willis O'Brien. The film was distributed by Thomas Edison's film company Conquest Pictures in 1917. The storyline features a caveman-cavegirl romance, an ape (the Missing Link) and, of course, a dinosaur.

The Program is Free at the Franklin Historical Museum, 80 West Central Street. The showing is curated by Chris Leverone in cooperation with the Franklin Senior Center.