“Happy 40th, MICKEY.”
This was the title of an article that appeared in Life Magazine on this day in 1968. It told of Mickey’s successes in his first 40 decades, including “character roles in over 140 movies, as well as personal appearances on at least 5,000 different products, 400 funny-paper strips with a mass circulation of 48,000,000 and in books selling a total of 300,000,000 copies. He’s been immortalized in wax at Madame Tussaud’s.” The article continued to discuss Mickey Mouse watches and one fan’s particularly large and rare collection of Mickey memorabilia. The story concluded with the news the Mickey recently turned up in an unexpected locale. “We may never know what 300 Mickey Mouse sweatshirts—in small, medium and large sizes—were doing in an enemy cache uncovered last month near Hué. The North Vietnamese might have been testing a new secret weapon. Then again, it may only have been a trap.” (Get it? Mouse. Trap. Sorry folks, that was their pun, not ours.)
