# Steamboat Willie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899 "2002-12-11T01:24:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/1 "2002-12-11T01:24:43Z")
Just a heads-up for anyone who might be interested. There is a new 2 DVD set of early Mickey Mouse cartoons that was just released by Disney : “Mickey Mouse : The Black and White Years, Volume 1.” This set contains (finally!) the complete, unexpurgated version of the first MM short released, “Steamboat Willie.” As far as I am aware, this is the first time the unedited version has been seen anywhere in the last 50 years or so. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/2 "2002-12-11T01:26:39Z")
Is this the version where Minnie gets nekkid? ---
**Author:** ![deathawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@deathawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deathawk)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/3 "2002-12-11T01:43:09Z")
Since it sounds like you would know - wasn’t there some collection of B/W MM/Other Disney shorts released on LaserDisc 7-8 years ago? Or am I misremembering the Looney Tunes collections? ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/4 "2002-12-11T01:49:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by deathawk \* > \*\*Since it sounds like you would know - wasn’t there some collection of B/W MM/Other Disney shorts released on LaserDisc 7-8 years ago? Or am I misremembering the Looney Tunes collections? \*\* Yes. It was a 5 disc set which contained virtually the same shorts as the new DVD set does with the exception of “The Karnival Kid.” Also, that set contained the edited version of SW. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/5 "2002-12-11T01:59:59Z")
Hey **Euty** : #1) Is the Goofy set out yet? #2) Any word on the Wartime set? (I _want_ that wartime set, dammit!!!) Thanks! Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/6 "2002-12-11T02:03:56Z")
And as long as I’ve got your attention (or will have your attention): Do you know if Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land and the Uncle $crooge one about economics that came out at the same time have been released on DVD? ---
**Author:** ![deathawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@deathawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deathawk)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/7 "2002-12-11T02:21:33Z")
**Euty** - Thanks. Thought I remembered that. I was running a video store at the time & one of the regulars collected older animation. Jog my memory more - wasn’t that the first time it had been available for home viewing in any form, chopped or not? ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/8 "2002-12-11T02:56:11Z")
**Fenris** , the Goofy set is indeed out. In fact, I saw my mom buying it for me for Christmas when she thought I was in a different part of the store. (This is especially interesting considering I don’t own a DVD player, but I’ve been asking for one for months. Wee!) ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/9 "2002-12-11T08:29:42Z")
**1) Is the Goofy set out yet?** Yep … came out the same day as the new MM set. **#2) Any word on the Wartime set? (I _want_ that wartime set, dammit!!!)** So far it’s still on the schedule for next winter, along with the second “Mickey Mouse in Living Color” set and a complete Donald Duck colection. **Do you know if Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land and the Uncle $crooge one about economics that came out at the same time have been released on DVD?** Right now the only way “Donald Duck in Mathmagicland” is available is as a $100 teachers set from the Walt Disney Educational nedia Company. As far as I know, “Scrooge McDuck and Money” isn’t available in any form. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/10 "2002-12-11T09:22:18Z")
Now maybe Disney will allow an unedited version of _The Three Little Pigs_ (1933). Originally the wolf disguised himself as a travelling peddler with a Yiddish accent. This was thought too stereotypical in later years, and his voice was redubbed without the accent – the only version seen these days. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/11 "2002-12-11T14:21:59Z")
That’s funny. Disney must be worried about possibly being on the losing side of the Supreme Court challenge to the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act which added 20 years to the copyright duration thus insuring Disney’s early images do not go into the Public Domain. I don’t think the Supreme’s will overturn the law (despite the “limited” language used in the Constitution) better safe then sorry though. ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/12 "2002-12-11T14:39:30Z")
A complete Donald Duck collection? SWEET! I have two severely old tapes of Donald and Daisy cartoons; I’m told they don’t suffer from any censorship. Do you know if the DD cartoons are going to be unedited? How many are in the set, and do we get Daisy in there too? (sorry, the duck was always my favorite) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/13 "2002-12-11T16:10:07Z")
I was thinking the same thing, **elf6c**. You’ll be able to get this stuff cheaper if the Supreme Court overturns the extension of Disney’s copyright protection. Disney’s trying to make some bucks off of old Willie while it still can. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/14 "2002-12-12T16:10:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elf6c \* > \*\*That’s funny. Disney must be worried about possibly being on the losing side of the Supreme Court challenge to the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act which added 20 years to the copyright duration thus insuring Disney’s early images do not go into the Public Domain. \*\* No, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. The re-dubbing was done decades ago, I believe. And re-dubbing that bit of dialogue would not change the copyright status of the original work. Charles Chaplin re-edited, scored, and narrated his feature _The Gold Rush_ (1925) in 1941, then neglected to renew the copyright on the 1925 version when renewal came due in 1953, which led to the 1925 version now being in the public domain. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/15 "2002-12-12T16:57:42Z")
Yeah. Then Mickey has her commited, ‘cause she’s fuckin’ Goofy. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/16 "2002-12-12T20:14:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*Now maybe Disney will allow an unedited version of _The Three Little Pigs_ (1933). Originally the wolf disguised himself as a travelling peddler with a Yiddish accent. This was thought too stereotypical in later years, and his voice was redubbed without the accent – the only version seen these days. \*\* I actually believe the replacement was a newly animated scene with the wolf as a Fuller Brush man. Leonard Maltin points out the change on the Silly Symphonies collection from the first Disney Treasure wave, I believe. (Also, a useless one: I believe it was Walt himself that had the pigcordion scene excised from SW.) ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/17 "2002-12-12T20:31:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Yeah. Then Mickey has her commited, ‘cause she’s fuckin’ Goofy. \*\* The way I heard it, Mickey was suing for divorce. The judge, after looking over the papers, looks at him and says, “So you want a divorce because she’s crazy?” “No, your honor, I didn’t say she was crazy. I said she was fuckin’ Goofy” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamboat-willie/141899/18 "2002-12-12T21:54:49Z")
We’re not talking about the dubbing, **Walloon**. We’re talking about the fact that Disney [may soon lose its copyright](http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/iptf/headlines/content/2002103001.html) on early Mickey Mouse cartoons, depending on how the Supreme Court rules on a pending case. > [@](#): > > Some of the earliest Mickey Mouse movies could soon lose their copyright and find their way into the public domain. The upcoming decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Eldred v. Ashcroft will decide the fate of the latest Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act or “Mickey Mouse Extension Act.” > > Fearing the loss of some of its earliest movies featuring the well-known rodent into the public domain, the Walt Disney Company urged the passing in 1998 of the act which extends existing copyrights by 20 years. Under the law, works by individuals are now protected for 70 years after the creator’s death and copyrights held by corporations will remain in force for 95 years. The extended copyright terms are equal to those of most European countries. > > The Act was challenged by Eric Eldred, an internet publisher from New Hampshire, who sought to include poems by Robert Frost in his publications, but was banned from doing so by the law… In other words, depending on how the Court rules, any Tom, Dick or Harry may soon have the right to distribute those early cartoons. I see Disney’s packaging of the Steamboat Willie cartoons referenced in the OP as an attempt by Disney to cash in while they still can.