Sound existed in Mickey Mouse cartoons from almost the beginning — the first two, “Plane Crazy”  and “Gallopin’ Goucho” were silent, but after the success of the first sound Mickey cartoon “Steamboat Willie” Walt Disney quickly went back and added sound to them. Mickey Mouse made eight non-talking appearances total, although even in those he made nonverbal acts aplenty, crying and laughing and whistling as he steamed along. Then Disney decided to lend his voice to his mousy star.

On this day, May 23, 1929, the first Mickey Mouse “talkie” premiered. Mickey was cast as a hot dog vendor at a carnival — his first famous words were “hot dog” — who falls for Minnie the Shimmy Dancer.

Disney himself voiced all the characters in his Mickey Mouse cartoons, right up through the second world war. In 1946, when other matters of more urgency took him away from the recording booth, Walt passed along the job to an old hand at Disney sound and vocal effects, Jim McDonald. McDonald kept the duty until his own retirement in 1974, and the job passed on to Wayne Allwine, who also voiced Mickey in nearly all the popular Kingdom Hearts video games.