Editing Minnie Mouse (section)

===Origins of the character===
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[[File:Mickey Mouse concept art (clear version).webp|thumb|[[Concept art]] from early 1928, the drawings, which are the earliest of Mickey Mouse, also show a female version of the character (lower right), from the collection of [[The Walt Disney Family Museum]].]]
[[File:Minnie Mouse from Steamboat Willie.png|thumb|Minnie Mouse as she appears in ''[[Steamboat Willie]]'' (1928)]]
Minnie was initially created to be the love interest of [[Mickey Mouse]]; concept art for Mickey showed a female mouse alongside him.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Mickey Mouse : emblem of the American Spirit |last=Apgar |first=Gary |year=2015 |pages=77–78 |publisher=Weldon Owen |isbn=978-1-61628-672-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/mickeymouseemble0000apga/}}</ref>

Minnie was designed in the fashion of a [[flapper]] girl. Her main outfit consisted of a short flapper girl dress that often revealed her distinctive patched [[knickers]]. In the 1929 cartoon ''[[The Karnival Kid]]'', it was also revealed that she wears black stockings which were also fashionable among flapper girls. Her shoes are probably her most distinctive article of clothing. For comedic effect, she wears oversized high heeled [[court shoe|pumps]] that are too big for her feet. Her heels often slip out of her shoes and she even loses her shoes completely in ''[[The Gallopin' Gaucho]]''. When she walked or danced, the clip clop of her large pumps was usually heard clearly and often went with the rhythm of the music that was played in the background. Along with Mickey, she was redesigned in 1940. Her hat was replaced with a large bow and bows were added to her shoes as well. Her eyes were also given more detail. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, her look and personality became more [[conservative]]. Minnie almost always wears red or pink, but in her early appearances, she could be seen wearing a combination of blue, black or green (when not depicted in black and white).

Minnie's early personality is cute, playful, musical and flirtatious. She often portrays an entertainer like a dancer or a musician whose affection Mickey is trying to win. Part of the comedy of these early shorts is the varying degree of success Mickey has in wooing Minnie. Unlike later cartoons after the redesign, Minnie often becomes a [[damsel in distress]] whom Mickey tries to rescue. She is also subject to a lot of [[slapstick]] and [[rubber hose animation]] gags. Over the course of the 1930s, Minnie's and Mickey's relationship solidified and they eventually became a steady couple.

Minnie was first seen in a test screening of the cartoon short ''[[Plane Crazy]]''.<ref name="disneyshorts.org Plane Crazy">{{cite web|url=http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=94|title=1928: Plane Crazy|publisher=Disney Shorts|access-date=April 8, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301151952/http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=94|archive-date=March 1, 2012|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Minnie is invited to join Mickey in the first flight of his aircraft. She accepts the invitation but not his request for a kiss in mid-flight. Mickey eventually forces Minnie into a kiss, but this only results in her parachuting out of the plane. This first film depicted Minnie as somewhat resistant to the demanding affection of her potential boyfriend and capable of escaping his grasp.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Mickey Mouse : Fifty happy years |publisher=[[Harmony Books]] |year=1977 |pages=13|isbn=978-0-517-53564-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/mickeymousefifty0000unse/}}</ref>

Their debut, however, featured the couple already familiar to each other. The next film featuring them was ''[[The Gallopin' Gaucho]]''.<ref>[http://www.disneyshorts.org/years/1928/gallopingaucho.html Gallopin' Gaucho] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218232735/http://www.disneyshorts.org/years/1928/gallopingaucho.html |date=2008-02-18 }}. ''[http://disneyshorts.org/index.html The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts]'' {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323093225/http://www.disneyshorts.org/index.html |date=2008-03-23 }}. Retrieved on March 17, 2008.</ref> The film was the second of their series to be produced, but the third to be released and was released on December 30, 1928. We find Minnie employed at the ''Cantina Argentina'', a bar and restaurant established in the [[Pampas]] of [[Argentina]]. She performs the [[Tango (dance)|Tango]] for Mickey the [[gaucho]] and [[Pete (Disney)|Black Pete]] the outlaw. Both flirt with her, but the latter intends to abduct her while the former obliges in saving the [[Damsel in distress|Damsel in Distress]] from the [[villain]]. All three characters acted as strangers first being introduced to each other.

[[File:Minnie Mouse in Steamboat Willie (1928).gif|thumb|Minnie Mouse in ''[[Steamboat Willie]]'', using a goat to play the song "[[Turkey in the Straw]]".]]
But it was their third cartoon that established the definitive early look and personality of both Mickey and Minnie, as well as Pete. ''[[Steamboat Willie]]''<ref>[http://www.disneyshorts.org/years/1928/steamboatwillie.html Steamboat Willie]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080327040614/http://www.disneyshorts.org/years/1928/steamboatwillie.html |date=2008-03-27 }}. ''[http://disneyshorts.org/index.html The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts]'' {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323093225/http://www.disneyshorts.org/index.html |date=2008-03-23 }} Retrieved on March 17, 2008.</ref> was the third short of the series to be produced, but was released first, on November 18, 1928.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Mickey Mouse : Fifty happy years |publisher=[[Harmony Books]] |year=1977 |pages=14 |isbn=978-0-517-53564-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/mickeymousefifty0000unse/}}</ref> Pete was featured as the [[Captain (nautical)|Captain]] of the [[steamboat]], Mickey as a crew of one and Minnie as their single passenger.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Hollywood cartoons : American animation in its golden age |last=Barrier |first=Michael |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1999 |pages=55 |isbn=978-0-19-503759-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodcartoon00barr}}</ref> The two mice first star in a [[sound film]] and spend most of its duration playing music to the tune of "[[Turkey in the Straw]]".