Steamboat Bill Jr.

[Ezra]

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If you're a member of Visions Fantastic, you most likely know that Mickey Mouse made his theatrical debut in a short called Steamboat Willie in 1928. If you haven't seen it in it's entirety before now, you've at least seen the image of Mickey at the wheel of the steamboat, whistling the tune Steamboat Bill. It appears during the Walt Disney Animation Studios fanfare. Here's a clip of three young people re-creating it in chalk in a parking lot as a stop-motion animation project:
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Still famous after all these years, but the popular culture references that inspire it are all but forgotten. First, there's the song; Steamboat Bill was written in 1910 by the Leighton Brothers, with lyrics by Ren Shields. It was a bit hit for Arthur Collins in 1911:
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If you have any difficulty making out the lyrics, they're at TraditionalMusic.co. Although fictional, the popular song quickly took on folklore status, patterned as it was after 1909's Casey Jones who was not fictional. At any rate, Steamboat Bill was still a popular song in 1929, mostly though jazz renditions. (It's not the only Arthur Collins hit to achieve cartoon legend status. His Hello! Ma Baby from 1899 is performed by Michigan J. Frog in the Chuck Jones classic One Froggy Evening.)

There's nothing particularly remarkable about the use of an old popular song from a bygone era. The real fun comes in comparing Mickey's Steamboat Willie to the 1928 feature Steamboat Bill, Jr. starring silent film comedian Buster Keaton.

Having swapped his trademark pork-pie hat for a Captain's cap and Cracker Jack shirt, Keaton is seen here in a publicity still, firmly grasping the wheel of the tramp steamer:
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Although Keaton doesn't actually appear in quite this way in the film, it's a memorable image. Mickey takes a similar heroic pose when piloting his own paddle-wheeler; or so we think. He is soon manhandled by the real steamboat captain (Pete) and ordered to work below.

The interaction between Mickey and Pete echoes that between the feature's Captain William "Steamboat Bill" Canfield (Ernest Torrence), and his estranged son William Jr. (Buster Keaton) who's just returning from college in Boston to visit his father in River Junction.
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When Junior arrives, he isn't exactly what Steamboat Bill expected of "my Willie". He's small and scrawny; He's a dandy with a pencil-thin mustache in a striped sport-coat, loud argyle waistcoat, bell-bottom trousers, polka-dotted tie and French beret; he's timid and effete. All attempts by Bill to make junior over fail comically. Junior is afraid of the burly deck-hand aboard his father's ship. And when Bill tries to teach him how his steamboat operates, he nearly wrecks it! Captain Pete in Steamboat Willie seems to combine the worst elements of the bullying deck-hand and Captain Bill.
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Captain Pete even has a tobacco chewing gag, reminiscent of Bill's attempt to share his chaw with Junior; who quickly becomes ill. When all attempts to "toughen up" poor Junior fail, bill buys him a ticket back to Boston. But Junior won't leave because he is in love with the Kitty King (Marion byron). She's the daugher of J.J. King, Steamboat Bill's wealthy rival and owner of the brand new Steamboat King.

When King has Bill's riverboat, the Stonewall Jackson, condemned as unsafe; Steamboat Bill's resistance lands him in jail. It's up to Willie Junior to save the day. Unfortunately, a cyclone hits town making Junior's attempts all the more difficult; and hilarious. Keaton's combination of broad, physical slapstic and wry, sardonic expressions is brilliant. The storm segment features one of the most famous (and most dangerous!) Buster Keaton gags, in which the facade of a house falls, barely missing him:
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The storm sequence is full of outrageous special effects and stunts, including an entire house falling on poor Junior, embedding itself in the ground. Just as he exits unscathed through the front door, the house collapses into a pile of lumber behind him. This five minute excerpt is well worth a look. None of this is spoofed in Steamboat Willie, which is more involved in musical sight-gags involving livestock and kitchenware, but it's wildly entertaining nonetheless.

As Junior arrives at the Stonewall Jackson, he spies his beloved Kitty King atop an oveturned house afloat in the river. Acting quickly, he casts the ships anchor across, using it to hook the debris and haul Kitty so safety.
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We see a similar "rescue" in Steamboat Willie: Minnie has been left behind at Podonk Landing and is racing along the shore. Mickey uses the cargo hook to haul her aboard by her underdrawers. (Kitty's rescue is a wee bit more dignfied.)

When the jailhouse containg Steamboat Bill slides into the river and begins to rapidly fill with water, it's up to Willie Junior to rescue his dad. Acting quickly, he cleverly rigs the engine room controls to ropes so that he can operate them from the wheelhouse...
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...and single-handedly resues Steamboat Bill as well as Kitty's father, who was aboard the capsized Steamboat King. This is the famous "wheelhouse moment" as seen in the feature film, and so memorably invoked by Mickey at the begining of Steamboat Willie.

Please consider giving the complete Steamboat Bill, Jr. a look. It's wildly entertaining; well worth seventy minutes of your time.
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Since it's in public domain you can view it in it's entirety at Archive.org BUT Buster Keaton's facial expressions are such a vital part of the comedy, even during action stunts, that I would urge you to view it on a larger screen, at a higher resolution.

Netflix has a good clean restored print available to watch instantly, or better yet, buy it. Since it is public domain, it doesn't cost much and can be found in most retail bargain bins for only a few dollars.

I have this copy from Kino International, the folks who lovingly restored this film. The picture is crisp and beautiful, and the new music is much less annoying than the online stuff. It's worth a few dollars to show these dedicated historians and movie buffs a little love. This one also includes The General, an epic silent Civil War comedy/drama starring Buster Keaton, as well as College and a later talkie The Misadventures of Buster Keaton, which collects a series of Keaton Vaudeville acts on film.

[adrianne]

This was wonderful -- thank you, Ezra! I've never realized that Steamboat Willie was based on anything else. And, while I've seen the Buster Keaton snippet of the facade falling down around him, seeing the whole storm sequence is breathtaking.

[lpetiti]

I've noticed that the titles were similar, but I never realized that there were more similarities. I have Steamboat Bill Jr. in my Instant Queue on Netflix. I'll have to watch it.

[Executioner]

Thanks for the history lesson Ezra! Loved reading this article. I too never knew about the song nor about Buster making a movie Disney more or less spoofed slightly. Very fun!

[Ezra]

Several of the early Mickey cartoons are movie spoofs and pop culture put-ons. The Gallopin' Gaucho is modeled on Douglas Fairbanks The Gaucho. The Cactus Kid is the title of a Mickey cartoon and a Hoot Gibson western. Often they share just a gag or two. Then of course there's Plane Crazy, which pokes fun at the Charles Lindberg craze.

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Here's an odd bit of syncronicity. They day after I post this article, Leonard Maltin reviews Stoneface: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton, a play at Los Angeles’ Sacred Fools Theatre starring French Stewart. Link: Movie Crazy: Stoneface