Writer of Pop Culture

Cool and refreshing news about pop culture and entertainment.

This Day in Pop Culture for January 13

On this day in pop culture history, Mickey Mouse began appearing in the funny pages, Johnny Cash sang in prison, and an emergency announcement was a big mistake.

January 23, 2020

2–3 minutes

1930: The First Mickey Mouse Comic Strip

“I think your mouse animation is one of the funniest features I have ever seen in the movies,” wrote Joseph Connolly to Disney animator Ub Iwerks in 1929. Connolly was the president of King Features Syndicate looking for more comics to fill newspaper funny pages. “Please consider producing one in comic strip form for newspapers. If you can find time to do one, I shall be very interested in seeing some specimens.”

On this day in 1930, the Mickey Mouse comic strip debuted with a storyline written by Walt Disney and artwork created by Iwerks. The first comic was inspired by Mr. Mouse’s first cartoon, Plane Crazy and features Mickey daydreaming about meeting aviator Charles Lindbergh.

By April 1930, Disney asked young animator Floyd Gottfredson to fill in for the strip acting as both the writer and illustrator for a couple of weeks. Though he stopped authoring the stories two years later, Gottfredson continued illustrating the comic through 1976! In 1931, the strip was being published in 60 U.S. newspapers and syndicated in hundreds more

By 1931, the Mickey Mouse strip was published in 60 newspapers in the US

The early strips were based on adventure stories, but by 1955, they became one-off’s also known as a “gag-a-day” format. 35 years later, Mickey got to go on adventures once again.

The last Mickey Mouse daily comic strip (besides reruns) was published on July 29, 1995.

1968: Johnny Cash Performs at Folsom Prison

Country star Johnny Cash began performing behind prison walls on January 1, 1958 at San Quentin State Prison but it was on this day in 1968 where he recorded his live album, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. The album reached the number one spot on Billboard country album music and then it also rose to the top of the Billboard pop album chart. Cash returned to San Quentin to record another chart-topping album the next year.

2018 Whoops

It was quiet morning for residents and tourists in Hawaii on this day in 2018 until 8:07 a.m. when the Emergency Alert System warned people through TV, radio and cellphones that there was an incoming ballistic missile threat. Everyone was instructed to find shelter immediately with the phrase “This is not a drill.”

It took 38 minutes to pass before State officials to announce that a miscommunication had occurred at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency which led to the governor to publicly apologize for the error and for the prompt resignation of the state’s emergency management administrator.