The mouse has no voice

It may be somewhat old news to some of you out there, but I first found out a couple of days ago that Wayne Allwine, voice actor who played Mickey Mouse since 1977 passed away on May 18th 2009.

As you are aware, we at 3twins aren't just writers, artists, dreamers and animators, we are also voice actors. Much of who our characters are comes first from the voice we give them. I personally have always had a skill with various voices. As far back as I can remember, I was bothering my parents or cracking up my grandparents and friends with my impressions and accents. And now I get to do that as part of my job which is the best perk!

So, you can see why this news would sadden me on many levels. As an avid fan of animation, Mickey-phile, and fellow voice person I worry what will become of the worlds most famous mouse. From what I've read the fairly new preschool show, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, is most likely going to cease and The Disney company has not replaced Mickey's voice.

It is my personal opinion that Disney has become too "preteen" in the last decade or so. I grew up enamored by such cartoon blocks as "The Disney Afternoon" and the reruns of old Mickey, Donald, and Goofy shorts. I fear that it may be a while before the "big wigs" at Disney return to those types of shows featuring their cornerstone characters.

I encourage you to click on the link I attached to the crying mickey photo (or this paragraph), it is part 1 of a 3 part interview with Wayne, his wife Russi (who does the voice of Minnie interestingly enough) and Leonard Maltin. Apparently this interview can be found on a DVD set of Mickey shorts, Mickey Mouse: In Living Color vol2.

I raise my Mickey coffee mug in sad farewell to a man who brought an icon to life for 32 years!

-Jason