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Show Current Clips by Shamus O'Kelly Either last week or the week before we read the gratifying news that Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse had become of age. It has been over 21 years now since Mickey first smiled at us from the front page of our neighborhood neighbor-hood movie house. A lot of water has gone over the dam and a lot of Mickey has gone all over the world. The name "Mickey Mous?" was' a familiar term to friends and foes of all nations during1 the last war. Almost everyone in the world has seen his likeness like-ness including peoples in the most out-of-the-way places you can imagine. But Mickey's fame as an actor is rivalled, if not exceeded, by his fame as a seller of goods. In preparing to write this acknowledgement of Mickey's birthday, we found that the likenesses like-nesses of Mickey and other Disney Dis-ney characters have appeared on over 2,000 articles for sale including in-cluding watches, foods, furnishings furnish-ings and clothing. In fact, to bring home the staggering facts of the saleability of the mouse's phiz, we wish to report that Mr. Disney has been presented with the fivemillionth (count 'em) watch bearing Mickey's face and name. The writings of many men who lived many years ago arc filled .with thoughts which bear up well under perscnt-day scrutiny. scru-tiny. Benjamin Franklin, best remembered re-membered for his enthusiasm for kites, his statesmanship and the Saturday Evening Post, wrote such a letter to a Unitarian Unitar-ian minister in London more than a century and a half ago. He might have been writing about our United Nations today when he wrote: "I wish to see the Discovery of a Plan that would induce and oblige Nations to settle their disputes dis-putes without first cutting one another's throats. When will human hu-man Reason be sufficiently improved im-proved to see the Advantage of this? When will Men be con-vine'd, con-vine'd, that even successful Wars at length become Misfortunes to those who unjustly commene'd them, & who triumph'd in their success, not seeing all of its Consequences." |