High School Boasted Popular Mascot Before Character Entered Public Domain

Mickey Mouse is set to enter the public domain later this year, but there’s a catch. Only the Steamboat Willie version of the character will be available when the time comes, and fans are already hoping that the character won’t be given the horrific Winnie the Pooh treatment.

However, one high school has boasted Mickey Mouse as their mascot since the mid-1930s. J.W. Hallahan Catholic Girls High School is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was the “country’s first all-girls diocesan Catholic high school.” The school was opened in 1911, closing in 2021 after over a century of operations.

my mom went to a high school whose mascot was mickey mouse pic.twitter.com/Se85bO1MBN

— crust 🌸🍡 (@susie_haItmann) April 11, 2023

In the mid-1930s, the sisters at Hallahan reached out to Walt Disney to ask if they could use Mickey Mouse as their mascot. Steamboat Willie was the first iteration of the Mickey Mouse character and was released in 1928. Disney could never have predicted the long-lasting success and fame that Mickey Mouse would have 100 years later. During the 1930s, Disney was a struggling animation and production company, eventually relying on the merchandising and marketing efforts including Mickey Mouse. It’s possible that this struggle led Disney to allow the Hallahan school to use his character as their mascot.

The school was apparently under no copyright, contractual issues, or loopholes as they used Mickey as their mascot, with the character appearing on signage around the school as well as a uniformed mascot character for school events. The gym was even called “The Mousetrap” as a nod to the character.

As Steamboat Wille comes into the public domain, it’s possible that the character will begin to pop up as more companies try to utilize the character for various purposes. It may be important to note, however, that the image of Steamboat Willie that the Walt Disney Company uses for their logo is a trademarked image, which could mean an entirely different set of legal issues in the future.

Would you have wanted Mickey Mouse as your school mascot? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments below!