Publicity Drawing of Mickey and Minnie for Shangheid, January, 1934

This is the earliest of the regularly created Mickey Mouse publicity drawings (not considering a handful of earlier poster drawings nor the several earlier drawings by various studio artists done to generally publicize Mickey Mouse cartoons but which were not tied to any particular cartoon in the series) that I have found over the past 35 years. This drawing by Tom Wood, the first of the three great Disney publicity artists (along with Manuel Gonzales and Hank Porter) was used for a promotional still photograph for the cartoon, Shangheid, which was released in January 1934. The artwork done for Good Housekeeping Magazine also began a few months later in 1934, so I am close to certain that such publicity art began at the Disney Studio in very late 1933/very early 1934. This is also my favorite Mickey Mouse publicity drawing, based on the wonderfully stylized artwork and the near-perfect images of Mickey and Minnie.