In 1928, The release of Walt Disney’s Steamboat Willie the large financial investment in sound of this quality was considered a huge risk after the failure of other cartoons with sound on film.
Disney used the Powers Cinephone sound system
of his first sound film. The movie was already half-
finished as a silent short before Disney had the idea to
make it a synchronized sound film. A test screening
was set up where what there was of the cartoon was
projected in one room, while in another room some members played a mouth organ tin cans and whistles.