DanMargarita.com

I've already devoted a column to him in this space, "Bad Dad, or Just Mad?" which you can access through my website www.danmargarita.com under the "topical" category. How's that for a shameless plug?

Originally I thought I'd write about Mickey Mouse, who celebrated his 75th birthday last week. It was a gala affair in Disney World where Mickey, who continues to work despite his advancing years, was surrounded at the theme park by rides, animals and adoring children. Wait a minute---that's exactly the lifestyle that got Michael Jackson in trouble!

Now that I think of it, the two entertainers are really not all that different.

They're both skinny, have high pitched voices and love to be around children.

Both of them have suffered career declines in recent years.

Both of them have large homes in southern California. They each have the first name Michael. OK, Mickey's first name isn't Michael, but generally the name Mickey is a nickname for Michael, the lone exception being baseball legend Mickey Mantle whose birth name was "Mickey" after another baseball great Mickey Cochrane, whom Mantle's father idolized.

Each of them has radically different faces than when they first came into the public eye. Jackson's cosmetic surgeries have been well publicized, while Mouse's (I think I should be consistent with the same possessive here) face has gone from the rat-like, black-eyed face to a rounder mug with pupils.

One's company produced "The Lion King" while the other was married to Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of "The King" of rock and roll.

They both have enjoyed similar financial success in becoming multi-millionaires. One's company now has a theme park in Paris, and the other has a daughter named Paris. Both can be considered as anthropomorphic, defined in Webster's dictionary as "described or thought of as having a human form or human attributes.

Mickey was conceived as an alternative to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney's first character, whose ownership rights Disney was forced to surrender to a greedy distributor. Michael was conceived to become the lead singer in the family act, The Jackson Five.

Michael dangled a baby over the railing of his hotel room, while Mickey dangled from the edge of a cliff in one of his early movies. OK, I don't know that for sure, but he was a mischievous creature in his early films, so it's probable that like most cartoon characters of the era he wound up dangling from the edge of a cliff at some point.

There are of course, some differences. Mickey Mouse originally appeared as "Steamboat Willie" in his first cartoon, while Jackson was never named Steamboat Willie to my knowledge. Mickey Mouse has stayed with the same woman, Minnie Mouse, for his entire career whereas Michael Jackson has been married twice.

Perhaps the most shameful similarity between the two is that both continue to have children visit them even though the children's parents should be well aware that the cost might be very high.