Mickey Mouse circa. November 18, 1928

Posted February 25th, 2010 by AMPower

In 1932, a special Academy Award was given to Walt Disney for the creation of Mickey Mouse.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – Trolley Troubles

In the mid nineteen twenties Walt Disney was commissioned for his “silent” cartoons by Charles Mintz and Universal Pictures. So, before Mickey there was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. One of the first animations was Trolley Troubles in Sept. 1927. It wasn’t until a few years later that sound was added.

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The Birth of Mickey Mouse

Walt Disney designed the character Mickey Mouse while riding on a train back to Los Angeles with his wife Lillian. After completing his sketch, Walt showed it to Lillian and said his name was Mortimer Mouse. Lillian did not like the name and suggested Mickey Mouse. And so was the birth of Mickey Mouse.

Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character who has become an icon for The Walt Disney Company. Mickey Mouse was created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks [1] and voiced by Walt Disney. The Walt Disney Company celebrates his birth as November 18, 1928 upon the release of Steamboat Willie, [2] although Mickey had already appeared six months earlier in Plane Crazy (Steamboat Willie being the first Mickey Mouse Cartoon with sound). The anthropomorphic mouse has evolved from being simply a character in animated cartoons and comic strips to become one of the most recognizable symbols in the world. Mickey is currently the main character in the Disney Channel’s Playhouse Disney series “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” Mickey is the leader of The Mickey Mouse Club. (source-wikipedia)

Mickey Mouse – Plane Crazy

Mickey’s first film was Plane Crazy. Walt and Lillian Disney and Ub Iwerks, worked in secret on the film in a garage behind Walt’s home on Lyric Avenue.

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Mickey was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier cartoon character created by the Disney studio for Charles Mintz of Universal Studios.[3]

When Disney asked for a larger budget for his popular Oswald series, Mintz announced that Disney could keep doing the Oswald series, as long as he agreed to a budget cut and went on the payroll. Mintz owned Oswald and thought he had Disney over a barrel… One lesson Disney learned from the experience was to thereafter always make sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company. (source-wikipedia)

Mickey Mouse – The Gallopin’ Gaucho

At the time of its first release, Plane Crazy apparently failed to impress audiences so, Walt went on to produce a second Mickey short: The Gallopin’ Gaucho. The short was intended as a parody of Douglas Fairbanks’s The Gaucho, a film first released on November 21, 1928. Mickey was intended to be a swashbuckler, an adventurer modeled after Fairbanks himself.

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In the spring of 1928, Disney asked Ub Iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas. Iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were also rejected. They would later turn up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. (A male frog, also rejected, would later show up in Iwerks own Flip the Frog series.)[1] Walt Disney got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse from his old pet mouse he used to have on his farm. In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney. These inspired Ub Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Disney. [1]

Mickey Mouse – Steamboat Willie

Mickey Mouse made his official film debut in Steamboat Willie on November 18, 1928, at the Colony Theater in New York.

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“Mortimer Mouse” had been Disney’s original name for the character before his wife, Lillian convinced him to change it, and ultimately Mickey Mouse came to be.[4][5] Actor Mickey Rooney has claimed that, during his Mickey McGuire days, he met cartoonist Walt Disney at the Warner Brothers studio, and that Disney was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him.[6] (source-wikipedia)

Mickey Mouse – The Band Concert

The first Mickey Mouse cartoon in color was The Band Concert, which premiered on February 23, 1935. This also includes Donald Duck being his cantankerous self. Many scenes look as if they made their way into the Legendary Animation Fantasia filmed in 1940.

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“We felt that the public, and especially the children, like animals that are cute and little. I think we are rather indebted to Charlie Chaplin for the idea. We wanted something appealing, and we thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin — a little fellow trying to do the best he could. When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it’s because he’s so human; and that is the secret of his popularity. I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.” -Walt Disney[7]

Betty Boop – Dizzy Dishes

Just an added bonus of Betty Boop’s 1930 animated show Dizzy Dishes for my buddy Lou.

The character was originally created in the mode of an anthropomorphic French poodle. Max Fleischer finalized Betty Boop as completely human by 1932 in the cartoon Any Rags. Her floppy poodle ears became hoop earrings, and her black poodle nose became a girl’s button-like nose.

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All historical references provided by MMania at:
http://www.angelfire.com/nj/MMania/MickeyMouse.html

Additional information can be found by searching Wikipedia.

Also, a great Chronology of the Walt Disney Company here:
http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/disnehis/

AMPwerx
Mickey Mouse circa. November 18, 1928