Page 15 - Disney Insider Guide

MICKEY MOUSE

“ I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it
was all started by a mouse.”
Walt Disney

The creation of Mickey Mouse is the stuff of Disney
legend.

After a disastrous meeting with a movie distributor in
New York, Walt had lost the rights to an earlier character
he had created, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Dejected, Walt and his wife Lillian boarded the train for
the long ride back home to California. On the train ride, the
ever optimistic Walt thought about the future and how he
wanted to create a new character, one that could not be
taken away from him.
As Walt sat, trying to think of a new
character, he thought of a mouse. He suggested to his
wife the name ‘Mortimer’. “How about Mickey?” she
replied. On that train ride from New York to California,
a legend was born. Back at the studio in California,
Walt’s long-time friend and collaborator, Ub Iwerks
came up with the iconic design.
Mickey made his first debut in 1928, in the first ever
synchronized sound cartoon Steamboat Willie and
then went on to become a worldwide phenomenon.
This solidified Walt’s future and allowed he and the
company to produce the world’s first feature length
animation, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. Since his
first appearance, Mickey has gone on to become a global icon for Disney and the
embodiment of childhood wonder around the world.

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