184-484: Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks . The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company , Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white gloves. He is often depicted alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse , his pet dog Pluto , his friends Donald Duck and Goofy , and his nemesis Pete . Mickey
368-518: A role model for children, they were limited in the types of gags they could present. This led to Mickey taking more of a secondary role in some of his next films, allowing for more emphasis on other characters. In Orphan's Benefit (1934), Mickey first appeared with Donald Duck who had been introduced earlier that year in the Silly Symphony series. The tempestuous duck would provide Disney with seemingly endless story ideas and would remain
552-452: A "friend in deed and [we] certainly have been in need." Floyd Norman , the studio's first black animator who worked closely with Disney during the 1950s and 1960s, said, "Not once did I observe a hint of the racist behavior Walt Disney was often accused of after his death. His treatment of people—and by this I mean all people—can only be called exemplary." Watts argues that many of Disney's post-World War II films "legislated
736-645: A Christmas . Many television series have centered on Mickey, such as the ABC shows Mickey Mouse Works (1999–2000), House of Mouse (2001–2003), Disney Channel 's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006–2016), Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures (2017–2021) and Mickey Mouse Funhouse (2021–present). Prior to all these, Mickey was also featured as an unseen character in the Bonkers episode "You Oughta Be In Toons". In 2013, Disney Channel started airing new 3-minute Mickey Mouse shorts, with animator Paul Rudish at
920-492: A Studio , in which he corrals the characters of Disney's animated features to take a group picture. Mickey first appeared in comics after he had appeared in 15 commercially successful animated shorts and was easily recognized by the public. Walt Disney was approached by King Features Syndicate with the offer to license Mickey and his supporting characters for use in a comic strip. Disney accepted and Mickey Mouse made its first appearance on January 13, 1930. The comical plot
1104-518: A camera, he began experimenting at home. He came to the conclusion that cel animation was more promising than the cutout method. Unable to persuade Cauger to try cel animation at the company, Disney opened a new business with a co-worker from the Film Ad Co, Fred Harman . Their main client was the local Newman Theater, and the short cartoons they produced were sold as "Newman's Laugh-O-Grams". Disney studied Paul Terry's Aesop's Fables as
1288-647: A certain installment of the "Career Day" newsreel segments on The Mickey Mouse Club focusing on the bureau (which aired in January 1958), as well as an unmade 1961 educational short warning children about the dangers of child molestation . Disney's public persona was very different from his actual personality. Playwright Robert E. Sherwood described him as "almost painfully shy ... diffident" and self-deprecating. According to his biographer Richard Schickel , Disney hid his shy and insecure personality behind his public identity. Kimball argues that Disney "played
1472-637: A creator of entertainment for an almost unlimited public and as a highly ingenious merchandiser of his wares can rightly be compared to the most successful industrialists in history." Correspondent Alistair Cooke calls Disney a "folk-hero ... the Pied Piper of Hollywood", while Gabler considers Disney "reshaped the culture and the American consciousness". In the American Dictionary of National Biography , Langer writes: Disney remains
1656-414: A cynical manipulator of cultural and commercial formulas", while PBS records that critics have censured his work because of its "smooth façade of sentimentality and stubborn optimism, its feel-good re-write of American history". Disney has been accused of antisemitism for having given Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl a tour of his studio a month after Kristallnacht . Riefenstahl's invitation
1840-427: A detective in the style of Sherlock Holmes , in the modern era several editors and creators have consciously undertaken to depict a more vigorous Mickey in the mold of the classic Gottfredson adventures. This renaissance has been spearheaded by Byron Erickson , David Gerstein , Noel Van Horn , Michael T. Gilbert and César Ferioli . In Europe, Mickey Mouse became the main attraction of a number of comics magazines,
2024-473: A distributor. Following the 1927 sensation The Jazz Singer , Disney used synchronized sound on the third short, Steamboat Willie , to create the first post-produced sound cartoon . After the animation was complete, Disney signed a contract with the former executive of Universal Pictures, Pat Powers , to use the "Powers Cinephone" recording system; Cinephone became the new distributor for Disney's early sound cartoons, which soon became popular. To improve
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#17327662162742208-513: A downright feeling of animosity for our M. Mouse. Mr. A. Hitler, the Nazi old thing, says that Mickey's silly. Imagine that! Well, Mickey is going to save Mr. A Hitler from drowning or something some day. Just wait and see if he doesn't. Then won't Mr. A. Hitler be ashamed!" In late 1939, when Disney was discussing plans to move his staff to a newly built studio in Burbank , one employee asked him how
2392-469: A falling out over money due Disney from the distribution deal. It was in response to losing the right to distribute Disney's cartoons that Powers made the deal with Iwerks, who had long harbored a desire to head his own studio. The departure is considered a turning point in Mickey's career, as well as that of Walt Disney. Walt lost the man who served as his closest colleague and confidant since 1919. Mickey lost
2576-525: A foreign language, not suppressed or sponsored or anything. Just Disney." Many of those with whom Disney worked commented that he gave his staff little encouragement due to his exceptionally high expectations. Norman recalls that when Disney said "That'll work", it was an indication of high praise. Instead of direct approval, Disney gave high-performing staff financial bonuses, or recommended certain individuals to others, expecting that his praise would be passed on. Views of Disney and his work have changed over
2760-859: A functional city was replaced by a park more akin to a permanent world's fair . In 2009, the Walt Disney Family Museum, designed by Disney's daughter Diane and her son Walter E. D. Miller, opened in the Presidio of San Francisco . Thousands of artifacts from Disney's life and career are on display, including numerous awards that he received. In 2014, the Disney theme parks around the world hosted approximately 134 million visitors. Early in 1925, Disney hired an ink artist, Lillian Bounds . They married in July of that year, at her brother's house in her home town of Lewiston, Idaho . The marriage
2944-667: A generous donor to Thomas E. Dewey 's 1944 bid for the presidency . In 1946, he was a founding member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals , an organization who stated they "believ[ed] in, and like, the American Way of Life ... we find ourselves in sharp revolt against a rising tide of Communism, Fascism and kindred beliefs, that seek by subversive means to undermine and change this way of life". In 1947, during
3128-431: A goodwill trip to South America, ensuring he was absent during a resolution he knew would be unfavorable to the studio. Due to the strike—and the financial state of the company—several animators left the studio, and Disney's relationship with other members of staff was permanently strained as a result. The strike temporarily interrupted the studio's next production, Dumbo (1941), which Disney produced in
3312-523: A kind of cultural Marshall Plan . They nourished a genial cultural imperialism that magically overran the rest of the globe with the values, expectations, and goods of a prosperous middle-class United States." Film historian Jay P. Telotte acknowledges that many see Disney's studio as an "agent of manipulation and repression", although he observes that it has "labored throughout its history to link its name with notions of fun, family, and fantasy". John Tomlinson, in his study Cultural Imperialism , examines
3496-478: A larger fee for producing the Oswald series, but found Mintz wanting to reduce the payments. Mintz had also persuaded many of the artists involved to work directly for him, including Harman, Ising, Carman Maxwell and Friz Freleng . Disney also found out that Universal owned the intellectual property rights to Oswald. Mintz threatened to start his own studio and produce the series himself if Disney refused to accept
3680-727: A larger plot in Anaheim , 35 miles (56 km) south of the studio, was purchased. To distance the project from the studio—which might attract the criticism of shareholders—Disney formed WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering ) and used his own money to fund a group of designers and animators to work on the plans; those involved became known as "Imagineers". After obtaining bank funding he invited other stockholders, American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres —part of American Broadcasting Company (ABC)—and Western Printing and Lithographing Company . In mid-1954, Disney sent his Imagineers to every amusement park in
3864-609: A model, and the first six "Laugh-O-Grams" were modernized fairy tales. In May 1921, the success of the "Laugh-O-Grams" led to the establishment of Laugh-O-Gram Studio , for which he hired more animators, including Fred Harman's brother Hugh , Rudolf Ising and Iwerks. The Laugh-O-Grams cartoons did not provide enough income to keep the company solvent, so Disney started production of Alice's Wonderland —based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland —which combined live action with animation; he cast Virginia Davis in
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#17327662162744048-474: A month. In July 1924, Disney also hired Iwerks, persuading him to relocate to Hollywood from Kansas City. In 1926, the first official Walt Disney Studio was established at 2725 Hyperion Avenue; the building was demolished in 1940. By 1926, Winkler's role in the distribution of the Alice series had been handed over to her husband, the film producer Charles Mintz , although the relationship between him and Disney
4232-831: A nervous breakdown in October 1931—which he blamed on the machinations of Powers and his own overwork—so he and Lillian took an extended holiday to Cuba and a cruise to Panama to recover. With the loss of Powers as distributor, Disney studios signed a contract with Columbia Pictures to distribute the Mickey Mouse cartoons, which became increasingly popular, including internationally. Disney and his crew also introduced new cartoon stars like Pluto in 1930, Goofy in 1932 and Donald Duck in 1934. Always keen to embrace new technology and encouraged by his new contract with United Artists , Disney filmed Flowers and Trees (1932) in full-color three-strip Technicolor ; he
4416-485: A new home in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles. With the help of his friends Ward and Betty Kimball , who already had their own backyard railroad , Disney developed blueprints and immediately set to work on creating a miniature live steam railroad for his back yard. The name of the railroad, Carolwood Pacific Railroad , came from his home's location on Carolwood Drive. The miniature working steam locomotive
4600-618: A new series based on the Arabian Nights , but were unable to obtain funding. Disney called them back when he began work for Charles Mintz , producing the Alice Comedies live-action/animation hybrid shorts and the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons. After a dispute over money, Mintz forced out Disney in 1928 and lured most of his animators, Harman and Ising included, to join him. After Carl Laemmle replaced Mintz with
4784-403: A noted admirer of Chaplin's work, ascribing his development as a storytelling to the actor. In The American Magazine for March 1931, Disney explained, "I think we were rather indebted to Charlie Chaplin for the idea [of Mickey Mouse]. 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
4968-512: A pair of shorts with two large buttons in the front. Before Mickey was seen regularly in color animation, Mickey's shorts were either red or a dull blue-green. With the advent of Mickey's color films, they were always red. When Mickey is not wearing his shorts, he is often still wearing red clothing. Due to budgetary limits imposed by World War II , Mickey temporarily lost his tail, e.g. in The Little Whirlwind (1941). Mickey
5152-471: A party through the plant. Leni was in the party. If we had known it in advance she wouldn't have got in." Animation historian Jim Korkis, theorizes that Disney may have also met with Riefenstahl for financial reasons: as an attempt by Disney to recover over 135,000 Reichsmarks owed from his German film distributor and to get the ban on Disney films lifted in Germany. Animator Art Babbitt , organizer behind
5336-542: A period of time, to which her father raised no objections and even reportedly said, "Sharon, I think it's wonderful how these Jewish families have accepted you." Disney has also been accused of other forms of racism because some of his productions released between the 1930s and 1950s contain racially insensitive material. Gabler argues that "Walt Disney was no racist. He never, either publicly or privately, made disparaging remarks about blacks or asserted white superiority. Like most white Americans of his generation, however, he
5520-413: A pleasing angle, ears included, as opposed to depicting Mickey as a realistic 3D character. Mickey's eyes were originally large and white with black outlines, with the tops able to deform like eyebrows; the pupil was circular (with a triangle cut out in poster close-ups to simulate reflected light). Starting with Steamboat Willie , the bottom portion of the black outlines was removed, often making
5704-603: A rebellious hero. When not facing an opponent, Mickey is oft placed in situations where his pursuits of grandeur or simple accomplishment lead to disastrous results, typically at the hands of his own impulsivity, as was the case in The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1940) among others. Mickey is not portrayed as a hero in the traditional sense, instead acting as a subversion of the stock archetype. He often fumbles his way through adventures; his small size and misplaced optimism serving as his dominating flaws. His manner of problem-solving
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5888-516: A recurring character in Mickey's cartoons. Mickey first appeared animated in color in Parade of the Award Nominees in 1932; however, the film strip was created for the 5th Academy Awards ceremony and was not released to the public. Mickey's official first color film came in 1935 with The Band Concert . The Technicolor film process was used in the film production. Here Mickey conducted
6072-452: A result, Mickey would soon become the most prominent animated character of the time. Walt Disney soon worked on adding sound to both Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho (which had originally been silent releases) and their new release added to Mickey's success and popularity. A fourth Mickey short, The Barn Dance , was also put into production; however, Mickey does not actually speak until The Karnival Kid (1929). After Steamboat Willie
6256-624: A series by himself as evidenced by his sudden resignation. Disney then searched for a replacement among the remaining staff of the Studio. He selected Floyd Gottfredson , a recently hired employee. At the time Gottfredson was reportedly eager to work in animation and somewhat reluctant to accept his new assignment. Disney had to assure him the assignment was only temporary and that he would eventually return to animation. Gottfredson accepted and ended up holding this "temporary" assignment from May 5, 1930, to November 15, 1975. Walt Disney's last script for
6440-573: A series of popular live-action nature films, titled True-Life Adventures , with Seal Island the first; the film won the Academy Award in the Best Short Subject (Two-Reel) category. In early 1950, Disney produced Cinderella , his studio's first animated feature in eight years. It was popular with critics and theater audiences. Costing $ 2.2 million to produce, it earned nearly $ 8 million in its first year. Disney
6624-455: A showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise. During 1966, Disney cultivated businesses willing to sponsor EPCOT. He received a story credit in the 1966 film Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. as Retlaw Yensid, his name spelt backwards. He increased his involvement in the studio's films, and was heavily involved in the story development of The Jungle Book ,
6808-521: A simple and inexpensive manner; the film received a positive reaction from audiences and critics alike. Shortly after the release of Dumbo in October 1941, the U.S. entered World War II. Disney formed the Walt Disney Training Films Unit within the company to produce instruction films for the military such as Four Methods of Flush Riveting and Aircraft Production Methods . Disney also met with Henry Morgenthau Jr. ,
6992-596: A special award from the League of Nations for creating Mickey. The second half of the 1930s saw the character Goofy reintroduced as a series regular. Together, Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy would go on several adventures together. Several of the films by the comic trio are some of Mickey's most critically acclaimed films, including Mickey's Fire Brigade (1935), Moose Hunters (1937), Clock Cleaners (1937), Lonesome Ghosts (1937), Boat Builders (1938), and Mickey's Trailer (1938). Also during this era, Mickey
7176-656: A specialty until Murry's first serial for Walt Disney's Comics and Stories in 1953 ("The Last Resort"). In the same period, Romano Scarpa in Italy for the magazine Topolino began to revitalize Mickey in stories that brought back the Phantom Blot and Eega Beeva along with new creations such as the Atomo Bleep-Bleep. While the stories at Western Publishing during the Silver Age emphasized Mickey as
7360-680: A theme park. When he visited Griffith Park in Los Angeles with his daughters, he wanted to be in a clean, unspoiled park, where both children and their parents could have fun. He visited the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was heavily influenced by the cleanliness and layout of the park. In March 1952, he received zoning permission to build a theme park in Burbank, near the Disney studios. This site proved too small, and
7544-534: A variety of perspectives, ranging from views of him as a purveyor of homely patriotic values to being a representative of American cultural imperialism . Widely considered to be one of the most influential cultural figures of the 20th century, Disney remains an important presence in the history of animation and in the cultural history of the United States , where he is acknowledged as a national cultural icon . His film work continues to be shown and adapted,
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7728-405: A ventriloquist dummy companion to Donald Duck. In August 2018, ABC television announced a two-hour prime time special, Mickey's 90th Spectacular , in honor of Mickey's 90th birthday. The program featured never-before-seen short videos and several other celebrities who wanted to share their memories about Mickey Mouse and performed some of the Disney songs to impress Mickey. The show took place at
7912-621: A young Walter Lantz in early 1929, Harman and Ising, alongside a number of former Oswald animators put together a pilot short, " Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid", featuring a character Harman created in 1928 as sound films were becoming popular. The short gained them a contract with Warner Brothers studios to produce animated cartoons with Leon Schlesinger as manager. Harman and Ising started the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons in 1930 and 1931, respectively (Harman would direct
8096-525: Is a meetable character at the Disney parks. He is one of the world's most recognizable and universally acclaimed fictional characters. Ten of Mickey's cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film , one of which, Lend a Paw , won the award in 1941 . In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Mickey Mouse
8280-584: Is frequently pitted against larger-than-life villains to accentuate this idea; namely the hulking cat Pegleg Pete, and numerous one-shot antagonists such as the giants of Giantland (1933) and Brave Little Tailor (1938), the king of cards in Thru the Mirror (1936) and Mortimer Mouse in Mickey's Rival (1936). These adversaries were decidedly portrayed as overbearing figures of authority, thusly painting Mickey as
8464-460: Is generally unorthodox to comedic effect; in Ye Olden Days (1933), Mickey's jousting horse was an infantile mule. In Shanghaied (1934), Mickey battled with a broadbill in place of a sword. The underdog nature of Mickey's character has been interpreted by historians as a symbolic reflection of Walt Disney's early struggles as a farm boy breaking into the imposing Hollywood industry in
8648-462: The Mickey Mouse comic strip , which ran for 45 years) and comic books (such as Mickey Mouse ). The character has also been featured in television series such as The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1996). Inspired by such silent film personalities as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks , Mickey is traditionally characterized as a sympathetic underdog who gets by on pluck and ingenuity in
8832-553: The William Tell Overture , but the band is swept up by a tornado. It is said that conductor Arturo Toscanini so loved this short that, upon first seeing it, he asked the projectionist to run it again. In 1994, The Band Concert was voted the third-greatest cartoon of all time in a poll of animation professionals. By colorizing and partially redesigning Mickey, Walt put Mickey back on top once again. Mickey reach new heights of popularity. Also in 1935, Walt would receive
9016-531: The 1941 strike at the studio and who held a well-known grudge against Disney, claimed in his later years that he saw Disney and his lawyer attend meetings of the German American Bund , a pro-Nazi organization, during the late 1930s. However, according to Disney biographer Neal Gabler: "...that was highly unlikely, not only because Walt had little enough time for his family, much less political meetings, but because he had no real political leanings at
9200-642: The American animation industry , he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons . As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned (22) and nominations (59) by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award , among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and have also been named as some of
9384-509: The Chouinard Art Institute ; he brought animals into the studio and hired actors so that the animators could study realistic movement. To portray the changing perspective of the background as a camera moved through a scene, Disney's animators developed a multiplane camera which allowed drawings on pieces of glass to be set at various distances from the camera, creating an illusion of depth. The glass could be moved to create
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#17327662162749568-665: The Disneyland series, which was made in collaboration with NASA rocket designer Wernher von Braun . Disney also oversaw aspects of the full-length features Lady and the Tramp (the first animated film in CinemaScope ) in 1955, Sleeping Beauty (the first animated film in Technirama 70 mm film ) in 1959, One Hundred and One Dalmatians (the first animated feature film to use Xerox cels ) in 1961, and The Sword in
9752-834: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opened a three-month special exhibit in honor of Disney titled "Inspiring Walt Disney". Hugh Harman Hugh Harman (August 31, 1903 – November 25, 1982) was an American animator. He was known for creating the Warner Bros. Cartoons and MGM Cartoons studios and his collaboration with Rudolf Ising during the Golden Age of American animation . He began his work with Walt Disney in 1922, working on Disney's early Laugh-O-Gram Cartoons . When that company went bankrupt, Harman and partner Rudolf Ising tried to start
9936-784: The Second Red Scare , Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), where he branded Herbert Sorrell , David Hilberman and William Pomerance , former animators and labor union organizers, as communist agitators; Disney stated that the 1941 strike led by them was part of an organized communist effort to gain influence in Hollywood. The New York Times reported in 1993 that Disney had been an FBI informant passing secret information to J. Edgar Hoover about communist activities in Hollywood. However, while Walt Disney
10120-696: The Secretary of the Treasury , and agreed to produce short Donald Duck cartoons to promote war bonds . Disney also produced several propaganda productions , including shorts such as Der Fuehrer's Face —which won an Academy Award—and the 1943 feature film Victory Through Air Power . The military films generated only enough revenue to cover costs, and the feature film Bambi —which had been in production since 1937—underperformed on its release in August 1942, and lost $ 200,000 at
10304-478: The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and was produced and directed by Don Mischer on November 4, 2018. On November 18, 2018, a 90th anniversary event for the character was celebrated around the world. In December 2019, both Mickey and Minnie served as special co-hosts of Wheel of Fortune for two weeks while Vanna White served as the main host during Pat Sajak 's absence. Mickey is the subject of
10488-551: The Times before school and repeated the round for the evening Star after school. The schedule was exhausting, and Disney often received poor grades after falling asleep in class, but he continued his paper route for more than six years. He attended Saturday courses at the Kansas City Art Institute and also took a correspondence course in cartooning. In 1917, Elias bought stock in a Chicago jelly producer,
10672-540: The Walt Disney anthology television series , and on home video. Mickey returned to theatrical animation in 1983 with Mickey's Christmas Carol , an adaptation of Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol in which Mickey played Bob Cratchit . This was followed up in 1990 with The Prince and the Pauper . Throughout the decades, Mickey Mouse competed with Warner Bros.' Bugs Bunny for animated popularity. But in 1988,
10856-684: The greatest films ever by the American Film Institute . Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and took a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio (now The Walt Disney Company ) with his brother Roy . With Ub Iwerks , he developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success; he also provided
11040-595: The opening, closing and medal ceremonies . He was one of twelve investors in the Celebrity Sports Center , which opened in 1960 in Glendale, Colorado ; he and Roy bought out the others in 1962, making the Disney company the sole owner. Despite the demands wrought by non-studio projects, Disney continued to work on film and television projects. In 1955, he was involved in " Man in Space ", an episode of
11224-412: The pupils. His screen role as The Sorcerer's Apprentice , set to the symphonic poem of the same name by Paul Dukas , is perhaps the most famous segment of the film and one of Mickey's most iconic roles. The apprentice (Mickey), not willing to do his chores, puts on the sorcerer 's magic hat after the sorcerer goes to bed and casts a spell on a broom, which causes the broom to come to life and perform
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#173276621627411408-505: The starving artist drew inspiration from a tame mouse (or pair of mice) at his desk at Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri , or that he undertook a romantic search for inspiration on the train ride home from his disappointing meeting with Mintz. At Disney's behest, Iwerks sketched new character ideas based on various animals such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were rejected, as
11592-446: The "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" ( EPCOT ), which he described as: an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be
11776-494: The "Happy Harmonies" series in color (incidentally replacing fellow 1920s-era Disney veteran Ub Iwerks ), in which Harman redeveloped Bosko into a realistic African-American kid. After yet another money-related quarrel, Harman and Ising were fired by MGM in 1937, being replaced by an in-house cartoon studio headed by Fred Quimby . That same year, Disney borrowed the Harman-Ising Ink and Paint unit for Snow White and
11960-465: The 1920s. It has also been perceived as an allegory for the Great Depression in the United States , with Mickey's unrelenting optimism symbolizing the "American endurance to survive" in the face of economic woes. Charlie Chaplin, known by audiences of the time for his role as the " Little Tramp ", was identified by Disney as a source of inspiration for the Mickey character. Disney himself was
12144-503: The 1930s and 1940s stated, "As far as I'm concerned, there was no evidence of antisemitism. I think the whole idea should be put to rest and buried deep. He was not antisemitic. Some of the most influential people at the studio were Jewish. It's much ado about nothing. I never once had a problem with him in that way." In addition songwriter Robert B. Sherman recalled that when one of Disney's lawyers made antisemitic remarks towards him and his brother Richard , Disney defended them and fired
12328-532: The 2013 film Saving Mr. Banks . In 2001, the German author Peter Stephan Jungk published Der König von Amerika (trans: The King of America ), a fictional work of Disney's later years that re-imagines him as a power-hungry racist. The composer Philip Glass later adapted the book into the opera The Perfect American (2013). Several commentators have described Disney as a cultural icon . On Disney's death, journalism professor Ralph S. Izard comments that
12512-663: The 2022 documentary film Mickey: The Story of a Mouse , directed by Jeff Malmberg. Premiering at the South by Southwest film festival prior to its premiere on the Disney+ streaming service, the documentary examines the history and cultural impact of Mickey Mouse. The feature is accompanied by an original, hand-drawn animated short film starring Mickey titled Mickey in a Minute . Mickey appeared in Walt Disney Animation Studios' centennial short film, Once Upon
12696-592: The Arts (colloquially called CalArts), and had an architect draw up blueprints for a new building. Disney provided four exhibits for the 1964 New York World's Fair , for which he obtained funding from selected corporate sponsors. For PepsiCo , who planned a tribute to UNICEF , Disney developed It's a Small World , a boat ride with audio-animatronic dolls depicting children of the world; Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln contained an animatronic Abraham Lincoln giving excerpts from his speeches; Carousel of Progress promoted
12880-466: The Cat ). From early 1929, Mickey also wore white gloves (similar to those appearing on later characters, e.g. Bosko and Bimbo ). Several sources state that this scheme evolved from blackface caricatures used in minstrel shows . Additionally, Mickey's original black hands could not be seen if they passed in front of his torso. This limitation encouraged animators to base their poses on silhouette , much in
13064-588: The Disney theme parks have grown in size and number around the world and his company has grown to become one of the world's largest mass media and entertainment conglomerates . Disney was born on December 5, 1901, at 1249 Tripp Avenue, in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood. He was the fourth son of Elias Disney —born in the Province of Canada , to Irish parents—and Flora ( née Call), an American of German and English descent. Aside from Walt, Elias and Flora's sons were Herbert, Raymond and Roy ; and
13248-688: The Disneys moved to Kansas City, Missouri . There, Disney attended the Benton Grammar School , where he met fellow-student Walter Pfeiffer, who came from a family of theatre fans and introduced him to the world of vaudeville and motion pictures. Before long, Disney was spending more time at the Pfeiffers' house than at home. Elias had purchased a newspaper delivery route for The Kansas City Star and Kansas City Times . Disney and his brother Roy woke up at 4:30 every morning to deliver
13432-500: The Frog . The two are established in the story as having been old friends, although they have not made any other appearance together outside of this. His most recent theatrical cartoon short was 2013's Get a Horse! which was preceded by 1995's Runaway Brain , while from 1999 to 2004, he appeared in direct-to-video features like Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas , Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers and Mickey's Twice Upon
13616-560: The Kansas City Film Ad Company, run by A. V. Cauger; the following month Iwerks, who was not able to run their business alone, also joined. The company produced commercials using the cutout animation technique. Disney became interested in animation, although he preferred drawn cartoons such as Mutt and Jeff and Max Fleischer 's Out of the Inkwell . With the assistance of a borrowed book on animation and
13800-570: The Looney Tune shorts), and produced them until 1933. Following a number of clashes with Schlesinger over budgets, they decided to leave WB and look for another distributor. Harman and Ising took Bosko with them, having previously copyrighted him to avoid facing the same situation Disney had with Oswald. In the meantime, Harman-Ising Pictures outsourced a number of Cubby Bear cartoons for The Van Beuren Corporation . In early 1934, Harman and Ising were hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , which launched
13984-655: The O-Zell Company, and moved back to the city with his family. Disney enrolled at McKinley High School and became the cartoonist of the school newspaper, drawing patriotic pictures about World War I; he also took night courses at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts . In mid-1918, he attempted to join the United States Army to fight the Germans , but he was rejected as too young. After forging
14168-572: The Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio, where he drew commercial illustrations for advertising, theater programs and catalogs, and befriended fellow artist Ub Iwerks . In January 1920, as Pesmen-Rubin's revenue declined after Christmas, Disney, aged 18, and Iwerks were laid off. They started their own business, the short-lived Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists. Failing to attract many customers, Disney and Iwerks agreed that Disney should leave temporarily to earn money at
14352-752: The Pooh and the Blustery Day was released in 1968, it earned Disney an Academy Award in the Short Subject (Cartoon) category, awarded posthumously. After Disney's death, his studios continued to produce live-action films prolifically while the quality of their animated films was allowed to languish. In the late 1980s, this trend was reversed in what The New York Times describes as the " Disney Renaissance " that began with The Little Mermaid (1989). Disney's studios continue to produce successful film, television and stage entertainment. Disney's plans for
14536-575: The Seven Dwarfs and the studio also outsourced a number of cartoons for the Silly Symphonies series, although Disney ultimately only accepted Merbabies , the other shorts being released by MGM in early 1938, which after a rocky start with the in-house studio, decided to take Harman and Ising back some time later as production supervisors. After leaving Metro in 1941, Harman founded a new studio with Disney veteran Mel Shaw. In 1943,
14720-442: The Seven Dwarfs , based on the fairy tale . When news leaked out about the project, many in the film industry predicted it would bankrupt the company; industry insiders nicknamed it "Disney's Folly". The film, which was the first animated feature made in full color and sound, cost $ 1.5 million to produce—three times over budget. To ensure the animation was as realistic as possible, Disney sent his animators on courses at
14904-534: The Stone in 1963. In 1964, Disney produced Mary Poppins , based on the book series by P. L. Travers ; he had been trying to acquire the rights to the story since the 1940s. It became the most successful Disney film of the 1960s, although Travers disliked the film intensely and regretted having sold the rights. The same year he also became involved in plans to expand the California Institute of
15088-598: The U.S. Government would have disqualified him from making these films. The Walt Disney Family Museum acknowledges that ethnic stereotypes common to films of the 1930s were included in some early cartoons but also points out that Disney donated regularly to Jewish charities and was named the 1955 "Man of the Year" by the B'nai B'rith chapter in Beverly Hills. The organization itself found no evidence of antisemitism on Disney's part. The plaque read: "For exemplifying
15272-477: The U.S. to analyze what worked and what pitfalls or problems there were in the various locations and incorporated their findings into his design. Construction work started in July 1954, and Disneyland opened in July 1955; the opening ceremony was broadcast on ABC, which reached 70 million viewers. The park was designed as a series of themed lands, linked by the central Main Street, U.S.A. —a replica of
15456-453: The affluent ... [' Yankee '] lifestyle has a direct pedagogic effect". Disney has been portrayed numerous times in fictional works. H. G. Wells references Disney in his 1938 novel The Holy Terror , in which World Dictator Rud fears that Donald Duck is meant to lampoon the dictator. Disney was portrayed by Len Cariou in the 1995 made-for-TV film A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story , and by Tom Hanks in
15640-571: The army and for educational films. After a two year hiatus, Harman returned to the animation industry with The Littlest Angel , a collaboration between his company and Coronet Films . Harman's final film he did (albeit incomplete and entirely shipped to Coronet, completed by Gordon A. Sheehan ) was Tom Thumb in King Arthur's Court. Harman worked on the film extensively with Mel Shaw , but ultimately gave production to Coronet because he couldn't complete it. After Harman-Ising Studios closed in
15824-476: The attorney. Gabler, the first writer to gain unrestricted access to the Disney archives, concludes that the available evidence does not support accusations of antisemitism and that Disney largely got that reputation due to his association with Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals – an anti-Communist organization formed in 1944, that was rumored to have antisemitic undertones. Gabler concludes that "...though Walt himself, in my estimation,
16008-465: The back of Mickey's gloves represent darts in the gloves' fabric extending from between the digits of the hand, typical of glove design of the era. When the Cat's Away (April 18, 1929), essentially a remake of the Alice Comedy , "Alice Rattled by Rats", was an unusual appearance for Mickey. Although Mickey and Minnie still maintained their anthropomorphic characteristics, they were depicted as
16192-478: The best he could." American journalist Alva Johnston noted the similarities between the two figures, stating, "Chaplin was a kind of godfather to Mickey Mouse. It is now and always has been the aim of Disney to graft the psychology of Chaplin upon Mickey. The two universal characters have something in common in their approach to their problems. They have the same blend of hero and coward, nitwit and genius, mug and gentleman." Besides Chaplin, other notable figures of
16376-438: The best tenets of American citizenship and inter-group understanding and interpreting into action the ideals of B'nai B'rith." Disney had numerous Jewish employees, many of whom were in influential positions. None of Disney's employees including animator Art Babbitt , who disliked Disney intensely – ever accused him of making antisemitic slurs or taunts. Jewish story man Joe Grant , who worked closely with Disney throughout
16560-469: The box office. On top of the low earnings from Pinocchio and Fantasia , the company had debts of $ 4 million with the Bank of America in 1944. At a meeting with Bank of America executives to discuss the future of the company, the bank's chairman and founder, Amadeo Giannini , told his executives, "I've been watching the Disneys' pictures quite closely because I knew we were lending them money far above
16744-437: The central figure in the history of animation. Through technological innovations and alliances with governments and corporations, he transformed a minor studio in a marginal form of communication into a multinational leisure industry giant. Despite his critics, his vision of a modern, corporate utopia as an extension of traditional American values has possibly gained greater currency in the years after his death. In December 2021,
16928-470: The character easier to animate. Disney, who had begun to distance himself from the animation process, provided Mickey's voice until 1947. In the words of one Disney employee, "Ub designed Mickey's physical appearance, but Walt gave him his soul." Mickey Mouse first appeared in May 1928 as a single test screening of the short Plane Crazy , but it, and the second feature, The Gallopin' Gaucho , failed to find
17112-459: The character's onscreen persona. Mickey's original design strongly resembled Oswald the Rabbit, save for the ears, nose, and tail. Ub Iwerks designed Mickey's body out of circles (distinctly, the ears) to make the character easy to animate. Upon his creation, Mickey's features shared similarities to a number of his cartoon predecessors with large eyes and mouth on a black body (e.g. Oswald and Felix
17296-442: The climax of Fantasmic! , an attraction at the Disney theme parks. After 1940, Mickey's popularity declined until his 1955 re-emergence as a daily children's television personality. Despite this, the character continued to appear regularly in animated shorts until 1943 (winning his only competitive Academy Award—with canine companion Pluto—for the short subject Lend a Paw ) and again from 1946 to 1952. In these later cartoons, Mickey
17480-585: The comic strip effectively combined comedy and adventure. This adventurous version of Mickey would continue to appear in comic strips and later comic books throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. Floyd Gottfredson left his mark with stories such as Mickey Mouse Joins the Foreign Legion (1936) and The Gleam (1942). He also created the Phantom Blot , Eega Beeva , Morty and Ferdie, Captain Churchmouse, and Butch. Besides Gottfredson artists for
17664-638: The company's first public stock offering in 1940, and implemented heavy salary cuts. The latter measure, and Disney's sometimes high-handed and insensitive manner of dealing with staff, led to a 1941 animators' strike which lasted five weeks. While a federal mediator from the National Labor Relations Board negotiated with the two sides, Disney accepted an offer from the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to make
17848-711: The construction of Disneyland, Disney worked on other projects away from the studio. He was consultant to the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow; Disney Studios' contribution was America the Beautiful , a 19-minute film in the 360-degree Circarama theater that was one of the most popular attractions. The following year he acted as the chairman of the Pageantry Committee for the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California , where he designed
18032-576: The couple had a fifth child, Ruth, in December 1903. In 1906, when Disney was four, the family moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri , where his uncle Robert had just purchased land. In Marceline, Disney developed his interest in drawing when he was paid to draw the horse of a retired neighborhood doctor. Elias was a subscriber to the Appeal to Reason newspaper, and Disney practiced drawing by copying
18216-412: The creation of Mickey Mouse". In 1933, Disney produced The Three Little Pigs , a film described by the media historian Adrian Danks as "the most successful short animation of all time". The film won Disney another Academy Award in the Short Subject (Cartoon) category. The film's success led to a further increase in the studio's staff, which numbered nearly 200 by the end of the year. Disney realized
18400-682: The creation of Mickey Mouse. Despite being eclipsed by the Silly Symphony short the Three Little Pigs in 1933, Mickey still maintained great popularity among theater audiences too, until 1935, when polls showed that Popeye was more popular than Mickey. By 1934, Mickey merchandise had earned $ 600,000 a year. In 1935, Disney began to phase out the Mickey Mouse Clubs, due to administration problems. About this time, story artists at Disney were finding it increasingly difficult to write material for Mickey. As he had developed into
18584-585: The date of birth on his birth certificate, he joined the Red Cross in September 1918 as an ambulance driver. He was shipped to France but arrived in November, after the armistice . He drew cartoons on the side of his ambulance for decoration and had some of his work published in the army newspaper Stars and Stripes . He returned to Kansas City in October 1919, where he worked as an apprentice artist at
18768-566: The debuts of corrupted lawyer Sylvester Shyster and Minnie's uncle Mortimer Mouse . The Death Valley narrative was followed by Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers , first printed between September 22 and December 26, 1930, which introduced Marcus Mouse and his wife as Minnie's parents. Starting with these two early comic strip stories, Mickey's versions in animation and comics are considered to have diverged from each other. While Disney and his cartoon shorts would continue to focus on comedy,
18952-408: The decades, and there have been polarized opinions. Mark Langer, in the American Dictionary of National Biography , writes that "Earlier evaluations of Disney hailed him as a patriot, folk artist, and popularizer of culture. More recently, Disney has been regarded as a paradigm of American imperialism and intolerance, as well as a debaser of culture." Steven Watts wrote that some denounce Disney "as
19136-400: The development of animated film. New animated and live-action films followed after World War II, including the critically successful Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Mary Poppins (1964), the last of which received five Academy Awards. In the 1950s, Disney expanded into the theme park industry, and in July 1955 he opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California . To fund
19320-466: The duo signed a deal with Orson Welles to adapt The Little Prince , in which Welles would play the role of the aviator while a random child actor would portray the prince. A few months later, Welles fell ill with hepatitis, nearly dying while recovering in Florida. After this, the deal fell through and the film was scrapped. From 1945 to 1947, his production company would produce various cartoons for
19504-492: The early 1960s, Harman fell in a state of abject poverty. He lived in a ramshackle house, no longer being able to afford a car, although he often disguised his precarious state by frequently having breakfast at a Beverly Hills restaurant. He had to constantly borrow money from Ising, as well as colleagues Friz Freleng and Roy O. Disney in the 1970s to keep afloat. He also received a monthly allowance from his brother Fred, until Fred's death in January 1982. After that point, Harman
19688-535: The early to mid-1950s, Disney began to devote less attention to the animation department, entrusting most of its operations to his key animators, the Nine Old Men , although he was always present at story meetings. Instead, he started concentrating on other ventures. Around the same time, Disney established his own film distribution division Buena Vista , replacing his most recent distributor RKO Pictures . For several years Disney had been considering building
19872-498: The eighteenth strip, Iwerks left and his inker, Win Smith, continued drawing the gag-a-day format." In early 1930, after Iwerks' departure, Disney was at first content to continue scripting the Mickey Mouse comic strip, assigning the art to Win Smith. However, Disney's focus had always been in animation and Smith was soon assigned with the scripting as well. Smith was apparently discontent at the prospect of having to script, draw, and ink
20056-483: The face of challenges bigger than himself. The character's depiction as a small mouse is personified through his diminutive stature and falsetto voice, the latter of which was originally provided by Walt Disney. Though originally characterized as a cheeky lovable rogue , Mickey was rebranded over time as a more conventionally friendly protagonist, usually seen as a spirited, yet impulsive hero . Mickey also appears in media such as video games as well as merchandising and
20240-481: The family , neither Disney nor his wife hid the fact Sharon had been adopted, although they became annoyed if people outside the family raised the point. The Disneys were careful to keep their daughters out of the public eye as much as possible, particularly in the light of the Lindbergh kidnapping ; Disney took steps to ensure his daughters were not photographed by the press. In 1949, Disney and his family moved to
20424-411: The film's production, with Walt even sending him gifts. When Baskett was in failing health, Disney not only began financially supporting him and his family, but also campaigned successfully for an Honorary Academy Award for his performance, making Baskett the first black actor so honored. Baskett died shortly afterward, and his widow wrote Disney a letter of gratitude for his support claiming he had been
20608-482: The financial risk. ... They're good this year, they're good next year, and they're good the year after. ... You have to relax and give them time to market their product." Disney's production of short films decreased in the late 1940s, coinciding with increasing competition in the animation market from Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer . Roy Disney, for financial reasons, suggested more combined animation and live-action productions. In 1948, Disney initiated
20792-416: The first issues were sold out in less than 8 hours. Mickey is traditionally characterized as a sympathetic underdog who gets by on pluck and ingenuity in the face of challenges much bigger than himself. As a mouse, an inherently vulnerable creature, Mickey is often depicted as having minimal resources and attributes at his disposal. Consequently, he must rely on sheer wit to overcome obstacles. The character
20976-404: The first to place him in combat. The Karnival Kid (1929) was the first time Mickey spoke. Before this he had only whistled, laughed, and grunted. His first words were "Hot dogs! Hot dogs!" said while trying to sell hot dogs at a carnival. Mickey's Follies (1929) introduced the song " Minnie's Yoo-Hoo " which would become the theme song for Mickey Mouse films until 1935. The same song sequence
21160-576: The front-page cartoons of Ryan Walker . He also began to develop an ability to work with watercolors and crayons. He lived near the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line and became enamored with trains. He and his younger sister Ruth started school at the same time at the Park School in Marceline in late 1909. The Disney family were active members of a Congregational church . In 1911,
21344-403: The futuristic city of EPCOT did not come to fruition. After Disney's death, his brother Roy deferred his retirement to take full control of the Disney companies. He changed the focus of the project from a town to an attraction. At the inauguration in 1971, Roy dedicated Walt Disney World to his brother. Walt Disney World expanded with the opening of Epcot Center in 1982; Walt Disney's vision of
21528-403: The head animator, assisted by Les Clark , Johnny Cannon, Wilfred Jackson and Dick Lundy . This short was a nod to Buster Keaton 's Steamboat Bill, Jr. , released earlier that year. Although it was the third Mickey cartoon produced, it was the first to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey's debut. It also featured some design refinements, and included
21712-467: The helm, incorporating elements of Mickey's late twenties-early thirties look with a contemporary twist. On November 10, 2020, the series was revived as The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse and premiered on Disney+ . Furthermore, The creative team behind the 2017 DuckTales reboot had hoped to have Mickey Mouse in the series, but this idea was rejected by Disney executives. However, a watermelon bearing Mickey's physical likeness appears in one episode as
21896-635: The importance of electricity; and Ford's Magic Skyway portrayed the progress of mankind. Elements of all four exhibits—principally concepts and technology—were re-installed in Disneyland, although It's a Small World is the ride that most closely resembles the original. During the early to mid-1960s, Disney developed plans for a ski resort in Mineral King , a glacial valley in California's Sierra Nevada . He hired experts such as
22080-432: The importance of telling emotionally gripping stories that would interest the audience, and he invested in a "story department" separate from the animators, with storyboard artists who would detail the plots of Disney's films. By 1934, Disney had become dissatisfied with producing cartoon shorts, and believed a feature-length cartoon would be more profitable. The studio began the four-year production of Snow White and
22264-509: The impression of a camera passing through the scene. The first work created on the camera—a Silly Symphony called The Old Mill (1937)—won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film because of its impressive visual power. Although Snow White had been largely finished by the time the multiplane camera had been completed, Disney ordered some scenes be re-drawn to use the new effects. Snow White premiered in December 1937 to high praise from critics and audiences. The film became
22448-404: The land, but the deal later collapsed over funding. In late 1965, he announced plans to develop another theme park to be called "Disney World" (now Walt Disney World ), a few miles southwest of Orlando, Florida . Disney World was to include the "Magic Kingdom"—a larger and more elaborate version of Disneyland—plus golf courses and resort hotels. The heart of Disney World was to be
22632-417: The live-action musical feature The Happiest Millionaire (both 1967) and the animated short Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968). Disney had been a heavy smoker since World War I. He did not use cigarettes with filters and had smoked a pipe as a young man. In early November 1966, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was treated with cobalt therapy . On November 30, he felt unwell and
22816-490: The main street in his hometown of Marceline. The connected themed areas were Adventureland , Frontierland , Fantasyland and Tomorrowland . The park also contained the narrow gauge Disneyland Railroad that linked the lands; around the outside of the park was a high berm to separate the park from the outside world. An editorial in The New York Times considered that Disney had "tastefully combined some of
23000-509: The making of Alice in Wonderland . Roy believed the program added millions to the box office takings. In a March 1951 letter to shareholders, he wrote that "television can be a most powerful selling aid for us, as well as a source of revenue. It will probably be on this premise that we enter television when we do". In 1954, after the Disneyland funding had been agreed, ABC broadcast Walt Disney's Disneyland , an anthology consisting of animated cartoons, live-action features and other material from
23184-566: The man responsible for his original design and for the direction or animation of several of the shorts released till this point. Advertising for the early Mickey Mouse cartoons credited them as "A Walt Disney Comic, drawn by Ub Iwerks". Later Disney Company reissues of the early cartoons tend to credit Walt Disney alone. Wild Waves was also composer Carl Stalling 's last film with the Walt Disney Studio . Stalling joined Iwerks at his new studio. Disney and his remaining staff continued
23368-418: The manner of Charlie Chaplin films. Minnie Mouse was designed similarly to Mickey, with only superficial details being different. In the 1930s, animator Fred Moore tried giving Mickey's body more of a pear shape to increase his acting range; Walt Disney liked this adaptation and declared, "that's the way I want Mickey to be drawn from now on." Moore maintained that the character should always be drawn from
23552-626: The most famous being Topolino in Italy from 1932 onward, Le Journal de Mickey in France from 1934 onward, Don Miki in Spain and the Greek Miky Maous . Mickey was the main character for the series MM Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine , published in Italy from 1999 to 2001. In 2006, he appeared in the Italian fantasy comic saga Wizards of Mickey . In 1958, Mickey Mouse
23736-488: The most successful motion picture of 1938 and by May 1939 its total gross of $ 6.5 million made it the most successful sound film made to that date. Disney won another Honorary Academy Award, which consisted of one full-sized and seven miniature Oscar statuettes. The success of Snow White heralded one of the most productive eras for the studio; the Walt Disney Family Museum calls the following years "the 'Golden Age of Animation ' ". With work on Snow White finished,
23920-401: The most tiring chore—filling up a deep well using two buckets of water. When the well eventually overflows, Mickey finds himself unable to control the broom, leading to a near-flood. After the segment ends, Mickey is seen in silhouette shaking hands with conductor Leopold Stokowski . Mickey has often been pictured in the red robe and blue sorcerer's hat in merchandising. It was also featured into
24104-580: The name on a similarly named Performo toy . Additionally, actor Mickey Rooney claimed that during his time performing as the title character of the Mickey McGuire film series (1927–1934), he met Walt Disney at the Warner Bros. studio, inspiring Disney to name the character after him; however, Disney Studios was located on Hyperion Avenue at the time, with Disney conducting no business at Warner Bros. The first feature-length movie with dialogue sequences, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson ,
24288-458: The pleasant things of yesterday with fantasy and dreams of tomorrow". Although there were early minor problems with the park, it was a success, and after a month's operation, Disneyland was receiving over 20,000 visitors a day; by the end of its first year, it attracted 3.6 million guests. The money from ABC was contingent on Disney television programs. The studio had been involved in a successful television special on Christmas Day 1950 about
24472-493: The process by urging Iwerks to abandon the practice of drawing every frame individually in favor of the more efficient technique of drawing key poses and letting assistants sketch the inbetween poses . Disney asked Powers for an increase in payments for the cartoons. Powers refused and signed Iwerks to work for him; Stalling resigned shortly afterwards, thinking that without Iwerks, the Disney Studio would close. Disney had
24656-481: The production of the Mickey series, and he was able to eventually find a number of animators to replace Iwerks. As the Great Depression progressed and Felix the Cat faded from the movie screen, Mickey's popularity would rise, and by 1932 The Mickey Mouse Club would have one million members. At the 5th Academy Awards in 1932, Mickey received his first Academy Award nomination, received for Mickey's Orphans (1931). Walt Disney also received an honorary Academy Award for
24840-430: The project he diversified into television programs, such as Walt Disney's Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club . He was also involved in planning the 1959 Moscow Fair , the 1960 Winter Olympics , and the 1964 New York World's Fair . In 1965, he began development of another theme park, Disney World , the heart of which was to be a new type of city, the " Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow " (EPCOT). Disney
25024-482: The pupil placement look strange. The pupils began to be treated as stationary, dotlike eyes, requiring the entire head to be moved to make Mickey look around. During the production of Fantasia in the late 1930s, Fred Moore redesigned Mickey with small white pupilled eyes, with the redefined facial area being given a light skin color. Distinct, lined eyebrows were later added and are currently used occasionally. Besides Mickey's gloves and shoes, he typically wears only
25208-590: The quality of the music, Disney hired the professional composer and arranger Carl Stalling , on whose suggestion the Silly Symphony series was developed, providing stories through the use of music; the first in the series, The Skeleton Dance (1929), was drawn and animated entirely by Iwerks. Also hired at this time were several artists, both local and from New York. Both the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies series were successful, but Disney and his brother felt they were not receiving their rightful share of profits from Powers. In 1930, Disney tried to trim costs from
25392-640: The recently begun War in Europe would affect its construction - to which Disney responded by asking: "What war?" During World War II , Disney was actively involved in making propaganda films against the Nazis, both for the general public (such as Der Fuehrer's Face and Education for Death ), as well as educational and training films exclusively for the United States Government . As early as March 1941 (several months before America's entry into
25576-537: The reductions. Disney declined Mintz's ultimatum and lost most of his animation staff, except Iwerks, who chose to remain with him. To replace Oswald, Disney and Iwerks developed Mickey Mouse , possibly inspired by a pet mouse that Disney had adopted while working in his Laugh-O-Gram studio, although the origins of the character are unclear. Disney's original choice of name was Mortimer Mouse, but his wife Lillian thought it too pompous, and suggested Mickey instead. Iwerks revised Disney's provisional sketches to make
25760-496: The renowned Olympic ski coach and ski-area designer Willy Schaeffler . With income from Disneyland accounting for an increasing proportion of the studio's income, Disney continued to look for venues for other attractions. In 1963, he presented a project to create a theme park in downtown St. Louis , Missouri; he initially reached an agreement with the Civic Center Redevelopment Corp, which controlled
25944-478: The role of a bashful tycoon who was embarrassed in public" and knew that he was doing so. Disney acknowledged the façade and told a friend that "I'm not Walt Disney. I do a lot of things Walt Disney would not do. Walt Disney does not smoke. I smoke. Walt Disney does not drink. I drink." Critic Otis Ferguson , in The New Republic , called the private Disney: "common and everyday, not inaccessible, not in
26128-429: The show). One of the segments of Disneyland consisted of the five-part miniseries Davy Crockett which, according to Disney biographer Neal Gabler , "became an overnight sensation". The show's theme song, " The Ballad of Davy Crockett ", became internationally popular and ten million records were sold. As a result, Disney formed his own record production and distribution entity, Disneyland Records . As well as
26312-459: The silent era have been credited to Mickey's characterization. Chief among them was Douglas Fairbanks , whose swashbuckling screen adventures would inspire Mickey's animated epics . Ub Iwerks wrote in 1970, "He was the super-hero of his day, always winning, gallant and swashbuckling. Mickey's action was in that vein. He was never intended to be a sissy, he was always an adventurous character. I thought of him in that respect, and I had him do naturally
26496-406: The size of regular mice and living with a community of many other mice as pests in a home. Mickey and Minnie would later appear the size of regular humans in their own setting. In appearances with real humans, Mickey has been shown to be about two to three feet high. The next Mickey short was also unusual. The Barnyard Battle (April 25, 1929) was the only film to depict Mickey as a soldier and also
26680-415: The sort of thing Doug Fairbanks would do." Disney was also noted to have been influenced by Fairbanks, along with other screen personalities including Harold Lloyd and Fred Astaire . Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( / ˈ d ɪ z n i / DIZ -nee ; December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of
26864-586: The sound synchronized throughout the film. For Willie , Disney had the sound recorded with a click track that kept the musicians on the beat. This precise timing is apparent during the "Turkey in the Straw" sequence when Mickey's actions exactly match the accompanying instruments. Animation historians have long debated who had served as the composer for the film's original music. This role has been variously attributed to Wilfred Jackson, Carl Stalling and Bert Lewis, but identification remains uncertain. Walt Disney himself
27048-561: The strip appeared May 17, 1930. Gottfredson's first task was to finish the storyline Disney had started on April 1, 1930. The storyline was completed on September 20, 1930, and later reprinted in comic book form as Mickey Mouse in Death Valley . This early adventure expanded the cast of the strip which to this point only included Mickey and Minnie. Among the characters who had their first comic strip appearances in this story were Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, and Black Pete as well as
27232-495: The strip over the years included Roman Arambula, Rick Hoover, Manuel Gonzales , Carson Van Osten , Jim Engel, Bill Wright, Ted Thwailes and Daan Jippes ; writers included Ted Osborne , Merrill De Maris , Bill Walsh , Dick Shaw, Roy Williams , Del Connell, and Floyd Norman . The next artist to leave his mark on the character was Paul Murry in Dell Comics . His first Mickey tale appeared in 1950 but Mickey did not become
27416-454: The studio began producing Pinocchio in early 1938 and Fantasia in November of the same year. Both films were released in 1940, and neither performed well at the box office—partly because revenues from Europe had dropped following the start of World War II in 1939. The studio incurred a loss on both pictures and was deeply in debt by the end of February 1941. In response to the financial crisis, Disney and his brother Roy started
27600-564: The studio's library. The show was successful in terms of ratings and profits, earning an audience share of over 50%. In April 1955, Newsweek called the series an "American institution". ABC was pleased with the ratings, leading to Disney's first daily television program, The Mickey Mouse Club , a variety show catering specifically to children. The program was accompanied by merchandising through various companies (Western Printing, for example, had been producing coloring books and comics for over 20 years, and produced several items connected to
27784-601: The time." Disney's office appointment book makes no mention of him attending Bund rallies, and no other employee ever claimed he attended such meetings. According to Gabler, Disney was apolitical and "something of a political naïf" during the 1930s and he had previously told one reporter – as tensions in Europe were brewing – that America should "let 'em fight their own wars" claiming he had "learned my lesson" from World War I . Disney also demonstrated his political naivete in an October 1933 article for Overland Monthly claiming: "Of course there must be millions of people who have
27968-551: The title role . The result, a 12½-minute, one-reel film, was completed too late to save Laugh-O-Gram Studio, which went into bankruptcy in 1923. Disney moved to Hollywood in July 1923 at 21 years old. Although New York was the center of the cartoon industry, he was attracted to Los Angeles because his brother Roy was convalescing from tuberculosis there, and he hoped to become a live-action film director. Disney's efforts to sell Alice's Wonderland were in vain until he heard from New York film distributor Margaret J. Winkler . She
28152-575: The two rivals finally shared screen time in the Robert Zemeckis Disney / Amblin film Who Framed Roger Rabbit . Disney and Warner signed an agreement stating that each character had the same amount of screen time in the scene. Similar to his animated inclusion into a live-action film in Roger Rabbit , Mickey made a featured cameo appearance in the 1990 television special The Muppets at Walt Disney World where he met Kermit
28336-470: The use of a bouncing ball on the film print to allow conductors and musicians to match the tempo of their music with the film. The cartoon was not the first cartoon to feature a soundtrack connected to the action. Fleischer Studios , headed by brothers Dave and Max Fleischer , had already released a number of sound cartoons using the DeForest system in the mid-1920s. However, these cartoons did not keep
28520-535: The values in Disney's films are those "considered valuable in American Christian society", which include "individualism, decency, ... love for our fellow man, fair play and toleration". Disney's obituary in The Times calls the films "wholesome, warm-hearted and entertaining ... of incomparable artistry and of touching beauty". Journalist Bosley Crowther argues that Disney's "achievement as
28704-404: The voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, he became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound , full-color three-strip Technicolor , feature-length cartoons and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen in features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio , Fantasia (both 1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942), furthered
28888-552: The war) Disney began offering his services to various branches of the United States Armed Forces to make training films "...for national defence industries at cost and without profit. In making this offer, I am motivated solely by a desire to help as best I can in the present emergency." These training films contained highly classified information and required the highest level of security clearance to be viewed. If Disney had any previous sympathies toward Nazism,
29072-515: The work of Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart , whose 1971 book Para leer al Pato Donald ( transl. How to Read Donald Duck ) identifies that there are "imperialist ... values 'concealed' behind the innocent, wholesome façade of the world of Walt Disney"; this, they argue, is a powerful tool as "it presents itself as harmless fun for consumption by children." Tomlinson views their argument as flawed, as "they simply assume that reading American comics, seeing adverts, watching pictures of
29256-530: Was a heavy smoker throughout his life and died of lung cancer in 1966 before either the park or the EPCOT project were completed. Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in private but adopted a warm and outgoing public persona. He had high standards and high expectations of those with whom he worked. Although there have been accusations that he was racist or antisemitic , they have been contradicted by many who knew him. Historiography of Disney has taken
29440-430: Was a male frog. In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney, reputedly based on Disney's own designs (similar to those he included on family birthday cards). These inspired Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Disney. "Mortimer Mouse" had been Disney's original name for the character before his wife, Lillian , convinced him to change it. It has been speculated that Disney saw
29624-437: Was also able to negotiate a deal giving him the sole right to use the three-strip process until August 31, 1935. All subsequent Silly Symphony cartoons were in color. Flowers and Trees was popular with audiences and won the inaugural Academy Award for best Short Subject (Cartoon) at the 1932 ceremony . Disney had been nominated for another film in that category, Mickey's Orphans , and received an Honorary Award "for
29808-626: Was also later reused with different background animation as its own special short shown only at the commencement of 1930s theater-based Mickey Mouse Clubs. Mickey's dog Pluto first appeared as Mickey's pet in The Moose Hunt (1931) after previously appearing as Minnie's dog "Rover" in The Picnic (1930). Wild Waves was the last Mickey Mouse cartoon to be animated by Ub Iwerks . Iwerks left to start his own studio, bankrolled by Disney's then-distributor Pat Powers . Powers and Disney had
29992-474: Was built by Disney Studios engineer Roger E. Broggie , and Disney named it Lilly Belle after his wife; after three years Disney ordered it into storage due to a series of accidents involving his guests. Disney grew more politically conservative as he got older. A Democratic Party supporter until the 1940 presidential election , when he switched allegiance to the Republican Party , he became
30176-460: Was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , an earlier cartoon character that was created by the Disney studio but owned at the time by Universal Pictures . Charles Mintz served as a middleman producer between Disney and Universal through his company, Winkler Pictures, for the series of cartoons starring Oswald. In a February 1928 meeting with Mintz to renew the Oswald contract, Disney
30360-640: Was created as a replacement for a prior Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit . The character was originally to be named "Mortimer Mouse", until Disney's wife, Lillian , suggested "Mickey". Mickey first appeared in two 1928 shorts Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho (which were not picked up for distribution) before his public debut in Steamboat Willie (1928). The character went on to appear in over 130 films, mostly shorts as well as features such as Fantasia (1940). Since 1930, Mickey has been featured extensively in comic strips (including
30544-429: Was credited to Disney himself, art to Ub Iwerks and inking to Win Smith . The first week or so of the strip featured a loose adaptation of Plane Crazy . Minnie soon became the first addition to the cast. The strips first released between January 13, 1930, and March 31, 1930, have been occasionally reprinted in comic book form under the collective title Lost on a Desert Island . Animation historian Jim Korkis notes, "After
30728-450: Was first seen in a test screening of the cartoon short Plane Crazy , on May 15, 1928, but it failed to impress the audience and Walt could not find a distributor for it. Walt went on to produce a second Mickey short, The Gallopin' Gaucho , which was also not released for lack of a distributor. Steamboat Willie was first released on November 18, 1928, in New York. It was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks again served as
30912-592: Was generally happy, according to Lillian, although according to Disney's biographer Neal Gabler she did not "accept Walt's decisions meekly or his status unquestionably, and she admitted that he was always telling people 'how henpecked he is'." Lillian had little interest in films or the Hollywood social scene and she was, in the words of the historian Steven Watts, "content with household management and providing support for her husband". Their marriage produced two daughters, Diane (born December 1933) and Sharon (adopted in December 1936, born six weeks previously). Within
31096-512: Was introduced to the Arab world through another comic book called "Sameer". He became very popular in Egypt and got a comic book with his name. Mickey's comics in Egypt are licensed by Disney and were published since 1959 by "Dar Al-Hilal" and they were successful, however Dar Al-Hilal stopped the publication in 2003 because of problems with Disney. The comics were re-released by "Nahdat Masr" in 2004 and
31280-561: Was less involved than he had been with previous pictures because of his involvement in his first entirely live-action feature, Treasure Island (1950), which was shot in Britain, as was The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952). Other all-live-action features followed, many of which had patriotic themes. He continued to produce full-length animated features too, including Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953). From
31464-620: Was losing the rights to both the Out of the Inkwell and Felix the Cat cartoons, and needed a new series. In October, they signed a contract for six Alice comedies , with an option for two further series of six episodes each. Disney and his brother Roy formed the Disney Brothers Studio—;which later became The Walt Disney Company —to produce the films; they persuaded Davis and her family to relocate to Hollywood to continue production, with Davis on contract at $ 100
31648-479: Was made a "Special Agent in Charge Contact" in 1954, FBI officials claim this was largely an honorary title regularly awarded to members of a community who might be of use to the bureau. The FBI declassified and released Walt Disney's file on their website, and revealed that much of Disney's correspondence with the bureau (via studio personnel) was in relation to the production of educational films ; such as
31832-492: Was met by a disappointing budget cut proposal, along with Mintz's revelation that several of the most important Disney animators were coming over to his studio. Among the few who stayed at the Disney studio were animator Ub Iwerks , apprentice artist Les Clark , and Wilfred Jackson . A new character was workshopped out of necessity and in relative secret. Various myths exist of Walt Disney's inspiration for Mickey (including some which were likely ghostwritten ), such as that
32016-480: Was not antisemitic, nevertheless, he willingly allied himself with people who were antisemitic, and that reputation stuck. He was never really able to expunge it throughout his life." Disney distanced himself from the Motion Picture Alliance, and had no involvement with the organization after 1947. According to Disney's daughter Diane Disney-Miller , her sister Sharon dated a Jewish boyfriend for
32200-421: Was often characterized not as a hero, but as an ineffective young suitor to Minnie Mouse. The Barn Dance (March 14, 1929) is the first time in which Mickey is turned down by Minnie in favor of Pete . The Opry House (March 28, 1929) was the first time in which Mickey wore his white gloves. Mickey wears them in almost all of his subsequent appearances and many other characters followed suit. The three lines on
32384-592: Was often just a supporting character in his own shorts. Pluto was instead used as the main character. The last regular installment of the Mickey Mouse film series came in 1953 with The Simple Things in which Mickey and Pluto go fishing and are pestered by a flock of seagulls . In the 1950s, Mickey became more known for his appearances on television, particularly with The Mickey Mouse Club . Many of his theatrical cartoon shorts were rereleased on television series such as Ink & Paint Club , various forms of
32568-517: Was racially insensitive." The feature film Song of the South was criticized by contemporary film critics, the NAACP , and others for its perpetuation of black stereotypes , but during filming Disney became close friends with its star, James Baskett , describing him in a letter to his sister Ruth as "the best actor, I believe, to be discovered in years." Disney and Baskett stayed in contact long after
32752-399: Was released on October 6, 1927. Several additional talkies followed, and movie theaters began installing the necessary equipment. Walt Disney reputedly discussed making sound cartoons in late May 1928. After composer Carl W. Stalling initially voiced Mickey for the 1929 talkie shorts The Karnival Kid and Wild Waves , Disney himself provided the often-shy falsetto voice—a large part of
32936-428: Was released, Mickey became a close competitor to Felix the Cat, and his popularity would grow as he was continuously featured in sound cartoons. By 1929, Felix would lose popularity among theater audiences, and Pat Sullivan decided to produce all future Felix cartoons in sound as a result. Audiences did not respond well to Felix's transition to sound and by 1930, Felix had faded from the screen. In Mickey's early films he
33120-495: Was solicited to Disney by painter and ballet dancer Hurbert "Jay" Stowitts , a close friend of Riefenstahl, and a former colleague of Leopold Stokowski who at the time was collaborating with Disney on Fantasia . A month later a spokesperson for Disney told the New York Daily News : "Miss Refiensthal got into the studio, but she crashed the gate. A Los Angeles man who is known to Disney obtained permission to take
33304-451: Was sometimes strained. The series ran until July 1927, by which time Disney had begun to tire of it and wanted to move away from the mixed format to all animation. After Mintz requested new material to distribute through Universal Pictures , Disney and Iwerks created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , a character Disney wanted to be "peppy, alert, saucy and venturesome, keeping him also neat and trim". In February 1928, Disney hoped to negotiate
33488-530: Was taken by ambulance from his home to St. Joseph Hospital where, on December 15, at age 65, he died of circulatory collapse caused by the cancer. His remains were cremated two days later and his ashes interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California . The release of The Jungle Book and The Happiest Millionaire in 1967 raised the total number of feature films that Disney had been involved in to 81. When Winnie
33672-468: Was the star in Brave Little Tailor (1938), an adaptation of The Valiant Little Tailor , which was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1939, Mickey appeared in Mickey's Surprise Party , along with Minnie, with a new design, which included pupils . Later on, in 1940, the character appeared in his first feature-length film, Fantasia . The film used the redesigned version of Mickey with
33856-609: Was voice actor for both Mickey and Minnie and would remain the source of Mickey's voice through 1946 for theatrical cartoons. Jimmy MacDonald took over the role in 1946, but Walt provided Mickey's voice again from 1955 to 1959 for The Mickey Mouse Club television series on ABC . Audiences at the time of Steamboat Willie ' s release were reportedly impressed by the use of sound for comedic purposes. Sound films or "talkies" were still considered innovative. Most other cartoon studios were still producing silent products and so were unable to effectively act as competition to Disney. As
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