How Disney Introduced Mickey Mouse to the World

By Mitch Uppman

The magical world of Disney can be summed up in two words: family fun.  Those two words (within the context of Disney) are represented by one historic character.  The face of Walt Disney Studios has always been Mickey Mouse.  Since the beginning of most people's lives, Mickey has been a household name.  He is the first character you think of when you think of Disney and one of the most marketable icons in the world.  There are Mickey Mouse character toys, games, clothes, costumes (which we covered not too long ago in our blog), and so many other products.  It seems that without the mouse, there would be no “Disney.”  Walt Disney confirmed it with his own words:

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

Without further ado, this is how everyone's favorite cartoon mascot came to be!

Image source: en.wikipedia.org

Many people don't realize that there was another great mind behind Mickey other than Walt Disney.  This man's name was Ub Iwerks.  Ub created the mischievous character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, in the early 20's before Mickey Mouse was even a household name.   In the early days, Disney used to work in cohorts with Universal studios to distribute their works, but a greedy film producer, Charles Mintz, decided to use Universal’s ownership of the cartoon as a bargaining chip to unfavorably renegotiate Disney’s contract with Universal.  Frustrated by this foul play, Disney decided to cut the deal with Universal and start from scratch.  This Lucky Rabbit was still pretty successful under Universal’s management and managed to run through to the early 30's.  During this time, however, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks decided to work on a new character to feature in the silent cartoons, Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho.  These silent cartoons were released some time later (in 1929) because in 1928, a sound animated film featuring Mickey's official first adventure was massively successful: Steamboat Willie.  This new character was much like Oswald with minor changes—round ears, added buttons to shorts, shoes, gloves and tail making for a more admirable look.  This cartoon spawned the widely popular mascot of Disney that we all love today.  There were no hard feelings between characters though; Oswald and Mickey even met up again in 2010 in their very own video game, Epic Mickey. 

Image source: bbci.co.uk

Steamboat Willie spawned a hugely profitable cartoon line for Walt as it introduced viewers to new characters such as Minnie Mouse and the infamous Pete.  Over the years Minnie has become as beloved as Mickey by being his adoring girlfriend.  Pete, on the other hand, has always been the mean old Cat that bullies the Mickey gang, though he was introduced three years before Mickey.  He was presented as a bear in the 1925 cartoon Alice Solves the Puzzle.  After Steamboat Willie, Pete slowly turned into the cat we see in Mickey cartoons today. 

Mickey’s crew and the overall list of characters has grown in size over the years.  In 1930, Mickey adopted a pet dog who plays an important part in the Mickey and friends group; he named him Pluto.  Oddly, in 1932, Goofy was brought to light as one of Mickey’s closest friends and he was also a dog.  One dog was anthropomorphic, the other one not so much; that must have been some inside joke.  Later, in 1934, Donald Duck was presented in the cartoon, The Wise Little Hen and he too was added to Mickey’s permanent circle of friends.  Years later, in 1940, Donald fell in love with the adorable Daisy and the rest is history.  Disney animations paved the road for many cartoon series, such as Looney Tunes and Betty Boop, both of which appeared in 1930.

Image source: digitalomeblog.wordpress

We may take this for granted now, but one of the most magical things about Mickey Mouse—at the time— was that it was one of the first original cartoons to use sound.  When audiences went to view the cartoon, an animation title like the one above would pop up on the screen letting the audience know that they were about to watch a cartoon that produced sound—and they were in for a big treat!  Over the years, these sound cartoons became the standard, but Mickey stayed exceptional.

Mickey Mouse has been Disney's first and most profitable character.  One little Mouse has been the mascot for the "happiest place on Earth."  On Mickey's birthday in 1993, a statue of Mickey was built of him holding his creator’s hand and it was placed in front of the Cinderella Castle in Disneyland. Image source: staticflickr.com

Mickey Mouse has been shown to audiences as a musketeer, wizard, steamboat operator and much more.  We will always see Mickey as one thing though: the mouse that stole our hearts.  Thank you Walt Disney....The world misses you.  

View Steamboat Willie here!