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Mickey Mouse

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Mickey Mouse is a fictional character, a comic animal cartoon character who is, perhaps, Disney Studios' most famous creation.

Mickey was originally created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier star of the Studio. Oswald had been created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Charles Mintz of Universal Studios. In fact, Mickey closely resembled Oswald in his early appearances. However, Disney received an unpleasant lesson when he asked Mintz for a larger budget for his popular Oswald series: in reply, Mintz fired Disney and Iwerks and hired others to draw Oswald, to which Mintz and Universal owned the rights. From that point on, Disney made sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company.

In order for Walt and his older brother and business partner Roy to keep their company active, new characters had to be created to star in their subsequent animated shorts. So, Mickey and Minnie Mouse (Mickey's flapper girlfriend) debuted in the cartoon short Plane Crazy, first released on May 15, 1928. The short was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks was also the main animator for this short and reportedly spent six weeks working on it. Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were credited for assisting him; these two had already signed their contracts with Charles Mintz, but he was still in the process of forming his new studio and so for the time being they were still employed by Disney. This short would be the last they animated under this somewhat awkward situation.

The plot of Plane Crazy was fairly simple. Mickey was apparently trying to become an aviator in emulation of Charles Lindbergh. After building his own aircraft, he proceeds to ask Minnie to join him for its first flight, during which he repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempts to kiss her, eventually resorting to force. Minnie then parachutes out of the plane. While distracted by her, Mickey loses control of the plane. This becomes the beginning of an out-of-control flight that results in a series of humorous situations and eventually in the crash-landing of the aircraft. A non-anthropomorphic cow that briefly becomes a passenger in the aircraft is believed to be Clarabelle Cow making her debut.

Mickey as portrayed in Plane Crazy was mischievous, amorous, and has often been described as a rogue. Modern audiences have occasionaly commented on this version of Mickey as being somewhat more complex and consequently more interesting than his later self. At the time of its first release, however, Plane Crazy apparently failed to impress audiences. Though understandably disappointed, Walt proceeded in putting to production a second Mickey short: The Gallopin' Gaucho.

The Gallopin' Gaucho was again co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks with the later serving as the sole animator in this case. The short was intended as a parody of Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.'s The Gaucho, a film first released on November 21, 1927. Following the original film, the events of the short take place in the Pampas ofArgentina. The gaucho of the title was Mickey himself. He is first seen riding on a Rhea instead of a horse as would be expected (or an ostrich as often reported). He soon encounters Cantina Argentina, apparently serving as the local bar and Restaurant. Mickey proceeds in entering the establishment and taking a seat. He apparently just wants to relax with some drinking and tobacco smoking. Also present at the establishment are Black Pete, a wanted outlaw and fellow customer for the time being, and Minnie Mouse, the barmaid and dancer of the establishment, at the time performing a Tango. Both customers soon begin to flirt with Minnie and rivaling each other. At some point Pete proceeds in kidnapping Minnie and attempts to escape on his horse. Mickey gives chase on his rhea. He soon catches up to his rival and they proceed in swordfighting each other. Mickey emerges the victor of this fight. The finale of the short has Mickey and Minnie riding the rhea into the distance.

In later interviews, Iwerks would comment that Mickey as featured in The Gallopin' Gaucho was intended to be a swashbuckler, an adventurer modeled after Fairbanks himself. This short marks the first encounter between Mickey and Black Pete, a character already established as an antagonist in both the Alice Comedies and the Oswald series. Based on Mickey and Minnie acting as strangers to each other before the finale, it was presumably intended to feature their original acquaintance to each other as well. Modern audiences have commented that all three characters seem to be coming out of rough, lower class backgrounds that little resemble their later versions. Consequently the short has been argued to be of some historical significance.

At the time of its original production though, Walt failed to distribute it at first. It would be first released on December 30, 1928, following the release of another Mickey short. Reportedly Mickey was at first thought to be much too similar to Oswald and this resulted in the apparent lack of interest in him. Walt would soon start to contemplate ways to distinguish the Mickey Mouse series from his previous work and that of his rivals. The result of his contemplations would be the third Mickey short to be produced, the second to be released and the first to realy draw the attention of the audiences:Steamboat Willie.

Steamboat Willie was first released on November 18, 1928. It was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks again served as the head animator. He was assisted by Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Wilfred Jackson and Dick Lundy. This short was intended as a parody of Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill, Jr., first released on May 12, 1928. But more importantly it has been credited as the first animated film with synchronized sound. 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 acted as voice actor to both Mickey and Minnie.

The script had Mickey serving aboard Steamboat Willie under Captain Pete. At first he is seen piloting the steamboat while whistling. Then Pete arrives to take over piloting and angrily throws him out of the boat's bridge. They soon have to stop for cargo to be transferred on board. Almost as soon as they leave, Minnie arrives. She was apparently supposed to be their only passenger but was late to board. Mickey manages to pick her up from the river shoar. Minnie accidentaly drops her sheet music for the popular folk song "Turkey in the Straw" (alternate versions include "Natchez Under the Hill" and "Old Zip Coon". The lyrics are thought to have been added to an earlier tune by Bob Farrell who first performed them in a minstrel show on August 11, 1834). A goat which was among the animals transported on the steamboat proceeds in eating the sheet music. Consequently Mickey and Minnie use its tail to turn it into a phonograph which is playing the tune. Through the rest of the short, Mickey uses various other animals as musical instruments. Later audiences have often described those scenes as humorously exaggerated examples of animal cruelty. Captain Pete is eventualy disturbed by all this noise and places Mickey back to work. Mickey is reduced to peeling potatoes for the rest of the trip. A parrot attempts to make fun of him but is then thrown to the river by Mickey. This served as the final scene of this short.

Audiences at the time of Steamboat Willie's release were reportedly impressed by its use of sound for comedic purposes. Sound films were still considered inovative. The first of them to become a commercial success was arguably Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer, first released on October 6, 1927. Following its success most United States movie theaters had installed sound film equipment. Walt apparently intended to take advantage of this new trend and arguably managed to succeed. Most other cartoon studios were still producing silent products and so were unable to effectively act as competition to Disney. As a result Mickey would soon become the most prominent animated character of the time.

It should however be noted that Steamboat Willie was arguably the first animated sound film to become commercialy succesful but not the first to be produced. In fact Fleischer Studios, headed by Max Fleischer and his brother Dave Fleischer had already used Lee De Forest's methods to produce an early series of sound cartoons including such shorts as:

This early attempts would soon be more or less forgotten though. Walt Disney soon worked on adding sound to both Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho and their new release added to Mickey's initial success and popularity. A fourth Mickey short was also put into production. It was The Barn Dance.

Mickey made his first appearance in comic strips was on January 13, 1930. While Disney and his cartoon shorts focused on comedy, the comic strip version combined comedy and adventure.

The first few Mickey Mouse cartoons were mostly or entirely drawn by Iwerks; some animation historians think that Iwerks should be considered the actual creator of Mickey Mouse. Advertising for the early Mickey Mouse cartoons credit them as "A Walt Disney Comic, drawn by Ub Iwerks". Later Disney Company reissues of the early cartoons tend to credit Walt Disney alone.

In his earliest cartoons Mickey was often mischievous and the cartoons sometimes used outhouse humor. As the series became more popular, Disney decided to change his best-known character into a well meaning everyman, and creating mischief was thereafter left to other characters.

From 1930 till 1950, though the numbers of the comic creators that worked on Mickey increased, the most popular version (considered the "classic" version today) was that of Floyd Gottfredson, who developed Mickey's character, adopted characters from the cartoons, and created many others. Since 1950 the most popular version of Mickey has been that of Italian creator Romano Scarpa, who has further developed Gottfredson's characters and has added many of his own.

Mickey's most well known supporting characters are his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his dog Pluto, and his best friends Goofy, Donald Duck, and Horace Horsecollar.

By his sister Amelia Fieldmouse, Mickey Mouse has two nephews, the lesser-known Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse (in contrast to Donald Duck's famous nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie).

Many television programs have centered around Mickey, such as the recent shows Mickey Mouse Works and House of Mouse, in addition to special features such as Mickey's Christmas Carol and the Sorcerer's Apprentice sequence in the movie Fantasia (1940). In 1929, Disney created the Mickey Mouse Club for fans of his character and cartoons, which later formed the basis for a popular 1950's television show (with followups of the same name in the 1977 and 1989).

The Walt Disney Company has become well known for protecting its copyright over Mickey, whose likeness is so closely associated with the company, with particular zeal. Disney has lobbied for and achieved repeated copyright term extensions from the United States and the European Union that have prevented the character from entering the public domain. Disney's lobbying efforts have contributed to the ability of other copyright owners to extend their copyrights as well, causing the United States, once known for its disrespect for copyrights, to develop one of the most restrictive copyright policies in the world.

On November 14, 2002, the following image was discovered during restoration of a church's outside wall in the town of Malta in Austria. It is part of a 14th century fresco depicting Saint Christopher of the Catholic Church, who is often shown accompanied by fabulous creatures:

Mickey Mouse bears a striking resemblance to this image.

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