Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse

Born in Chicago on December 5, 1901, the fourth child (out of five) in the Disney Family. Disney’s family frequently moved and his childhood was spent in Missouri, Kansas City and back to Chicago. His teen and young adult growing-up years were colorful with various jobs from working on the railroad to painting camouflage designs on helmets while with the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in France.

When California beckoned in 1923, Walt worked on selling a pilot film he created in Kansas City – Alice’s Wonderland about a girl in a cartoon world.

October 16, 1923 was the start of Disney Brothers Studio, Roy and Walt, it was later renamed to The Walt Disney Studio.

After four years of Alice, he created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Twenty-six Oswald cartoons later, Disney learned a hard lesson when the distributor decided to produce the animated films on his own. From that point on Walt owned everything that he made.

Since Oswald was now basically lost to Disney, he had to come up with something new. Walt Disney and animator UB Iwerks created a mouse.

We’ve all heard the story of how Walt’s wife Lilly preferred Mickey over Mortimer, so he was renamed Mickey Mouse.

Ub Iwerks animated the cartoons, but with the advent of sound in films Walt decided to make the first sound cartoon Steam Boat Willie, even though the first two Mickey films had not yet been released. The film was released on November 18, 1928.

Steamboat Willie opened to rave reviews and Disney never looked back. A list of seven pages of the Mickey Mouse shorts can be found on The Big Cartoon Database. Although Mickey didn't speak until the 1929 The Karnival Kid, when he did speak, it was Walt Disney's voice that was heard. Walt continued doing Mickey's voice until 1946.

In Walt Disney - Multiplane Camera, it's mentioned "Mickey Mouse’s image is the most reproduced in the world. "Over 7,500 items bear his likeness. Jesus is number two, and Elvis is number three". The first licensed item is reported to be a 1929 children's school tablet.*

Although many of the early Mickey Mouse items have a more pronounced nose, you can see by the 1929 United States Patent that Mickey looks exactly the same as he does today. Mickey hasn't aged a bit.

*Official Price Guide to Disney Collectibles by Ted Hake