How Walt Disney Created Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse was originally created by Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks and Les Clark whilst in Hollywood. Walt Disney had created a cartoon called "Oswald the Rabbit", but due to a fall out and different people owning different names and cartoons Disney was not able to use any of the cartoons or names used in "Oswald  the Rabbit", he therefore created a new sympathetic creation based on a Mouse.

Mortimer Mouse was the first name that Walt Disney had given his new creation but his wife thought that it wasn't suitable so he therefore renamed him "Mickey Mouse". Disney had made a first film introducing Mickey called "Plane Crazy but no one would buy it due. Disney didn't give up on Mickey and made another silent film called "Gallopin' Gaucho". The second silent film wasn't a success. Disney thought in order to make his creation different to all the other cartoons out there me must add sound.

He then went on to produce the first sound animation film called "Steamboat Willie" introducing Mickey Mouse. Surprisingly in Hollywood there was no place that could do sound for an animation film, so he took his 3rd film to New York. The manager at the Colony Theatre loved the idea of Mickey Mouse and Walt sold all 3 of his films to them if they did the sound for them and released them.

"Steamboat Willie" was such a success that no one could have imagined. The film was released just before the Great Depression, but that didn't stop people from going to the Theatres to see it. To this day people still recognise the famous image of seeing Mickey being a Captain on his boat.

Disney did the voice for Mickey for several years until he got too busy he asked someone else to do the task. Mickey was such a success that he even starred in some propaganda posters for WW2. Throughout Walt Disney's life I don't think that he could ever have imagined that Mickey Mouse would be as famous as it is today

Walt Disney Bio

Walt Elias Disney was born in the 5th of December 1901 in Chicago , Illinois. He is well known for being the co-founder of "The Walt Disney Productions", being the best known motion picture producer, creating the famous Theme Park "Disneyland" and created some of the most iconic characters of all time.

From a young age Disney had always loved to draw and when he attended McKinley High School he took a night class at the Chicago Art Institute. He became a cartoonist for his school newspaper, drawing patriotic topics focusing on WW1.

Disney wanted to join the Army but was refused due to his age, he was accepted in the Red Cross driving an ambulance in France. Disney decorated his ambulance with various cartoons.

Walt Disney moved to Kansas City and was able to acquire his own studio called "Laugh-O-Gram", where he hired a number of animators to help his creation. Unfortunately the profits were not high enough to pay his employees and the business ended up bankrupt. This was when Disney moved to Hollywood.

Whilst in Hollywood, Disney felt as though he needed to develop a signature character, which was based on a mouse which he adopted in Kansas. There was some work done to the original Mickey Mouse including his appearance and name. His first name was "Mortimer" but people thought that his name wasn't suitable and people wanted it to be short. Mickey Mouse's image it still the most iconic image from a fictional character.






Disney's annual revenue is close the that of around $36 Billion, which shows that Walt Disney has made an impact which will never be  forgotten.