Did Walt Disney Draw Mickey Mouse?
You may have heard that Walt Disney drew Mickey Mouse but that isn't really the case. In this episode we will talk about the start of disney and the history of cartoons!
Transcript
Tzeela: Hi I'm Tzeela and I'm 16
Rina: Hi I'm Rina and I'm 14
Dalia: Hey, I'm Dalia and I'm 10
All: And this is Things You Thought You Knew About History!
Tzeela: Where we tell you the real story behind historical misconceptions.
Tzeela: You may have heard that Walt Disney drew the original Mickey Mouse.
Dalia: Didn’t he?
Rina: No. Actually, Walt Disney had a friend, Ub Iwerks , and he animated the first Mickey Mouse cartoon
Tzeela: Here’s how it started. Walt Disney met Ub in 1919 when they both worked in the same commercial art studio in Kansas City, Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Arts Studio. They even made a company called Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists company together in Kansas City in 1920, but it didn’t last long because Walt Disney abandoned the idea and instead went to work worked for the Kansas City Ad Company. He got Ub employed there too.
Rina: They had personalities that were different but complementary, Ub a quiet hard worker, and Walt an outgoing businessman, so they worked well together.
Walt Disney wanted to be his own boss so he tried to create his own company again, Laugh-O-gram Films. He pulled Ub with him. The company didn't do so well so Iwerks returned to the Kansas City Ad Company but still helped Disney when he could. Disney declared bankruptcy.
Dalia: He had a choice to go back to Kansas City Ad Company or try something different, he chose to move to California to try starting an animation company there with his brother, Disney Brother Productions. He invited Ub to join him and Ub joined him in Hollywood.
When Disney was convinced by the film distributor Charles Mintz of Universal, that they needed his help or they’d fail, Ub and Walt made a cartoon that was legally owned by Mintz, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which was wildly successful.
Rina: Mintz began giving Disney less and less of the money made from Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Walt signed all the rights of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit over to Mintz and left the Universal with Ub.
Tzeela: It was 1928, in a moment of desperation, when Disney needed something incredible to get his studio started Ub, not Walt, thought of Mickey Mouse.
Over the next week, Ub Iwerks produced a record-breaking 600 to 700 frames a day. Frames are drawings that would be played quickly one after the other in the animation. He also was the first to play music and sound effects along to the animation called sync sound. Walt Disney was also essential in creating Mickey, he defined Mickey’s personality and even voiced Mickey for a while. They made a film with Mickey called Plane Crazy but didn’t end up showing it to the public. Mickey Mouse came out first in Steamboat Willie, which as you probably know, was a smashing success!
Rina: As the studio grew Disney got more and more credit and Ub got less. Their paths soon split because Walt Disney wouldn’t give Iwerks the credit he deserves. Ub Iwerks created his own studio. Much later Iwerks rejoined Disney to work in special effects and they were friends again. Disney did end up telling the real story, after Ub Iwerks death and pushing from Leslie Iwerks his granddaughter, but it took about 70 years.
Dalia: The story of Disney’s start is definitely a testimony to keep trying, but also to make sure to give people credit for their work. So if you heard that Walt Disney thought of Mickey on the train, had the idea based on a pet mouse he had at Laugh-O-gram, or any other story claiming it was Disney’s creation, that’s wrong.
Rina: Now we know who invented Mickey Mouse, but we don’t how Mickey Mouse became, well, Mickey Mouse. Why a mouse? Why named Mickey? Why does he look the way he does? Did he always look that way?
Dalia: After looking through magazines and cartoons Walt, Ub, and Walt Disney’s brother Roy brainstormed animals that they could animate that hadn’t already been done. They decided on a mouse. His body was made with round shapes and skinny arms and legs so it could be animated easily. Mickey’s iconic ears were made small/short enough that they weren’t rabbit-ears, but round enough that they were cat ears either. He was drawn with a long mouse-like snout and nose. Disney gave him a mischievous personality and for a while, he liked making trouble.
Tzeela: Then Mickey Mouse’s main audience became children, so he was made to look friendlier and given a more childlike form. Mickey Mouse also gave up his mischievous ways after mothers complained that they didn’t want their children to watch a troublemaker.
Rina: And there's a reason Mickey was given white gloves, so it would be possible to see his hands even when they were on top of his body.
All this about Disney has got me thinking about Disney movies. What’s your favorite Disney movie?
Dalia: I like Mulan, it has really good songs.
Tzeela: I don't have a general favorite, probably just what I watched last or what they say.
Rina: I don't have a top favorite either, but I have a top few. I really like Frozen, it has great songs, and who doesn't like Olaf? Or Elsa. Or Anna. I also really like Moana!
We’d love to know your favorites too! Email us your favorite Disney show or movie at thingsyouthoughtyouknewhistroy@gmail.com
Tzeela: I have one more question. What was animation like back then? How did animation start?
Rina: That's two questions.
Tzeela: You wrote the script.
Rina: About that... oops.
Dalia: The earliest animation was in a toy called a phenakistoscope, which was invented in 1832 by Belgian scientist Joseph Antione Plateau. Sorry if I'm pronouncing that wrong. It was a disc attached to a handle with drawings on one side and notches cut out. The viewer would hold the phenakistoscope up to a mirror and turn the disc while looking through the notches. The disc moved fast enough that each picture blurred to the next and give the illusion that the images were moving.
Rina: One of the first animated motion pictures was an ad for matchsticks that used stop motion animation by Englishman Arthur Melbourne-Cooper. He took many photographs of matchsticks in slightly different formations and played them quickly one after another, so they’d look like they were moving.
Tzeela: J. Stuart Blackton was the first to make animation by photographing drawings to play frame by frame. Animation grew more and more popular and the industry became bigger and more efficient. Most animators used cartoons but some, especially in Europe, experimented with other types like puppet animation.
Dalia: Then we get back to Mickey Mouse, the first animation to play music and sound effects along to the animation.
Tzeela: And now for some Trivia!
Dalia: So here’s how it’ll work: we’ll ask a question and then count down from ten so you have time to answer, if you need more time feel free to pause
Rina: Are you ready? Here we go, the first question is...
Dalia: How many brothers does Hans of the Southern Isles (from Frozen) have?
10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Dalia: And the answer is 12!
Tzeela: What are the names of the seven dwarves in Snow White?
10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Tzeela: And the answer is Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy!
Rina: What is the most viewed Disney movie?
10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Rina: And the answer is Frozen!
Dalia: What was the last film produced before Walt Disney died?
10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Dalia: And the answer is The Jungle Book!
Tzeela: What were Mickey Mouse’s first words?
10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Tzeela: And the answer is Hot Dog!
Tzeela: Hope you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe so you can easily see and listen to all our new episodes. There will hopefully be a new one on the first of every month.
And if you enjoyed, leave us a review!!
And then go enjoy some Disney movies because now you know how Disney started!