'I only hope we never lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse', in his case he is obviously speaking about when he created Mickey Mouse and what it allowed him to achieve in his lifetime, in short hugely successful theme parks and films!
The actual origin of Mickey Mouse is obscured, however Walt liked to tell his tale of how on the train ride back from meetings in New York when Oswald the Rabbit was taken from him (Disney now has the rights back and personally I love Oswald and his part in Epic Mickey!) he thought of this mouse. He originally named him Mortimer Mouse however Lilly (His Wife) disliked this, and so he choose Mickey instead. Walt then thought up his personality and voiced him, while Ub Iwerks (Disney artist) gave him form and movement. Essentially, Mickey Mouse was born!
They then went ahead and started producing the first cartoon under wraps and in secret, titled 'Plane Crazy'. The first Mickey Mouse cartoon was shown in the Boulevard Movie House on May 15 1928, with a good reception but not an overwhelming one. They then went about producing a second cartoon, named 'The Gallopin' Gaucho'. After two cartoons were made, Walt went about finding a buyer for the cartoons but could not find anyone. At this time, music began being played on films, and Walt felt this was the future and next big thing in animation, and went about creating a third cartoon which would be synchronised to sound, borrowed from a successful Buster Keaton comedy, they began work on 'Steamboat Willie'.
Along with another employe, Wilfred Jackson, Walt found a way to time music to the flow of film at a rate of 24 frames per second. Jackson then played his harmonica while Walt wrote down how many frames of cartoon would be required to match the tune. On a July night in 1928, Walt invited workers to bring their wives to the studio and projected Steamboat Willie while him, Ub, Wilfred and another employee called Johnny Cannon provided sounds when required to match the animation.
Walt then decided to travel to New York to sell the cartoons, and on the way stopped in Kansas City and got an old friend called Carl Stalling to produce a score for Steamboat Willie. In New York, he met a man called 'Pat' Powers and used his 'Cinephone' to synchronise the sound perfectly to the film. When Walt showed this to companies they would say it was good but never got back to Walt. Walt met a man named Harry Reichenbach who persuaded him to run it in theatres, and Walt agreed as he needed the money. Steamboat Willie opened at the Colony Theatre on November 18 1928, and Mickey Mouse was finally the sensation Walt had always knew it to be. It was shown before a talking filmed named Gang War and when people came out the theatre, they talked about Steamboat Willie. It got good reviews from 'Weekly Film Review' and even 'The New York Times'. Walt would stand at the back of theatres while people watched the cartoon and listen to what people said about it. After this, the studios became interested in Mickey Mouse and Walt signed with various studios and people, and the rest as they say is history!
That is essentially what I see as the beginning of Mickey Mouse, if theres anything you think is wrong with my account, let me know! I'm interested in knowing the true origin so anymore information you have will be interesting for me! I used the book 'Walt Disney - An American Original' by Bob Thomas to find this information, and if you are looking for lots of information on Walt Disney, this is a must read!
Hopefully you enjoyed reading this post, if you have any ideas about what you'd like to see next or if you just want to say that you did enjoy reading the post, let me know!
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