©Disney
Image at the beginning of Mickey Mouse cartoons

"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing -
that it was all started by a mouse." - Walt Disney

If it was a mouse that started it all, as Walt Disney once said, then the question becomes how did the mouse begin?

Born of necessity, Mickey Mouse's humble origins can be traced back to the loss of Walt Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon series to the series' distributor, Universal. Having gone to New York to renew his contract and seek more money in order to cover the costs of the series, Walt was shocked when producer Charles Mintz actually offered less money to Walt, informing him that Universal owned the rights to Oswald, and that if he didn't accept the reduced fees, Mintz would steal away Oswald and all of his animators in order to produce the series himself.

After running out of options, Walt gave up Oswald to Mintz. He and his wife Lillian hopped a train back to California. Walt sent his brother and business partner Roy a telegram that read:

LEAVING TONITE STOPPING OVER KC ARRIVE HOME SUNDAY MORNING
SEVEN THIRTY DON'T WORRY EVERYTHING OK WILL GIVE DETAILS
WHEN ARRIVE
WALT.

It was on this long trip home that the idea of the Mouse was to be born.

ORIGIN LEGENDS

The stories of Mickey Mouse's origins are numerous. As the tale has been told over time, specifics and details have been squashed and stretched more than an animated gag in an old cartoon.

Below are a few of the stories:

In The Life Story of Mickey Mouse, Walt recounted his trip on the train from New York to Hollywood after losing the rights to Oswald. "The wheels turned to the tune of it - 'chug, chug mouse, chug, chug mouse,' the train seemed to say - The whistle screeched it. 'A m-m-m owa-ouse' it wailed. By the time my train reached the Middle West I had dressed my dream mouse in a pair of red velvet pants with two huge pearl buttons, had composed the first scenario, and was all set."

A version reported in the Daily Sketch claimed that Walt was trying to sleep on the train when "the continuous but slight creaking of the woodwork in his compartment sounded like a million mice in conference. The idea made him laugh and in that split second Mickey Mouse was born."

The Mouse himself told his side of the story in a Studio interview. "Destiny brought us together. We shared the same seat on the train. Having heard from my cousins in Kansas City that Mr. Disney was good to his pet mice as a boy, I volunteered my services as a cartoon character. After we got to Hollywood, Mr. Disney made a few sketches of me and gave me a screen test."

In Bob Thomas' biography, Walt Disney - An American Original, it reads, "(Walt) enjoyed telling the tale of how he dreamed up the mouse character on the train trip back from the Oswald disaster and how Lilly objected to the name of Mortimer Mouse and so he made it Mickey Mouse instead. He also hinted that the character originated with a pet mouse that played around his drawing board in Kansas City."

"It has been told so many times that you don't know what's true," said Roy E. Disney, the son of Roy O. Disney, and vice-chairman of the Walt Disney Company. "The name part I'm sure of. I often heard my father and Walt say, 'Thank God we didn't name him Mortimer!'"

Continued ...

We Were Started By A Mouse Too!  •  When In Cyberspace ... Disney Link Directory  •  

  •  Purchase Walt Disney World Tickets here - DISNEY TICKETS via DWTickets.com  •  

  •  Receive discounts on ORLANDO VACATION HOMES near Disney World from OrlandoVacation.com  •