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How did walt disney create mickey mouse

The public is filled with Disney products and endorsements. Disneyland is known as the happiest place on Earth and all in thanks to the creator, Walt Disney. Children now look up to Disney as a source of hope, faith and inspiration for the future. Disney left behind tracks to what a child needs to grow and to become happy with the idea that magic exists. His first creation was brought to life by placing upon the name “ Mickey. ” It is interesting to note that Mickey Mouse started out as an impish, mischievous character that played a cow’s teeth like a xylophone in his first movie.

He also performed other nasty little tasks as well. This image was soon changed, though, in order that he would appeal to a much wider audience. The most noticeable physical differences between the first Mickey Mouse and his modern day appearance include the addition of white gloves on his hands. There appeared many other changes as he evolved over the years, though. Today, Mickey Mouse is normally dressed in red shorts with two buttons on the front, large yellow shoes, and his trademark white gloves. He sports a bulbous black nose, and he has large eyes.

The only similarities he has to a real mouse include his large mouse ears, and his long, skinny tail. Other than those features, Mickey Mouse has his own distinctive look. The small mouse that Walt Disney brought to life went on to star in over one hundred movies. He features as the star in Disney’s many theme parks, and his image is recognized around the world. Mickey also has appeared in other media such as video games as well as merchandising, and becomes a real life character at the Disney parks. Walt Disney looked upon the future to bring a smile to children all over the world.

Drawing and animating became a gateway to happiness and magic. As a child, Mickey gives out hope in an Glogovac 2 adventure. Since the mouse impacted society in an immense way, how did Disney first imagine the mouse? Walt Disney is looked upon as an icon for creating a world of magic. Disney was an American animator, film producer, director, screen writer, voice actor, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, philanthropist, and highly influenced the 20th century field of entertainment. Walt Disney Productions became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world.

Disney was particularly noted for being a film producer and popular showman. He was also an innovator in animation and theme park design. “ Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive. This facility makes it the most versatile and explicit means of communication yet devised for quick mass appreciation. ” (Disney, 3). During his lifetime he received four honorary Academy Awards and won 22 Academy Awards from a total of 59 nominations, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual in history.

Disney also won seven Emmy Awards and gave his name to the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, as well as the international resorts like Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. Disney began his freshman year at McKinley High School and took night courses at the Chicago Art Institute. He became the cartoonist for the school newspaper, drawing patriotic topics and focusing on World War I. Despite dropping out of high school at the age of sixteen to join the army, Disney was rejected for being underage.

Walt a temporary job through a bank colleague at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio where he created advertisements for newspapers, magazines, and movie theaters. At Pesmen-Rubin he met cartoonist Ubbe Iwerks and when their time at the studio expired, they decided to start their own commercial company together. (Gates, 3). Glogovac – 3 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was Disney’s first original character. The new series, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, was an almost instant success, and the character, Oswald – drawn and created by Iwerks – became a popular figure.

Wanting to make cartoons with an all-animated look, Disney signed a contract with Universal leading to the creation of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Universal’s first cartoon series. Disney decided to create a rabbit instead of a cat because cats were very popular during that time. Universal was given the right to name the rabbit and they selected the name out of a hat. The first Oswald cartoon, Poor Papa, was rejected by the Universal studio heads for its poor production quality and the sloppiness and age of Oswald. Disney, together with Iwerks, decided to create a second cartoon titled Trolley Troubles featuring a much younger, neater Oswald.

The short, released on September 5, 1927, officially launched the series and proved to be Disney’s greatest success to date. Poor Papa was finally released a year later but, named Mickey’s Nightmare. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit became Disney’s first major hit in 1927, rivaling other popular cartoon characters, such as Felix the Cat and Koko the Clown. Over the next decade, Lantz would produce 142 Oswald cartoons, making for a grand total of 194 films that the character starred in, spanning the work of all three producers.

After Lantz took over production in 1929, the character’s look was changed to some degree over the following years: Oswald got white gloves on his hands, shoes on his feet, a shirt, a “ cuter” face with larger eyes, a bigger head, and shorter ears. With 1935’s Case of the Lost Sheep, an even more major makeover took place: the character was drawn more realistically now, with white fur rather than black, shoes are removed, plus wearing suspenders instead of a shirt and shorts.

This new Oswald model was adapted directly from a non-Oswald character in another Lantz cartoon: the Cinecolor “ Fox and the Rabbit” (1935), released some two months earlier as the last of the early Glogovac – 4 Cartune Classics series. It subsequently took his company 78 years to get back the rights to the Oswald character when in 2006 the Walt Disney Company reacquired the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from NBC Universal. (Bellis, 3). Mickey was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. In the spring of 1928, Disney asked Ub Iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas.

Iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were also rejected. They would later turn up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. Walt Disney got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse from his old pet mouse he used to have on his farm. “ Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner. ” (Disney, 5).

Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney. These inspired Ub Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Disney. “ Mortimer Mouse” had been Disney’s original name for the character before his wife, Lillian, convinced him to change it, and ultimately Mickey Mouse came to be. Actor Mickey Rooney has claimed that, during his Mickey McGuire days, he met cartoonist Walt Disney at the Warner Brothers studio, and that Disney was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him. (Parker, 1). “ When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it’s because he’s so human; and that is the secret of his popularity.” (Disney, 2).

Ub Iwerks designed Mickey’s body out of circles in order to make the character simple to animate. Disney employees John Hench and Marc Davis believed that this design was part of Mickey’s success – it made him more dynamic and appealing to audiences. Mickey’s circular Glogovac – 5 design is most noticeable in his ears, which in traditional animation, always appear circular no matter which way Mickey faces. This made Mickey easily recognizable to audiences and made his ears an unofficial personal trademark. Even today, the symbol “” is often used by the Disney Company to represent Mickey.

This later created a dilemma for toy creators who had to recreate a three dimensional Mickey. In animation in the 1940s Mickey’s ears were animated in perspective. Animator Fred Moore would later redesign Mickey’s body away from its circular design to a pear-shape design. Colleague Ward Kimball praised Moore for being the first animator to break from Mickey’s “ rubber hose, round circle” design. Although Moore himself was nervous at first about changing Mickey, Walt Disney liked the new design and told Moore “ that’s the way I want Mickey to be drawn from now on. ” Each of Mickey’s hands has only three fingers and a thumb.

Disney said that this was both an artistic and financial decision, explaining “ Artistically five digits are too many for a mouse. Financially, not having an extra finger in each of 45, 000 drawings that make up a six and one half minute short has saved the Studio millions. ” (Parker, 1). His hand would look like a bunch of bananas. Mickey was given his white gloves which were a simple way of contrasting his naturally black hands against his black body. Besides Mickey’s gloves and shoes, he typically wears only a pair of shorts with two large buttons in the front.

Although the animated Mickey was seen only in black and white for over seven years, print images confirmed that the shorts were red. When Mickey is not wearing his red shorts, he is often still wearing red clothing. This includes a red bandmaster coat (The Band Concert, The Mickey Mouse Club), red overalls (Clock Cleaners, Boat Builders), a red cloak (Fantasia, Fun and Fancy Free), a red coat (Squatter’s Rights, Mickey’s Christmas Carol), and a red shirt (Mickey Down Under, The Simple Things). Glogovac – 6 Beginning in 1930, Mickey has also been featured extensively as a comic strip character.

His self-titled newspaper strip, drawn primarily by Floyd Gottfredson, ran for 45 years. Mickey has also appeared in comic books and in television series such as The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1996) and others. (Gates, 5). He also appears in other media such as video games as well as merchandising, and is a meetable character at the Disney parks. Mickey generally appears alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, his friends Horace Horsecollar, Donald Duck, and Goofy, and his nemesis Pete, among others (see Mickey Mouse universe).

Originally characterized as a mischievous antihero, Mickey’s increasing popularity led to his being rebranded as an everyman, usually seen as an ever cheerful, yet shy role model. In 2009, Disney began to rebrand the character again by putting less emphasis on his pleasant, cheerful side and reintroducing the more mischievous and adventurous sides of his personality, beginning with the video game Epic Mickey. Mickey was first seen in a test screening of the cartoon short Plane Crazy, on May 15, 1928, but it failed to impress the audience and to add insult to injury, Walt could not find a distributor.

Though understandably disappointed, Walt went on to produce a second Mickey short, The Gallopin’ Gaucho, which was also not released for lack of a distributor. Steamboat Willie was first released on November 18, 1928 in New York. It was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks again served as the head animator, assisted by Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Wilfred Jackson and Dick Lundy. This short was intended as a parody of Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Jr. , first released on May 12 of the same year.

Although it was the third Mickey cartoon produced, it was the first to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey’s debut. Willie featured changes to Glogovac – 7 Mickey’s appearance (in particular, simplifying his eyes to large dots) that established his look for later cartoons and in numerous Walt Disney films. Audiences at the time of Steamboat Willie’s release were reportedly impressed by the use of sound for comedic purposes. Sound films or “ talkies” were still considered innovative. The first feature-length movie with dialogue sequences, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson, was released on October 6, 1927.

Within a year of its success, most United States movie theaters had installed sound film equipment. Walt Disney apparently intended to take advantage of this new trend and, arguably, managed to succeed. Most other cartoon studios were still producing silent products and so were unable to effectively act as competition to Disney. As a result Mickey would soon become the most prominent animated character of the time. Walt Disney soon worked on adding sound to both Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho (which had originally been silent releases) and their new release added to Mickey’s success and popularity.

A fourth Mickey short, The Barn Dance, was also put into production; however, Mickey does not actually speak until The Karnival Kid in 1929 when his first spoken words were “ Hot dogs, Hot dogs! ” After Steamboat Willie was released, Mickey became a close competitor to Felix the Cat, and his popularity would grow as he was continuously featured in sound cartoons. “ Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood. ” (Disney, 6).

Mickey first appeared in comics after he had appeared in 15 commercially successful animated shorts and was easily recognized by the public. Walt Disney was approached by King Features Syndicate with the offer to license Mickey and his supporting characters for use in a comic strip. Disney accepted and Mickey made his first comic strip appearance on January 13, Glogovac – 8 1930. The comical plot was credited to Disney himself, art to Ub Iwerks and inking to Win Smith. The first week or so of the strip featured a loose adaptation of “ Plane Crazy”. Minnie soon became the first addition to the cast.

The strips first released between January 13, 1930 and March 31, 1930 has been occasionally reprinted in comic book form under the collective title “ Lost on a Desert Island”. Walt Disney’s last script for the strip appeared May 17, 1930. Gottfredson’s first task was to finish the storyline Disney had started on April 1, 1930. The storyline was completed on September 20, 1930 and later reprinted in comic book form as Mickey Mouse in Death Valley. This early adventure expanded the cast of the strip which to this point only included Mickey and Minnie.

Among the characters who had their first comic strip appearances in this story were Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar and Black Pete as well as the debuts of corrupted lawyer Sylvester Shyster and Minnie’s uncle Mortimer Mouse. The Death Valley narrative was followed by Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers, first printed between September 22 and December 26, 1930, which introduced Marcus Mouse and his wife as Minnie’s parents. Starting with these two early comic strip stories, Mickey’s versions in animation and comics are considered to have diverged from each other.

While Disney and his cartoon shorts would continue to focus on comedy, the comic strip effectively combined comedy and adventure. This adventurous version of Mickey would continue to appear in comic strips and later comic books throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. As the official Walt Disney mascot, Mickey has played a central role in the Disney parks since the opening of Disneyland in 1955. As with other characters, Mickey is often portrayed by a non-speaking costumed actor. In this form he has participated in ceremonies and countless parades.

A popular activity with guests is getting to meet and pose for photographs with the mouse. As of the presidency of George W. Bush, Mickey has met every U. S. President since Harry Truman, with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson. Mickey also features in several specific attractions at the Disney parks. Mickey’s Toontown (Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland) is a themed land which is a recreation of Mickey’s neighborhood. Buildings are built in a cartoon style and guests can visit Mickey or Minnie’s houses, Donald Duck’s boat, or Goofy’s garage. This is a common place to meet the characters.

“ Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world. ” (Disney, 1). Mickey Mouse came across as a simple idea that is now the picture of hope, and magic to children worldwide. Disney’s icon is mainly focused on the mouse with red shorts. Walt Disney chose to continue his education after dropping out of high school, and motivated himself to join animation and design. He built his way to the top by creating a mouse that gave everybody hope that their dreams can come true.

Through innovations and alliances with corporations, he transformed a amateur studio into a industry that forms as magic. Mickey Mouse was a simple thought that transformed the entire entertainment industry. Over one hundred movies have been directed, and produced in honor of Walt Disney’s creation. Disney knew that a gateway from problems was looking at the brighter side of things, and always believing that happiness eventually does come. “ I hope we never lose sight of one thing– that it was all started by a mouse. ” (Disney, 1).

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