The Disney Dynasty: Taking a Chance on a Mouse

As the beginning road of animation was a rough start for Disney, his dream of a well known name for himself was never far from his mind. I believe Walt knew the moment he sketched that little live mouse, that there was a reason all of his other projects never seemed to work in his favor. But after the previous failures Disney endured, was it such a good idea to push forward with such a risky business proposition? As his first animation feature of Mickey was set out to entertain millions of families in and around the time of the great stock market crash of 1929, I often wonder if Walt could have set himself up for an even larger business disaster. With the time period’s economy in the mist of spilling over, was it smart to continue chasing his dreams?

I think it was mostly Walt’s immense determination and strive for greatness that saved him from ever thinking twice. I think a little part of him knew that this time it was going to work, that this cartoon was unlike the others and that it was going to take him places.

Walt continued not to let his financial issues get him down. Walt took his cartoon character to work as he began creating simple sketches of the mouse. With his animation partner, Ub Iwerks, the two took the many different sketches of Mickey and created the first cartoon titled “Plane Crazy”. With absolutely no luck selling the first cartoon, I admire his strength to keep on working. They produced a second cartoon titled “Gallopin' Gaucho” but since both were silent cartoons, they were just not marketable due to the newly created “talkie” cartoon films that became the newest type of animation in 1927. Walt decided to start work on a new Mickey Mouse cartoon, this time a “talkie”, including sound and music. He even took a special trip to New York City because the east coast was the only place with this new found technology to enhance his work. Walt put all of his time, money and energy into this film and was given the chance to display it on exhibit in New York and the rest was history.

A manager liked his production and decided to show it at his theater. In 1928 the premiere of Walt Disney’s first production titled “Steamboat Willie” hit the screen. It was soon a complete success and often people went to the movies only to see if they were “showing a Mickey”. Sometimes I wish I was back in the 20’s and able to sit in a theater through this golden piece of history. Even through the great depression and the 1930’s, people young and old flocked to the theater to see the latest Mickey adventure. Walt created many more characters for his short cartoons and the popular characters you and I know today such as Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck.

After years of tremendous success living side by side with a mouse, Walt Disney received his first Oscar in 1932 for his then famous Mickey Mouse creation. I bet Walt Disney never dreamed of success as big as this, little did he know he wasn’t yet touching the surface.