Walt Disney voiced Mickey from 1928 to 1946, then sound effects expert James G. MacDonald took over the role. Currently, Mickey’s voice is expressed by Bret Iwan.
Mickey was created to replace Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the animated star created earlier by the Disney studio at the order of Charles Mintz of Universal Studios. In fact, Mickey was originally quite similar to the Oswald rabbit.
When Disney offered a higher pay for the Oswald bunny episodes, Mintz announced that he hired the entire Disney team, the team could continue the work to get paid if they agreed. Mintz owns the character Oswald and believes he is holding the handle. Disney angrily refused to continue working and returned to California to complete the final Oswald episodes under a contract with Mintz. Disney was disappointed that his associates did not cooperate with him, but he was determined to start over. The Disney studio relaunched with staff members Ub Iwerks animator and focused actor Les Clark. One lesson Disney has learned from this case is to keep all ownership of all the characters it created.
Mickey Mouse ad poster in 1928
In the spring of 1928, Disney proposed Ub Iwerks to start building ideas for a new cartoon character. Iwerks tried characters such as frogs, dogs and cats, but Disney wasn’t happy. A dairy cow and horse are drawn but also denied. These two animals later became cartoon characters, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horse. Finally, Ub Iwerks drew inspiration from an old painting from 1925 by artist Hugh Harman. It was a few sketches of a mouse around a picture of Walt Disney. They drew inspiration from Ub Iwerks to create a new cartoon character named Mickey Mouse.
“We feel the public, especially children who like small and funny animals. I think, more than that, we must be grateful to Charlie Chaplin. We want to create something lovely, and they I think a little mouse may be a little bit of a reminder of Chaplin – a little fellow who tries his best as he can. ”
“When people laugh at Mickey Mouse it is because it is very similar to people and that is the secret of Mickey Mouse’s popularity.”
“I just hope we don’t overlook one thing – it’s all great success starting from a little mouse.” – Walt Disney.
