Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse (English Mickey Mouse ) is a created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks cartoon character in the form of an anthropomorphic mouse, is due to their worldwide recognition as one of the most famous icons. Mickey Mouse is the most famous character from the Disney World and also appeared as a comic figure. Invented as a workaround, and initially only seen in cartoons, Mickey Mouse became quickly even for comic star and was in the course of the following years and internationally a great success.

Figure

Although Mickey Mouse, whom his creator initially wanted to name Mortimer Mouse, already appeared in the silent film Plane Crazy, he achieved his great fame only through the film Steamboat Willie, which premiered on November 18, 1928 in New York's Colony Theatre. This date is also considered the birthday of Mickey Mouse. Already in Steamboat Willie Mickey also appeared later adversaries Black Pete on ( Black Pete ).

The popularity of this film was not least due to the fact that it was the first -known animated cartoon with sound. The voice of there her friend Minnie Mouse was sheltered by Walt Disney himself, and his desire to have them all to hear, would have almost ruined him. For recording the sounds of the amplifier tubes had given up the ghost, and the small studio of Disney, his brother Roy and her partner Ub Iwerks was faced bankruptcy. Walt sold his car in order to produce voice and orchestra can. From the first voice role in The Karnival Kid ( 1929) until 1946, Disney said in the movies Micky itself from the section Mickey and the Beanstalk in the film Fun and Fancy Free took over James G. MacDonald until the mid -1970s, the voice. From Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983 ) until his death in May 2009 Wayne Allwine was responsible for Mickey's voice.

Disney had been more or less " forced" by circumstances to develop this character at all. Until then, he had earned the right the successful Oswald the Lucky Rabbit his money. The rights to it, however, he had lost after a dispute at his former financiers. Then he shall, in cooperation with Ub Iwerks, the today told story, the comic mouse " Mortimer " have devised. His wife Lillian found the name to be inflated and suggested " Mickey" before.

In his first appearances Micky was in appearance not much more than an Oswald with shorter ears and extended tail. But soon changed the appearance of Mickey. First he got edged eyes instead of point-like and was so capable of greater expression. From the film The Opry House (1929 ) Mickey wears gloves. One oddity but was not altered: Like almost all cartoon characters Mickey has also only four fingers. This should reduce the animation effort. For this reason Mickey also contributes a very long time just a simple trousers with two buttons and gets late whole clothes.

After Mickey's great success in the later 1920s and 1930s finally reached original secondary characters, such as the 1934 invented Donald Duck, a greater popularity. From the 1940s, therefore, only a few films were made with Mickey Mouse in the lead role.

1940 should Mickey Mouse tie with his appearance as a sorcerer's apprentice in the film Fantasia to the previous success. In color and with stereo sound, the film showed the animation techniques that were groundbreaking at the time. However, the film was a flop and played his first production costs is not one. Only later revivals from the 1960s brought success.

Mickey Mouse is next to Donald Duck, the Rugrats and the Simpsons one of the few cartoon or comic book characters that has brought it to a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood ( at the address 6925 Hollywood Blvd. ).

Marketing

Disney had already made ​​first experiences in marketing the Lucky Rabbit to build up a character as a brand; at Mickey merchandising has become a huge business. 1930 appeared the first licensed product: a fee of $ 300 was allowed a company to print school folders with the mouse. Three years later, the brand power had grown so much that they could save an entire company. The Watch Factory Ingersoll- Waterbury resisted the threat of bankruptcy safely thanks to the license for the production of Mickey Mouse watches. Within a few years, Disney earned with such dealings million. In addition to these Micky participated in numerous video games, including in the successful Kingdom Hearts series. With Disney Epic Mickey was released on November 25, 2010 for Nintendo Wii an adventure that takes the comic / cartoon beginnings of Mickey closer look. In November 2012 appeared with Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of 2 (Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, PS3, PS Vita) and Disney Epic Mickey: The Power of Fantasy ( 3DS) two further offshoot of the franchise.

Comic

Only two years after his screen debut on 13 January 1930, the first comic with Mickey Mouse ( Plane Crazy also titled) appeared in American newspapers, soon millions of people read the stories about the world. The newspaper comic strips were drawn in large part by Floyd Gottfredson, the figures from the films took over (eg Goofy ) and new (such as the black phantom, Commissioner Hunter, gamma ) introduced. For the comic books was Paul Murry in particular of importance.

As from 1950 in Europe a high demand for Disney comics arose that could not be satisfied with the material from America, many comics were drawn in Italy from the 1950s. This is especially Romano Scarpa mentioned. Today, the United States of America no longer play a role as a producer of Disney comics. The stories appearing in Germany come almost exclusively from Denmark and Italy, some even from the Netherlands and scattered other countries ( France, Brazil).

The place of production can be derived from the story code that is inserted mostly in the first frame of the stories. So, for example, comes a story with the code I TL 1723 from Italy, one with the code H 23148 ​​from the Netherlands. Stories with the letter D were produced for the Danish Egmont publishing house, which also artists from other countries - and Others America - busy.

In Germany, the comics since 1951 regularly in the book series " Mickey Mouse ". Already in the 1930s there had been scattered impressions of Mickey comics in newspapers and in 1937 a short-lived Swiss Mickey Mouse newspaper.

Synchronization

In the German versions of the series in which appears Mickey Mouse, he is spoken since the mid- 90s by Mario of Jascheroff.

Terms of Use

According to the original legal regulations of the United States Mickey Mouse today would not trademarked product more. The extension of protection, however, was made ​​possible by a change in the law, known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.