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Did Walt really create Mickey?
- Thread starter mitchk
- Start date
habuma
Well-Known Member
It's not as big of a secret/scandal as your emojis seem to be making it out to be. It's common knowledge that Walt, in frustration from losing Oswald, drew up a rough sketch of Mickey and then Ub refined it. This is covered in numerous biographies and even the PBS documentary on Walt. The more accurate statement is that Walt and Ub co-created Mickey Mouse.
Bender123
Well-Known Member
Well...like all things in business, yes and no. Its like trying to ask who started Apple, was it Wozniak or Jobs? The obvious answer is Jobs/Disney in these examples, but the deeper story is that they could not have had the success they had without the technical masters that stood behind them. Without Woz, there is nothing for Jobs to sell.
Mickey was Walt's idea, but Ub bought him to life.
Mickey was Walt's idea, but Ub bought him to life.
Minnie Mum
Well-Known Member
Well, yes. It's right in the article. Walt came up with the original design. Uwerks refined it. This isn't anything new.
Chef Mickey
Well-Known Member
Walt Disney was a genius and any veiled attempt to detract from his accomplishments is really missing the point.
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Raineman
Well-Known Member
A few days ago, I saw a meme about this, stating that Ub Iwerks created Mickey, and the picture in the meme was Walt with another man, who, to the uninitiated, would have to be Ub-except that the other guy was Roy Disney. One of those instances where being a Disney history nerd can make you feel smarter than everyone else 
I saw the
I saw the same pic on this site boxden.com. That was when I looked into it a little more because I knew the picture they had up there was Walts and his brother RoyA few days ago, I saw a meme about this, stating that Ub Iwerks created Mickey, and the picture in the meme was Walt with another man, who, to the uninitiated, would have to be Ub-except that the other guy was Roy Disney. One of those instances where being a Disney history nerd can make you feel smarter than everyone else
Sorry I'm a little bit older so I'm sorry about my expressive emojis. With that being said if you look at anything Disney ... the creator of Mickey Mouse is credited to Walt Disney. Walt is also credited with creating Oswald the rabbit , then HE lost him.... then apparently on a train ride Walt drew a sketch from Mickey Mouse who he was going to name mortimer mouse but his wife said why don't you name him Mickey.... show me a Disney published book that clains someone helped Walt create Mickey ... because I never read one.... like I said a book put out by Disney Company.... not a different publisher
JIMINYCR
Well-Known Member
Ub did "tweak" Walts Mickey and Walt approved the changes that were made. There are a couple of books written and articles written by family members... there was also a television production that aired that told the story of Ub showcasing his creativity, inventions and abilities that Disney benefitted by and that Walt took advantage of. They claim that Walt also apparently bullied Ub a lot too. Ub also had a lot of Disney stock that he foolishly sold back to Walt that could have made him a fortune had he kept it. Despite the negatives that occasionally hit the news, Ub always claimed he was very loyal to Walt and said Walt gave him the encouragement, resources and venue to be the creative success he was.
Exactly. Have you ever saw Saving Mr Banks? Walt was all about stealing ideas, but I still love that man, and everything he accomplished
Bender123
Well-Known Member
Well...Its very well documented from both inside and outside the organization. Its not like this is some industry secret. Its also fairly well known that Roy was really the business man of the company and kept Walt aimed where the business needed him to be aimed. Walt was a big thinker who was surrounded by people that understood how to turn Walts fantastic ideas into a functioning product.
Just like how Jobs was never known as a fantastic engineer, he was a salesman and dreamer.
JIMINYCR
Well-Known Member
Well it really isnt stealing. You are working for Walt and you are being paid by Walt to create and use your talents for the company. You are using the companies buildings, assets and environment to create, so anything produced on Disney time while working for Disney is Disney property. Who knows how successful Ub would have been had he been on his own. When he had left Disney at one point he failed miserably and wanted to come back to Walt.
Ok. I understand where you're coming from to a certain degree ... so basically you're saying Walt had great ideas but he needed other people to execute them correctly... so should Walt be credited with creating AAs. Or the people that actually figured out how to make them work? ... should Walt be credited with the Multi frame camera or should someone else who actually created it be credited? I can tell you 1 million ideas that I have but if someone else creates them, do I still get the credit? In no way shape or form am I trying to argue just simply asking a question
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Pixieish
Well-Known Member
That's the way it typically works in a business that specializes in creating any kind of "art". Walt never considered himself a great artist...he was FANTASTIC at finding talent and inspiring them to create greatness. You could say that he was the foundation of the creative aspect of the business, and that he pushed his employees to create better things than they thought they were capable of. It could be something as simple as Walt making the offhand comment to an employee: "We need to find a way to make cartoons have more depth" as having the "idea" for the multi-plane camera, or it could have been more technical than that. It's a team effort.
Bender123
Well-Known Member
Well...if you work for the man, then yes. Disney owned the company, came up with the original Mickey Mouse drawing and then told his staff, Iwerks included, to refine it and make it something that would sell tickets. He did just that. The other side of your question is, "Would we know about or care about Iwerks if it hadn't been for Walt?" Based on his critical and commercial failure running his own studio, I would think the answer would be obvious. Walt was able to succeed with other people in his staff, but Iwerks wasn't able to succeed without Walt driving the vision.
Would the things you listed....Multiplane camera, AAs, etc...exist in the form they are without Walt driving those engineers to develop them?
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
That’s more the Storybook version. The Disneys knew that they didn’t own Oswald and had been working with Ub on a backup plan. The big surprise was their services being terminated and most of the animation having been hired away.
We do know. Iwerks Studio existed in the 1930s.
Popular credit usually varies by circumstances and context.
JIMINYCR
Well-Known Member
If you research the early years of Disney, youll find that the artists originally were not given credit on anything they worked on. It just listed Walt Disney Studios. The animators wanted to receive their names credited and thus getting notoriety so that was a big issue that Walt eventually conceded.
Yes and it was a failure. Then Ub turned back to Walt and Walt let him back in to work for Disney.