The best clues to Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse, are to be found in a large white building on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Mickey himself, his hand stretched out in welcome, is perched on top of an electric sign which announces that this is the Walt Disney studio.
Disney, a slender young man with eyes so dark brown in colour that they seem black, is amazed and a little confused by the success of his precocious offspring.
He does not know how the idea came to him. The trick of animating cartoons was not his invention and was not new when, in 1928, the motion picture industry was revolutionised by the introduction of sound.
Disney had made his share of the cartoons, with no outstanding distinction. Incidental music and sound effects had even been added to Mutt and Jeff, and other screen versions of the comic strips.
Early in 1928 Disney conceived the notion of having a mouse as a character. He was to have been named Mortimer Mouse, but Mickey was chosen instead, largely because it was shorter. He was to be merely one of a family of animals which already included Oswald the Rabbit and some others.
In the late Spring, Disney hit upon the idea which was to bring success. He decided to synchronise Mickey’s actions with music. This was wholly new.
Disney peddled his brain child among the large producers and finally found an independent backer in New York. The film was shown in a small theatre in September. In a few days it was playing to tremendous applause at the Roxy Theatre in New York.
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