In his first official interview, world famous Mickey tells Jim Fagan how it feels to be a star for half a century
LETS START at the beginning, Mickey. Tell me, how did you first get involved in the movies?
Mickey: It all started back in 1928 in a railroad coach. Walt Disney was returning to Hollywood from New York, where his first cartoon character . . . some rabbit . . . Oswald, I think it was . . . had been taken from him by his financial backers who held the copyright.
Walt was looking for a new player to star in his next animated short. Destiny brought us together. We shared the same seat on the train. Having heard from my cousins in Kansas City that Walt was good to his pet mice as a boy, I volunteered my services as a cartoon character. After we got to Hollywood, Walt made a few sketches of me, and gave me a screen test.
I wasn't much of an actor in those days. Walt had to keep erasing me and making me do it over. But I guess Walt liked what he saw, and my career was launched!
What was your first movie?
My professional debut came on November 18, 1928, in "Steamboat Willie." It was the first cartoon with sound! In fact, the story behind "Steamboat Willie" is interesting. We had completed work on two silent cartoons, "Plane Crazy" and "Gallopin' Gaucho." But Walt couldn't find a distributor. Being new at the studio, I kept to myself for those first two projects.
But with the success of Warner Brothers' "The Jazz Singer." I urged Walt to tackle the "talkies." Sure enough, our third project, "Steamboat Willie." was a smashing success! Walt added sound to "Plane Crazy" and "Gallopin' Gaucho" and we were on our way!
Someone told me that you starred in over 100 cartoon shorts!
I'm afraid someone told you wrong! It was 118 cartoon shorts!
That's quite a few! What are some of the roles you've played?
Being a mouse, I could have been typecast into some pretty cheesy parts! But fortunately. Walt gave me a variety of roles: boat builder, ghost hunter, football player, concert pianist . . . I've gone from fireman to giant killer . . . cowboy to inventor . . . detective to plumber! I guess the only part I haven't played is a mouse!
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