Mickey Mouse

We have finally reached, the final Mainstay. The Greatest Cartoon Character Ever.! (In my opinion)  That's right, today we will talking about Mickey Mouse.  This one is going to be a bit different though when it comes to my favorite Mickey Moments. There are so many great Mickey Moments that I have decided to do a  Top 3 Mickey Moments but first, and rather than give you Mickey's bio, I have decided to talk about the creation of Mickey Mouse.  Let's begin.

Mickey's Creation

Where to begin? Well, why not the beginning?    Mickey was created after Walt had lost the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  There are two different stories as to how Mickey was created. I have decided to share what I know of both of these stories with you here today. First up is Walt's version of Mickey's Creation.

Walt's Version

As any Disney fan who has done enough on Walt, I have found that he liked to embellish his stories to make them a tad more engaging but that is seen in all of his movies.  You may be wondering where I'm going with this well, Walt also embellish his own life to make it seem more interesting. Such as the case with his story of he created Mickey Mouse

According to Walt's version of Story, he came up with the idea of Mickey while on a train ride home from New York and he thought why do a mouse and was going to name it Mortimer but Mrs. Disney did not care for the name. So Walt went through of all the M names, he could think of until he finally settled on Mickey. It does not surprise me that Walt would say that he created Mickey on a train because Walt was someone who always loved trains and in fact even had one installed in his backyard and named it after his wife. He called the train, The LillyBelle.  If you saw Toy Story 3 and think back to the beginning of the film that takes place in the old west that train was a reference to Walt's train.  That is Walt's version of how he created Mickey but there is another story of how Mickey came to life.

The Other Verison

You may be asking who those gentlemen well they are UB Iwerks and Roy O. Disney.  UB Iwerks was an old freind of Walt's and was animator with the company for a while. Roy took care of all the fianical aid for the Disney company. They play a key part in the other verison of Mickey's creation. The other version says that Mickey was not created until Walt returned to the studio and talked Iwerks and his brother. They remained in the studio for days trying to come up with an idea until they finally thought of the Mouse.  One fact that will remain true in both versions is if not for Mrs. Disney we would have The Mortimer Mouse Club. As that was Mickey's first name until Mrs. Disney said  "I don't like that name".   

According to most sources I have read the latter version seems to be the one authors identify as the actual birth of Mickey.  The train story is just around for fun, I guess.

My Favorite Mickey Short

It was hard picking my favorite Mickey cartoon because there are so many great cartoons that this little guy has starred in. I did think about putting Steamboat Willie, here but in the end, I had to go with The Band Concert. This short is the one that actually got me into Mickey. While I have always been a Disney fan, I was not aware of all the cool old school Mickey stuff until my mom bought  The Spirit of Mickey.  An old video full of some of Mickey's greatest shorts and when I saw this one, I thought this is so cool. This is my opinion but I think the music in this short is better than The Sorrecor's Apprentice.  Also this short has just been adapted to ride format at Calinforina Adventure. The ride is called Silly Symphony Swings.  Name withstanding, it looks like  a fun ride. In case, you are wondering why, I  said  "Name withstanding" that's because this short is not a Silly Symphony.  Excluding Donald's first appearance, Walt never had any of the Mainstays appear in a  Silly Symphony.  Ah well, here's a video of the ride.

My Top 3 Mickey Moments

3.  Seeing Sorrecor Mickey at the end of Fantasmic! 

I could have put this entire show on the list but this just topped it for me because at the end of the show Mickey comes out and get on top the mountain and starts shooting fireworks. That was awesome! I reccomend this show if you get the chance to see it is at Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World.  I'm not certian but I believe you can also buy the soundtrack for this show at the park.

2.  Mickey Finally headlining a series again with House of Mouse

Now as I had mentioned before both Goofy and Donald were given shows during the Disney Afternoon Era. Now when The Disney Afternoon was airing, I didn't care because I was not a big Mickey fan but when I did become a Mickey fan, I  waited for the day that Mickey would finally headline a series again and boom, House of Mouse. I love this show. It was so fun seeing all the Disney characters together under one roof. Disney, if you are reading, please release this show on DVD!

1.  Getting My Picture Taken with Mickey Mouse

This picture was taken 2 years back and at the time I realized I had never had my picture taken with Mickey. That was my goal that trip, get a picture with the Mouse and I did it!  As soon, I walked into Mickey's House, I was immeresed and it felt as though I was finally meeting my favorite cartoon character. I may have been 20 that night but the kid in me came out big time when I saw Mickey. I was on Cloud Nine for the rest of the night.

So that is the end to the week long look at Disney Mainstays. I hope you enjoyed as much I did writing them.