walt disney originally had the name mortimer mouse in mind for mickey mouse.
what name did walt disney originally have in mind for mickey mouse?
mortimer mouse
in the spring of 1928, disney asked ub iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas. iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to disney. a female cow and male horse were also rejected. they would later turn up as clarabelle cow and horace horsecollar. a male frog was also rejected. it would later show up in iwerks' own "flip the frog" series. walt disney got the inspiration for mickey mouse from a tame mouse at his desk at laugh-o-gram studio in kansas city, missouri. in 1925, hugh harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of walt disney. these inspired ub iwerks to create a new mouse character for disney. "mortimer mouse" had been disney's original name for the character before his wife, lillian, convinced him to change it, and ultimately mickey mouse came to be. the actor mickey rooney claimed that, during his mickey mcguire days, he met cartoonist walt disney at the warner brothers studio, and that disney was inspired to name mickey mouse after him. this claim, however, has been debunked by disney historian jim korkis, since at the time of mickey mouse's development, disney studios had been located on hyperion avenue for several years, and walt disney never kept an office or other working space at warner brothers, having no professional relationship with warner brothers, as the alice comedies and oswald cartoons were distributed by universal.
mickey mouse
mickey mouse's global fame has made him both a symbol of the walt disney company and of the united states itself. for this reason, mickey has been used frequently in anti-american satire, such as the infamous underground cartoon ""mickey mouse in vietnam"" (1969). there have been numerous parodies of mickey mouse, such as the 2-page parody ""mickey rodent"" by will elder (published in "mad" #19, 1955) in which the mouse walks around unshaven and jails donald duck out of jealousy over the duck's larger popularity. the grotesque rat fink character was created by ed "big daddy" roth over his hatred of mickey mouse. in "the simpsons movie", bart simpson puts a black bra on his head to mimic mickey mouse and says: "i'm the mascot of an evil corporation!" on the comedy central series "south park", mickey is depicted as the sadistic, greedy, foul-mouthed boss of the walt disney company, only interested in money. he also appears briefly with donald duck in the comic "squeak the mouse" by the italian cartoonist massimo mattioli. horst rosenthal created a comic book, "mickey au camp de gurs" ("mickey mouse in the gurs internment camp") while detained in the gurs internment camp during the second world war; he added "publié sans autorisation de walt disney" ("published without walt disney's permission") to the front cover.
mickey mouse