The mouse we love

Valsala R talks to Walt Disney’s most famous creation about his journey as a pop culture figure for 95 years and counting

Walt Disney: “Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever”

“I hope you don’t mind my saying this but, wow!! You look terrific at 95!” I exclaimed as Mickey strutted across to shake hands with me. As I took in the red shorts, the yellow shoes and the white gloves that currently enveloped my hand, I was filled with awe and delight. Mickey’s wide grin filled up the majority of his face and he giggled. It almost seemed as if my childhood, your childhood and virtually everyone’s childhood was embodied in that comical figure.

“Do tell us how you started life…,” I said in my best wheedling voice.

Mickey blushed — that cute, modest blush that endears him so much to us all. “I will start with a fact that many of you may not have heard. It wasn’t only Walt (that’s Mr Disney to you!) but also his friend Ub Iwerks who made me, me. Walt created my um… charming personality (there was the blush again) but Ub ‘animated’ me, gave me life and the ability to move and talk and do all the things that you’ve been seeing on screen all these years.” “Oh,” I said, “I didn’t know that! In fact, I’ve never even heard of this Ub Iwerks.” “Oh yes, Ub worked at Disney for about 30 years. He was a rather quiet person but we have him to thank not just for me but also for some of the fun stuff in movies like ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘Sleeping Beauty’. He was a genius!”

“Tell me something else I might not know,” I said. “You know that I first came on the scene in a film called ‘Steamboat Willie’ (I wasn’t even the title character!) where I tried to build my own boat. That was in 1928. Walt wrote the script. He originally called me Mortimer Mouse (Mickey shuddered) but luckily for us all, Mrs Disney didn’t think that suited my character and it was she who suggested that I should be called Mickey.” “Thank God for that!” I laughed. “Yes, Mortimer sounded a bit self-important, didn’t it? And here I was trying to be everyone’s best friend and always being optimistic. I only ever wanted to make people laugh.” Yes, I thought. One of the main reasons we love Mickey is that he’s not brilliant or a super hero — he’s just that little fella who has plenty of courage and intelligence and manages to do good in spite of his small size and squeaky voice. “People say that Chaplin was the inspiration for the Mickey Mouse character,” I said. “What do you think?” “Well,” said Mickey, thoughtfully. “We do have certain traits in common, don’t we? We both try to be kind…” “And you’re both rather innocent,” I added. Mickey chuckled. “And at one time they used to say that Chaplin and I were the biggest Hollywood stars!”

“Oh, and did you know that Walt himself was my first voice?” “What??!” I exclaimed. “Yes, Walt enjoyed it too and continued to do my voice for quite some time — almost two decades. As the Disney studio grew, Walt got too busy to do voice work regularly and I had to have other people say my dialogues. Of course, the amount of dialogue had also increased by then. It was in ‘Karnival Kid’ that I got to speak first and the first thing I said was…” “Hot dog, hot dog”, I put in. “In fact, you were the first cartoon character ever to speak,” I added.

“You went on to star in over 130 films including short films and full-length features,” I said. “Yes, and I can speak in more languages than most film stars,” Mickey couldn’t help boasting a little. That was true. He is translated into languages all over the world and has different names in different countries too — he’s Musse Pigg in Sweden, Mi Lao Shu in China and Topolino in Italy, to name just a few.

“Before you go, let me tell you a fun fact about you… Did you know that at every US presidential election there are a good number of votes that come in over the postal ballot for ‘Mickey Mouse’?” I couldn’t help laughing as Mickey’s shy smile and fiery blush reappeared.

The Disney empire with all the films, fun fairs and merchandise (the Mickey Mouse watch is hugely popular) is one of the biggest in the industry but Walt Disney never forgot “that it was all started by a mouse”.

(The author is a writer and a soft skills and communications trainer.)