Mickey Mouse's early road to fame (yt playlist with ~160 videos) has some odd twists and turns. One of Walt Disney's early cartoon creations was
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the star of
Trolley Troubles (5:45, 1927) and other early shorts. Disney had big plans for the popular little rabbit, and wanted to increase his budget from Universal Pictures. Unfortunately,
Charles B. Mintz wanted to scale back the budget, and in the end
Universal kept control of Oswald Rabbit. Without Oswald, Disney needed something new. Jack Dunham, one of
Disney's Nine Old Men recalled animating Oswald and "
the one without the ears." Initially, this one was called Mortimer, but Lillian Disney, Walt Disney's wife, believed the name "Mortimer"
sounded too pompous and suggested the name Mickey, though
Mickey Rooney claims he was the inspiration. Either way, the mouse was
renamed Mickey in short order, and he starred in
Plane Crazy (
video, 6:00, 1928,
previously). By 1929, he was wearing his iconic gloves (and talking), in
The Karnival Kid (
video, 7:41). But Mortimer returned, as
Mickey's Rival (8:16, 1936), eventually getting
his own themesong (1:56, modern recording off of TV;
better quality song with a still image, 1:35) and again in
a modern short (1:30, 2000), amongst
other appearances. Then there's
Uncle Mortimer, who first traveled with
Mickey Mouse in Death Valley, though it's not always clear whose uncle he is. And in the alternate universe that is
Bloom County,
Mickey's fraternal twin is Mortimer (technically, he resides in
Outland).
posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 27, 2009 -
10 comments
The last of Disney's Nine Old Men, Ollie Johnston, has
passed away at the age of 95. His work at Disney on several classic features and his books with Frank Thomas (
The Illusion of Life in particular), have long been inspiring to animators like myself. He was one of the great ones, and will be missed.
posted by May Kasahara
on Apr 15, 2008 -
23 comments
Mars and Beyond - 50 years ago, this animated episode of Tomorrowland aired on Disneyland a few months after the launch of Sputnik - an entertaining melange of astronomy, sci-fi, pop culture, science, speculation, and surreality. Walt himself and Wernher von Braun make guest appearances and clip 5 is particularly trippy. (Parts
2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
posted by madamjujujive
on Jun 10, 2007 -
9 comments
Virtual Space Mountain! Wheeeee!
(Click on the second video where you sit in front. What are you, a wuss?) Real video just
can't do Space Mountain justice, but it does a pretty good job of capturing some other rides. Feel like revisiting some original Magic Kingdom rides without leaving home? Well here you go...
Pirates,
Mr. Toad,
Small World,
Haunted Mansion,
Tiki Room,
Thunder Mountain,
Star Tours,
Indiana Jones,
Alice in Wonderland,
The Jungle Cruise,
Matterhorn,
Roger Rabbit, the late
Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse and a bunch of people covered in lightbulbs dancing to
the world's most excruciatingly annoying synthesized music. During your virtual day at the park, please just remember to watch out for Goofy. That dude is nothing but a
messed up troublemaker.
And don't forget... the parking trams do not go to aisles B as in Bambi & C as in Cinderella.
posted by miss lynnster
on Mar 26, 2007 -
23 comments
Walt would turn over in his cryonic chamber... (I know, I know, it's
not true.)
Speaking of
family trees, Roy Disney (the last board member with ties to the founding family)
resigned from the company Sunday, calling for the
ouster of Chairman Michael Eisner. Stanley Gold soon
soon followed. In a
harsh letter,
Disney said the entertainment conglomerate had "lost its
focus, its
creative energy, and its
heritage" and that the
public now
held the perception that company is "
rapacious,
soul-less, and always looking for the '
quick buck'."
No word yet from the
Disneyland obsessives, but the folks at
MousePlanet 's Mousepad
seem optimistic about this development...
posted by Fofer
on Dec 2, 2003 -
18 comments
