Fun Facts and Secrets About Mickey Mouse

Original Art

1. Believe it or not, Mickey Mouse was NOT created by Walt Disney. While Walt drew Mickey, it was Ub Iwerks that gave him the idea for a mouse character after he lost his other cartoon, Oswald the Rabbit.
   REPORTED: Rob Warden 06 APR 97
   Someone mentioned that Ub Iwerkes was the one who created Mickey Mouse. This is not true! Walt did create the mouse, based on inspiration from a little mouse he named Mortimer that lived in the garbage cans in the small studio where he made his Alice shorts. Ub was the animator who did all the Mickey shorts until he quit the partnership. After he initially created Mickey (who originally looked like Walt, and Ub helped refurbish him into the character we know) he never drew again. My sources are the biographies "Hollywood's Dark Prince," and "Walt Disney's World."
   REPORTED: Disneyman 18 SEP 98
2. Mickey Mouse's original name was Mortimer but Lillian convince him to change "Mortimer" to "Mickey.
   REPORTED: TR Shaw 26 OCT 96
   Disney later used a character named Mortimer Mouse as Mickey's Rival in 1936.
   CONFIRMED: Melanie Emmons 30 NOV 96
   CONFIRMED: Maeve C. 01 FEB 97
   Yes Mickey's name was changed by request of Walt's wife, BUT the name of Mickey was actually taken from Mickey Rooney. Mickey was in the building at the time on a visit, he walked into Walt's room and viola! Mickey Mouse! This was told to me by Jerry Lewis who is a personal friend of Mr. Rooney. So I trust this to be a true statement.
   UPDATE: Kelly Rozinski 22 AUG 00
3. Here are some interesting facts that I found about Mickey Mouse from an article by John Updike. In this article I read that Mickey Mouse was really born in 1927 on a train going from California to New York. Then somewhere between Chicago and L.A. Walt Disney and his wife came up with Mickey's first cartoon, "Plane Crazy." Mickey's second movie was "Galloping Goucho," and "Steamboat Willie" was released in 1928 as Mickey's third movie. From page 136 of "Patterns for College Writing" by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell.
   REPORTED: Adam Loser 19 DEC 98
4. The password to the invasion at Normandy was "Mickey Mouse."
   REPORTED: Meg 29 JUL 96
5. I've started wondering when the Disney Co. started using the three-circle Mickey as a symbol -- either as "decor" Mickeys in the parks, on clothing tags, clothing and other officially licensed goods, etc., as well as the most common type of Hidden Mickey. I found a brief history in the book, Disney A to Z by Dave Smith:

   "Mickey Mouse was originally drawn using circles -- for head, body, and ears. The Pointer, in 1939, was the first cartoon that featured a drastically new design for Mickey. His body became more pear shaped than round, and pupils were added to his eyes, making them more expressive. In the early 1940s, animators gave him perspective ears -- shadowing them to give a three-dimensional effect -- but this change was short lived. Later changes consisted mainly of costume changes, taking him out of his red shorts, for instance, and putting him in more contemporary clothes."
   REPORTED: Melanie Emmons 30 NOV 96

6. The angle of Mickey's Ears is exactly 105 degrees, the same angle as the bonds in water.
   REPORTED: Rob Judd 28 NOV 98
7. Mickey in the parks can now wiggle his nose!
   REPORTED: Tom & Renée Shaw 28 DEC 98
8. In all Mickey Mouse cartoons, no matter which way Mickey is looking his ears are always facing forward. You never get an ear profile.
   REPORTED: anon 23 MAR 99
   Actually, there was one cartoon when W.D. and Co. made Mickey's ears move in 3D, but it just looked strange, so they changed it back. (It does look better, no matter how many laws of physics it breaks....)
   UPDATE: Benjamin Geiger 13 APR 99
9. Mickey is back in the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade as of 2000!

• Go on the Fun Facts about Characters
• Go back to the Fun Facts of Disney,
• Go back to the Spacecoast Hidden Mickeys Home Page,
• Submit a new or confirm a Hidden Mickey,
• or just send me EMail.