Romance of Mickey Mouse

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 955, 24 April 1930, Page 16

Romance of Mickey Mouse

HOW THIS POPULAR TALKIE STAR CAME INTO BEING

ACCUSTOMED to hearing of lilms whose cost runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars, and of stars whose salaries make the Prime Minister's appear a mere pittance, the cinema public could be excused for thinking that success in the moving picture world can be secured only by spending money, and then more money.

There would appear to be little chance of such things as romance or personality having a place in such a world of big business, where, it can be said without exaggeration, already £50,000,000 has been spent in the production of talking pictures. Yet if a ballot were to be taken, it would be found that easily the most popular film “star” of today is that quaint little fellow Mickey Mouse — and Mickey represents not big business, but romance (says the “Sunday Pictorial” film critic). Mickey is, of course, the talkie development of silent screen cartoons, but, strange though it may seem, the idea of a sound cartoon did not come from the brains of any of the big combines. It might almost be said that the sudden popularity of talking pictures blinded the eyes of directors to the possibilities of this simple and i entertaining type of film. Mickey the Mouse. Following the first astounding success of A 1 Jolson in “The Jazz Singer,” and “The Singing Fool,” the film world threw overboard, almost overnight, the whole of its past achievements. Talking picture producers paid fortunes to end agreements with silent film stars, simply because the personal success of A 1 Jolson started a stampede toward the stage. Working on His Own More fortunes were spent in entering into agreements with stage stars and with many others who were not stars. Still more fortunes were spent on securing writers of popular songs and writers of popular dialogue. While all this frenzied spending and rearrangement was occupying the minds of the film magnates, the creator of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney, was working quietly with a few friends, and, in comparison with the resources of the big syndicates, with trifling capital; while the producers had lost faith in their silent stars, and knew not whether their speaking stars would prove successful, Disney had faith iii his creation, Mickey. The magnates were too busy to bother about cartoonists, and Disney was too busy with his own ideas to waste time trying to win their interest. Mickey Mouse was his own cinema star, and his quiet determination to make him a success was typical of the artist. Walt Disney went to school in Chicago. He studied drawing until he reached 17. He did odd jobs for the “Chicago Tribune.” He wanted to be a newspaper cartoonist. He thought he was good—Chicago thought not. So ho drifted to Kansas City, and sought

work with the ‘ Kansas City Star.” He was so successful that he decided to go to Hollywood. He thought he might become a motion picture director. Kansas City let him go without regret. Hollywood gave him no welcome His efforts to become a director me: with no success. He drifted through the studios, doing odd jobs. Nobody wanted him as a director. But he was drifting to some purpose. When the talking picture arrived, Walt Disney was an expert film cartoonist, and he was familiar with the inside of a film studio. Still, Hollywood gave him no thought. Short talking pictures were badly wanted. They are still wanted and wanting. All that the millionaire producers could think of was to photograph music-hall sketches or an operatic star. Animated cartoons never entered their heads. No mergers and no millions went to the creation of Mickey Mouse. "Wo just got together, the bunch of us,” says Walt Disney, “and we worked things out. Sometimes we had good old-fashioned scraps, but in the end things got ironed out, and we had something.” For the making of each Mickey Mouse cartoon “the bunch” provides about 5,000 different drawings, and takes infinite care to ensure that the film action flows with the musical accompaniment. Mickey Mouse scenarios are written on sheets of music, to correspond precisely with the scores prepared by Carl Stallings, the director of the Mickey Mouse orchestra. What a Mickey Mouse Costs The cost of a Mickey Mouse cartoon is about £1,500, which is a romance in itself, since a film trade expert estimates the exhibition value of each of these" cartoons in England alone at probably £15,000. The exhibition value of a Mickey Mouse cartoon throughout the world, and having regard to the many “return dates’* 'Mickey Mouse is now commanding, must be not far short of £150,000, which represents a week’s work by “the bunch.” “The bunch,** however, does not pay any heed to finance. That is left to Walt Disney’s brother. All that Walt himself says is: “I know we are getting by all right; my brother turns up each week with enough to pay everybody.” But, as to actual income, Walt Disney explains he has not yet found time to “sit around and count profits.” The nearest Walt Disney has yet come to boasting about the success of Mickey Mouse is to say: “Everybody here has his shoulder to the wheel. Maybe some time we’ll all be rolling in wealth and move into more pretentious quarters, and put on the high hat, but w’e won’t be making any better movies.”