The Walt Disney Company
In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a mouse character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California, drawing up a few simple drawings. The mouse was later renamed Mickey Mouse (Disney's wife, Lillian, disliked the sound of 'Mortimer Mouse') and starred in several Disney produced films. Ub Iwerks refined Disney's initial design of Mickey Mouse. Disney's first sound film "Steamboat Willie", a cartoon starring Mickey, was released on November 18, 1928 through Pat Powers' distribution company. It was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho". "Steamboat Willie" was an immediate smash hit, and its initial success was attributed not just to Mickey's appeal as a character, but to the fact that it was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound. Disney used Pat Powers' Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee de Forest's Phonofilm system. "Steamboat Willie" premiered at B. S. Moss's Colony Theater in New York City, now The Broadway Theatre. Disney's "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho" were then retrofitted with synchronized sound tracks and re-released successfully in 1929.
The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life
Walt Disney was born in Chicago on December 5, 1901 and lived in Marceline, Missouri from 1905 to 1910. When he was young, he had a talent for drawing and he earned money doing illustrations for newspapers and advertisements. He left home in 1919 and worked at a commercial art studio in Kansas City, after he was fired from the studio, he started his own shop in 1920. Soon, Walt worked at the Kansas City Film Ad Co. which was his first direct employment in animation. In 1922, he started Laugh-O-Gram Films until he went bankrupt. In 1923, he went to Hollywood and started a Los Angeles studio called Disney.
And on that train ride from Manhattan to Los Angeles, Mickey Mouse was born.