General

Wednesdays with Wade: Walt Disney reflects on Mickey Mouse’s career

Wade Sampson returns from his week-long vacation with a transcript of a 1948 radio broadcast where Walt looks back over the then-20 years that he and Mickey had worked together.

Published

19 years ago

August 23, 2005

Jim Korkis

I’ve uncovered some great stories to share in the next few weeks as a direct result of last week’s vacation. But today, I would like to talk about Disney books and Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse.

We seem to be in store for a new flood of Disney related books and I was reminded of that when I picked up a remaindered copy of “The Wonderful World of Disney,” an interesting book that came out in 2004 from Disney Press (when you open the cover, it plays “It’s A Small World”). The book includes reprints of the children’s book adaptations of Disney films like “The Shaggy Dog,””Darby O’Gill,””Old Yeller,” “Pollyana” and several others. In addition, the book reprints without captions seventeen color pages from “Good Housekeeping” that appeared during the Forties to publicize Disney cartoons.

David Gerstein, well known for his historical writing about animation (check out his Oswald the Rabbit research at www.cartoonresearch.com or his Felix the Cat website), is putting together a special book for Gemstone Publishing to come out in a couple of months entitled “Mickey and the Gang — Classic Stories in Verse”. While it is not a dynamic title, the book will reprint all the “Good Housekeeping” pages along with Gerstein’s research and commentary on the cartoons represented including the ones that were never made including one slated to be directed by Frank Tashlin.

If you are unfamiliar with the series, check out Jim Korkis’s three part series in the jimhillmedia archives. I know Jim sent David a copy of his article for him to use in the research of this forthcoming book.

In addition, at the San Diego Comic Con, Dark Horse Publishing announced that at the beginning of next year, they would reprint Roald Dahl’s very first book that has never been reprinted, “The Gremlins”. This is the book that was to serve as the inspiration for a never made Disney animated feature and the book is filled with artwork by Disney artists, primarily Bill Justice who was instrumental in the creation of the gremlin character designs. The book cover is forgotten work by Mary Blair. The editor assigned to the book has said he wants the book to be filled with “extras” so it is like a DVD version. I hope he contacts Jim Korkis or Paul Anderson to use Jim’s definitive article on “The Gremlins” that was supposed to have appeared years ago in the long delayed World War II issue of the Disney historical magazine, “Persistence of Vision.” Everyone who has read the extensive article, including myself, has been impressed with the depth of research Jim did (including correspondence with Dahl) to unravel what happened to the project.

Kathy Merlock Jackson is working on a book to be published by the University Press of Mississippi in January 2006 entitled “Walt Disney–Conversations”. Jackson is also the author of “Walt Disney: A Bio-Bbliography” published by Greenwood Press in 1993. At the time she was Associate Professor Communications at Virginia Weseleyan College, Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia. Chapter Three was devoted to “Disney On Disney.” That chapter contained transcriptions of some interviews Walt had done including one for the University of the Air in 1948.

The University of the Air radio series is little known even by Old Time Radio enthusiasts today. It spanned four years (1944-1948) and presented adaptations of the world’s great novels sort of like an audio version of “Classics Illustrated.” Some colleges even offered college credit for listening and a companion book to the series was available. For example, during the broadcast of “The Red Badge of Courage,” there is a message from the University of Louisville that they were using the broadcasts as part of its program of study. The broadcast of “Free” (July 9, 1948) includes a short message from the Dean of the University of Chicago. The shows were produced by the NBC University of the Air, in Chicago. Episodes were only thirty minutes long so some novels were multi-part adaptations running up to six weeks.

In 1948, the series was re-titled “NBC University Theater” and production was moved to Hollywood. These adaptations were, for the most part, 60 minutes long and apparently there were short interviews as well. I suspect Walt’s interview was late in 1948 as part of “NBC University Theater’s” production of “Alice in Wonderland” that according to my research was unrelated to Walt’s work on the title. Of course, Walt was also doing the interview to publicize Mickey’s twentieth birthday which was celebrated anytime between September and December depending on the release date of whatever Fall Disney film or cartoon was being released. It was Dave Smith who finally made Mickey’s birthday officially his appearance at the Colony Theater.

Anyway, for those awaiting the Jackson book and don’t have a copy of “Walt Disney: A Bio-Bibliography” :

“The Story of Mickey Mouse”
By Walt Disney

The following was broadcast on University of the Air, 1948

WALT: Mickey Mouse to me is the symbol of independence. He was a means to an end. He popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad twenty years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when the business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner. Born of necessity, the little fellow literally freed us of immediate worry. He provided the means for expanding our organization to its present dimensions and for extending the medium of cartoon animation toward new entertainment levels. Mickey enabled me to go ahead and do the things I had in mind and the things I foresaw as a natural trend of film fantasy. He spelled production liberation for us.

His first actual screen appearance was at the old Colony Theater in New York in “Steamboat Willie” with its sound effects and cautious speech. His current appearance is in our new musical fantasy feature, combining live and animated action, “Fun and Fancy Free.” In between, he has appeared in more pictures than any flesh and blood star. He was the first cartoon character to express personality and to be constantly kept in character. I thought of him from the first as a distinct individual not just a cartoon type or symbol going through comedy routine. I kept him away from stock symbols and situations. We exposed him in close-ups. Instead of speeding the cartoons, as was then the fashion, we were not afraid to slow down the tempo and let Mickey emote. We allowed audiences to get acquainted with him. To recognize him as a personage, motivated by character instead of situations.

Quite consciously, I had been preparing Mickey and his screen pals for the advent of sound. I’d made quite a few silent pictures prior to “Steamboat Willie.” It may seem a curious thing that even those in early films with their explanatory balloons, I had thought of them in terms of sound and speech and dreamed of the day when the voice would be synchronized with the silent action. But I felt sure it was coming. Our tempo and rhythm and general animation technique were already being adjusted so that sound could fit in readily when it came.

As early as 1923, I was doing song films. I seldom thought out our silent product without some musical complement. I used to talk to the organist in the theater on arrangements before a film was shown. I even had a gadget which insured a crude kind of synchronization between the organ music and the picture action.

In 1925, I had an animated cat in one of our silents direct the orchestra in the pit from the screen. While this was all preliminary to sound and film, it was preparatory background and equipment for that first Mickey Mouse talkie and the subsequent swift evolvement of sound.

Of course, sound had a very considerable effect on our treatment of Mickey Mouse. It gave his character a new dimension. It rounded him into complete life-likeness. And it carried us into a new phase of his development. Mickey had reached the state where we had to be very careful about what we permitted him to do. He’d become a hero in the eyes of his audiences, especially the youngsters. Mickey could do no wrong. I could never attribute any meanness or callous traits to him. We kept him loveable although ludicrous in his blundering heroics. And that’s the way he’s remained despite any outside influences. He’s grown into a consistent, predictable character to whom we could assign only the kind of role and antics which were correct for his reputation.

Naturally, I am pleased with his continued popularity here and abroad; with the esteem he has won as an entertainment name among youngsters and grownups; with the honors he’s brought our studio; with the high compliment bestowed when his name was the password for the invasion of France and with his selection for insignia by scores of fighting units during the war years. These are tributes beyond all words of appreciation.

In a business way, as I’ve indicated, Mickey meant almost incalculable things to my brother Roy, and to me, as we went through our ups and downs towards founding our present organization with its Burbank Studio, its extensive personnel, and its continuous picture schedules. At this turning point in our career, already referred to, I need just such a fresh cartoon personality to sell a projected series of short subjects which, after failing to get over my ideas with another cartoon venture in New York, I proposed a new series. I felt I had to rely on a sustained character appeal rather than on the merit of each separate issue.

Mickey fitted the deed exactly. He brought in the money which saved the day. He paved the way for a more elaborate screen venture. He enabled us to explore our medium and to evolve the technical advances which were to appear in our first feature length animation fantasy, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” and successively in other features, like “Bambi,” “Dumbo,” “Pinocchio,” “Fantasia,” “The Three Caballeros,” “Saludos Amigos,” “Make Mine Music,” “Song of the South” and so up to our latest and current production “Fun and Fancy Free.”

In his immediate and continuously successful appeal to all kinds of audiences, Mickey first subsidized our first Silly Symphony Series. From there he sustained other ventures, plugging along as our bread and butter hero. He was a studio prodigy and pet and we treated him accordingly. In due time, we gave Mickey that contrasting, temperamental sidekick, Donald Duck. Then Pluto the naive, credulous hound came along. We used to play these three together in the same picture. Later, we divided them into separate vehicles. Mickey, Donald and Pluto. These meant fewer pictures for each. And, of course, Mickey appeared less often. But you’ll see him again in his most harassing in “Mickey and the Beanstalk,” an escapade from “Fun and Fancy Free”. Prior to this, his top performance was in “Fantasia,” as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

In the early days, I did the voice of most of our characters. It wasn’t financially feasible to hire people for such assignments. In “Steamboat Willie”, in addition to speaking for Mickey, I also supplied a few sound effects for Minnie, his girl friend, and for the parrot. For Mickey’s first picture, I planned to go all out on sound. And those plans came very near spelling a major disaster for us. To launch our picture impressively, I had hired a full New York orchestra with a famous director to do the recording. The musicians were to cost $10 an hour. I thought fifteen men would be enough but the director insisted on having thirty men. Because I was awed by him, I was finally persuaded to take the thirty.

The upshot was that I had to borrow on my automobile and Roy and I had to mortgage our homes as well to cover the cost of the first synchronization of Steamboat Willie. And when it was finished, the picture wouldn’t synchronize with the sound. And we had to do it all over after the orchestra leader had reluctantly consented to follow the mechanics that we had prepared at the studio. What I wanted most of all I didn’t get: a bull fiddle for the base. The recording room was so small that the orchestra could hardly be jammed into it. The bull fiddle blasted so loud it ruined the other sound and depth blowing out all of the recording lamps. A sad thing, I thought at the time, to launch our Mickey without benefit of bull fiddle in so precarious a world of new possibilities and increased competition.

But he survived and thrived and set the pace in his entertainment field. The cost of his first vehicles ranged from… a bare $1,200 for “Steamboat Willie” to seven figures for “Fun and Fancy Free” in which he shared prominence with Donald, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket and several new cartoon creations, and with Edgar Bergen and his pals, Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd and also Dinah Shore and our own little starlet, Luana Patten.

I often find myself surprised at what has been said about our redoubtable little Mickey who was never really a mouse nor yet wholly a man, although always recognizably human, I hope. The psychoanalysts have probed him. Wise men of critical inclination have pondered him. Columnists have kidded him. Admirers have saluted him in extraordinary terms. The League of Nations gave him a special medal as a symbol of international good will. Hitler was infuriated by him… and thunderingly forbade his people to wear the then-popular Mickey Mouse lapel button in place of the swastika. The little fellow’s grin was too infectious for Nazism.

But all we ever intended for him and expected of him was that he should continue to make people everywhere chuckle with him and at him. We didn’t burden him with any social symbolism. We made him no mouthpiece for frustrations or harsh satire. Mickey was simply a little personality assigned to the purposes of laughter. And it is certainly gratifying that the public which first welcomed him two decades ago, as well as their children, have not permitted us, even if we had wished to, to change him in any manner or degree, other than a few minor revisions of his physical appearance. In a sense he was never young. In the same sense, he never grows old in our eyes. All we can do is give him things to overcome in his own, rather stubborn way, in his cartoon universe.

There is much nostalgia for me in these reflections. The life and ventures of Mickey Mouse have been closely bound up with my own personal and professional life. It is understandable that I should have sentimental attachment for the little personage who played so big a part in the course of Disney productions and has been so happily accepted as an amusing friend wherever films are show around the world. He still speaks for me and I still speak for him.

Mickey, I think on this occasion you should say something to all our friends who are listening around the world.

MICKEY: O.K. Well… uh…. Happy Birthday, everybody.

WALT: No, no, Mickey. You don’t understand. It’s your birthday. This is your 20th birthday.

MICKEY: Oh… gosh… well, I’ll be seein’ ya.

General

Seward Johnson bronzes add a surreal, artistic touch to NYC’s Garment District

Published

9 years ago

June 23, 2015

Jim Hill

Greetings from NYC. Nancy and I drove down from New
Hampshire yesterday because we'll be checking out
Disney Consumer Products' annual Holiday Showcase later today.

Anyway … After checking into our hotel (i.e., The Paul.
Which is located down in NYC's NoMad district), we decided to grab some dinner.
Which is how we wound up at the Melt Shop.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is this restaurant that only sells grilled cheese sandwiches.
This comfort food was delicious, but kind of on the heavy side.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is why — given that it was a beautiful summer night
— we'd then try and walk off our meals. We started our stroll down by the Empire
State Building
…

Photo by Jim Hill

… and eventually wound up just below Times
Square (right behind where the Waterford Crystal Times Square New
Year's Eve Ball is kept).

Photo by Jim Hill

But you know what we discovered en route? Right in the heart
of Manhattan's Garment District
along Broadway between 36th and 41st? This incredibly cool series of life-like
and life-sized sculptures that Seward
Johnson has created.

Photo by Jim Hill

And — yes — that is Abraham Lincoln (who seems to have
slipped out of WDW's Hall of Presidents when no one was looking and is now
leading tourists around Times Square). These 18 painted
bronze pieces (which were just installed late this past Sunday night / early
Monday morning) range from the surreal to the all-too-real.

Photo by Jim Hill

Some of these pieces look like typical New Yorkers. Like the
business woman planning out her day …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the postman delivering the mail …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the hot dog vendor working at his cart …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the street musician playing for tourists …

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention the tourists themselves.

Photo by Jim Hill

But right alongside the bronze businessmen …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and the tired grandmother hauling her groceries home …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there were also statues representing people who were
from out-of-town …

Photo by Jim Hill

… or — for that matter — out-of-time.

Photo by Jim Hill

These were the Seward Johnson pieces that genuinely beguiled. Famous impressionist paintings brought to life in three dimensions.

Note the out-of-period water bottle that some tourist left
behind. Photo by Jim Hill

Some of them so lifelike that you actually had to pause for
a moment (especially as day gave way to night in the city) and say to yourself
"Is that one of the bronzes? Or just someone pretending to be one of these
bronzes?"

Mind you, for those of you who aren't big fans of the
impressionists …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there's also an array of American icons. Among them
Marilyn Monroe …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and that farmer couple from Grant Wood's "American
Gothic."

Photo by Jim Hill

But for those of you who know your NYC history, it's hard to
beat that piece which recreates Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph of V-J Day in Times Square.

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, a 25-foot-tall version of this particular Seward
Johnson piece ( which — FYI — is entitled "Embracing Peace") will actually
be placed in Times Square for a few days on or around August 14th to commemorate the 70th
anniversary of Victory Over Japan Day (V-J Day).

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, if you'd like to check these Seward Johnson bronzes in
person (which — it should be noted — are part of the part of the Garment
District Alliance's new public art offering) — you'd best schedule a trip to
the City sometime over the next three months. For these pieces will only be on
display now through September 15th.

General

Wondering what you should “Boldly Go” see at the movies next year? The 2015 Licensing Expo offers you some clues

Published

10 years ago

June 10, 2015

Jim Hill

Greeting from the 2015 Licensing Expo, which is being held
at the Mandalay Bay
Convention Center in Las
Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

I have to admit that I enjoy covering the Licensing Expo.
Mostly becomes it allows bloggers & entertainment writers like myself to
get a peek over the horizon. Scope out some of the major motion pictures &
TV shows that today's vertically integrated entertainment conglomerates
(Remember when these companies used to be called movie studios?) will be
sending our way over the next two years or so.

Photo by Jim Hill

Take — for example — all of "The Secret Life of
Pets" banners that greeted Expo attendees as they made their way to the
show floor today. I actually got to see some footage from this new Illumination
Entertainment production (which will hit theaters on July 8, 2016) the last time I was in Vegas. Which
was for CinemaCon back in April. And the five or so minutes of film that I viewed
suggested that "The Secret Life of Pets" will be a really funny
animated feature.

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, Universal Pictures wanted to make sure that Expo
attendees remembered that there was another Illumination Entertainment production
coming-to-a-theater-near-them before "The Secret Life of Pets" (And
that's "Minions," the "Despicable Me" prequel. Which
premieres at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival next week but
won't be screened stateside 'til July 10th of this year). Which is why they had
three minions who were made entirely out of LEGOS loitering out in the lobby.

Photo by Jim Hill

And Warner Bros. — because they wanted "Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice" to start trending on Twitter today — brought
the Batmobile to Las Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention full-sized macquettes of Batman, Superman and
Wonder Woman. Just so conventioneers could then see what these DC superheroes
would actually look like in this eagerly anticipated, March 25, 2016 release.

Photo by Jim Hill

That's the thing that can sometimes be a wee bit frustrating
about the Licensing Expo. It's all about delayed gratification. You'll come
around a corner and see this 100 foot-long ad for "The Peanuts Movie"
and think "Hey, that looks great. I want to see that Blue Sky Studios production
right now." It's only then that you notice the fine print and realize that
"The Peanuts Movie" doesn't actually open in theaters 'til November
6th of this year.

Photo by Jim Hill

And fan of Blue Sky's "Ice Age" film franchise are in for an even
longer wait. Given that the latest installment in that top grossing series
doesn't arrive in theaters 'til July
15, 2016.

Photo by Jim Hill

Of course, if you're one of those people who needs immediate
gratification when it comes to your entertainment, there was stuff like that to
be found at this year's Licensing Expo. Take — for example — how the WWE
booth was actually shaped like a wrestling ring. Which — I'm guessing — meant
that if the executives of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. didn't like
the offer that you were making, they were then allowed to toss you out over the
top rope, Royal Rumble-style.

Photo by Jim Hill

I also have to admit that — as a longtime Star Trek fan —
it was cool to see the enormous Starship Enterprise that hung in place over the
CBS booth. Not to mention getting a glimpse of the official Star Trek 50th
Anniversary logo.

Photo by Jim Hill

I was also pleased to see lots of activity in The Jim Henson
Company booth. Which suggests that JHC has actually finally carved out a
post-Muppets identity for itself.

Photo by Jim Hill

Likewise for all of us who were getting a little concerned
about DreamWorks Animation (what with all the layoffs & write-downs &
projects that were put into turnaround or outright cancelled last year), it was
nice to see that booth bustling.

Photo by Jim Hill

Every so often, you'd come across some people who were
promoting a movie that you weren't entirely sure that you actually wanted to
see (EX: "Angry Birds," which Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia
Pictures will be releasing to theaters on May 20, 2016). But then you remembered that Clay Kaytis —
who's this hugely talented former Walt Disney Animation Studios animator — is
riding herd on "Angry Birds" with Fergal Reilly. And you'd think
"Well, if Clay's working on 'Angry Birds,' I'm sure this animated feature
will turn out fine."

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, there were reminders at this year's Licensing Expo
of great animated features that we're never going to get to see now. I still
can't believe — especially after that brilliant proof-of-concept footage
popped up online last year — that Sony execs decided not to go forward
with production of Genndy Tartakovsky's
"Popeye" movie. But that's the
cruel thing about the entertainment business, folks. It will sometime break
your heart.

Photo by Jim Hill

And make no mistake about this. The Licensing Expo is all
about business. That point was clearly driven home at this year's show when —
as you walked through the doors of the Mandalay
Bay Convention Center
— the first thing that you saw was the Hasbros Booth. Which was this gleaming,
sleek two story-tall affair full of people who were negotiating deals &
signing contracts for all of the would-be summer blockbusters that have already
announced release dates for 2019 & beyond.

Photo by Jim Hill

"But what about The Walt Disney Company?," you
ask. "Weren't they represented on the show floor at this year's Licensing
Expo?" Not really, not. I mean, sure. There were a few companies there hyping
Disney-related products. Take — for example — the Disney Wikkeez people.

Photo by Jim Hill

I'm assuming that some Disney Consumer Products exec is
hoping that Wikkeez will eventually become the new Tsum Tsum. But to be blunt,
these little hard plastic figures don't seem to have the same huggable charm
that those stackable plush do. But I've been wrong before. So let's see what
happens with Disney Wikkeez once they start showing up on the shelves of the
Company's North American retail partners.

Photo by Jim Hill

And speaking of Disney's retail partners … They were
meeting with Mouse House executives behind closed doors one floor down from the
official show floor for this year's Licensing Expo.

Photo by Jim Hill

And the theme for this year's invitation-only Disney shindig? "Timeless
Stories" involving the Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm brands that
would then appeal to "tomorrow's consumer."

Photo by Jim Hill

And just to sort of hammer home the idea that Disney is no
longer the Company which cornered the market when it comes to little girls
(i.e., its Disney Princess and Disney Fairies franchises), check out this
wall-sized Star Wars-related image that DCP put up just outside of one of its
many private meeting rooms. "See?," this carefully crafted photo
screams. "It isn't just little boys who want to wield the Force. Little
girls also want to grow up and be Lords of the Sith."

Photo by Jim Hill

One final, kind-of-ironic note: According to this banner,
Paramount Pictures will be releasing a movie called "Amusement Park"
to theaters sometime in 2017.

Photo by Jim Hill

Well, given all the "Blackfish" -related issues
that have been dogged SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment over the past two years, I'm
just hoping that they'll still be in the amusement park business come 2017.

Your thoughts?

General

It takes more than three circles to craft a Classic version of Mickey Mouse

Published

10 years ago

June 9, 2015

Jim Hill

You know what Mickey Mouse looks like, right? Little guy,
big ears?

Truth be told, Disney's corporate symbol has a lot of
different looks. If Mickey's interacting with Guests at Disneyland
Park (especially this summer, when
the Happiest Place on Earth
is celebrating its 60th anniversary), he looks & dresses like this.

Or when he's appearing in one of those Emmy Award-winning shorts that Disney
Television Animation has produced (EX: "Bronco Busted," which debuts
on the Disney Channel tonight at 8 p.m. ET / PT), Mickey is drawn in a such a
way that he looks hip, cool, edgy & retro all at the same time.

Looking ahead to 2017 now, when Disney Junior rolls out "Mickey and the
Roadster Racers," this brand-new animated series will feature a sportier version
of Disney's corporate symbol. One that Mouse House managers hope will persuade
preschool boys to more fully embrace this now 86 year-old character.

That's what most people don't realize about the Mouse. The
Walt Disney Company deliberately tailors Mickey's look, even his style of
movement, depending on what sort of project / production he's appearing in.

Take — for example — Disney
California Adventure
Park's "World of Color:
Celebrate!" Because Disney's main mouse would be co-hosting this new
nighttime lagoon show with ace emcee Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Goldberg really had
to step up Mickey's game. Which is why this master Disney animator created
several minutes of all-new Mouse animation which then showed that Mickey was
just as skilled a showman as Neil was.

Better yet, let's take a look at what the folks at Avalanche Studios just went
through as they attempted to create a Classic version of Mickey & Minnie.
One that would then allow this popular pair to become part of Disney Infinity
3.0.

"I won't lie to you. We were under a lot of pressure to
get the look of this particular version of Mickey — he's called Red Pants
Mickey around here — just right," said Jeff Bunker, the VP of Art
Development at Avalanche Studios, during a recent phone interview. "When
we brought Sorcerer Mickey into Disney Infinity 1.0 back in January of 2014,
that one was relatively easy because … Well, everyone knows what Mickey Mouse
looked like when he appeared in 'Fantasia.' "

"But this time around, we were being asked to design
THE Mickey & Minnie," Bunker continued. "And given that these Classic
Disney characters have been around in various different forms for the better
part of the last century … Well, which look was the right look?"

Which is why Jeff and his team at Avalanche Studios began watching hours &
hours of Mickey Mouse shorts. As they tried to get a handle on which look would
work best for these characters in Disney Infinity 3.0.

"And we went all the way back to the very start of Mickey's career. We began
with 'Steamboat Willie' and then watched all of those black & white Mickey shorts
that Walt made back in the late 1920s & early 1930s. From there, we
transitioned to his Technicolor shorts. Which is when Mickey went from being
this pie-eyed, really feisty character to more of a well-behaved leading
man," Bunker recalled. "We then finished out our Mouse marathon by
watching all of those new Mickey shorts that Paul Rudish & his team have
been creating for Disney Television Animation. Those cartoons really recapture
a lot of the spirit and wild slapstick fun that Mickey's early, black &
white shorts had."

But given that the specific assignment that Avalanche Studios had been handed
was to create the most appealing looking, likeable version of Mickey Mouse
possible … In the end, Jeff and his team wound up borrowing bits & pieces
from a lot of different versions of the world's most famous mouse. So that
Classic Mickey would then look & move in a way that best fit the sort of
gameplay which people would soon be able to experience with Disney Infinity
3.0.

"That — in a lot of ways — was actually the toughest
part of the Classic Mickey design project. You have to remember that one of the
key creative conceits of Disney Infinity
is that all the characters which appear in this game are toys," Bunker
stated. "Okay. So they're beautifully detailed, highly stylized toy
versions of beloved Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm characters. But
they're still supposed to be toys. So our Classic versions of Mickey &
Minnie have the same sort of thickness & sturdiness to them that toys have.
So that they'll then be able to fit right in with all of the rest of the
characters that Avalanche Studios had previously designed for Disney Infinity."

And then there was the matter of coming up with just the
right pose for Classic Mickey & Minnie. Which — to hear Jeff tell the
story — involved input from a lot of Disney upper management.

"Everyone within the Company seemed to have an opinion
about how Mickey & Minnie should be posed. More to the point, if you Google
Mickey, you then discover that there are literally thousands of poses out there
for these two. Though — truth be told — a lot of those kind of play off the
way Mickey poses when he's being Disney's corporate symbol," Bunker said.
"But what I was most concerned about was that Mickey's pose had to work
with Minnie's pose. Because we were bringing the Classic versions of these
characters up into Disney Infinity 3.0 at the exact same time. And we wanted to
make sure — especially for those fans who like to put their Disney Infinity
figures on display — that Mickey's pose would then complement Minnie.

Which is why Jeff & the crew at Avalanche Studios
decided — when it came to Classic Mickey & Minnie's pose — that they
should go all the way back to the beginning. Which is why these two Disney icons
are sculpted in such a way that it almost seems as though you're witnessing the
very first time Mickey set eyes on Minnie.

"And what was really great about that was — as soon as
we began showing people within the Company this pose — everyone at Disney
quickly got on board with the idea. I mean, the Classic Mickey that we sculpted
for Disney Infinity 3.0 is clearly a very playful, spunky character. But at the
same time, he's obviously got eyes for Minnie," Bunker concluded. "So
in the end, we were able to come up with Classic versions of these characters
that will work well within the creative confines of Disney Infinity 3.0 but at
the same time please those Disney fans who just collect these figures because
they like the way the Disney Infinity characters look."

So now that this particular design project is over, does
Jeff regret that Mouse House upper management was so hands-on when it came to
making sure that the Classic versions of Mickey & Minnie were specifically
tailored to fit the look & style of gameplay found in Disney Infinity 3.0?

"To be blunt, we go through this every time we add a new character to the
game. The folks at Lucasfilm were just as hands-on when we were designing the
versions of Darth Vader and Yoda that will also soon be appearing in Disney
Infinity 3.0," Bunker laughed. "So in the end, if the character's
creators AND the fans are happy, then I'm happy."

This article was originally posted on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on Tuesday, June 9, 2015