I recently borrowed The Official Walt Disney Quote Book via Interlibrary Loan. The volume was released during Disney's 100th celebration and, while I still have quibbles about how the centennial was handled, the book delivered a nice collection of Walt's humor and wisdom. The bibliography provides a list of sources for each quote - an excellent addition.
Chapter Two focuses on Mickey Mouse and it is surprisingly brief at a mere six pages with only six quotations. A tiny amount for a character irrevocably intermingled with Walt in the public's imagination.
Anyone knowledgeable about Walt and Mickey will know most of these quotes, especially the headliner - the Disney equivalent of John 3:16 for ubiquitous phrases: "It was all started by a mouse."
The six quotations are written below:
"All we ever intended for him or expected of him was that he should continue to make people everywhere chuckle with him and at him. We didn't burden 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."
"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 shown around the world. He still speaks for me and I still speak for him."
"We felt that the public, and especially the children, like animals that are cute and little. I think we are rather indebted to Charlie Chapin for the idea. We wanted something appealing, and we thought that of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin - a little fellow trying to do the best he could."
"When people laugh at Mickey Mouse it is because he's so human; and that is the secret of his popularity."
"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."
"The story of Mickey is truthfully the real beginning of Disneyland."
Four of the six quotes comes from the late 1940s and the 1950s when Walt was firmly established. The third and fourth quotes are from the 1930s during the peak of Mickey's animated popularity before Donald Duck and Goofy arose to take his mantle.
The limited amount of quotes isn't really surprising. I have long developed a theory that Walt conquered a topic and then moved to the next frontier. He dominated the short picture by the mid-1930s and decided to try his hand at feature length animation. After mastering that format, he switched to live action films. Then, he built a theme park and, at the time of his too-soon death, developed plans to build a futuristic city.
He tried several times - Fantasia and the Mickey and the Beanstalk segment of Fun and Fancy Free - to save Mickey's sagging popularity. Both results were entertaining but did not revive Mickey to the front line of cartoon stars. By the 1960s, Mickey was relegated to theme park ringleader. For a futurist like Walt, the seven-minute short starring animated mice ranked low among his priorities. Keep moving forward was his mantra. It was started by a mouse but continued by a homespun genius.
That isn't to say Mickey didn't matter but the books has 326 pages of Walt quotes. He spent more time, pontificating on films, life, and patriotism. That is why Walt resonates 60 years after his death. Mickey would agree.
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