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Lillian Disney got her way, and Mickey Mouse was born.
The Disneys were coming back on a train from a bad business trip in New York City where Charles Mintz, Walt’s distributor, basically let Disney go. Early 1920s, Mintz wanted a character to rival the success of the animated “Felix the Cat,” so Disney created, “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit,” explains Kay Mullan, director of the Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline.
Oswald became more popular than anyone imagined, so being the ruthless type, Mintz poached Disney’s animators from his staff and created a new studio. The only loyal lone wolf not chasing the money was Walt’s buddy Ub Iwerks.
Having now lost nearly all of his creative staff and his most successful animated character, Disney had to start over, thus Mortimer the Mouse.
Throughout his early career, Disney had huge ups and downs. Swindled and forced to leave Kansas City, now sacked in New York, somehow Walt remained the eternal optimist. “We’ll be all right, I’ve got an idea!”
Chicago born in 1901, Walt Disney and family moved to rural Marceline, Missouri, when he was four. His formative years were spent just being a kid.
Marceline left a lasting impression on him that would transform the entertainment world. Too young to work the family farm, Walt and younger sister Ruth fished, swam, drew and laughed as they watched life go by with impressionable eyes.
“Walt was a creative boy who loved to draw and dream,” smiles Kay. As a little girl she knew Walt Disney personally visiting him in Los Angeles with her parents. Given a guided tour of Disneyland by the Marceline man himself, “didn’t everyone get this treatment,” thought Kay?
During World War I Walt’s older brother Roy joined the Navy, leaving younger bro behind. Patriotism was at a fever pitch all over the country, 16-year-old Walt couldn’t stand it, he had to be involved.
Forging his birth date to a year earlier, the now 17-year-old farm boy from Missouri could serve as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. In 1918 off to France he went at the very end of the war. This was Walt’s first time to experience international travel, let alone another culture.
There were other young ambitious ambulance drivers “over there,” Ernest Hemingway, Somerset Maugham, McDonald’s Ray Kroc and now Walt.
Bored to death at times, he found a new medium to display his doodlings, the inner and outer tarp covering the truck bed of his ambulance. He made good use of his down time and that canvas.
Born with three older brothers, then along came little sister Ruth. He experienced many of life’s firsts in Marceline that impacted him and transformed the entertainment industry forever. In the decades to follow many of those firsts would be the catalysts for themes in Disney Parks around the world.
Marceline’s Main Street is recreated beautifully in Walt’s first park, Disneyland. All entrances and walkways lead you to the Park’s Main Street. Last time in Marceline I stepped into the middle of Main Street to take a picture and had several people nodding at me, knowing exactly what I was doing.
Trains...Walt Disney loved trains. His Uncle Mike was an engineer who would toot a special signal announcing it was OK for Walt to join him in the cab and guide the train into the terminal…how about that, something a kid would never forget. Now Disney Parks everywhere are encircled with tram rides.
In 1956 the “Great Locomotive Chase” was one of the first non-animated films produced by Disney Studios. I was enthralled; it had all my favorites - Civil War, trains and a chase!
The movie was based on actual events that took place in 1862 starring Daniel Boone; oh, sorry I mean Fess Parker. A group of Union soldiers/spies in civilian clothes volunteered to go behind Confederate lines in Georgia stealing a train, destroying bridges, tracks, supply depots and telegraph poles on their way back to Union held Tennessee.
When the film was released, Disney had the Midwest premiere in Marceline and Kay was there. So were Walt and Roy, greeting everyone personally as they entered the Uptown Theater. Walt spoke to the audience before the movie: “You don’t know how lucky you are, some of my fondest memories are the ones I have from right here in Marceline.”
“Everyone in town wanted to attend. They had to put two kids in as many seats as they could.” Kay smiles. “We didn’t know the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song because no one with a TV could get the show. Learning it right before the premiere, we serenaded the Disneys at the theater.” I asked for it but Kay wouldn’t give me a solo rendition.
The Learning Tree was a huge cottonwood on the banks of sleepy Yellow Creek. Walt would draw and imagine in the shade of that tree then fish and swim with Ruth.
When Walt and older brother Roy came to Marceline in 1952 to dedicate a park, pool and other gifts to the city, he had to go to Yellow Creek and drop in a line under his favorite tree.
I love birthplace and childhood museums; they tell you so much about the makeup of a person who impacted the world. From Marceline, Walt Disney took his Midwestern childhood memories and built a multi-billion-dollar empire about adventure and fun!
Walt remained humble about his success throughout, as he profoundly said, “to tell you the truth more things important happened to me in Marceline than have happened since - or are likely to in the future.”
Take a trip to Marceline and tour the museum. It will remind you of your childhood and what a big part Walt Disney played.
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You can find more of Bob’s work on his website bobfordshistory.com and on YouTube. He can be reached for questions or comments at Robertmford@aol.com
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