All language subtitles for How Disney Built America s01e01 The Birth of Mickey.eng

[soft music]

- In 1927, the Disney Studio
was constantly struggling.

I mean, they had no money.

- At this point, animation
is an unproven industry

that isn't very lucrative.

- They don't have any
foreseeable options

coming down the pipeline,

so it's a very critical moment.

- [Narrator] Walt Disney and
his animator, Ub Iwerks,

desperately need to
land a cartoon contract.

[phone ringing]

- [Walt] Hello?

Mr. Mintz!

Don't worry, we're
working on it right now.

I have my best people on it.

- And then, up came
Universal Studios,

wanting a new cartoon star.

- [Narrator] Walt
knows this is the shot

his young studio has
been waiting for.

- Cartoon animals are
popular at this time,

and so Ub has tried his luck

at sketching out a bunch
of different ones,

and Walt just doesn't feel
that they've cracked it yet.

- Yes, we'll send over

a preliminary
sketch by tomorrow.

Okay, sir.

[phone clicking]

We've got less time
than I thought.

Universal's itching
to see something.

What do we have?
- Just about there.

- He doesn't just need a hit,

he needs a hit or
he's going to fail.

He needs to find the
next big cartoon star.

- [Narrator] Walt Disney

will go on to create an
unassuming cartoon mouse.

- Mickey Mouse.
- Mickey Mouse.

- [Narrator] Who will become

one of the biggest
stars on Earth.

- People could not get
enough of Mickey Mouse.

[Mickey whistling]

- [Narrator] He will spark
a technological revolution.

- Synchronized sound.

[whimsical music]

- No one had ever seen
anything like this before.

- [Narrator] And overcome
immense obstacles.

- If you want to go make
"Betty Boop" cartoons,

be my guest.

- Hot dog!
[horn playing]

- [Narrator] To be the
foundation upon which

Disney will build a
multi-billion dollar company

unlike any the world
has seen before.

- Just the black
outline of those ears

are recognized all
around the world.

[dramatic music]

- Some more shading.

- [Narrator] But back in 1927,

Walt still needs to
land the contract.

- The ears.

Remember, it's all
about the ears.

- [Adam] And finally,
they land on a character.

- That's it.

- That will catapult the
Disney Studio to success.

- That's it.

- And the cartoon character
that they create is...

A rabbit.

Ahh.

[dramatic music]

[orchestral music]

- [Narrator] In 1927,

Calvin Coolidge is
in the White House,

the miseries of World War I are
nearly a decade in the past,

and America is falling in love

with a new form
of entertainment.

- In the 1920s, the cinema
was the place to go.

More than 70% of
the US population

went to a theater once a week.

- That's 90 million
people, a week!

It was a form of entertainment
that was accessible to everyone.

- It used to be that
if you really wanted

to get good entertainment,

you had to go into the
city to see real theater.

But film can go anywhere,

so movie theaters
start popping up

in all sorts of small
towns across the country.

- [Narrator] For the
equivalent of $3 today,

ordinary Americans would see

an entire afternoon
of entertainment.

- You saw the main film,
you saw the B picture,

you saw a newsreel,
and you saw a cartoon.

- Animation, not only is it

a fledgling industry
in the 1920s,

but it's also not a
respected industry.

[pensive music]

- Animated cartoons,
which were silent

and were generally six to
eight minutes in length,

were kind of a throwaway
novelty on the program.

- Cartoon characters
weren't imbued

with a lot of personality.

They're just little gags

meant to make you
laugh a little bit,

before you watch
your feature film.

- [Narrator] In 1927, New
York City is the industry hub

that churns out cheap
novelty cartoons.

But in Hollywood...

- Yes, of course.

Okay, looking forward to it.

Bye, now.

- [Narrator] Walt Disney
envisions more for animation.

- When Walt was young, he
was obsessed with drawing.

And then, he fell
in love with film.

And so, animation
seemed to become

a natural fascination to him,

because it combined
all these interests.

- In Kansas City, he's had
a small business there,

pursuing this very
new, cutting-edge

art form of animation.

And unfortunately, his
company goes under.

He's been living in his office,
he can't afford an apartment.

- And he was like,
let's try it in LA,

with Hollywood,
with the studios,

where everything was
really happening.

- He's an outlier in recognizing
that the American public

is ready for an
animated character

that they can identify with.

- Disney saw the
potential for animation

to transcend the
boundaries of the medium.

- [Narrator] Now,
25-year-old Walt Disney

is pinning his hopes on
pitching his new character

to a major industry player.

- Mr. Mintz, a pleasure.

- Mm.
- Please.

- [Narrator] Charles Mintz
is a powerful middleman

between major studios
like Universal

and small animators like Walt.

- Audiences love
their cartoon animals,

but this one's like nothing
they've seen before.

You see, he's not
just a drawing,

I want him to be somebody;

somebody that audiences
can relate to.

And think of all the gags
we can do with his ears.

- You don't need to sell me,

Universal already said yes.

They want your rabbit.

- Wonderful!

It's just wonderful,
isn't it, Roy?

- Roy Disney was Walt's older
brother, eight years older,

and definitely the responsible,

level-headed presence
in the company.

- Without Roy, there really
wasn't a strong sense

of the business acumen.

- We haven't heard
the man's offer.

- Twenty six shorts,
$2,250 each.

[tense music]

- Roy knows this
is a lowball offer.

I mean, they can barely
make these films

for that much money,

much less create
any kind of profit.

- But Walt realizes
this opportunity

is bigger than
finances and figures.

This is a way to get the
Disney name out there.

- We have a couple ideas
for the little guy's name.

- No need, Universal already
has a name picked out.

"Oswald the Lucky Rabbit."

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] With a
green light for Oswald,

Walt gets his chance to
make his mark on animation.

Walt's secret weapon
is his lead animator,

an old friend from
Kansas City, Ub Iwerks.

- Walt was a great story
man, concept stuff.

But he realized early on

that there were people who
could draw better than him.

And Ub could draw
better than him.

- [Walt] Put a little more
character in the hands.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

- Ub Iwerks is just phenomenal

in how he can handle
paper and pencil

and bring characters to life.

- But Ub and Walt have
their own sort of friction.

- Walt Disney was
big personality.

That wasn't Ub Iwerks.

He was a much more
reserved character.

- Yeah.

- [Narrator] Walt and
Ub work tirelessly

to create the world of
"Oswald the Lucky Rabbit."

- Perfect.

[bell ringing]

- [Narrator] And on
September 5th, 1927,

Oswald debuts in the
seven minute silent short,

"Trolley Troubles."

It's a make or break moment
for Walt to save his studio

and unveil his distinct vision
for animated characters.

[ragtime piano music]

[people chuckling]

- With Oswald, you have a
character who has an identity,

because now he has a job.

He's working on the train.

So it's structured within a
contained little narrative

and much more effective.

[audience laughing]

- It's a story.

And the humor is
situational, not just gags.

[laughing]

And it really sets the
stage for the appeal

of a Walt Disney
animated character.

[audience laughing]

- [Narrator] Walt's
character driven approach

lands Universal its
first cartoon star.

[dramatic music]

And with Oswald's success,

money from Universal begins
flowing through the door.

Walt and Roy expand the staff

to help fulfill their
Oswald contract.

- For the first time,
Oswald provides Walt and Roy

with a steady stream of income.

And everything is in the "Oswald
the Lucky Rabbit" basket.

[bird cawing]

[horn honking]

- Isn't she a beaut?

Six cylinder, hydraulic
brakes, solid steel wheels.

- How much did you spend?

- Come on, Roy,
what do you think?

- Walt was brought up poor,

pretty much uneducated.

- And in Kansas City, he was
bathing at the train station.

- And now, he's living the
high life in Hollywood.

- I think you better
slow down, Walt.

- I'm only getting started.

- [Narrator] Walt arranges to
meet Mintz in New York City

with plans to continue
making Oswalds, on his terms.

- So what do you say?

Another 26 Oswalds,
$2,500 a piece?

[pensive music]

- Disney has been
complaining to Mintz

that if he really wants
to do this correctly

and produce a really
quality animated series,

he needs to get more funding.

- Charlie?

- $1,800.

- [scoffs] Pardon?

- $1,800 and I'll allow you
to stay on as my employee.

[suspenseful music]

- Charles Mintz is a shark.

He's not interested in any kind
of collaborative arrangement.

He basically wants to squeeze
Walt out of his own creation.

- The industry is new

and it's like being in
Silicon Valley in the '60s.

There are people out there
that see you as competition,

trying to steal your ideas.

- Well, if it's
gonna be like that,

I'll just cut you out

and make Oswalds for
Universal directly.

- Read your contract, Walt.

You don't own Oswald.

- Walt dreamed it, Ub drew it,

but Universal owns it.

- Now, it's up to you.

You can keep your
studio, or your rabbit,

but not both.

[tense music]

[train whistle blaring]

- [Narrator] Walt is
returning to Los Angeles

after a disastrous
meeting in New York

with distributor Charles Mintz.

- Walt comes out of
this meeting despondent.

This was a trap.

- [Narrator] Mintz
had the upper hand.

- Read your contract, Walt.

You don't own Oswald.

- [Narrator] And tried
to strong arm Walt

into handing over his studio.

- He doesn't want
any competition.

So Mintz says, "Look,
if you want money

and you want to keep
making this hit thing,

you'll get rid of the studio,
you'll come work for me."

- But I don't think Walt
saw himself as an employee.

I don't think that's why he
formed the Walt Disney Studio.

- [Narrator] Faced
with choosing between

his studio or his star...

- He basically tells them
to stuff it in their hat.

- [Narrator] Walt decides
to keep the studio

and leaves behind his one
and only meal ticket.

- This moment is hugely
risky for Disney.

"Oswald the Lucky Rabbit"
is selling tickets,

but Walt Disney must have
had that clarity of vision.

"I am no one hit wonder."

[train whistle blaring]

- There's a huge
amount of self belief

that most of us don't have.

He's, like, doubling
down on himself.

- He knew that he had to
come up with a new character

to replace Oswald.

Can this be done?

- [Narrator] In the story
of the Disney company,

this train ride
becomes legendary.

Lillian, Walt's wife of
two years, is by his side.

- The story goes that
he's on the train back

and he begins to brainstorm

about what character
will be next.

- In later years,
Walt would say that

he drew a new character on
the three day train ride

back from New York
to Los Angeles.

- That's probably an
oversimplified version

of what actually happened.

[train rumbling]

[soft music]

- The truth is, Walt Disney's
most enduring character

was not born on that train.

- Walt Disney later spoke about,

everybody kind of needs to
be chopped down a little bit

to learn from, to build up from,

and move forward from.

And he never made the
same mistake twice.

- He knew that now he was
going to own this character,

no matter what, it
was going to be his.

And being Walt Disney, he
also knew that it had to be

the best character
that ever was. [laughs]

- Maybe a little too round?

- Trust me, this shape's
gonna make things

a lot easier on us.

- When you're
designing a character,

you wanna design something

that will be simple
and easy to draw,

because you're gonna have to
draw it hundreds of times.

And the design's
kind of revolutionary

because it was a very simple
design, but very pleasing.

- Ub Iwerks could trace
three different coin sizes.

The two circles for the
ears, and then his head.

It made it very economical
and easy to draw.

- Looks like a...

Mortimer.

Lillian, come take a look
at Mortimer the Mouse.

- Mortimer?

Sounds like a banker.

- Walt's wife said Mortimer
sounds kind of stuck up.

It sounds like somebody
in New York City,

living in a mansion.

- He needs to be relatable,

someone you can root for.

Someone like...

Lindy.

- [Narrator] In 1928, the young
aviator Charles Lindbergh

is top of mind for
every American.

- Charles Lindbergh, who has
just achieved global celebrity

for crossing, single-handedly,

across the Atlantic
in an airplane,

embodies kind of that spirit
of surging into the future.

It's a decade all
about progress,

and he's also the
golden American boy.

- Lindbergh was a wholesome
everyman, Midwesterner.

Everybody was in love
with Lucky Lindy.

- How about...

Mickey?

[dramatic music]

- Mickey's a relatable name.

It sounds like your friend
from the factory floor.

- Mickey is kind
of an every mouse.

- Mickey Mouse.

- [Narrator] Walt and Ub
channel Lindy's intrepid spirit

into their first produced
Mickey Mouse short,

"Plane Crazy."

- So, there's sort of a hook

for audience members
to latch on to.

- [Narrator] Now, it's on
Walt to find a distributor

for his cartoon mouse.

- With Universal, they were
guaranteed a distributor.

But if you're an
independent filmmaker,

you basically have to get

an independent distributor
to take your film,

put it in a theater.

- I really thought
they'd eat it up.

- And nobody is biting.

[clears throat]

In 1928, Mickey Mouse is
a brand new character.

Nobody is convinced that
this new mouse is anything.

- Oswald is still one of the
biggest characters out there.

So when he's going out
and pitching Mickey,

people don't really see
that they're that distinct.

So, Walt is in this
really difficult position

of competing with the ghost
of his former success.

- Walt, we're out of money.

We can't keep making
cartoons for nobody.

It's time to rethink all this.

- But the guy's resourceful.

He doesn't give
up and walk away.

[pensive music]

- Walt?

- They have no money, no
backing, no distributor.

They need a big wow,
they need a big win.

[worker whistling]

- He knew he needed
something over the top

to get this character out there.

Something never seen,
or heard before.

[worker whistling]

- I think we should go see
"The Jazz Singer" again.

[jazzy piano music]

♪ Blue skies smiling at me

♪ Nothing but blue skies

♪ Do I see

- [Narrator] Six months earlier,

the debut of "The Jazz Singer"
ushers in the age of talkies.

- [Tom] When Jolson
talks to his mother...

- You like that, Mama?

- That made audiences gasp.

- If I'm a success in this show,

well, we're gonna
move from here.

- There it is, you can put
voice now to characters.

- You ain't heard nothing yet.

- Walt Disney said, that's it.

- Everybody, come
closer, please.

Listen up.

Starting today, I need
everyone in this room

not just to think about
how your cartoons look,

but how they sound.

- Take a live motion
picture and add sound.

Can I add sound to an animation?

- He believes that
he can execute

something that we
haven't even seen yet.

We don't know what we want in
animation yet, but he does.

- He just makes
this snap decision,

we're gonna do a sound
film with Mickey Mouse.

- [Narrator] Walt wants
his debut Mickey short

to be the first ever
synchronized sound cartoon.

- Well...

I think it's fantastic.

[slowly clapping]

- That's right.
[all clapping]

- [Narrator] And in the process,

propel cartoons from an
afterthought to an attraction,

while launching Mickey
Mouse and making history.

- [Narrator] It's 1928, a
boom year of invention,

which gives us bubblegum,

the electric shaver,

and penicillin.

And in Los Angeles, Walt
Disney is determined

to make his own bold innovation:

to break the synchronized
sound barrier in animation.

[film reel clicking]

First, they will perform a test

using a new Mickey short
called "Steamboat Willie,"

to explore a
fundamental question.

[washboard rattling]

[recorder tooting]

- In the history of the world,
drawings had never made a sound.

[instrument rattling]

Who's to say that
people will believe

that these pencil scrawls
are making the sound

that they appear to make?

- The animators didn't even know
if audiences would be convinced

that a cartoon drawing
could even have a voice,

and what did it sound like?

[whistling musically]

[instrument rattling]

[recorder tooting]

- It's kind of funny to
think back on it now,

but they weren't sure.

[spoon clinking]
[slide whistle tooting]

[soft tapping]

[inspiring music]

- When Disney saw that, he
was like, it's gonna work.

[slide whistle tooting]

- He's not only demonstrated
that sound and animation,

that they work together,

but this isn't simple addition.

I mean, this is multiplication

in terms of the enjoyment
that it's bringing.

- And suddenly, he sees
in that projection,

the future, his future.

[recorder tooting]

[train whistle blaring]

- [Narrator] With
the basic theory

behind synchronized
sound confirmed,

Walt must now answer an
even bigger question,

how to record sound
for Steamboat Willie.

[car horn blaring]

- It's really the Wild West when
it comes to sound and film.

There are all sorts of different
attempts and technologies.

- [Narrator] "The Jazz Singer"

used a technology
called Vitaphone,

that played the audio off of
separate phonograph discs.

- The Vitaphone system,

even though it was
the first technology,

was quite convoluted
and it required someone

to be available to lower
the needle on the record

at the precise moment,

that would sync with the
moving image on screen.

- Vitaphone leaves
zero room for error.

If it's not right on the money,
the whole effect is worthless.

♪ Wonderful pairs are
always hard to find ♪

- It falls apart.

- Hmph!

[train whistle blaring]

- [Narrator] Walt
can't afford to gamble

his vision for
"Steamboat Willie"

on an unreliable technology.

- Disney wanted this exact.

He wanted the
syncing to be synced.

- [Narrator] So he
heads to New York

in pursuit of a
different system.

- He's after a new technology
that allows you to record sound

directly onto the film itself.

- So on the strip of celluloid,

you have the soundtrack
linked up with image,

so it's always
exact and precise.

[tense music]

- [Narrator] But the
new system requires

the entire sound bed

to be recorded live
in a single take.

- You've got to
basically run your film

and then record the sound

straight to the film
as it's running.

So, you might get 95%
of this recording done,

you screw up at five percent,

you got to start the
whole thing over again.

- And it's not cheap.

Roy manages to find the money,

but he's really
scraping it together.

- And the studio has no
extra money at this point.

There was no savings.

They were down to, like, scraps.

- [Bethanee] They have
enough money to fund one day.

- [Narrator] Walt
and Roy splurge

on a top conductor and orchestra

to perform the "Steamboat
Willie" soundtrack.

- Walt put everything
into making this happen.

He was risking it all
and he had one shot.

[tense music]

- And it sucks.

- [Roy] Tell me
we have something

to show for it, at least.

- He just couldn't keep
in time to the picture,

not even a single take.

I wanna try again tomorrow.

- [Roy] We can't.

There's no more money.

You need to come home tomorrow.

I'm sorry, Walt.

- The recording went abysmally.

Everything was off.

Timings were off,
synchronizations were off,

cues were off.

- If you're only
following the picture,

you're always gonna
be behind the picture.

[clock ticking]

- It's a real challenge to get
synchronization dead nuts on.

[clock ticking]

[pensive music]

[pensive music]
[phone ringing]

- Hello?
- [Walt] Roy, I figured it out.

- Walt? What?

- I said, I figured it out!

Headed back to the studio
now, we're going again.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down.

- [Narrator] Disney's
first attempt

to add a soundtrack
to "Steamboat Willie"

ends in failure and costs the
studio its last few dollars.

- First round,
complete disaster.

- The shifts in tempo
throughout the film,

the conductor's just
not able to match it.

- Walt, there's no more money.

We've talked about this.

[dramatic music]

- Sell my car.

- Walt.

- And so Walt ended up selling
his beloved Roadster for $475,

and that was the money
that actually funded

the second recording of the
sound for "Steamboat Willie."

- He was willing to sell
off everything he had

to put it into this film.

- [Narrator] Now, after
a sleepless night,

Walt has a novel breakthrough.

[dramatic music]

[film reel clicking]
[string instruments tuning]

- Disney comes up with
the brilliant idea

of drawing a little
bouncing ball on the film.

- It's a visual metronome.

For every beat, this ball
hits the bottom of the screen.

- This bouncing ball
is his silver bullet.

Now, you have this added tool

that's cueing the conductor

to understand
what's coming next.

- Second recording, golden.

[Mickey laughing]

- [Narrator] With
sync sound solved,

Walt and Roy secure
a two-week run

at New York's Colony Theater.

And on November 18th, 1928,

"Steamboat Willie" debuts
as the first cartoon

in history with fully
synchronized sound.

[lighthearted music]

- When "Steamboat Willie"

finally got in front
of an audience,

the reaction was out of control.

[audience laughing]

- It's really a game
changer for the audience.

They're seeing, they're
hearing a cartoon character

for the first time ever.

[clattering]

[comical whistling]
[audience laughing]

[xylophone playing]

- It's the music, the
action, the sound.

[comical whistling]
They're all integrated together.

[audience laughing]

- I could only imagine
the word on the street

after people started
watching it, saying,

you have to see this.

Like, there's a sound
from a cartoon.

[cow mooing]

[dogs yelping]

- And the industry tried to
now catch up to Walt Disney.

For example, Universal
tried to add sound

to their old "Oswald" shorts,

but it ultimately
kind of looks tacky.

[bird cawing]

- They don't have sound
integrated into the story.

This becomes a sort
of cookie cutter thing

that everyone's
trying to replicate,

and no one can quite do it as
well as Walt Disney's doing.

[xylophone music]

- The animation
matches the sound

so incredibly precisely,

that that is still known
as Mickey Mousing today;

that really tight
synchronization

between the sound and the image.

- Must have been
amazing to be Walt,

when you gamble like this

and you see that
everyone loves it.

Mickey Mouse is
just a sensation.

[growling]

- [Narrator] Synced
sound gives Disney

a major edge in the market,

but Walt knows it won't last.

Rival studios are
watching and learning.

To stay ahead, Walt
has Ub and the team

ramp up production
on Mickey shorts

and continues to
enhance his characters,

adding spoken dialogue.

- Hot dog, hot dog.

♪ When I hear my little dandy

[clicking]
- Yoo-hoo!

- [Narrator] And
as Mickey rises,

Walt Disney gains more
and more recognition.

- Mickey and Walt
are two of the same.

Walt gives his voice
to Mickey Mouse.

- Oh, you!
[blowing raspberry]

- The two became synonymous

and Mickey Mouse
transformed Walt Disney.

- It's not only the
character who's successful,

it's the man behind the mouse

who becomes successful as well.

[upbeat jazzy music]

[people chattering]

- Remember, I just lost
"Oswald the Rabbit."

I knew I had to come
up with something

to save the studio.

So I was sketching on the
train back from New York

and that's where I came
up with Mickey Mouse.

[tense music]

Right there on the train.

- Iwerks and Disney
had always had

a bit of a peculiar
relationship.

They're very different people.

- Ub started to feel
like he was the hand

that was creating
these animations,

whereas Walt was
selling his name.

And Ub Iwerks was
starting to resent

that there was a little bit lack

of credit where
credit was due.

- Of course, I can't
take all the credit.

I was gonna call him
"Mortimer the Mouse."

Could you imagine?
[laughing]

But thankfully, Lillian
here talked me out of it.

[chuckling]

Ub!

That there's Ub Iwerks,
my top animator.

Ub, this fellow's
son's a huge fan.

Draw him a Mickey, would
you? And I'll sign it.

- Draw your own Mickey.

- Ub has been a friend
of his since Kansas City,

they came up together
in the animation world

and Ub helped him create this
massive, enduring success.

But friction really begins
between these two men

and Ub ultimately
decides to leave Disney.

[tense music]

[tense music]

- [Narrator] Walt
Disney is scrambling

to meet the public's demand
for more Mickey Mouse.

But now, he must reckon with

the loss of his most
senior animator, Ub Iwerks,

who has left Disney to
start his own studio.

- I think personally,
it hurt because

they were so loyal to each other

and Ub Iwerks moved out
here at Walt's persuasion

and so they were conquering
Hollywood together.

- Walt goes out
and hires a bunch

of new animators to replace Ub.

- Ultimately, he has to realize
there's no replacing Ub Iwerks.

- [Narrator] And it couldn't
have come at a worse time.

[dramatic music]

The country is plummeting
into financial catastrophe.

- This wasn't just
a dip in the market.

The Great Depression was

a life shattering,
life altering event.

- [Announcer] Three million
Americans are ex-wage earners.

- 25% unemployment,

thousands of businesses
and banks failed,

people literally on the
verge of starvation.

- Out of all of that
economic horror show,

Mickey Mouse survives.

- [Narrator] Although
Mickey Mouse

was created in the roaring '20s,

he seems made for this
particular moment.

- Mickey Mouse is a character
who is constantly confronting

an entity much
larger than himself,

and yet he manages to
achieve success or survival.

- Take it easy,
you're all right.

- It's the same stuff that
we're hearing all the time

in FDR's fireside chats,
that there's resilience.

- Let us unite in
vanishing fear.

- Mickey Mouse really
serves as a mirror

for the audiences to
find a glimmer of hope

during one of the most difficult
periods in American history.

- [Narrator] As Mickey
inspires the nation,

Walt is determined to recognize
his mouse for what he is,

a role model.

- Early on, Mickey was
much more rambunctious.

He was much more of a brat.

[cat yowling]

- But when Mickey Mouse

got popular as this
hero character,

Walt really wanted to
lean into this idea.

- Walt saw Mickey as almost
an extension of himself.

His personality, his
eternal optimism.

- So he had to be
not only a good guy,

but the goodest
of the good guys.

[rain pattering]

- [Narrator] But
maintaining Walt's vision

comes with creative challenges.

- All right, fellas.

Let's hear it.

- So, there's this girl
cat, real sultry-like,

and she's got her
eyes on Mickey.

- No, no, absolutely not.

Mickey's not stepping
out on Minnie.

What else?

- Mother hen farmer needs
help planting her corn.

She asks Mickey, but he
pretends to have a bellyache

to get out of it.

- No, that makes Mickey
come off as lazy.

He doesn't skip out on work.

What else?

- This created a problem

because it limited
what situations

they could put him in.

- Nothing?

- It feels like Mickey can't
do anything fun anymore.

- Anything fun?

- You know, like the
other cartoons can.

- As the depression grinds on,

some people are craving
something a little different

from the kind of chipper,

do-goody personality
of Mickey Mouse.

- People are gravitating towards

things that are maybe
a little more edgy.

- You have Betty Boop
and later Popeye,

'cause Popeye was
much more dynamic,

'cause Popeye punches people
in the face. [laughing]

- And Betty Boop is this sex pot

who's always kind of
coy and flirtatious.

- [Narrator] Walt must decide

how much to compromise
his treasured star

in response to the
market's demands.

- Listen, if you want to go
make Betty Boop cartoons,

be my guest, but that
isn't what we do here.

- Conventional wisdom
would dictate, oh,

the market wants bawdy sex
appeal and wants violence?

Let's make Mickey a
little bit more volatile.

But Walt doesn't want to sully

the character of Mickey Mouse,

so he has to find another way

to give the audience
what they want.

- I need ideas for Mickey Mouse.

Wholesome, feel-good stories.

I know that's harder, but
I will not sell him short,

and you shouldn't either.

Mickey does have fun.

That's his whole thing.

It's your job to find it.

[tense music]

[door slams]

[gentle music]

- All right, we ready?

- So there's this mother
hen who has a farm

and she's going around
trying to find somebody

to help her plant her corn.

And so she goes down to this
little shack by the pond

and is asking for help.

And that's where she
meets this rascal.

And he fakes having

the biggest bellyache
you've ever seen.

- Who's that?

- We call him Donald Duck.

And he has a huge attitude.

- I like it.

[inspiring music]

Donald Duck.

- Help me plant my corn.

Will you help me plant my corn?

- Oh, that?

Oh, no.

I've got a bellyache.

[groans dramatically]

- Donald Duck was a
blessing for Walt Disney,

because he allowed for
chaos and conflict

to reenter into these cartoons

without Mickey Mouse having to
be responsible for any of it.

- Aw, phooey!

- So he's able to do
the temper tantrums

and you know, stomp his feet.

- He's kind of a foil to Mickey

without disrupting his
essential goodness.

- Mickey Mouse is maybe
who we strive to be,

but Donald is probably
who we actually are.

My horoscope is like,

I think I'm a Donald
with a Mickey rising.

[playful music]
[Donald quacks]

- Even as they introduce
different characters,

Mickey is the role model hero

who kind of brings
the band together.

- Mickey kind of
moved from a performer

to the circus master.

- Lend a hand, me hearties!

- [Both] Aye-aye, Captain!

- Mickey's the captain,

marching with the baton
happily down Main Street.

- By the middle to late 1930s,

Mickey's popularity just soars.

[crowds cheering]

He's right up there
with Charlie Chaplin

and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

- With Mickey Mouse,

Walt Disney brought
the animated cartoon

out of the world
of just a novelty,

a little dismissible short,

and created one of the
biggest stars in the world.

[dramatic music]

- It's pretty hard to
conceive of a world

where animation was novel,

where animation never had sound,

where it wasn't being beamed

into your house
every single night,

where you didn't even
have beloved characters

that were drawn,
animated figures.

- Watch me.

- [Adam] All of
them is because of

this little animated,
everyman mouse.

- Oh, boy!

- It is mind blowing and
it was unprecedented.

[audience applauding]

- [Narrator] Mickey's
runaway success

allows Walt to push his
studio in new directions,

with new stories and new heroes.

- Interestingly, as
these other characters

emerge in the pantheon,

Mickey sort of
declines in visibility

in what Disney is
producing on screen,

but Walt is really seeing

and holding fast to
the value of Mickey.

- Mickey Mouse becomes
more than just a cartoon,

more than just this
kind of cultural icon,

and becomes a huge
business brand.

[crowds cheering]
[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] What begins
as a pencil sketch

has grown into a media empire

with a catalog of
more than 800 films.

Today, Disney is one of the most

valuable companies in the world.

- Of all the things
that Disney has created,

Mickey Mouse remains the
signature emblem of Disney.

Just the black
outline of those ears

are recognized all
around the world.

- The way that Walt
managed to create that

was keeping him pure,
keeping him simple,

and making him groundbreaking.

And today, that mouse and
Disney essentially are one.

[dramatic music]

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