Disney’s story is the classic American rags-to-riches story, which started in a small Kansas City advertising office where Mickey was a real mouse prowling the unknown Walt Disney floor. Originally,...

Disney’s story is the classic American rags-to-riches story, which started in a small Kansas City advertising office where Mickey was a real mouse prowling the unknown Walt Disney floor. Originally, Mickey was named Mortimer, until a dissenting Mrs. Disney stepped in. How close Mickey was to Walt Disney is evidenced by the fact that when filming, Disney himself dubbed the mouse’s voice. Only in later films did Mickey get a different voice. Disney made many sacrifices to promote his hero-mascot, including selling his first car, a beloved Moon Cabriolet, and humiliating himself in front of Louis B. Mayer. “Get that mouse off the screen!” was the movie mogul’s reported response to the cartoon character. Then, in 1955, Disney had the brainstorm of sending his movie characters out into the “real” world to mix with their fans, and he battled skeptics to build the very first Disneyland in Anaheim, California.