The first successful Mickey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie, was released in 1928. Walt Disney quickly began seeking merchandising opportunities for his cartoon characters, The original Mickey Mouse Club began in 1929 and, in 1930 Disney contracted a leading doll manufacturer, the George Borgfeldt Company, to produce Mickey and Minnie Mouse toys.
Borgfeldt had been distributing a Micky (with no “e”) Mouse toy for the Performo-Toy Company since 1926. The two toys co-existed until 1931 when Disney sued Performo-Toy claiming that they copied their Micky from Disney’s. Despite Performo-Toy having patented its “animal toy” in 1926, Disney won and the small Performo-Toy Company went out of business.
The success of the original Mickey Mouse toy inspired a vast range of toys, dolls, games, figurines and other Mickey Mouse merchandise. Having established a network of licensees, Disney quickly followed the success of the first Donald Duck cartoon in 1934 with a range of toys and other merchandise. Mickey and Donald were followed by the Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and Dumbo before the Second World War curtailed toy production.
After the War, plush Dumbo and Pluto dolls made by Gund and rubber-coated wire Donald Ducks by Bendy Toys were popular. These were followed by toys and other merchandise associated with all of the Disney movies and television shows. By 1954, there were 700 companies making more than 3,000 Disney items.
(the following was spotted on the internet – Jon)
UNIQUE DISNEYLAND MEMORABILIA !
This is Dave MacPherson. My claim to fame is that I waited in line for eight hours early on Monday, July 18, 1955 and bought the first ticket sold at Disneyland when it opened for the public. I won a lifetime pass good for me and three other persons for entrance to Disney parks worldwide – which consists of annual installments that arrive in January of each year.
According to Wikipedia and other sites, Roy Disney had reserved the first printed ticket for his family’s memorabilia. Shortly before I paid one dollar for the first ticket sold, a woman with two tots who had been way back in the line squeezed past me and I thought she was trying to crowd ahead of me to be first in line. I soon calmed down when Walt’s assistants told me that Walt wanted to pose with the two children named Christine and Michael who were hustled right by me without having to buy tickets. So I really was the very first Disney ticket buyer out of more than a billion persons who have bought tickets to various Disney parks!
Only in recent years have I learned that collectors will pay almost anything to obtain rare and unique Disney memorabilia.
I am happy to announce that I have the following unique Disneyland items I am offering to any interested collector who wants a safer investment than our current stock market:
(1) My past several red VIP passes. My name is stamped on them and my signature is on the 2006 pass.
(2) I am willing to sign an agreement to include all future passes as soon as I get them. They are not transferable but are one-of-a-kind since my name is on them.
(3) The original newspaper clippings from the Los Angeles and Long Beach papers that covered my being the first Disneyland ticket buyer.
(4) A Mickey Mouse blanket with my autograph on it.
I would want the buyer to meet with me at my bank in the small southern Utah town I live in, at which time I would transfer my collection for his cashier’s check. I would also be willing to pose for photos, be interviewed, etc.
If interested in my unique collection, contact me at POBox 1226, Monticello, Utah 84535 USA. What would my collection be worth to you?
Disneyland’s No. 1 fan, Dave MacPherson
i just love that old mickey mouse toy. i have never seen this
before.
I like Disney Toys like mickey, mouse donald duck ect.If want more toys of Disney so visit on “Disney toys online”.
Beginning in 1930, Mickey has also been featured extensively as a comic strip character. His self-titled newspaper strip, drawn primarily by Floyd Gottfredson, ran for 45 years. Mickey has also appeared in comic books and in television series such as The Mickey Mouse Club and others.;^*..
Bye for now <http://www.caramoan.ph