Chapter 20 Friends...?

Notes! 

- p.2 Ub Iwerks and Walt at Hyperion. I tried to avoid depicting Walt straight up "hiring" (creating) Mickey, because the story behind Mickey's true creation is often inconsistent and it is widely accepted that Ub Iwerks drew the original design; Walt sometimes fictionalized and embellished the story of how he thought up Mickey. Walt also posed for photos at the drawing board during this era of success in Hyperion Studios, but he admittedly had not be one of the key animators on the films for a while. Walt was a competent artist, but he recognized he wasn't as good at animating or drawing as Ub and his other staff. Some would say that Walt was very "affected" in his posing and the way he presented himself as a key artist during this time; ultimately this is what lead to Walt in business receiving credit for ALL creation at his studios from Hyperion onward to Walt Disney Animation Studios. I personally find many things admirable in Walt Disney's business sense and overall ambition and creativity, but I recognize he didn't get as successful as he did by being 100% honest or ethical. Ub Iwerks did not seem to begrudge Walt for "stealing" Mickey; Ub left him for a time when many of his animators were poached by a rival studio, but Ub did return to supervise Photography and special effects years later. Not much is known about whether there was any tension between Walt and Ub after Ub returned, but Neal Gabler seems to think there was an unspoken truce. So it's not totally accurate to portray Walt as an evil thief with poor Ub Iwerks being 100% a victim, nor is it accurate to portray him as totally having created Mickey, either. Ub was not known to speak out much but he even tried to warn Walt about the impending wave of animators leaving his studio for other opportunities. 

- p. 3 Donald Duck starred in several WWII films and PSAs. The mice were mostly relegated to homefront war effort PSAs and propaganda. The "Save that Grease!" poster Michael is holding is a reference to a PSA starring Minnie and Pluto. Oddly enough there was an image in a background which shows Mickey wearing a combat uniform and helmet, saluting. But Mickey never "saw combat" in canon. Just Donald. Mickey only really appeared as a war-hardened soldier in unofficial images painted on American WWII planes, etc. Goes to show how precious the studio was with Mickey's image even as early as the 40s. 

- p.4 paraphrased from interview with Walt, 1950. Cancelled film referenced visually in costume and bee: Plight of the Bumblebee (only made it to pencil/rough animation and initial sound reel; would've featured a more "man-like" Mickey, with an adult male voice, sans falsetto, narrating as Mickey's character in the short. Similar to George Geef's more humanoid appearance during this era)

- p.5 1951 interview re: Fantasia. And at this time, Walt WAS losing interest (according to his best animators) in animation as his new obsession was the planning of Disneyland (earlier on it was to be called "Mickey Mouse Village"). He was fairly absent and described to have an unpredictable mood especially during the production of any animated films during this time. Anecdotally, he was also known to "punish" staff who had upset him by assigning them to work on short films, and that included films starring Mickey during these years. Sad for both the staff and, as this comic asserts, Mickey (if he were a real person). 

- p.6 1952: "The Simple Things" (final short film starring Mickey until 1983; appearances in TV for Mickey Mouse Club 1955 referenced in Chapter 3: Diva)

- p.7 1966 Forest Lawn Memorial Park

- p. 10 Waldo references Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He will appear in the next chapter!