It All Started with a Mouse! Today the Walt Disney Company Is Very Big

1 Leggi e ascolta il brano. Rispondi alle domandi del quiz. It all started with a mouse! Today the Walt Disney Company is very big. But in the 1920s it was very small. Everything changed when Walt Disney created a little cartoon mouse called Mickey. At first he called the character Mortimer, but his wife, Lillian, didn’t like it and she suggested the name Mickey.

Mickey first appeared in the cartoon, Plane Crazy, in 1928. Critics liked the film, but the big Hollywood film studios didn’t want to buy it because it was a silent film – the characters didn’t talk in it. So Walt Disney added sound to the Mickey Mouse cartoon Steamboat Willie and it was an immediate success.

Mickey’s first words on film were ‘Hot dog!’ At first Walt Disney did the voices of both Mickey Mouse and Mickey’s girlfriend, Minnie. Walt Disney gave Mickey a high, squeaky voice and people loved it! They also loved his clothes: yellow shoes, red shorts with braces and white gloves.

After Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse became the world’s favourite cartoon character. He appeared in a lot of Mickey Mouse cartoons and he soon had his own Mickey Mouse comic.

In 1955 he made a TV programme, the Mickey Mouse Club. The Mickey Mouse Club became a popular children’s programme in America. It had news, cartoons, music and comedy. Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake all started their careers as presenters on the show.

Today, children and adults all over the world still love Mickey Mouse. He’s the symbol of the Walt Disney Company because Walt Disney never forgot that ‘it all started with a mouse’.

1 Who created Mickey Mouse? a Joseph Barbera b Walt Disney

2 What was Mickey’s original name? a Oswald b Mortimer

3 When did he first star in a cartoon? a 1928 b 1950

4 What colour are Mickey’s shorts? a yellow b red

5 Who is Mickey’s girlfriend? a Millie b Minnie