walt disney
After a long search, they found a
company to record the soundtrack
and an orchestra to play it. Walt
himself did the voice of Mickey
Mouse.
Steamboat Willie was a great
success, and soon there were four
Mickey Mouse cartoons with sound
showing all over the country.
But as popular as Mickey Mouse was, Walt’s
distributor* tried to make Walt do something
he didn’t want to do. He said he would hire
Ub Iwerks away from the Disney studio. Once
again, Walt refused to be forced into a bad
contract.
That guy doesn’t
realize that there is
more to the success
of Mickey Mouse than
Ub’s drawing. Part of
it is your talent for
telling the story and
making the gags funny.
We’ll just have to get
another artist to do the
mouse.
But a few years later,
Ub came back to
work for the Disney
studio.
* an independent company that acts as an agent between a film production company and a movie theater
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