Mickey Mouse Daily Strips

[Olivier]

Hi everyone!


John:
>>> Quick question to the individual who has been posting the old Mickey Mouse Daily Strips (I
apologize for
>>forgetting your name)....

Seems to be me. :D
No problem. Olivier's the name.

My turn to apologize, to everyone: I have not been able to add more notes. I had a couple of  things
to say, but couldn't do it in time, then thought I'd collect them, procrastinated, didn't have time
or forgot, ... All that because I unfortunately haven't been able to do the scanning (and at least
part of  the writing) long enough in advance.
I wanted to do some notes in time for the beginning of  the birds episode this week-- and again
missed the date. I'm very sorry-- not that you're missing much, anyway, it's just my humble notes on
the strips, nothing more.
Another factor probably is that I meant to include a couple of  DVD captures (of  "Plane Crazy"),
but haven' done them-- I even seem to have somehow "misplaced" the ones I had.
Anyway, I will try to do something very soon.



>>>> I noticed that today's strip says "By Iwerks" as most have, but a few before this last one said
"By Walter
>>>Disney"
>>> I am just curious as to why this happened....the art seemed the same to me, so why would Ub's
name have
>>>been dropped?

You'll find the full credits for the strips (copied from Another Rainbow's Mickey Mouse book) on my
site:
http://ob7.free.fr/mice_and_ducks/
(   I can't link to the exact page because I use frames; click on the Mickey icon in the (left,
yellow) Contents frame; the "MM Dailies" contents page appears in the lower (left, gray) frame;
"List" will display the credits in the main (top right, green) frame.   )
I seem to have made a mistake when I copied these credits. The book says Ub pencilled from Jan 13
through to Feb 8 (whereas I typed April 1 for Win Smith's pencilling).
And according to "The Hand Behind the Mouse":
"Because of  these demands on his time, Ub merely roughed out the art for the first eighteen strips.
Win Smith, who Ub described as 'quite good with a pen', did the inking. [...] Even though he passed
ther strip on to Win Smith, who later relinquished it to Floyd Gottfredson, Ub Iwerks would receive
credits in a byline that would continue to run for almost a year. The byline read 'By Walt Disney
and Ub IWerks'".
This would make it January 13 - February 1 (which might correspond to my "April 1" mistake).

The byline credits really keep randomly alternating between Walt & Ub on the strips I have. the last
appearance of  "Walter" is on June 23; the next Disney credit, on July 7, reads "Walt".
The odd thing is that Disney had been signing "Walt" for several years, and the "Disney Brothers
Studio" had already been rebaptized "Walt Disney Studio" by the time the strips started.

I don't know where the person (sorry, i froget the name, too) who collected these strips got them,
ie whether there may have been different sources of some strips, which might account for such
changes, but I don't think that's the explanation.
Similarly, these credits used to be framed, then the frame was dropped out; the title eventually
disappeared as well-- I can't say when though (sorry, I don't feel like thumbing through all those
hundreds of  pages right now). I don't know why. Maybe sometimes they just rushed the job somehow,
ommitting the frame and the title.
The irregularity of  the panels' frame (the shaky lines, I mean) is striking too, but again, I can't
say for sure whether it's just because of  the reproduction or whether the lines were really no
straight. Maybe David can illuminate us on this.



>>>> Anyway, I'm really enjoying the strips each day

Thanks! I'm happy to see the counter everyday-- it's a non-profit thing, as you can see; I'm just
happy to see I'm not the only one reading them!


>>>and must say that I never realized that after the few airplane strips that Mickey spent so much
time on an
>>>island.

How I wish they had included this cartoon on the DVD! I have never seen it, and haven't found any
pictures of  it. Not even in Pierre Lambert's gorgeous "Mickey" book!


>>>>It seems most strange b/c there isn't much development of the character, but instead he just
simply jumps into
>>>>some escapades.  Any thoughts on why this would be....?

Sorry, I don't know. That's part of  the notes I have to add. I guess they just didn't exactly know
what to do with a strip. Just like Barks & Hannah's "Pirate Gold", it reads like a storyboard
sequence-- a string of  gags with minimal dialogue; puns & slapstick humor.


>>>>Do we already know alot about Mickey through other media by the time of the strips?

"Steamboat Willie" premiered on November 18, 1928.
The strip started on January 13, 1930.
13 shorts were released in the meantime (8 of  which are featured on the DVD if  I'm not mistaken);
mostly musicals (sound was still "new").
Mickey is but a nice, mischievous little character; the oddest thing is playing it rough (drinking &
smoking) at the beginning of  "Galloping Gaucho").
Sorry, I'm getting too tired to expand upon this now.


Dane:
>>>>I wouldn't blame it on a specific writer or artist; it's really just the way the Mickey
"universe" (I hate that term)
>>>>is. Unless someone comes along and dramatically changes Mickey's character, which I really can't
see
>>>>happening, I think we're kind of "stuck" in this plot-driven Mickey "universe."

Everyone soon got painted into a corner. Mickey started as a nice little fellow and was an immediate
success; they had to keep true to this image which so quickly became iconic. Hence the development &
success of  Goofy & Donald. I must have a quote to that effect somewhere-- willl try and find it;
well, will try and think of  trying to find it, in the first place.
The major thing was developing true continuities.
The Gottfredson years were obviously the very best-- though such artists / writers  as Paul Murry &
Dick Moores did some very nice things; I like the style of  Caesar Ferioli.
And I have a particular fondness for Bill Walsh's stories-- he came up with such crazy characters &
ideas, and Gottfredson's style evolved in such a way that perfectly matched the mood.

One of  the big things about the Gottfredson strips is they're very refreshing-- especially such
stories as "The Seven ghosts", but even simple ones like"Oscar the Ostrich", "Tanglefoot"... :
they're simple plot-wise & character-wise, but there not "empty"; there's an "innocence" to them
that highly enjoyable; nice pictures of  a nice, pleasant universe (despite the crooks).
I feel the same about Gottfredson's paintings: they don't have the complexity of  Barks'
compositions, shading, textures, ...; they're fairly naive, in fact, a bit "childish" even; this
simplicity is very refreshing.


0:10. Not realy that late, but I'm getting tired. All my apologies for the typos I must have
overlooked (and those I keep overlooking in all my posts).

Best wishes,


Olivier