The Case:
Popular history has it that Mickey Mouse was born from a drawing sketched on a napkin by Walt Disney during a train ride from New York to Los Angeles in 1928.
Disney's wife detested the mouse's original name "Mortimer" and suggested "Mickey."
Mickey Mouse became the biggest fictional character moneymaker in the world, bringing in over $5.8 billion annually.
A San Francisco toy collector, however, believes his small mouse figurine may turn the legend of Mickey on its ears.
With a red label on its chest that reads "Micky" and a patent label on the bottom of one foot that says "Pat. Aug. 17, 1926," the figure appears to have been produced two years before Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse.
History Detectives heads to California, New York and Pennsylvania to trace the ancestry of America's most famous mouse and shed light on the bare-knuckle business fights in the toy industry.
Season 3, Episode 2
Season 4, Episode 4
Detective:
Elyse Luray
Detective:
Wes Cowan
Location:San Francisco, California
Related Content
Technique:
Feature:
Related Links
Explore
-
Also with Elyse Luray
Confederate Eyeglass
Is this how southern sympathizers identified each other during the Civil War?
-
Also with Wes Cowan
Red Cloud's Peace Pipe
Was this pipe given to an Indian agent by the famous Lakota warrior Chief Red Cloud?
-
Also in Season 4
Vicksburg Map
Could this mysterious map have been at the front lines of one of the most explosive battles of the Civil War?
-
Also in Season 3
Geronimo Photograph
Is this photo really an image of the legendary Apache warrior Geronimo?
-
Also in Emerging Modern America: 1890-1930
NC-4: First Across The Atlantic
Is this piece of fabric a remnant from the first transatlantic flight?
-
Also with Wes Cowan
Camp David Letter
Could a box found in a dumpster hold information about the founding of a top-secret Presidential retreat?
Comments
This is a place for opinions, comments, questions and discussion; a place where viewers of History Detectives can express their points of view and connect with others who value history. We ask that posters be polite and respectful of all opinions. History Detectives reserves the right to delete comments that don’t conform to this conduct. We will not respond to every post, but will do our best to answer specific questions, or address an error.