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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
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Anyone wishing to submit an artifact for investigation should do so through Submit a Story.
- Submit your StoryDo you have an object from an Emerging Modern America?
- Latest CommentIt turns out that this collage was sold last fall: http://www.worthpoint.com/wort... I wonder if it would be possible to contact the buyer by way of the auction house about getting a print made. (6 months ago)
- Twitterremember this investigation with @TukufuZuberi @elyseluray Tonight they reunite! Let us know your thoughts! @PBS http://t.co/4KMnc27K (1 year ago)
- FacebookCongrats on your exhibit, TZ! Here's a Washington Post article about the exhibit, everyone, and the great story TZ and Elyse did on his "Our Colored Heroes" story. http://tinyurl.com/mzpuyo8 http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/our-colored-heroes/ (6 months ago)