Walt Disney (lost physical Mickey Mouse animation reference footage of animator; late 1930s)

Mickey Mouse in The Pointer from the scene in question and Walt Disney, who wore his felt hat for this performance.

Status: Lost

There does not seem to be any need to introduce animator/businessman/producer Walt Disney. The man behind the most famous entertainment company in the world, his most known creation is the cartoon character Mickey Mouse that he also personally voiced in his early appearances.

What is lesser known, though, is that Walt Disney was once filmed physically performing as Mickey Mouse so as to be used as reference footage by his studio's animators.

Background

The 1939 Mickey Mouse animated short The Pointer is the cartoon for which Walt Disney physically performed as animation reference.

The Pointer is also notable for having the first "modern" design of Mickey with his eyes having defined white sclerae and a peach-toned face (which would be popularized in the 1940 animated feature Fantasia).

Walt Disney was very enthusiastic when he'd talk about a cartoon he would ask his team to work on, often moving and acting the characters' personalities and mannerisms. When he described The Pointer, he would physically emulate how Mickey would act when facing a bear. The animation team found him "so funny acting out [his] confusion that [they] asked if [they] could shoot a film of him as he recorded the lines."

The Footage

Disney reluctantly agreed, but only if the camera was far away and without the animators looking like they were staring at him, as he was understandably embarrassed.

The camera was so far away that Disney was reduced to a tiny figure on film, but his performance, dressed in baggy clothes and his felt hat, was strong enough to use as a good reference for the cartoon's scene. Notably, when Disney was on stage, he instinctively indicated with his hand that Mickey Mouse was the size of a small child.

Disney refused to ever repeat the experience, and when the animators tried to look for the footage film years later, it was gone, without explanation. To this day, it is still lost.

See Also

Mickey Mouse

• Mickey and Minnie Mouse (lost unauthorized pornographic animated short film; existence unconfirmed; 1936)
• Mickey's Man Friday (partially found production material of unproduced remake of Disney animated short film; 1939-1941)
• Minnie Takes Care of Pluto (found original English audio of Mickey Mouse Works animated short; 2000)
• ‎The Mouse Factory (found Disney live-action/animated TV series; 1972-1973)
• The Search for Mickey Mouse (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2002)
• Short Subject aka "Mickey Mouse in Vietnam" (found unofficial animated short film; 1968)

Advertisements

• The Incredibles (found full version of McDonald's Happy Meal commercial for Pixar animated film; 2004)
• The Incredibles (found online promotional trailers for Pixar animated film; 2004)
• Pixar (partially lost early CGI animated commercials from animation studio; 1989-1998)

Animation (Disney)

• Aladdin (found Howard Ashman treatment of Disney animated film; 1988)
• Alice in Wonderland (partially lost original draft of Disney animated film; 1939)
• American Dog (partially found original version of "Bolt" Disney animated film; 2007-2008)
• The Black Cauldron (partially found deleted scenes of Disney animated film; 1985)
• Chanticleer (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 1940s-mid 1960s)
• Chicken Little 2 (partially found production material of cancelled sequel to Disney animated comedy film; 2006)
• Disney Circle Seven Animation (partially lost production material of cancelled Pixar sequel films; 2004-2006)
• Dumbo II (partially found production material from cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2000s)
• Fantasia 2006 (partially lost production material for cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002-2004)
• Fraidy Cat (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2004-2005)
• Frozen (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 1937-2012)
• Gigantic (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated film; 2013-2017)
• The Jungle Book (lost Bill Peet version of Disney animated film; 1963-1964)
• Kingdom of the Sun (partially found original version of "The Emperor's New Groove" Disney animated film; late 1990s)
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (partially found production material and deleted scenes of Disney animated sequel film; 1995-1998)
• Music Land (lost Disney animated anthology film; 1955)
• My Peoples (partially found production material of cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-early 2000s)
• The Seven Dwarfs (partially found production material of cancelled direct-to-video prequel to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" Disney animated film; 2000s)
• Tangled (partially found early drafts of Disney animated film; 2001-2010)
• Tinker Bell (partially found first draft of Disney animated film; 2007)
• Treasure Planet II (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated sequel film; 2002)
• Wild Life (lost production material for cancelled Disney animated film; late 1990s-2000)
• Zootopia (partially found pre-rewrite version of Disney animated film; early 2010s)

Animation (Pixar)

• A Tin Toy Christmas (lost production material of cancelled Pixar animated Christmas TV special; early 1990s)
• Cars 3 (lost deleted scene of Pixar animated sequel film; 2017)
• The Good Dinosaur (lost original version of Pixar animated film; 2011-2013)
• Inside Out (lost original Bing Bong death scene of Pixar animated film; 2015)
• Made in Point Richmond (found miscellaneous content from Pixar DVD; 1986-2000)
• Newt (partially found production material of cancelled Pixar animated film; early 2010s)
• Toy Story (partially found early test footage of Pixar animated film; 1992)
• Toy Story 4 (found original script of Pixar animated sequel film; 2013-2017)
• Toy Story & Toy Story 2 (partially found intermissions for 3D double feature re-release of Pixar animated films; 2009)
• Toy Story "Black Friday Reel" (partially found rough cut of Pixar animated film; 1993)
• Toy Story "Jessie" (found Patsy Montana Award acceptance speech animation of Pixar character; 2000)
• WALL·E (partially found original treatments of Pixar animated film; 1994-2008)

Audio

• Fantasia (partially lost original audio of Disney animated film; 1940)
• Jack Wagner (partially lost Disney Park background music collection from American actor; 1970s-2001)
• Mars Needs Moms (found Seth Green vocal performance of Disney motion-capture animated film; 2011)
• Pinocchio (lost Mel Blanc's "Gideon the Cat" dialogue from Disney animated film; 1940)
• Toy Story 2 (partially found Bullseye dialogue test footage from Pixar animated sequel film; late 1990s)

Live Action

• 101 Dalmatians (found "Spotted Landmarks" teaser trailer of Disney live-action film; 1995-1996)
• Enchanted (lost deleted song from Disney live-action/animated fantasy comedy film; 2007)
• Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (found deleted scenes from Disney live-action film; 1993)
• Sleeping Beauty (partially found live action reference material for Disney animated film; 1959)

Short Films

• Blowin' in the Wind (found Pixar animated short film; 1985)
• Language Arts Through Imagination (found series of Disney educational short films; 1988-1989)
• Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1927-1928)
• Poor Papa (found "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" Walt Disney animated short film; 1927)
• The Princess Academy (lost production material of cancelled Disney animated short film; 2009)
• Tales from Radiator Springs "To Protect and Serve" (lost episode of "Cars" animated miniseries; 2015)
• Uncle Walt (lost unauthorized Disney short film; 1964)

References

• Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life - 1981