Milton Mouse

Last updated
Milton Mouse and Rita from The Office Boy (1930) Milton mouse and rita office boy.jpg
Milton Mouse and Rita from The Office Boy (1930)

Milton Mouse is an animated character created at Fables Studios for Paul Terry's cartoon series Aesop's Fables (later Aesop's Sound Fables). The character was introduced in 1921, and appeared in dozens of cartoon shorts through 1931. Milton often appeared alongside a girlfriend mouse, usually named Rita.

Contents

In 1929, animator John Foster redesigned Milton and Rita to look more like Mickey and Minnie Mouse, who had become incredibly popular following the 1928 release of the Walt Disney cartoon Steamboat Willie .

Milton's new, Mickey-inspired design debuted in the cartoon A Close Call , released in 1929. Further cartoons released in 1930 included Western Whoopee , Circus Capers and The Office Boy. A lawsuit filed by Walt Disney in 1931 claiming copyright infringement put a stop to Milton's appearances.

History

Paul Terry and Amadee J. Van Beuren established Fables Pictures in 1920, and began producing Aesop's Fables cartoons in 1921. [1]

Terry has been credited with being the first animator to use mouse characters, in the July 26, 1921 film Mice in Council, which told the story of mice tying a bell to a cat's neck. [2] The next film, July 31's Country Mouse and City Mouse, established that Terry's mouse characters wore gloves and boots. [3]

The character of "Milton Mouse" has been credited to Terry employee William Ferguson in 1921. [4] The September 27, 1922 cartoon The Fable of the Romantic Mouse was the first to establish a female mouse character, who in this picture was called Lizzie. [5] Later films called Milton's girlfriend Rita [6] or Mary. [3]

Milton Mouse and his girlfriend appeared in dozens of cartoons made under the supervision of Paul Terry. At first, Milton was a mischievous character trying to find treasure or steal food, in appearances including The Fable of the Fortune Hunters (Nov 1922), The Fable of Cheating the Cheaters (Dec 1922) and The Pearl Divers (July 1923). Later, Milton played the hero, rescuing Rita from villainous cats and other threatening animals, in films including Sink or Swim (Jan 1927), The Big Tent (Sept 1977), Saved By a Keyhole (Nov 1927), Our Little Nell (July 1928), A Lad and His Lamp (March 1929) and The Enchanted Flute (July 1929). [7]

Terry directed most of the Fables Pictures films until 1929, when he was fired by Van Beuren over disputes related to disagreements about sound synchronization and financial profits. Terry formed his own studio, Terry-Toons, and animator John Foster took Terry's place. [8]

Milton's redesign

Once Terry left the studio, Van Beuren renamed the enterprise Van Beuren Productions. The boss allowed Foster to change the character designs of Milton and Rita, to make them look more like the increasingly popular Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

According to Hal Erickson, author of a book on the Van Beuren studio: "Beginning with A Close Call in December 1929, Milton and his sweetie took on a rounder, cuter look, especially in the vicinity of the nose and ears. Milton also acquired a pair of white shorts while his lady friend wore a frilly white dress. When the two mice make their first appearance in A Close Call skipping through a field of musical flowers, one is startled by their strong resemblance to Mickey and Minnie Mouse." [4]

As Van Beuren continued to release Milton cartoons in 1930, the design grew even more Mickey-like. Further cartoons included Singing Saps (February 1930), Western Whoopee (April 1930), Hot Tamale (August 1930), Circus Capers (September 1930), and Stone Age Stunts (December 1930).

The November 1930 cartoon The Office Boy is seen as a particularly vulgar use of the Mickey and Minnie clones. [6] In this short, Milton works as the janitor and receptionist at E.X.Y. Railroad, a job that entails him sitting on a stool outside the president's door, greeting approaching guests. Rita, the president's gum-chewing secretary, carries on a flirtation with Milton, and they type love notes to each other on Rita's typewriter. The boss also flirts with Rita, and Milton sees through the keyhole that the pair are dancing in the office. The boss tries to kiss Rita, and we see in silhouette Rita's attempts to fight him off. When the president's battle-axe wife approaches, Milton is happy to usher her into the office to catch her husband in a compromising position. Milton and Rita sneak away as the married couple battles in the office. In Mickey's Movies, Gijs Grob writes: "In this cartoon, the designs and animation of Milton and Rita are terrible, but too close for comfort, and some of Mickey's mannerisms have clearly been copied." [6] This cartoon would lead to trouble for the Van Beuren studio.

Lawsuit

On January 28, 1931, Walt Disney saw The Office Boy at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, and took umbrage at the flagrant use of his characters. [3] Disney filed suit against the Van Beuren Corporation in March, charging them with copyright infringement. Disney sought an injunction to keep Van Beuren from using characters "in any variation so nearly similar as to be mistaken" for Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and alleged that the mouse was portrayed in a "jerky and amateurish style, ugly, unattractive and lacking in personality." [9] A United Press wire service story noted that Mickey and Minnie had been copyrighted in 1928 by Disney, and alleged that Van Beuren had made one million dollars from their use of the ersatz mouse. [9]

On April 30, a temporary court injunction was filed against the Van Beuren company, charging character infringement.

In court, Van Beuren argued that Milton Mouse had appeared in films as early as 1921, and therefore pre-dated Mickey. Disney's lawyers held that the Van Beuren mice were redesigned to look exactly like Mickey and Minnie after the pair had become famous. [4] Several animators filed affidavits to address the proposed infringement. [3]

In August 1931, Federal Judge George Cosgrave ruled that Disney's copyright had been infringed, and prohibited Milton's creators from "employing or using or displaying the pictorial representation of 'Mickey Mouse' or any variation thereo so nearly similar as to be calculated to be mistaken for or confused with said pictorial representation of 'Mickey Mouse'." [4]

The parties settled the lawsuit on Sept 2, 1931. [3] Despite the claims that Van Beuren had profited on the use of Mickey's image, the Disney studio simply asked Van Beuren to stop making any further cartoons featuring Milton and Rita. [10] Roy O. Disney later said: "We just stopped him. That's all we were out to do. We didn't ask any damages. We even let him finish marketing his pictures. We wanted to establish our right. That's what we were after. To establish a copyright like that is a big thing and that's an important thing to do." [4]

Milton Mouse wasn't the only cartoon character of the time to copy Mickey's look; in 1931, former Disney employees Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising introduced a character named Foxy, a fox character who looked very much like Mickey but with slightly pointed ears and a fluffy tail. Foxy and his Minnie-lookalike girlfriend appeared in three 1931 cartoons: Lady, Play Your Mandolin! , Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! and One More Time . [6] Walt Disney personally asked Ising to stop using the lookalike character, and Ising acquiesced. [11]

Selected filmography

The following are the Milton Mouse shorts produced after the Mickey Mouse-resembling redesign: [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mickey Mouse</span> Disney cartoon character and mascot

Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves. Inspired by such silent film personalities as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, Mickey is traditionally characterized as a sympathetic underdog who gets by on pluck and ingenuity in the face of challenges bigger than himself. The character's depiction as a small mouse is personified through his diminutive stature and falsetto voice, the latter of which was originally provided by Disney. Mickey is one of the world's most recognizable and universally acclaimed fictional characters.

<i>Plane Crazy</i> 1928 Mickey Mouse short by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks

Plane Crazy is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The cartoon, released by the Walt Disney Studios, was the first appearance of Mickey Mouse and his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, and was originally a silent film. It was given a test screening to a theater audience on May 15, 1928, and an executive from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer saw the film, but failed to pick up a distributor. Later that year, Disney released Mickey's first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie, which was an enormous success; Plane Crazy was officially released as a sound cartoon on March 17, 1929. It was the fourth Mickey film to be given a wide release after Steamboat Willie, The Gallopin' Gaucho and The Barn Dance (1929).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnie Mouse</span> Disney cartoon character

Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a red or pink bow, blue polka-dotted dress, white bloomers and low-heeled shoes occasionally with ribbons on them. The Mickey Mouse comic strip story "The Gleam" by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse, although this is seldom used.

The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound synchronized cartoons in 1928, began to decline around 1957, and ended by 1969, when theatrical animated shorts started to lose popularity to the newer medium of television. Animated media from after the Golden Age were produced on cheaper budgets and with more limited animation techniques by companies such as Terrytoons, UPA, Famous Studios, Jay Ward Productions, Hanna-Barbera, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, Rankin/Bass and Filmation. In artefact, the history of animation became very important in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosko</span> Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series and was the star of thirty-nine Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros. He was voiced by Carman Maxwell, Johnny Murray, and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas during the 1920s and 1930s and once by Don Messick during the 1990s.

Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were an American animation team and company known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios. In 1929, the studio was founded under the name "Harman-Ising Productions", producing Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Leon Schlesinger from 1930 to 1933. From 1934 to 1938, Harman-Ising produced the Happy Harmonies series, with William Hanna as their employee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudolf Ising</span> American animator (1903–1992)

Rudolf Carl Ising was an American animator best known for collaborating with Hugh Harman to establish the Warner Bros. and MGM Cartoon studios during the early years of the golden age of American animation. In 1940, Ising produced William Hanna and Joseph Barbera's first cartoon, Puss Gets the Boot, a cartoon featuring characters later known as Tom and Jerry.

Foxy (<i>Merrie Melodies</i>) Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon character

Foxy is an animated cartoon character featured in the first three animated shorts in the Merrie Melodies series, all distributed by Warner Bros. in 1931. He was the creation of animator Rudolf Ising, who had worked for Walt Disney in the 1920s.

The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936.

Burton F. Gillett was a director of animated films. He is noted for his Silly Symphonies work for Disney, particularly the 1932 short film Flowers and Trees and the 1933 short film Three Little Pigs, both of which were awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and both of which were selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry.

<i>Aesops Fables</i> (film series) Series of animated short films (1921-1933)

Aesop's Fables is a series of animated short subjects, created by American cartoonist Paul Terry. Produced from 1921 to 1933, the series includes The Window Washers (1925), Scrambled Eggs (1926), Small Town Sheriff (1927), Dinner Time (1928), and Gypped in Egypt (1930). Dinner Time is the first cartoon with a synchronized soundtrack ever released to the public. The series provided inspiration to Walt Disney to found the Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri, where he created Mickey Mouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farmer Al Falfa</span> Animated character

Farmer Al Falfa, also known as Farmer Alfalfa, is an animated cartoon character created by American cartoonist Paul Terry. He first appeared in Down On the Phoney Farm (1915), a short Terry cartoon distributed by the Thanhouser Company. Next came a series of shorts produced by Terry for Bray Studios, starting with Farmer Al Falfa's Cat-Tastrophe (1916).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Terry (cartoonist)</span> American animator (1887–1971)

Paul Houlton Terry was an American cartoonist, screenwriter, film director and producer. He produced over 1,300 cartoons between 1915 and 1955 including the many Terrytoons cartoons. His studio's most famous character is Mighty Mouse, and also created Heckle and Jeckle, Gandy Goose and Dinky Duck.

When the Cat's Away is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on May 3, 1929, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks and Ben Sharpsteen. It was the sixth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the third of that year. In this cartoon, Mickey and Minnie are the size of regular mice, and Tom Cat is the size of a person.

<i>Circus Capers</i> 1930 animated film

Circus Capers is a 1930 animated short film made by The Van Beuren Corporation and distributed by Pathé Exchange. The film, which featured the characters Milton Mouse and Rita, is part of the early sound cartoon series entitled Aesop's Sound Fables, though it is not based on an Aesop fable.

<i>A Close Call</i> 1929 animated film

A Close Call is a 1929 animated short film which is part of the early sound cartoon series entitled Aesop's Sound Fables. It was produced by The Van Beuren Corporation and released by Pathé.

<i>The Iron Man</i> (1930 film) 1930 animated film

The Iron Man is a 1930 animated film which was directed by John Foster and Harry Bailey. It was produced by The Van Beuren Corporation, and released by Pathé, a film distributor which had the newsreel Pathé News.

<i>College Capers</i> 1931 animated film

College Capers is a 1931 animated short film produced by The Van Beuren Corporation and released by the film distributor Pathé.

<i>Western Whoopee</i> 1930 film

Western Whoopee is a 1930 animated short film directed by John Foster and Harry Bailey. It is part of the early cartoon series Aesop's Sound Fables. It was produced by The Van Beuren Corporation and released by the film company Pathé. It, like other Sound Fables at that time, features Milton Mouse and Rita, who resemble Mickey and Minnie Mouse to such an extent that Disney sued Van Beuren for the resemblance.

The Shindig is a Mickey Mouse short animated film first released on July 11, 1930, as part of the Mickey Mouse film series. It was the twentieth Mickey Mouse short to be produced, the fifth of that year.

References

  1. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons, 2nd ed. Facts on File. pp. 49–50. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7.
  2. ↑ Hamonic, W. Gerald (2018). Terry-Toons: The Story of Paul Terry and His Classic Cartoon Factory. John Libbey Publishing. p. 106.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Andrews, Craig L. (2002). Broken Toy: A Man's Dream, A Company's Mystery. AuthorHouse. pp. 188–189. ISBN   9781403303905.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Erickson, Hal (2020). A Van Beuren Production: A History of the 619 Cartoons, 875 Live Action Shorts, Four Feature Films and One Serial of Amedee Van Beuren. McFarland & Co. pp. 56–57. ISBN   9781476640983.
  5. 1 2 Webb, Graham (2011). The Animated Film Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to American Shorts, Features and Sequences, 1900-1999. McFarland & Co. p. 106. ISBN   978-0-7864-4985-9.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Grob, Gijs (2018). "Mickey's Doppelgängers". Mickey's Movies: The Theatrical Films of Mickey Mouse. Theme Park Press. ISBN   978-1683901235.
  7. ↑ Webb, Graham (2011). The Animated Film Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to American Shorts, Features and Sequences, 1900-1999. McFarland & Co. ISBN   978-0-7864-4985-9.
  8. ↑ Hamonic, W. Gerald (2018). Terry-Toons: The Story of Paul Terry and His Classic Cartoon Factory. John Libbey Publishing. pp. 121–122.
  9. 1 2 "Mouse Makeover". Tralfaz. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  10. ↑ Ryan, Jeff (2018). A Mouse Divided: How Ub Iwerks Became Forgotten, and Walt Disney Became Uncle Walt. Post Hill Press. ISBN   9781682616284.
  11. ↑ Markstein, Don. "Foxy". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.