Golly! For the past ten years, The Walt Disney Family Museum has been entertaining guests in San Francisco’s Presidio park with an impressively assembled history of the man behind the mouse. And now, in celebration of the big cheese’s ninetieth birthday, Mickey himself has his own exhibit on the museum’s grounds.
“Mickey Mouse: From Walt to the World” opened this past weekend at the Walt Disney Family Museum, and we were thrilled to be invited to tour the exhibit with its celebrity curator: animator and Disney Legend Andreas Deja, who helped animate Mickey in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Prince and the Pauper, and Runaway Brain.
Watch “Mickey Mouse: From Walt to the World” tour w/ Andreas Deja at Walt Disney Family Museum:
“The Walt Disney Family Museum presents Mickey Mouse: From Walt to the World, a celebration of animation’s most beloved and recognizable character. This original exhibition chronicles Mickey’s influence on art and entertainment over the past nine decades and tells the story of his origin, rise to fame, and enduring world-wide appeal, in relation to Walt Disney’s inspiring, parallel story.”
Watch (Part 2) “Mickey Mouse: From Walt to the World” tour w/ Andreas Deja at Walt Disney Family Museum:
After the tour I asked Mr. Deja why Mickey Mouse has endured as a character and as the icon of the Walt Disney Company for nine decades. His response was as follows: “I think you identify with Mickey. You look at Donald and Goofy for their crazy antics, from the outside, but you don’t really want to be them. Mickey is a guy who solves a situation that he needs to get out of. He’s smart, so I think that is one aspect of it. Graphically, the other aspect really is his roundness. It starts at a baby’s age, that people gravitate toward this round Mickey Mouse.”
“Mickey Mouse: From Walt to the World” runs from now through Monday, January 6 at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. For more information on the exhibit and to purchase advance tickets, be sure to visit the museum’s official website.
