Walk #10 Walk with Us as Author Jeff Ryan Talks Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks and Who Really Created Mickey Mouse

Come take a walk with our two cohosts Kerry and Mindy as Kerry guides us through episode #10 with our guest Jeff Ryan. 

We talk and learn that almost everything you know about Mickey Mouse is wrong! He wasn’t Disney’s first star. Steamboat Willie wasn’t his first movie. We also know that Mickey wasn’t a nice guy and that Walt Disney didn’t invent him.

Jeff Ryan wrote the book A Mouse Divided: How Ub Iwerks Became Forgotten and Walt Disney Became Uncle Walt details the fruitful as well as a contentious relationship between Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks through the creation of the most popular cartoon character in history: Mickey Mouse. In 1928, two very different best friends invented Mickey Mouse and the success of Mickey Mouse tore them apart.

A Mouse Divided is also stirring depiction of two underdogs. One invented Mickey Mouse and one said he did. You’ll love Walt Disney more than you ever thought possible, until you don’t and you’ll sympathize with Walt’s friend-turned-rival Ub Iwerks, always in Walt’s shadow.

This true story of how the Disney empire was made is a captivating page-turner, endlessly fascinating and revealing. And it’s never been fully told until now as we talk with the Author Jeff Ryan. 

Jeff Ryan is the Author of A Mouse Divided and he has been published in Salon, Slate, Fast Company, Wired.com, Kotaku, and All Things Considered. He has been featured on NPR’s Marketplace, Time, Forbes, The New York Times, The Economist, The Independent, and Star Talk With Neil DeGrasse Tyson. He lives in Bloomfield, NJ, with his wife and two daughters.

This weeks episode is not to be missed. So grab your cup of tea or favorite hot drink and put on your walking shoes as we stroll and take a walk on this weeks episode on A Walk With Walt Podcast. 

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A Walk With Walt Podcast is not affiliated with the Disney company or in any way part of nor endorsed by the Walt Disney Company or any of their affiliates.