Mickey Mouse in Europe: The Early Years

Between the 1920s and 1930s, Disney started to introduce their productions across the Atlantic on the European continent (Krause, 2023). 

Four years after the release of Steamboat Willie, an Italian editor, Mario Nerbini, started drawing Mickey for his own printed cartoons. Having acquired no copyrights, he decided to change the name of Mickey Mouse to Topolino, from Italian “little mouse” (Murphy, 2017). These Italian comic strips consisted of stories tailored specifically for local audiences, but also sometimes included certain intercultural themes. Topolino gained huge popularity in Italy, but was anyway perceived as the creation of Walt Disney. This emerging popularity of the "Italian Mickey" led to the creation of the “Topolino” car model produced by Fiat. An interesting aspect is that fascist regime in Italy banned all American cartoons and comics in the 1930s, however with the initial exception of Topolino that was banned last. This was explained by the fact that Benito Mussolini and his kids liked the character. After World War II, many ordinary Italians still considered cartoons created by Disney as American lifestyle propaganda. However, there were also those who believed that Disney was at the lead of the entertainment industry (Ochse, 2018). 

In Germany, Disney's mascot Mickey Mouse was also gladly welcomed for a number of reasons. First, easy to understand features of Mickey made him easily recognisable even in a different culture. Second, the near collapse of the German economy made people look for distraction and entertainment. In these circumstances the innovation of sound films resonated particularly well with the German population. With the rise of merchandising of Disney products in Europe, the corporation owned several marketing centres, 28 of which were licensed in Germany. The merchandise products included candles, postcards, toothbrushes, figurines and many others. Even German daily newspapers used Mickey Mouse for their advertising purposes. Thus, Mickey Mouse became a trademark also in Germany. When the National Socialists came to power, Mickey Mouse comic strips were widely promoting their propagandistic messages, often with the help of German cartoonists that had acquired comics drawing experience during their studies in the US. Thus, Mickey Mouse together with his friends Donald Duck and Goofy were often depicted as American bomb-throwing enemies attacking German cities. But research suggests that not even this hostile portrayal could break Mickey’s popularity among Germans (Krause, 2023).