A Mouse Divided
How Ub Iwerks Became Forgotten, and Walt Disney Became Uncle Walt
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A Mouse Divided
Buy Now for $22.75
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Narrated by:
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J. D. Jackson
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Written by:
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Jeff Ryan
Almost everything you know about Mickey Mouse is wrong: He wasn’t Disney’s first star; Steamboat Willie wasn’t his first movie; Mickey wasn’t a nice guy - and Walt Disney didn’t invent him.
In 1928, two very different best friends invented Mickey Mouse. And the success tore them apart. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks’ friendship is a story of betrayal, love, war, money, power, tragedy, intrigue, humor, despair, and hope. You’ll love them both - when you don’t want to drop anvils on their heads. Discover the men behind the mouse and the mystery behind the magic.
A Mouse Divided is a 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, addictive listen, endlessly fascinating and revealing. And it’s never been fully told - until now.
©2018 Jeff Ryan (P)2018 Audible, Inc.What the critics say
"This is a fascinating story about the early years of what would become the Disney empire. Walt's a big part of it, but others - particularly Ub Iwerks - played critical roles, which are thoroughly explored in this breezily readable book. Disney fanatics - you know who you are - will love it." (Dave Barry)
What I csn say is that it mentions very little about walt and Ubs relationship. it mostly just describes the cartoons and then goes 9n aboit the WW2 era of Disney. There is next to no info on UB after the first few chapters.
Ubs son is supposed to release a book about his dad in November. Just wait for that.
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Which isn't to say it's bad - by his own admission author Jeff Ryan is neither a Disney Adult nor an animation fan, and brings a clear-eyed, often skeptical and critical point of view to Uncle Walt and the House of Mouse. But if you know enough animation history to know who Ub Iwerks is - and again, to Ryan's credit, I learned more about him here than I did from any other animation history I've read - you'll know a lot of the material he covers already. But you won't learn about more than a few of Iwerks' cartoons in the years he spent away from Disney, or anything more than speculation about why he was taken back. He played a bigger role in the studio's wartime cartoons and effects animation than I realized, but there's no line drawn from there to his Imagineering days, where he ended his career.
Instead, this is a warts-and-all telling of how Disney the company came to be, how essential Mickey was to its success until he wasn't, and how harebrained Walt would have sounded to his contemporaries, the edges softened by his legacy.
It's a compelling listen - and well delivered - but I knew more than half of it going in, and the parts I didn't know about didn't illuminate the subject that brought me there to the extent I hoped.
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