On October 16, 1923, The Walt Disney Company was born in California. In 100 years, the dream factory has touched several generations of children with its characters and their stories.

It was really a dream that pushed Walt Disney and his brother Roy to create the empire of fantasy. They wanted to work in the world of animation cinema, but the beginning was more difficult than expected and they had to face several rejections. So they decided to open their own animation studio which was initially called Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio and which later became The Walt Disney Studio, Walt Disney Productions and then The Walt Disney Company, as we know it today.

The first popular character was Oswald the unlucky rabbit, but by contract the rights belonged to Universal Pictures, so the Disney brothers were left with crumbs. They therefore decided to create a character of their own and in 1928 Mickey Mouse was born. It was the main character of the short films "The Crazy Plane" and "Mickey Mouse Gaucho" with other characters such as Minnie Mouse and Peg Leg Pete who quickly became very popular.

The dream factory continued to produce stories and characters. A few days before Christmas 1937, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was the first animated feature film produced by Walt Disney, which was followed by 62 others. Thus, heroes and princesses were born who have accompanied us to this day.

It all started with a mouse

“It all started with a mouse.” It was Walt Disney who said it in 1954, giving Mickey Mouse credit for the success of his company. This character was the protagonist of the first short films and popular feature films such as “Fantasia”.

In Italy, from 1932 he became the protagonist of a periodical comic publication of the same name which in 1949 changed format, becoming a booklet, and began numbering again from number 1, today exceeding 3500. On the pages of Topolino, appear the signatures of many illustrators who have become true legends. To name a few, Romano Scarpa, Guido Martina, Giovan Battista Carpi, Giorgio Cavazzano, Luciano Bottaro.

The story of Mickey Mouse will be sold at auction

On the occasion of the centenary of The Walt Disney Company, Aste Bolaffi organized an auction with more than 400 lots of comics. Among these there will be several collections and single issues from number one to 3500. It will be possible to win all the lots that make up the story of Mickey Mouse.

The auction, held by Aste Bolaffi, will be on October 18th and it will be possible to participate online.