On May 15th, 1928, Mickey Mouse appeared in his very first animated short ever titled Plane Crazy. Walt Disney and his right hand man Ub Iwerks had been developing Mickey’s character for a year after losing the rights to his first major creation, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. As with anything, projects go through many changes, trials, and errors before they’re ready to be presented to the world. Disney’s Fab Five, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto, have all seen changes before they were solidified into the iconic characters they are now. They even had different names and appearances when they first joined the Disney film scene. Here are some of the original ideas and appearances of the Fab Five.

Mickey and Minnie mouse in Plane Crazy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIv12pLu_zQ

Mickey Mouse

Mickey’s initial identity is a somewhat well known topic now, because people have learned about Lillian Disney’s influence on Walt. When Walt first drew Mickey and wanted to bring him in as a new character, his first idea of a name was Mortimer Mouse. They used the name Mortimer when they announced the character, but quickly changed it to Mickey after. As it is shown in the Disney documentary Walt Before Mickey, it is speculated that Lillian Disney told Walt she didn’t like the name Mortimer, and his team agreed on the name Mickey instead.

Walt didn’t completely give up on the name Mortimer though, so he decided to bring the name back into the Disney universe. With inspiration from Floyd Gottfredson’s character Mr. Slicker in the Mickey comic strips, Walt created Mortimer Mouse who made his first appearance in the 1936 short Mickey’s Rival. His personality was the opposite of Mickey’s, and he was trying to win the affections of Minnie Mouse, which Mickey was unhappy about. Mortimer returned a handful of times throughout the years in television shorts and specials, and has most recently been in the Mickey Mouse series that ran until July 2019. Mortimer remains as one of Mickey’s main rivals.

Minnie Mouse

Minnie Mouse was introduced to the world the same time Mickey was, in Plane Crazy. She has always had her signature skirt and long eyelashes. Minnie got her old hat and flower on it in her second short ever, titled The Gallopin’ Gaucho. Minnie also used to wear a lot of blues, blacks, and whites when the shorts were shown in color. It wasn’t until the 1986 when Minnie was redesigned to have her signature red or pink outfits and her big bow.

In 1942 when the Mickey Mouse Comic Strips were being produced by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson, one titled The Gleam is when we first hear what Minnie’s real full name is. Minerva Mouse is her real full name, though it is not often used and she was originally introduced as Minnie.

Minnie Mouse in The Gallopin’ Gaucho. Image from: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/103864335139876819/

Donald Duck

Donald Duck made his first appearance in The Wise Little Hen, which was a Silly Symphony cartoon. It was released on June 9th, 1934. The plot of the cartoon was that the Hen was trying to find food for her chicks, going to Peter Pig’s home and Donald Duck’s home for help finding and planting corn. Both Peter and Donald don’t help her. This is the first time we really see Donald’s dramatic personality. Clarence Nash is the original voice for Donald.

Although Donald was introduced as Donald for this short, he looked a lot different than he does now. His whole character design was based on more of a realistic duck shape, but he still wore his blue sailor costume. Donald appeared in 10 more shorts from 1934 to 1936 before his appearance changed to the anthropomorphic duck in the short Moving Day.

Donald Duck in Moving Day. Image from: https://gfycat.com/discover/donald-duck-plunger-gifs

Goofy

Goofy is first introduced as Dippy Dawg in Mickey’s Revue on May 27th, 1932. Dippy Dawg was first shown as an older “man” with a beard and glasses. What makes it clear that Dippy Dawg eventually turns into Goofy was his signature laugh. The plot of the short was that Dippy Dawg was disturbing the audience from Mickey’s performance. Pinto Colvig provided the laugh for Dippy Dawg and Goofy later on. His name was officially changed in the short Orphan’s Benefit on August 11th, 1934. This is when he became a staple character in the shorts along with Donald Duck.

Pluto

Pluto was originally introduced as Rover, and he wasn’t Mickey’s dog; he was actually Minnie’s dog. Rover’s first appearance was in The Chain Gang on September 5th, 1930. The plot was that Mickey was in jail and escapes, but is hunted down by blood hounds, one of which is Rover. Rover appears again in The Picnic in October 1930, and he is Minnie’s pet dog. He officially becomes Pluto during The Moose Hunt in May 1931.