Milton Mouse


Milton Mouse is an animated character created at Fables Studios for Paul Terry's cartoon series Aesop's Fables. The character was introduced in 1921, and appeared in dozens of cartoon shorts through 1931. Milton often appeared alongside a girlfriend mouse, usually named Rita.
In 1929, animator John Foster redesigned Milton and Rita to look more like Mickey and Minnie Mouse, who had become very popular following the 1928 release of the Walt Disney cartoon Steamboat Willie.
Milton's new, Mickey-inspired design debuted in the cartoon A Close Call, released in 1929. Further cartoons released in 1930 included Western Whoopee, Circus Capers and The Office Boy. A lawsuit filed by Walt Disney in 1931 claiming copyright infringement put a stop to Milton's appearances.

History

and Amadee J. Van Beuren established Fables Pictures in 1920, and began producing Aesop's Fables cartoons in 1921.
Terry has been credited with being the first animator to use mouse characters, in the July 26, 1921 film Mice in Council, which told the story of mice tying a bell to a cat's neck. The next film, July 31's Country Mouse and City Mouse, established that Terry's mouse characters wore gloves and boots.
The character of "Milton Mouse" has been credited to Terry employee William Ferguson in 1921. The September 27, 1922 cartoon The Fable of the Romantic Mouse was the first to establish a female mouse character, who in this picture was called Lizzie.
Later films called Milton's girlfriend Rita or Mary.
Milton Mouse and his girlfriend appeared in dozens of cartoons made under the supervision of Paul Terry. At first, Milton was a mischievous character trying to find treasure or steal food, in appearances including The Fable of the Fortune Hunters, The Fable of Cheating the Cheaters and The Pearl Divers. Later, Milton played the hero, rescuing Rita from villainous cats and other threatening animals, in films including Sink or Swim, The Big Tent, Saved by a Keyhole, Our Little Nell, A Lad and His Lamp and The Enchanted Flute.
Terry directed most of the Fables Pictures films until 1929, when he was fired by Van Beuren over disputes related to disagreements about sound synchronization and financial profits. Terry formed his own studio, Terry-Toons, and animator John Foster took Terry's place.

Milton's redesign

Once Terry left the studio, Van Beuren renamed the enterprise Van Beuren Productions. The boss allowed Foster to change the character designs of Milton and Rita, to make them look more like the increasingly popular Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
According to Hal Erickson, author of a book on the Van Beuren studio: "Beginning with A Close Call in December 1929, Milton and his sweetie took on a rounder, cuter look, especially in the vicinity of the nose and ears. Milton also acquired a pair of white shorts while his lady friend wore a frilly white dress. When the two mice make their first appearance in A Close Call skipping through a field of musical flowers, one is startled by their strong resemblance to Mickey and Minnie Mouse."
As Van Beuren continued to release Milton cartoons in 1930, the design grew even more Mickey-like. Further cartoons included Singing Saps, Western Whoopee, Hot Tamale, Circus Capers, and Stone Age Stunts.
The November 1930 cartoon The Office Boy is seen as a particularly vulgar use of the Mickey and Minnie clones. In this short, Milton works as the janitor and receptionist at E.X.Y. Railroad, a job that entails him sitting on a stool outside the president's door, greeting approaching guests. Rita, the president's gum-chewing secretary, carries on a flirtation with Milton, and they type love notes to each other on Rita's typewriter. The boss also flirts with Rita, and Milton sees through the keyhole that the pair are dancing in the office. The boss tries to kiss Rita, and we see in silhouette Rita's attempts to fight him off. When the president's battle-axe wife approaches, Milton is happy to usher her into the office to catch her husband in a compromising position. Milton and Rita sneak away as the married couple battles in the office. In Mickey's Movies, Gijs Grob writes: "In this cartoon, the designs and animation of Milton and Rita are terrible, but too close for comfort, and some of Mickey's mannerisms have clearly been copied." This cartoon would lead to trouble for the Van Beuren studio.

Lawsuit

On January 28, 1931, Walt Disney saw The Office Boy at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, and took umbrage at the flagrant use of his characters. Disney filed suit against the Van Beuren Corporation in March of 1931, charging them with copyright infringement. Disney sought an injunction to keep Van Beuren from using characters "in any variation so nearly similar as to be mistaken" for Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and alleged that the mouse was portrayed in a "jerky and amateurish style, ugly, unattractive and lacking in personality." A United Press wire service story noted that Mickey and Minnie had been copyrighted in 1928 by Disney, and alleged that Van Beuren had made one million dollars from their use of the ersatz mouse.
On April 30, 1931, a temporary court injunction was filed against the Van Beuren company, charging with character infringement.
In court, Van Beuren argued that Milton Mouse had appeared in films as early as 1921, and therefore pre-dated Mickey. Disney's lawyers held that the Van Beuren mice were redesigned to look exactly like Mickey and Minnie after the pair had become famous. Several animators filed affidavits to address the proposed infringement.
In August of 1931, Federal Judge George Cosgrave ruled that Disney's copyright had been infringed, and prohibited Milton's creators from "employing or using or displaying the pictorial representation of 'Mickey Mouse' or any variation there so nearly similar as to be calculated to be mistaken for or confused with said pictorial representation of 'Mickey Mouse'."
The parties finally decided to settle the lawsuit on September 2, 1931. Despite the claims that Van Beuren had profited on the use of Mickey's image, the Disney studio simply asked Van Beuren to stop making any further cartoons featuring Milton and Rita. Roy O. Disney later said: "We just stopped him. That's all we were out to do. We didn't ask any damages. We even let him finish marketing his pictures. We wanted to establish our right. That's what we were after. To establish a copyright like that is a big thing and that's an important thing to do."
Milton Mouse wasn't the only cartoon character of the time to copy Mickey's look; in 1931, former Disney employees Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising introduced a character named Foxy, a fox character who looked very much like Mickey but with slightly pointed ears and a fluffy tail. Foxy and his Minnie-lookalike girlfriend appeared in three 1931 cartoons: Lady, Play Your Mandolin!, Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! and One More Time. Walt Disney personally asked Ising to stop using the lookalike character, and Ising acquiesced.

Selected filmography

The following are the Milton Mouse shorts produced:
TitleReleaseDirectorDistributorFilmNotes
The Goose That Laid the Golden EggJune 19, 1921Paul TerryPathé Exchange
Mice in CouncilJune 26, 1921Paul TerryPathé Exchange
Country Mouse and City MouseJuly 2, 1922Paul TerryPathé Exchange
The Romantic MouseOctober 22, 1922Paul TerryPathé Exchange
The Fortune HuntersNovember 26, 1922Paul TerryPathé Exchange
Henry's Busted RomanceDecember 17, 1922Paul TerryPathé Exchange
Cheating the CheatersJanuary 21, 1923Paul TerryPathé Exchange
The Pearl DiversAugust 12, 1923Paul TerryPathé Exchange
Sink or SwimJanuary 9, 1927Paul TerryPathé Exchange
The Mail PilotFebruary 20, 1927Pathé Exchange
Horses, Horses, HorsesMay 22, 1927Pathé Exchange
The Big TentOctober 23, 1927Pathé Exchange
Saved By a KeyholeNovember 13, 1927Pathé Exchange
On the IceMarch 11, 1928Pathé Exchange
Ride 'Em CowboyJune 17, 1928Pathé Exchange
The Baby ShowJuly 15, 1928Pathé Exchange
Our Little NellAugust 5, 1928Frank MoserPathé Exchange
A Lad and His LampMarch 10, 1929Pathé Exchange
The Enchanted FluteAugust 11, 1929Pathé Exchange
The Jungle FoolSeptember 15, 1929Pathé Exchange
A Close CallDecember 1, 1929Harry Bailey & John FosterPathé ExchangeFirst cartoon featuring Milton & Rita Mouse in a more Mickey Mouse-like plot.
Singing SapsFebruary 7, 1930Mannie Davis & John FosterPathé Exchange
Western WhoopeeApril 13, 1930Harry Bailey & John FosterPathé ExchangeThe first cartoon to be released with Milton & Rita's redesigns.
Hot TamaleAugust 3, 1930Harry Bailey & John FosterPathé Exchange
Circus CapersSeptember 28, 1930Harry Bailey & John FosterPathé Exchange
The Office BoyNovember 23, 1930Harry Bailey & John FosterPathé Exchange
Stone Age StuntsDecember 7, 1930Mannie Davis & John FosterPathé Exchange
Cowboy BluesFebruary 15, 1931Harry Bailey & John FosterRKO Radio PicturesThe last cartoon that featured Milton Mouse's redesign.
The Iron ManApril 15, 1931Harry Bailey & John FosterRKO Radio Pictures
Toy TimeJanuary 27, 1932Harry Bailey, Mannie Davis, & John FosterRKO Radio PicturesA brief return of Milton & Rita's original designs.