Mickey Mouse toy

item details

NameMickey Mouse toy

ProductionLouis Marx and Company; manufacturer(s); circa 1950; Great Britain
Walt Disney Productions; creating agency; 1950s; United States

Classificationtoys, mechanical toys

Materialsplastic, tin, paint, metal

Materials SummaryPainted tinplate and hard plastic with a heavy metal for the xylophone keys and wind up key

DimensionsOverall: 160mm (width), 290mm (height), 260mm (depth)

Registration NumberGH021345

Credit linePurchased 2011

Overview

This clockwork Mickey Mouse toy is a wonderful representation of the Walt Disney Production toys made in the 1950s.When wound up and released, Mickey bangs vigorously on the xylophone key board.

Mickey Mouse was a cartoon character that was first created by Walt Disney and UbI works in 1928. Character toys like Mickey Mouse along with other Disney characters were soon to appear on the market around the world. This toy, made in the 1950s, represents a time when Disney toys had become more readily available to children in New Zealand. While the existence of character toys, like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, actually pre-date the 20th century, it was only in the latter half of the century that the popularity of character toys exploded, alongside the rapid expansion in film production followed by increasing access to television.