Social media users shared posts online with an old photo of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse’s characters posing with a child. Reports claim that the statue shows them in a Disney park in 1939. This statement is false.
Examples can be seen here, here, here and here. The text in one of the images reads: “First Minnie and Mickey at Disney in 1939.”
Disneyland opened its doors to the public on July 17, 1955 in Anaheim, California, as outlined by Disney on their website here. This makes the claim that the photo was taken at Disneyland impossible, as there were no Disney parks in 1939.
The first Mickey Mouse movie premiered in Hollywood on May 15, 1928, according to the Walt Disney Museum (here).
Some of the first Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse costumes can be seen here on the Walt Disney Company website. According to Disney, patterns for the costumes were issued by the McCall Pattern Company on October 19, 1933, inspired by Mickey and Minnie dolls made by seamstress Charlotte Clark in Los Angeles in 1930, and fans of the characters were able to create their own costumes. and dolls with the patterns.
Photos of the characters from the 1930s can be seen here, here and here.
Here and here a photo of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse from the opening day of Disneyland on July 15, 1955 can be seen.
Reuters could not trace the origin of the photo in these posts. It turns out that the photo shows a version of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse costumes that was probably created by fans, not Disney itself.
Fact-checker Snopes addressed the claims in 2020 (here), quoting a YouTuber and Disney Park historian Disney Dan as saying that ‘costume shops not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company created their own papier-mâché versions has’ of the characters in the 1930s.
VERDICT
Partly false. The photo does show the characters of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, but it was not taken at Disneyland in 1939, as the park only opened in 1955.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.