WHEN YOU WALK down Disney World's Main Street, the seven-minute long 1928 Mickey Mouse film STEAMBOAT WILLIE is likely to be playing. STEAMBOAT WILLIE was not the first animated sound film, as is often claimed. It was not even the first Mickey Mouse film. But STEAMBOAT WILLIE was the first widely released film featuring the iconic mouse, and it immediately captured audiences’ imaginations when it premiered before the now-forgotten feature film GANG WAR. The rest, as they say, is history. Mickey Mouse became the foundation on which the Disney Company was built, and today, the movie plays on a perpetual loop in Disney theme parks, cruise ships, and hotels as a reminder of the company's humble beginnings and as a link to its creator and namesake, Walt Disney.

Like most myths, there is some truth to this story of a founding genius whose quaint movie grew into a global media empire. Indeed, it would be hard to think of a company more connected with its founder. Millions of people around the world, for example, recognize Walt Disney's signature as the Disney Company's trademarked logo, and the opening of every Disney film gives the impression of being signed personally by Walt.

But the myth of the lone inventor masks the legal, cultural, and industrial context that led to Disney's success, and that familiar signature also belies the layers of infrastructure beneath Disney's authorship. That signature was the brainchild of a graphic designer, not Walt Disney's personal signature, and it always perturbed Disney that he could not convincingly recreate it. To avoid embarrassment, Disney often resorted to carrying presigned cards to give out when fans asked for autographs.

Shortly before the birth of Mickey Mouse, in the spring of 1928, Walt Disney found himself in a tough spot. He had a falling out with his producer at Universal, the studio that distributed his popular animated series featuring the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. And, as a result of their licensing agreement, Universal and not Disney ended up with the rights to Oswald. Disney found himself desperately in need of a new character, and he vowed to own his intellectual property in the future.