Mickey Mouse magic lantern outfit

The Disney company very quickly began to exploit spin-off marketing opportunities for its cartoon characters, and operated a strict licensing policy allowing only products which came up to its exacting standards to depict Disney characters. The Ensign company of London produced this toy lantern set to project series of small glass slides showing images based on the early Mickey Mouse, Silly Symphony and feature-length cartoons. This boxed set is marked "produced with permission of Walter E. Disney" rather than the later credit to "Walt Disney Mickey Mouse Ltd.," indicating an early copy.

Ensign Ltd. produced the Mickey Mouse slides as oblong glass strips as well as in the usual square format (3 1/4" x 3 1/4") to go with the larger magic lanterns. In both forms the images are printed on a kind of cellophane and fitted between two glass plates. The cellophane has become creased nowadays and the quality of the images is rather bad.

The Ensign Mickey Mouse magic lantern and its original box. The box measures 13 by 10 by 7 inches (33 x 25.5 x 18 cm). When extended the lantern measures 16 by 8 by 6 inches (41 x 20 x 15 cm).
Ensign Ltd., London W.C.1, c. 1931.

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Series J. 'Mickey Steps Out'
Ensign Ltd., London, c. 1931
Size: 13.5 cm x 3.5 cm

Each adventure consists of two slides, packed together in a small cardboard box. An accompanying lecture note tells us the story in rhyme. Eleven of these adventures, marked from A up to and including L, are packed in a blue/black cardboard box.

The drawings on the slides are rather primitive. The black and white images are printed on a thin sheet of cellophane, the black mask is made of paper with punched holes. Cellophane and paper mask are mounted between two glasses and the edges are bound with a strip of red gummed paper.

Sets:

A - Pioneer Days
B - Traffic Troubles
C - The Gorilla Mystery
D - The Cactus Kid
E - The Birthday Party
F - The Castaway

G - The Delivery Boy
H - The Moose Hunt
J - Mickey Steps Out
K - Fishin' Around
L - The Fire Fighters
(There's no set I)

The adventure 'Mickey Steps Out' starts with:

Stropping his razor and shaving his face
Throwing his lather all over the place
Mickey was dolling himself up, you see,
For to-night with his Minnie he wanted to be.

If you want to view one of the sets, click on the picture below.....

See also:
- Mickey Mouse toy lantern outfit
- Mickey Mouse in 'The Delivery Boy'
- Magic Lanterns, Ensign.