--- description: Mickey Mouse is synonymous with Disney, but his co-creator doesn't get the credit he deserves. title: Making Mickey: Ub Iwerks Cartoon Creations image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt779e6c3083ef075c/69869fbe35ba6fb545c036f0/50682644.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Pop Culture](/tag/pop-culture/) ## Pop Culture Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Animation Pioneer Who Helped Disney Create Mickey Mouse by [Harry Swartout](/author/harry-swartout/) ## Harry Swartout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 16, 2014 9:00 AM CUT  Planted flowers forming design of Mickey Mouse's face, with Disneyland train in background. (Photo by Loomis Dean/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) Planted flowers forming design of Mickey Mouse's face, with Disneyland train in background. (Photo by Loomis Dean/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett by [Harry Swartout](/author/harry-swartout/) ## Harry Swartout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 16, 2014 9:00 AM CUT Ub Iwerks published the first Color-Sound cartoon 84 years ago today, starring Flip the Frog. But chances are, you’re much more likely to know him for his other cartoon creation: Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks developed Mickey in the 1920s together, with Iwerks designing and often animating the actual cartoons. Iwerks was a dab hand at innovation too, becoming one of Disney’s first imagineers while developing the multi-plane camera, salt vapor filming (early green screen), and animatronics. Famous animator Chuck Jones once said of Iwekrs “Iwerks spelled backwards is screwy,” but maybe you need a screw loose to invent like Iwerks did. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3119274/mickey-mouse-ub-iwerks-cartoon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3119274/mickey-mouse-ub-iwerks-cartoon/"},"headline":"The Animation Pioneer Who Helped Disney Create Mickey Mouse","datePublished":"2014-08-16T09:00:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:42:06.833Z","description":"Ub Iwerks, who helped Walt Disney animate the famous cartoon rodent, published the first Color-Sound cartoon 84 years ago today","url":"https://time.com/3119274/mickey-mouse-ub-iwerks-cartoon/","keywords":["Pop Culture","Walt Disney"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt779e6c3083ef075c/69869fbe35ba6fb545c036f0/50682644.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Harry Swartout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/harry-swartout/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt779e6c3083ef075c/69869fbe35ba6fb545c036f0/50682644.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Planted flowers forming design of Mickey","caption":"Planted flowers forming design of Mickey","creditText":"Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/pop-culture/","name":"Pop Culture"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3119274/mickey-mouse-ub-iwerks-cartoon/","name":"The Animation Pioneer Who Helped Disney Create Mickey Mouse"}}]}] ```