The Golden Age of Hollywood was in full swing by 1933, with movie stars lighting up the silver screen. Names like Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn were well on their way to becoming legendary. Yet none of these iconic figures were destined to match the popularity, or longevity, of a scampish cartoon mouse named Mickey. Five years after his 1928 debut, Mickey Mouse was a full-fledged global sensation—soon joined by other characters animated by Disney Studios. Along the way, they turned Walt Disney into a tycoon and his film company into an empire. The works that resulted were more than “cartoons." They were cultural touchstones, rights of passage shared across generations with timeless messages and familiar friends. This is the story of Disney animation—a piece of Americana that thrills and delights as strongly today as it did 100 years ago.