Mickey Mouse Shines at Heritage!

DALLAS, TEXAS: Heritage Galleries & Auctioneers (HG&A) will offer a rare one-sheet poster from The Wayward Canary, an early Mickey Mouse short, in their upcoming Signature Auction, to be held November 11 & 12, 2005, in Dallas, Texas.

"This poster, promoting the fifth Mickey Mouse short distributed by United Artists, marks, for many collectors, the beginning of the 'Golden Age' of Mickey Mouse posters," said Grey Smith, Director of Movie Poster Auctions for HG&A.

"Mickey was already an established star by the time this short was produced in 1932, having made his debut four years earlier in Steamboat Willie" Smith said. "In fact, 1932 was the same year in which Walt Disney was awarded an honorary Oscar at the Fifth Academy Awards Ceremony for the creation of Mickey Mouse, a nationwide phenomenon."

"Also in 1932, Disney severed his relationship with Columbia Pictures, until then the distributor of the Mickey shorts, over a financial dispute. Soon after, he signed with United Artists, which marked the beginning of an extremely fertile period for poster collectors. The United Artists sheets, like this one, were full-color and often stone lithographed, and are very highly prized by collectors. Making them even more desirable is the fact that Disney's relationship with United Artists was extremely short-lived; only 12 UA Mickey cartoons were produced over a period of less than two years. They are, therefore, considered the ultimate in Disney posters."

"The Wayward Canary has some similarities to Mickey's classic role in Fantasia," Smith said, "in that, in both features, Mickey unleashes something he can't control: canaries, in this case, that make a shambles out of Mickey's home. With Walt himself providing the voice of Mickey, this classic short dates from a time when Disney was still very much involved in the day-to-day production of the cartoons that bore his name. This will no doubt be a hotly-contested item in our upcoming auction, sure to draw the attention of classic animation fans worldwide."

The Wayward Canary one-sheet bears a pre-auction estimate of $40,000 - $50,000.

For more information about Heritage's auctions, and a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit HeritageGalleries.com.

Prospective consignors and sellers of vintage movie posters and related material should contact Grey Smith at 1-800-872-6467, ext. 367, or 214-252-4367, or email GreySm@HeritageGalleries.com.

To reserve your copy of any Heritage auction catalog, please contact Nicole Jewell at 1-800-872-6467, ext. 272, or visit HeritageGalleries.com to order by email.