We wanted something appealing, and we thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin — a little fellow trying to do the best he could. When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it’s because he’s so human; and that is the secret of his popularity. I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse. — Walt Disney
There he is, lying in the ruins of a bombed-out apartment building. Mickey Mouse, splayed, limbs akimbo, surrounded not by the denizens of the Magic Castle, but a bleak war-zone landscape of rocks, shards of glass, a dark red truck, a couple of people in the distance, but otherwise devoid of humanity. The caption to the photograph reads:
I wanted to speak with all the “toy photographers,” but found that only Ben Curtis, Chief Photographer/Photo editor, Middle East, of the Associated Press, was willing to be interviewed .