Mickey Mouse Magazine

Mickey Mouse Magazine


In January, 1933, Kay Kamen created the Mickey Mouse Magazine. He convinced Walt Disney that merchandising licensing could open up whole new vistas for the company. For the next 17 years, until he died in a plane crash, Kamen handled the licensing of Disney Merchandise. Insisting on quality control, Kamen set the standard for character licensing that would later be copied by many others.

The Mickey Mouse Magazine was a small publication containing short stories, articles, gags, games and poems. There were 9 monthly issues of the magazine distributed through movie houses and department stores around the country.

In November 1933, a second version of the magazine, in the same format but distributed through dairies, debuted and continued until October 1935. The dairies would print their name on the cover of the magazine above the title. This dairy magazine was superseded by a third, and much more elaborate, magazine, which began publication with a large issue in the summer of 1935. In October 1935, it turned into a monthly magazine.

Mickey Mouse Magazine Dairy Issues
November 1933 – October 1935

Over the years, several different sizes were experimented with, until finally in 1940 the magazine reached the size we know today as the standard comic book size. The last issue of the Mickey Mouse Magazine was the one for September 1940. In October 1940 Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories took over, and that comic book series has continued to present day.

And the magazine did just that – over a total of 9 issues that lasted through September. As you can imagine, issues of this magazine are extremely rare collectibles – and they feature a certain word that’s almost as difficult to pronounce as the magazines are to find.

Each issue contained a certain word that’s almost as difficult to find a the magazines were. The word is a special password that was announced in the magazine and used consistently throughout. It was, in its plainest form, “Spingle Bell — Chicko,” but when something extraordinary happened; the doing of a good deed, for example, or the release of a new, noteworthy product, all you’d have to do was add a “K” to the end of the password to signify it. One terrific example of this is in an ad featured on the back cover of one of the magazines. The wool sweaters featured in the ad clearly have Minnie’s seal of approval, as she gives them a “Spingle Bell — Chicko – K.”

To promote the password, copies of the Mickey Mouse magazine and a very rare pinback were issued as free giveaways at various clothing stores and movie theatres.
This pinback is extremely difficult to find today – as it was only produced for two months – January and February of 1933.

Here are three advertisements from the 1st edition of the 1933 Mickey Mouse Magazine.

First Mickey Mouse Magazines Ever Made
Published Jan 1933 though Dec 1933.

	No Pic	No Pic	No Pic	No Pic
Jan- 1933	Feb – 1933	Mar – 1933	April – 1933	May – 1933
No Pic	No Pic	No Pic	No Pic	No Pic
June – 1933	July – 1933	Aug – 1933	Sept – 1933	Oct – 1933
No Pic
Nov – 1933	Dec – 1933

The remaining Mickey Mouse Magazines printed were 60 ( as far as our research showed ) beginning with the first issue on Jun – Aug. 1935 through Sept. 1940.

1935
June 1935	July 1935	Aug.1935	Sept. 1935	Oct – 1935	Nov. 1935	Dec. 1935

1936
Jan 1936	Feb. 1936	March 1936	April 1936	May 1936	June 1936
July 1936	August 1936	Sept – 1936	Oct. 1936	Nov. 1936	Dec. 1936

1937
Jan 1937	Feb. 1937	March 1937	April 1937	May 1937	June 1937
July 1937	August 1937	Sept – 1937	Oct. 1937	Nov. 1937	Dec. 1937

1938
Jan 1938	Feb. 1938	March 1938	April 1938	May 1938	June 1938
July 1938	August 1938	Sept. 1938	Oct. 1938	Nov. 1938	Dec. 1938

1939
Jan 1939	Feb. 1939	March 1939	April 1939	May 1939	June 1939
July 1939	August 1939	Sept. 1939	Oct. 1939	Nov. 1939	Dec. 1939

1940
Jan 1940	Feb. 1940	March 1940	April 1940	May 1940	June 1940
July 1940	August 1940	Sept. 1940	Oct. 1940	Nov. 1940	Dec. 1940

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