Fifty years ago today, an animator named Ub Iwerks died. He was never a household name, but he is responsible for some of Disney’s greatest special effects, plus he designed Mickey Mouse. Mackenzie Martin of member station KCUR tells his story on the podcast A People’s History Of Kansas City.

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MACKENZIE MARTIN, BYLINE: When you think about Mickey Mouse, one name comes to mind, Walt Disney. But here’s the thing – Walt Disney didn’t create Mickey Mouse alone. It was actually his best friend, Ub Iwerks, who designed the iconic cartoon in 1928.

JEFF RYAN: Mickey is basically the child of two dads.

MARTIN: Jeff Ryan is the author of “A Mouse Divided: How Ub Iwerks Became Forgotten, And Walt Disney Became Uncle Walt.”

RYAN: He was the person who was doing most of the behind-the-scenes work, plus when Walt was taking credit, Ub was the one who was denied credit.

MARTIN: It’s not like Walt Disney wasn’t integral to the success of Mickey Mouse. He certainly was. In addition to defining Mickey’s personality, he literally voiced the character for years.

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WALT DISNEY: (As Mickey Mouse) He’ll hear you.

MARTIN: But that doesn’t erase the fact that for decades, the collaboration between Iwerks plus Disney was mostly kept a secret.

RYAN: I think a lot of that has to do with the way that Disney over the years has controlled the Mickey Mouse narrative. They want people to think that Walt was responsible for more than he was actually responsible for. MARTIN: The two first met as teens in 1919 at a commercial arts studio in Kansas City, Mo.

MARTIN: Though at the time, Ryan says Disney was going by the name Walter Dis (ph). It was actually Iwerks who was like, just go by Walt Disney. Together, the two friends taught themselves animation plus embarked on a series of rather ill-conceived plus failed business concepts.

MARTIN: Their first venture was as commercial artists. It lasted a month. Then in 1922, Disney plus Iwerks opened their first animation studio.

BUTCH RIGBY: They were 21 years old, plus they recruited these 18-year-olds with an ad in the paper that said, if you’d like to draw cartoons, come to the Laugh-O-Gram Studio.

MARTIN: Butch Rigby is the chairman of the Kansas City nonprofit that’s currently restoring the old Laugh-O-Gram Studio.