Mickey was and is Everywhere
Most readers will know it is Walt Disney's company's 100th anniversary this year (more precisely on 16 October 2023).
But less people will be aware of the immediate success of the company's animated characters. Their fame was almost instant on a global level.
In 1933 Italy, for example, Topolino (Mickey) had barely been turned into a children's comics magazine, and was already a well-known character to the cinema audience. Inevitably, the mascot was present at the carnival parade in Viareggio (as you can see in this video 00:15:00 - 00:17:00).
The character's fame was also accomplished by the creation of a club, with a system of membership.
I have been browsing flea markets and antiquarian bookshops in search of evidence of how Italian children were immersed in Disney fandom.
In the Roman Antica Libreria Cascianelli, there are a couple of cardboard boxes with old pictures and postcards. While patiently browsing those boxes, (I think) I found a picture of boys wearing the club Topolino outfit. The bookshop is a true gem but you have to fight your way through the tourist masses around Piazza Navona, etc.
Unfortunately, postcards and pictures like these only rarely have information of ownership of dates on the back. This picture has a blank back.
Before entering, I was seduced by the poster below, stemming from fascist period. The title goes "Vivi di preferenza all'aira aperta" and ironically shows a seated girl doing needlework while boys in the background are embodying the freedom in open air that the title promises. This binary opposition and the irony of it resonated with me, as did the lettering of the title. The font is very similar to that of Corriere dei Piccoli and reminds me of Antonio Rubino. You can compare below: a CdP issue of 1933 and the fascist poster. I should have bought that poster, notwithstanding its crooked and torn edges.
