1931 mickey mouse Gottfredson original comic strip full strip

1931 ORIGINAL MICKEY MOUSE COMIC STRIP BY FLOYD GOTTFREDSON

This 1931 Mickey Mouse daily comic strip by Floyd Gottfredson has never been available to the collector community until now. Our family acquired this and other pieces from my father’s cousin, Cecil Surry. Cecil Surry worked as an animator for Disney (1928 to 1931) when the Mickey Mouse character was being created. He continued to work as an animation artist for other leading animation studios until the 1950s.

About 20 years ago, I contacted the Walt Disney Company to learn more about this piece. I was able to speak with an archivist named Dave Smith and ultimately mailed him copies of the strip. He said it was the correct comic for 3/26/1931, that the strip was published and they did not have that strip in their archives. He stated in the 1930s, a few strips were either given away or even thrown away.

After talking with expert collectors, reviewing auction results and speaking with several appraisers, it appears this is likely one of the earliest privately owned Mickey Mouse comic strips by Floyd Gottfredson.

This comic artwork is from a series called Mickey Mouse, Boxing Champion that was published February 26 to April 19, 1931. This series involved Mickey Mouse as the trainer for Ruffhouse Rat. Ruffhouse is Minnie Mouse’s ne'er-do-well cousin. Creamo Catnera is a cat who was, according to his own account born in a shack in Mouseton. He would later flee town after knocking over a steamroller. He returned in 1931 to fight the world's heavy-lightweight boxing champion (Ruffhouse Rat) in a high publicity match. Creamo's boxing opponent ultimately ended up being Mickey Mouse.