Mickey was also less cuddly; early incarnations reveal more rat-like features, including a long tail and a long pointy nose, reflecting his puckish personality. Parents were unimpressed, grousing that this mouse was an unsuitable role model for children.
The character’s appearance was softened over the years to become more childlike, but his engaging antics — echoing the mischievous charms of Charlie Chaplin’s “Little Tramp” — remained, albeit minus the “insolent attitude.” As the National Museum of American History has pointed out, Disney transformed Mickey into a “happy, funny, polite and kind-hearted mouse” to whom both kids and parents could venerate as an embodiment of innocence and virtue.