Performo Toy Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Performo Toy Company was established in 1925 by Rene D. Grove, in Middletown, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He began manufacturing wooden toys in his residence on North Spring Street. His business expanded rapidly, soon recruiting over 25 employees, and still having trouble filling demands for their popular toys.
The company had a catalog of around 40 different toys, all of them distributed by the George Borgfeldt Company, including its most popular doll, a black and white mouse named Micky (US Patent #D70,840, received on August 17, 1926).
Contents |
[edit] The Mickey Mouse debate
The similarities between both mice has led many to believe that Walt Disney stole his most successful idea from the Performo Toy Company. Apparently, the wooden mouse was very popular in New York City (where Performo's distributor was located) back in 1928, coincidently, at the same time Disney thought of the idea for his animation studio's new character.
There is a well known legend in Middletown about how Performo Toy Company sued The Walt Disney Company, but there are no records nor evidence of any legal action between the two parties.
A conspiracy theory may be easy to pull out from this story, however, History Detectives, a television program on PBS, conducted an extensive investigation on the topic. It concluded that it was a series of generic mice that featured in Felix the Cat (1922), Milton Mouse from Aesop's Film Fables (1920) or Ignatz Mouse from Krazy Kat (1914), which provided the insipration for Mickey Mouse.
[edit] Bankruptcy
In the July 15, 1933 edition of the Middletown Gazette, the Performo Toy Company announced they were filing for bankruptcy. It is believed that the Great Depression forced them to padlock their doors.
