Here’s the first Mickey Mouse piece of merchandise

While in a New York hotel lobby in 1929 a man approached Walt Disney with an offer.

The man was producing children’s writing tablets and wanted to place Mikey Mouse on the cover. He offered Disney $300 to feature Mickey on the tablets. For perspective,  $300 from 1929 would be worth $5,352.79 today.

That doesn’t seem like a lot, even for a startup. So, why did he take the money? As Walt Disney later recalled: “As usual, Roy and I needed the money, so I took the three hundred.”

The writing tablet kicked off the Mickey merchandising. Roy Disney later signed with New York-based George Borgfeldt & Company and the first figures and toys started being produced.