My family achieved success not in spite of, but because of the American system of taxation. After all, without reliable and safe roads there’d have been no Disneyland; without high functioning legal systems and a well regulated business environment there would have been no copyright protection for Mickey Mouse.
I used to give out Mickey Mouse awards to people. I like Mickey Mouse because he represented certain values. He invested in people, was good to his friends and hard on his enemies. Once a year, I would have our management team from each division come to an offsite, and I would talk about Mickey Mouse.
Walt Disney said everything he had ever accomplished was a result of Mickey Mouse. Mickey was Walt's alter ego and he was originally modeled after Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp character. So without Chaplin, who knows what Mickey would have become!
I grew up watching Mickey Mouse and going to Disney World, like, 2,000 times. Mickey Mouse is like my guru.
I love Las Vegas. I like that Las Vegas has everything. Everything and anything you want to do, you can do in Las Vegas. You can pretty much do it all day and all night if you want to.
Any artist who goes to Las Vegas is an idiot as far as I am concerned. Whoever goes to Las Vegas can stay in Las Vegas.
Growing up in Vegas, over time you get to see shows like Tom Jones, Wayne Newton, I mean, The Rat Pack ran Vegas way, way back, and I'm a huge fan of that whole era and vibe.
I love Las Vegas. I like that Las Vegas has everything. Everything and anything you want to do, you can do in Las Vegas.
I hate Disneyland. It primes our kids for Las Vegas.
I go to Las Vegas--or at least I went to Las Vegas--because even though I knew everything that was sinister, calculating, and evil about it, I loved Las Vegas. Only in Vegas could I dare to fantasize that I was a Friend of Frank. Or that I was throwing the dice at Dino's favorite table. Or that I might luck out and sip bourbon with Rickles after his last lounge show. The D.I. oozed that kind of heady fantasy.
When I was a kid, I never went to Disneyland. My ol' man told me Mickey Mouse died in a cancer experiment.
Hollywood and Disneyland are the legacy of Europe's cultural imperialism. We gave them nursery rhymes and they gave back film. Televised riots are as American as Barbie/ Big Macs. Tomorrow the riots will be forgotten but Mickey mouse will still be there. Welcome to Disneyland.
Mickey Mouse should be in the public domain by now. What a better world it would be if other people were doing things with Mickey Mouse!
What about Mickey Mouse? Disney tried very hard to make him a star. But Mickey Mouse is more of a symbol than a real character.
I never envisioned that I would be able to bring something to the entertainment table that would fit Las Vegas. Vegas is so presentational; it's live theater and, for me, it's always been film or television, which isn't why people come to Las Vegas. So it's exciting to be apart of all of this, the thrust of the entertainment of Vegas.
Wayne was my hero. He really loved doing Mickey Mouse and was very proud that he did it 32 years.