As remembered by Frank Reilly for Cartoonist PROfiles number 1 (Winter 1969).
“Put back Mickey’s tail,” was my first edict, issued a couple of weeks after joining the Walt Disney Studio in January, 1946 to head the Comic Strip Department. The appendage had disappeared during the War, probably nipped off as an austerity measure. I had come to the Studio from AP News features via the Pentagon, with an open mind about Mickey’s tail. Walt changed my attitude. In my first meeting with him he converted me into a hawk about the whip-like tail. With his wonderfully expressive eyebrows and fluent hands he made me realize how the restored appendage would add balance and rhythm to the Mouse’s movements. Forthwith, on February 11, 1946, with neither blare of trumpets nor clashing of cymbals, Mickey appeared in public with a brand-new tail. […]
