It was on October 16 1923 that Walt and Roy Disney founded the Disney Brothers Studio, later known as Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Productions, and, currently, the Walt Disney Company. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, Walt Disney Studios was one of the top producers of animated shorts and the top producer of animated features. They would expand into production of live action features and television in the Fifties. From their beginnings 100 years ago, the Walt Disney Company has gone from an independent studio dedicated to animation to one of the major studios in the American film industry.
The origins of the Walt Disney Company go back to Laugh-O-Gram Studio, founded on June 28 1921 by Walt Disney and animator Ub Iwerks. Walt Disney had been contracted by Milton Feld, the manager of the local theatre chain, Newman's Theatres, to create a series of animated shorts to be called "Newman's Laugh-O-Grams." In addition to Ub Iwerks, Laugh-O-Gram would employ other soon-to-be legendary animators, including Firz Freleng, Hugh Harman, and Ruby Isling. Unfortunately, Newman's Theaters declared bankruptcy only a few months into their deal with Walt Disney. It was after they had completed some of the editing on the short "Alice's Wonderland" that Laugh-O-Gram itself was forced to declare bankruptcy. Walt Disney moved to Los Angeles to live with his uncle Robert and his brother Roy, taking the incomplete "Alice's Wonderland" with him. "Alice in Wonderland" starred Virginia Davis in the title role and was notable for combining live-action with animation.
In Los Angeles, Walt Disney showed "Alice's Wonderland" around and eventually he was able to get a contract to produce an entire series of "Alice Comedies." The short "Alice's Day at Sea" would become the first animated short to originate at Disney Brothers Studio. They would continue to produce the "Alice Comedies" from 1924 to 1928. It was in 1927 that Charles Mintz approached Walt Disney about producing a series of animated shorts for Universal Pictures. It was then that Walt Disney Studio (the Disney Brothers Studio having been renamed in 1926) created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald proved to be very popular, so that in 1928 Walt Disney asked for a larger fee for his films. Unfortunately, Universal Pictures owned the rights to the character, and Charles Mintz simply hired away four of Walt Disney's animators to make the films.
Of course, this left Walt Disney Studio without a character to star in their cartoons. It was while the Walt Disney Studio was producing their last Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts that Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks conceived a new character. They came up with a character called "Mortimer Mouse," but Walt Disney's wife Lillian convinced him to change the name. Mortimer Mouse then became Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse made his debut in the short "Plane Crazy," on May 15 1928. The character failed to make an impression with audiences in the short. A second short starring Mickey Mouse, "The Gallopin' Gaucho," was completed, but was not released until sound was added it to it later. "Steamboat Willie' was the third Mickey Mouse cartoon to be produced and the second to be released. "Steamboat Willie" differed from the first two Mickey Mouse cartoons in that it was produced with sound, making it one of the earliest cartoon talkies to ever be produced.
"Steamboat Willie" proved to be a hit and Mickey Mouse's popularity soon approached that of Felix the Cat, the top animated character of the time. By the early Thirties Mickey Mouse was the most popular star of animated shorts. Walt Disney Studio would follow Mickey Mouse with other popular animated characters. Donald Duck first appeared in the short "The Wise Little Hen" in 1931. Donald Duck would also prove to be very successful, so that by the mid-Forties he became more popular than Mickey Mouse himself. It was in the 1932 short that Walt Disney Productions introduced a character named "Dippy Dog." He would have a larger role in the 1932 Mickey Mouse short "The Whoopee Party." It was with the 1934 short "Orphan's Benefit" that he was renamed "Goofy." He would graduate to his own cartoon series in 1939 with ""Goofy and Wilbur."
It was following the success of "Steamboat Willie" that Walt Disney launched a new series of shorts that generally did not feature continuing characters. The "Silly Symphonies" combined animation with pieces of music. The series would be notable in its use of the multiplane motion picture camera, as well as Technicolor. The success of the "Silly Symphonies" would lead other studios to adopt similar names for their series of animated cartoons, for instance Warner Bros.' "Merrie Melodies" and "Looney Tunes."
It was in 1929 that Walt Disney Studio was incorporated as "Walt Disney Productions." The change in name was perhaps fitting given it would enter into the production of its first feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1934. When Walt Disney announced the project, it was met with such scepticism that it was often called "Disney's Folly." As it was, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs proved costly to produce, with a budget that eventually grew to $1,488,422.74. It also took some time to produce. With production beginning in 1934, it was not completed until 1937. Premiering at the the Carthay Circle Theatre in Hollywood on 21 December 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs proved its sceptics wrong. Not only did the film receive largely positive reviews, it became the highest grossing film of all-time until surpassed by Gone with the Wind (1939).
In its early days Walt Disney Productions was a pioneer in movie merchandising. Following the incorporation of the studio Walt Disney Productions, on December 16 1929 a division to handle merchandising, Walt Disney Enterprises, was created. A "Mickey Mouse" newspaper comic strip debuted on January 13 1930. That same year there would be a Mickey Mouse doll. By 1934 there would be Mickey Mouse watches manufactured by Ingersoll Watch Company. Mickey Mouse was not the only character merchandised by Disney in its early days. The 1933 "Silly Symphony" short "Three Little Pigs" would also be merchandised, with a book, figurines, a game, and so on. As might be expected, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was also heavily merchandised. There was a newspaper comic strip adaptation of the film, a soundtrack album (making it one of the first films to have a soundtrack album), radios, banks, books, dolls, games, and much more. Among the Disney merchandise produced in the Thirties were Halloween costumes based on Disney characters manufactured by F. S. Fishbach, Inc., which would be bought out by Ben Cooper in 1937.
With their 1941 feature film The Reluctant Dragon, Walt Disney Productions made history. It was their first feature film to incorporate live-action. The Reluctant Dragon would make a modest profit, but unfortunately this would not be the case for some of Disney's animated feature films in the early Forties. While Pinocchio (1940) received positive reviews and won the Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Original Song, it performed poorly at the box office. The same would be true of Fantasia (1940) and Bambi (1942). To make matters worse, it was in 1941 that 300 of Walt Disney Productions' animators went on strike for five weeks, demanding unionization and higher wages. Sadly, Walt Disney would fire many of the strikers. Ultimately, Federal mediators urged the studio to recognize the Screen Cartoonists Guild. The strike would cost Walt Disney Productions dearly. Several animators left the studio, so that in the end they were left with only 694 employees.
During World War II Walt Disney Productions produced propaganda films in order to rally Americans to support the war. The Forties would also see Walt Disney Productions produce a number of package films, films that would feature two or more animated films. The first of these was Saludos Amigos (1943), which had been commissioned by the United States Department of State as part of the Good Neighbour Policy, a policy began by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to promote goodwill towards Latin America. Saludos Amigos would be followed by several more package films, the last of which would be The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1949.
It was in 1948 that Walt Disney Productions began producing a series of live-action, education shorts called "True-Life Adventures." The shorts focused on nature, with entries on seals, bears, elk, and lions. The series would be produced until 1960. "True-Life Adventures" would lead to the 1953 feature film The Living Desert, the first feature-length nature documentary produced by Walt Disney Productions.
The year 1950 would prove to be historic for Walt Disney Productions. Early in the year saw the release of Cinderella (1950), the studio's first animated feature film that was not a package film in eight years. It proved to be Disney's biggest financial success since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and also received positive reviews from critics as well. It was later in the year that Treasure Island (1950) was released. Treasure Island was Disney's first completely live-action feature film. It proved to be a success at the box office, so that Walt Disney Productions has continued to produce live-action movies ever since.
It was also in 1950 that Walt Disney Productions would have their first exposure on television. The television special One Hour in Wonderland was produced by Disney to promote their upcoming feature Alice in Wonderland (1951). Walt Disney hosted the special, with appearances by Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont (the voice of Alice in the feature film), and others. One Hour in Wonderland was aired on NBC on December 25 1950. It would only be in a few years that viewers would be exposed to Disney every week. A company that had originated as an animated studio would soon expand into television and beyond.
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