On October 16, 1923, Margaret Winkler agreed to produce and distribute Alice Comedies, a new series from Walt Disney. This contract is considered the founding document of The Walt Disney Company.
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On October 16, 1923, Margaret Winkler agreed to produce and distribute Alice Comedies, a new series from Walt Disney. This contract is considered the founding document of The Walt Disney Company.
Disney
Before Mickey, Snow White and Moana, there was Alice and her cat Julius. Say what?
The Walt Disney Company celebrates its 100th anniversaryth birthday all year round. But it was on October 16, 1923 that the magic began – thanks in large part to a woman named Margaret Winkler. She named her film company MJ Winkler Productions, lest anyone discover that one of the animation industry’s most successful entrepreneurs was a woman.
Winkler, a Hungarian immigrant, was 18 when she began her entertainment career as secretary to studio executive Harry Warner. She learned the ins and outs of the film business and left Warner in 1921 to start her own production and distribution company.
She filmed her first cartoon – Felix the Cat – into a world star. A savvy promoter who understood the business side of creativity, she sold the series both domestically and abroad, steadily scaling its success into the trades.
Alice Comedies lobby card
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“Winkler’s most significant contribution was her talent for identifying and creating a market for these short films,” wrote Malcolm Cook for the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University.
In contrast, Walt Disney was a struggling cartoonist in Kansas City in 1923. His Laugh-o-Gram films were on the verge of bankruptcy. But he still held out hope for a project featuring a live-action character named Alice interacting with animated characters, including her cat Julius.
According to Disney, “During the summer of 1923, [Walt] used part of his last $40 to buy a first-class train ticket to Los Angeles, where he and his brother Roy O. Disney would work making animated films in their uncle’s garage, then downstairs from a real estate agency two blocks away. far.”
In a letter to Winkler, who was based in New York, Walt wrote: “In the past, all cartoons combining real actors were amateurishly produced…I intend to employ only people trained and experienced for my castings. and my team so that I can inject humor, photography and quality details into these comedies.”
Winkler responded, “If your comedies are what you say they are and what I think they should be, we can do business.”
Before signing a deal, Walt checked Winkler’s “responsibility and standing” with his former boss, Harry Warner. “She is responsible for everything she can do,” Warner responded. “In my opinion, the main thing to consider is the quality of the goods you are going to offer him, and if that is true, I don’t think you need to hesitate to ask him to look after your merchandise. “
On October 16, 1923, Winkler and Disney signed an agreement to produce and distribute 12 episodes of Alice Comedies.
According to Disney, the contract “is considered the founding document of The Walt Disney Company.”
Alice Comedies contract page
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This story was edited by Jennifer Vanasco and produced by Beth Novey.