If it weren't for a lovely four-year-old girl, the Walt Disney Company, a multi-billion dollar business and a huge entertainment conglomerate, may not have possibly been established. Young Walt Disney had been contracted to produce a series of cartoons known as 'Laugh-O-Grams,' but the paying Tennessee company went bankrupt, leaving the artist and his employees stuck with a number of cartoons he couldn't sell. Disney's loyal artists left his East 31st Street, Kansas City studio before Walt secured $500 from a dentist to produce an educational short on dental hygiene.
Instead of paying off his debts, Disney decided to plow the money into his new brain-child: a live-action combined with a cartoon that could serve as a demonstration to what his floundering company was capable of producing. He spotted a cute little girl in an advertisement and immediately traced her to Virginia Davis. He contacted her mother, Margaret, who was eager to advance her daughter's acting career. Walt's idea was the opposite of the Fleischer Studios 'Out of the Inkwell' cartoon series: instead of animated characters interacting with the real world, Disney placed his child actress into a cartoon-filled world.
He temporarily hired his artists back, who filmed and drew Virginia dreaming about herself in cartoon land. Experiencing a sureal sequence of both pleasant and nightmarish events, Alice (Virginia) eventually awakens in her mother's arms. Her dream was triggered by a visit earlier in the day to the Laugh-O-Gram Studio where Walt, seen for the first time on film, and the other artists amuse Alice with animated characters on their drawing boards.
Disney knew he had a winner on his hands. He corresponded with the top distributor for cartoon films, Margaret Winkler, who was handling both the 'Out of the Inkwell" as well as 'Felix The Cat' cartoons in nationwide theaters. He wrote to the New York distributor Winker, who wrote back saying she was intrigued by the idea of the "clever combination of live characters and cartoons." Meanwhile, the Fleischer Brothers, getting rich off of Winkler's work, decided to form their own distribution network for its 'Out of the Inkwell' series. On the heels of that withdrawal, Felix's creator Pat Sullivan decided to yank his cat from Winkler when their contract expired after one too many fights, creating a golden opportunity for Disney.
Walt took a train in the summer of 1923 to show Winkler the work in progress of "Alice's Wonderland." After seeing the pilot reel, she offered $1,500 per reel of Alice shorts, with Virginia Davis in the lead role. Walt signed a one-year contract to produce the series, contingent that Winkler would edit all the Alice cartoons herself. Disney immediately moved to California, living with his brother Roy, and working out of his garage for a brief time. He called his new company, Disney Brothers, which eventually morphed into Walt Disney Productions.
Virginia and her mother, Margaret, moved to Los Angeles partly for the $100 per month salary Walt was offering, and partly because the young girl's doctor, knowing her fragile health, said she would benefit with a dryer, warmer climate. Virginia was in 13 'Alice Comedies' episodes, while four other Alices followed her. Disney, who directed and produced all 57 films, drew most of the cartoons. It became obvious, however, as the series marched on, he was more interested on the animation aspect of each film as he diminished the live action sequences. The 'Alice Comedies' ended in July 1927 when a rabbit came upon the scene.
Instead of paying off his debts, Disney decided to plow the money into his new brain-child: a live-action combined with a cartoon that could serve as a demonstration to what his floundering company was capable of producing. He spotted a cute little girl in an advertisement and immediately traced her to Virginia Davis. He contacted her mother, Margaret, who was eager to advance her daughter's acting career. Walt's idea was the opposite of the Fleischer Studios 'Out of the Inkwell' cartoon series: instead of animated characters interacting with the real world, Disney placed his child actress into a cartoon-filled world.
He temporarily hired his artists back, who filmed and drew Virginia dreaming about herself in cartoon land. Experiencing a sureal sequence of both pleasant and nightmarish events, Alice (Virginia) eventually awakens in her mother's arms. Her dream was triggered by a visit earlier in the day to the Laugh-O-Gram Studio where Walt, seen for the first time on film, and the other artists amuse Alice with animated characters on their drawing boards.
Disney knew he had a winner on his hands. He corresponded with the top distributor for cartoon films, Margaret Winkler, who was handling both the 'Out of the Inkwell" as well as 'Felix The Cat' cartoons in nationwide theaters. He wrote to the New York distributor Winker, who wrote back saying she was intrigued by the idea of the "clever combination of live characters and cartoons." Meanwhile, the Fleischer Brothers, getting rich off of Winkler's work, decided to form their own distribution network for its 'Out of the Inkwell' series. On the heels of that withdrawal, Felix's creator Pat Sullivan decided to yank his cat from Winkler when their contract expired after one too many fights, creating a golden opportunity for Disney.
Walt took a train in the summer of 1923 to show Winkler the work in progress of "Alice's Wonderland." After seeing the pilot reel, she offered $1,500 per reel of Alice shorts, with Virginia Davis in the lead role. Walt signed a one-year contract to produce the series, contingent that Winkler would edit all the Alice cartoons herself. Disney immediately moved to California, living with his brother Roy, and working out of his garage for a brief time. He called his new company, Disney Brothers, which eventually morphed into Walt Disney Productions.
Virginia and her mother, Margaret, moved to Los Angeles partly for the $100 per month salary Walt was offering, and partly because the young girl's doctor, knowing her fragile health, said she would benefit with a dryer, warmer climate. Virginia was in 13 'Alice Comedies' episodes, while four other Alices followed her. Disney, who directed and produced all 57 films, drew most of the cartoons. It became obvious, however, as the series marched on, he was more interested on the animation aspect of each film as he diminished the live action sequences. The 'Alice Comedies' ended in July 1927 when a rabbit came upon the scene.