Current:Home > BackHave you heard of Margaret Winkler? She's the woman behind Disney's 100th birthday-InfoLens
Have you heard of Margaret Winkler? She's the woman behind Disney's 100th birthday
View Date:2024-12-23 15:04:55
Before Mickey, Snow White and Moana, there was Alice and her cat Julius. Say what?
The Walt Disney Company has been celebrating its 100th birthday all year long. But it was on Oct. 16, 1923 that the magic began – thanks in large part to a woman named Margaret Winkler. She named her film company M.J. Winkler Productions, lest anyone find out that one of the most successful entrepreneurs in animation was a woman.
Winkler, a Hungarian immigrant, was 18 years old when she began her career in entertainment as a secretary for studio executive Harry Warner. She learned the ins and outs of the film business and in 1921 left Warner to found her own production and distribution business.
She turned her first cartoon – Felix the Cat – into a global star. A savvy promoter who understood the business side of creativity, she sold the series both domestically and overseas, regularly spinning her success to the trades.
"Winkler's most significant contribution was her talent for identifying and building a market for these short films," wrote Malcolm Cook for Columbia University's Women Film Pioneers Project.
By contrast, Walt Disney was a struggling cartoonist in Kansas City in 1923. His Laugh-o-Gram Films was nearly bankrupt. But he still held out hope for a project that featured a live action character named Alice interacting with animated characters – including her cat Julius.
According to Disney, "In the summer of 1923, [Walt] used some of his last $40 to buy a first-class train ticket to Los Angeles, where he and his brother Roy O. Disney would work on making animated films out of their uncle's garage and later in the back of a real estate office two blocks away."
In a letter to Winkler, who was based in New York, Walt wrote, "In the past, all cartoons combining live actors have been produced in an amateur manner... It is my intention to employ only trained and experienced people for my casts and staff that I may inject quality humor, photograph and detail into these comedies."
Winkler wrote back, "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 her former boss, Harry Warner. "She is responsible for anything she may undertake," Warner responded. "In my opinion, the main thing you should consider is the quality of goods you are going to give her, and if that is right, I don't think you need any hesitation in having her handle your merchandise."
On Oct. 16, 1923, Winkler and Disney signed a deal to produce and distribute 12 episodes of Alice Comedies.
According to Disney, the contract "is considered the founding document of The Walt Disney Company."
This story was edited by Jennifer Vanasco and produced by Beth Novey.
veryGood! (336)
Related
- FSU football fires offensive, defensive coordinators, wide receivers coach
- Reese Witherspoon & Daughter Ava Phillippe Prove It’s Not Hard to See the Resemblance in New Twinning Pic
- Only 1 of 10 SUVs gets 'good' rating in crash test updated to reflect higher speeds
- 2024 NFL Draft: Day 1 recap of first-round picks
- Full House Star Dave Coulier Shares Stage 3 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Diagnosis
- Planning for potential presidential transition underway as Biden administration kicks it off
- Los Angeles Rams 'fired up' after ending first-round pick drought with Jared Verse
- 17 states sue EEOC over rule giving employees abortion accommodations in Pregnant Workers act
- Conviction and 7-year sentence for Alex Murdaugh’s banker overturned in appeal of juror’s dismissal
- Black man's death in police custody probed after release of bodycam video showing him handcuffed, facedown on bar floor
Ranking
- More human remains from Philadelphia’s 1985 MOVE bombing have been found at a museum
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Early Animation
- Reese Witherspoon & Daughter Ava Phillippe Prove It’s Not Hard to See the Resemblance in New Twinning Pic
- A spacecraft captured images of spiders on the surface of Mars. Here's what they really are.
- Kristin Cavallari's Ex Mark Estes Jokingly Proposed to This Love Island USA Star
- Reggie Bush calls for accountability after long battle to reclaim Heisman Trophy
- Harvey Weinstein's conviction tossed in stunning reversal. What does it mean for #MeToo?
- They say don’t leave valuables in parked cars in San Francisco. Rep. Adam Schiff didn’t listen
Recommendation
-
Florida State can't afford to fire Mike Norvell -- and can't afford to keep him
-
Reese Witherspoon & Daughter Ava Phillippe Prove It’s Not Hard to See the Resemblance in New Twinning Pic
-
Baltimore high school athletic director used AI to create fake racist recording of principal, authorities say
-
Dua Lipa and Callum Turner’s Date Night Has Us Levitating
-
Candidates line up for special elections to replace Virginia senators recently elected to US House
-
Caleb Williams breaks Caitlin Clark's record for draft night merchandise sales
-
Kansas murder suspect uses wife's life insurance payout to buy a sex doll
-
Black man's death in police custody probed after release of bodycam video showing him handcuffed, facedown on bar floor