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The Disney Brothers Studio

1924
THE DISNEY BROTHERS STUDIO
Walt poses with brother Roy and their first group of employees in front of their storefront office in Los Angeles. Using the unfinished reel of "Alice's Wonderland," they had sold a complete "Alice" series to a distributor in New York, Margaret Winkler. The woman standing next to Walt is Lillian Bounds. When this photograph was taken, she was still just an employee, but soon thereafter they began to date. (More about the early years in Hollywood)

 

 

1925
WEDDING BELLS
With the income from the "Alice" contract, Roy felt it was time at last to propose to his Kansas City girlfriend, Edna Francis. This film clip shows the happy couple right after the wedding ceremony, which took place in the house of Uncle Robert Disney. A beaming Walt brought his own sweetheart along. A few months later, on July 13, 1925, he and Lilly were married in her brother's house in Lewiston, Idaho. As Diane relates, the wedding dress that Lilly wears in the film was made by her. (More about Lilly) To see a clip of the weddings, choose either 56K modem or DSL/ISDN.

 

Walt with Mickey Mouse

1928
BIRTH OF MICKEY MOUSE
After the Alice Comedies, Walt had developed a new character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. By 1928, "Oswald" had become a very popular series, and Charles Mintz, Walt's new distributor, decided to take the character away from Walt. Crestfallen, Walt vowed that from here on, he would own the characters he developed. He sketched a mouse, and wanted to call him Mortimer. Lilly did not agree; "Call him Mickey," she said. In 1928, Walt premiered "Steamboat Willie," his first sound cartoon starring Mickey Mouse. It was a smash hit. (More about "Steamboat Willie")

 

 

1930s
A CARTOON MENAGERIE
In the years that followed, Walt and his animators came up with many more characters that soon became as popular as Mickey himself, including Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. But Walt was not content making cartoons like "Steamboat Willie." He was once again looking to develop something new. (More about Mickey and Friends)

 

Silly Symphonies

1932
THE FIRST COLOR CARTOON
"I wanted to do something different," Walt said later, "and playing with music was intriguing." The result was a cartoon series called "Silly Symphonies," in which the action and characters were based on well-known works of music. With a Silly Symphony called "Flowers and Trees," Walt went one step further: a color cartoon with sound. (More about the Silly Symphonies)



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