list_text=          Walt Disney once said, "It all started with a mouse." The Walt Disney Studios, however, actually began five years before the birth of Mickey Mouse, with a four-year-old girl from Kansas City, Missouri, named Virginia Davis. In 1923, Virginia became Walt's first human star, appearing in the first 13 titles of his "Alice Comedies" series, which was an innovative blend of live-action and animation on film.
          The comedies - one-reel (5- to 10-minute) low-budget projects - featured simple plots about the adventures of a live girl in Cartoonland. As Virginia later recalled, "It was always a little story where I would get into the cartoon through a dream or I was hit on the head with a baseball and suddenly I'd find myself in a world of cartoon characters."
          Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on December 31, 1918, to a homemaker and a traveling salesman, Virginia began taking dance and dramatic lessons at age two. A couple of years later, when Walt Disney was struggling with his first Studio, Laugh-O-gram Films in Kansas City, he happened to see Virginia in a Warneke's Bread advertisement in a local theater. Later, when he went to produce his first Alice Comedy, "Alice's Wonderland," he remembered her long, blonde ringlets and charming smile. So Walt placed a call to her parents and for the next two years, Virginia starred in such Disney shorts as "Alice's Day at Sea," "Alice's Wild West Show" and "Alice's Spooky Adventure."  Today, the "Alice Comedies" are periodically featured on the Disney Channel during its Vault Disney segment.
          After 13 films, Virginia ended her tenure with Walt, who went on to make more than 40 other Alice films. She continued performing in the theater, including a West Coast tour of Elmer Rice's "Street Scene," and in a number of films for such studios as MGM, RKO, Paramount and Fox. Among her credits are "Three on a Match" with Joan Blondell and "The Harvey Girls," in which she appeared alongside Cyd Charisse and Judy Garland. She also appeared in such early television shows as "Your Hit Parade" and "One Man's Family."
          Virginia went on to earn a degree from the New York School of Interior Design and became a decorating editor for the popular 1950s magazine "Living for Young Homemakers." In 1963, she began a successful career in the real estate industry in Connecticut and later, Southern California.
          Over the years, Virginia has remained in contact with The Walt Disney Company and is often a special guest at such events as the annual Disneyana Conventions held at either Disneyland or Walt Disney World.&