M.J. Winkler + Felix the Cat = Walt Disney's Alice

In my last post I asked readers what the connection was between M.J. Winkler, Felix the Cat, and Walt Disney.

 

Margaret J. Winkler began her career in the film industry as Harry M. Warner's executive secretary. Warner took the then 21-year old to film conventions on the east and west coasts, where she established contacts within the industry, and learned the trade.

Fast forward seven years. In 1921, Pat Sullivan brought Warner samples of his Felix the Cat series to show Warner, with the hope he'd distribute the cartoon. When Winkler expressed an interest in the series, Warner suggested she not only distribute the Felix cartoons, but also Max Fleischer's Out of the Inkwell series. Winkler ended-up signing both Sullivan and Fleischer to contracts, and in doing so, the 28-year old became America's first female film distributor.

Walt Disney had written to Winkler while he was in Kansas City as the head of Laugh-O-gram Films. Disney was looking for a distributor of his Alice Comedies, a new cartoon series he was developing that would see a live-action actor interact with cartoon characters (a reverse of Fleischer's Out of the Inkwell series that saw cartoon characters in live-action surroundings). Winkler expressed an interest but Disney's Laugh-O-gram Films went bankrupt before Disney could fully exploit his idea.

In August 1923, Disney left Kansas City for California. On the 25th of the month he again wrote to Winkler indicating he was no longer associated with Laugh-O-gram, and that he was "establishing a studio in Los Angeles for the purpose of producing the new and novel series of cartoons I have previously written about."

Unbeknownst to Disney, Winkler was on the verge of losing the Fleischer series, and her contract with Sullivan was about to expire. When she informed Sullivan she was going to exercise her option to distribute the Felix cartoons for another year, Sullivan balked. The contract between the two allowed for the option as long as the "reels were similar in number and length to those of the first series." To circumnavigate the contract, Sullivan indicated he was going to change the cartoon's length, and the number of cartoons produced. Winkler publicly threatened legal action.

As these events unfolded, Winkler responded to Disney's letter requesting to see a sample of his new series. Disney had previously mailed Alice's Wonderland, the one and only Alice cartoon produced while in Kansas City, to a New York agent, who in turn arranged to show the film to Winkler.

After viewing the film, and with the fear her two main products were about to be lost, Winkler sent Disney a telegram on October 15, 1923, which stated in part: "Believe series can be put over...will pay fifteen hundred each negative for first six and to show my good faith will pay full amount on each of these six immediately on delivery of negative."

The contract that followed enlarged the option to 12 cartoons in 1925, and 12 more in 1926. Elated with the news, Disney convinced his brother Roy, who was resting in a hospital due to a bout of tuberculosis, to join him in producing the series. This contract started Walt Disney on the path to becoming the most successful cartoon producer and innovator of his day.

 

The question I ask is, would Winkler have even bothered with Disney had she not been on the verge of losing her two most successful series?

As a side-note, Winkler and Sullivan temporarily worked out their differences for the 1924 series. Sullivan switched to Educational Pictures for the distribution of his cartoon in 1925.

Most of the facts in this post have come from Timothy Susanin's excellent book, Walt Before Mickey. Disney's Early Years, 1919-1928. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is a fantastic manuscript detailing Walt's early years. Tim's book should be part of any serious Disney historian's library. All of the illustrations in this post were discovered by me in various issues of The Film Daily.

M.J. Winkler and Felix the cat - what's the Disney connection?

Here's a pair of threatening ads I searched for and located in a 1923 magazine.

Just what does this Felix the Cat and M.J. Winkler have to do with Disney, you ask? 

Well, I'll write about these ads and the very important connection they have in the realm of Disney history this coming Monday. Stay tuned.

1935 Walt Disney Studio (Hyperion Ave.) ad

Here's a great 1935 magazine ad for GE light bulbs that shows a camera stand inside Disney's Hyperion Avenue studio. Not sure how many cameras the studio had in operation at this time. Maybe this was the only one. 

Regardless, there are two great Silly Symphony posters in the background: King Neptune on the left, and, the first Technicolor three-process color cartoon, Flowers and Trees, on the right. There is also what appears to be a Charlotte Clark Mickey Mouse doll on the right, and a Knickerbocker Minnie Mouse doll on the left.

I love seeing these early images of the Hyperion Studio - this is where the foundation of the present day studio came to be - where many of the great innovations in the cartoon industry were either invented or exploited. 

Work continues on my book detailing the history of the Hyperion location of the Walt Disney Studio. Myself and three other researchers have been working on this project for well over a year now. If you have any interesting items to share, please email me. We're always on the hunt for photographs, staff newsletters, inter-office communications, letters, and anything else of interest.

1938 Snow White parade float

This was the Disney Studio's entry in the 1938 Pasadena Tournament of Roses parade.

Marjorie Belcher, who was filmed as the live-action model for the character Snow White, donned a costume once more and played the part of Disney's princess on the Tournament of Roses float.

Marjorie Belcher, seen here in costume on the grounds of Disney's Hyperion Studio. Image courtesy Robert Cowan and the Ingeborg Willy scrapbook.

The costumed dwarfs on the float are the same actors who were present at the film's premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Hollywood on December 21, 1937.

Comedian Bob Burns and the actors interact outside the Carthay Circle on premiere night.

Several years ago, my friend and fellow Disney researcher Jim Korkis found this clip of the 1938 parade. The Snow White float drives by just past the mid-way mark of the clip.

Disney New Year's greetings from the 1930s

Here's a few New Year's greetings from years gone by. Respectively they are from December 1930, January 1934, and January 1938. Enjoy.

Snow White magazine Gustaf Tenggren cover

This magazine with a great Snow White cover illustration by Gustaf Tenggren sold on eBay recently. I forgot about the item and didn't get a bid in on time. The magazine sold for $21.50, which I think was a very reasonable price.

The cover date for this issue was September 17, 1938, and the magazine also included a two-page article.

Disney Christmas ad 1933

This ad for two Silly Symphony cartoons and a Mickey Mouse short appeared in the November 1933 edition of Motion Picture Daily.

Mickey's Good Deed happens to be one of my favorite mouse cartoons. I posted a story about that film four years ago. You can read it here.

1937 Snow White advertising

The following full-page ad appeared in the December 25, 1937 edition of Box Office magazine.

 

The following ads appeared in the January1, 1938 issue of Box Office.

Snow White's premiere - 74 years ago tonight

Tonight marks the 74th anniversary of the premiere of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Hollywood.

I've written extensively about this eventul evening in several other posts on this blog. You can read them by clicking on this "Snow White" link.

Here are a few more interesting photos to go along with all the others I've published in the past.

 A quartet of comedians and comediennes: Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, George Burns, and Gracie Allen walk down the blue carpet under a canopy of lights to attend the premiere.

The entrance to the Carthay Circle Theatre showing the canopied, blue-carpeted walkway. Check out my other Snow White posts to see more images taken premiere night.

The Dwarf's cottage and several other structures were constructed on Wilshire Boulevard to add to the flavor of the event. Image courtesy the Los Angeles Public Library.

Walt Disney receives the special Academy Award for the film from child star Shirley Temple.

Here's a YouTube video of a clip from an RKO-Pathe newsreel showing some of the night's glitter.

Walt, Kay, and Disney gifts

A post I've written about Kay Kamen, and vintage 1930s Disney Christmas-related items has been published on The Walt Disney Family Museum blog. Click here to check it out.

1935 Mickey Mouse stocking stuffer

In our house the tradition has always been to put a Japanese mandarin orange in the toe of our children's Christmas stockings. It's something my parents and my wife's parents did when we were young. Back in 1935, little kids in the U.K. might find a jar of marmalade in their Christmas stocking. Beats a lump of coal I guess . . . but not by much.

The actual jar of Mickey Mouse marmalade was one of dozens of items featured in George Kamen's 1935 English Disney licensees catalog. Image courtesy Hake's Americana.

Diane Disney Miller - Happy Birthday!

On this day in 1933 Diane Marie Disney was born.

Click here to see a post I published in 2009 in honor of the event.

Walter Elias Disney: 1901-1966

Walter Elias Disney. December 5, 1901 - December 15, 1966. 

Hard to believe today marks the 45th anniversary of his death. Despite all the years that have come and gone since his passing, Walt Disney still continues to have a positive impact on people all around the world.

The image in this post was part of an ad which appeared in the 1936 Film Daily Yearbook.

1934 Kamen / Disney Christmas store display advertising

Kay Kamen's 1934 Christmas Promotion manual is filled with great photos of some of the advertising items that were available to retailers - this material ranged from paper banners, to column decorations, to large multi-colored scenes, some of which had moving parts.

What follows are images of two of the larger vignettes that were offered in the 1934 manual. According to the captions, the two pictured here measured 5x7. Others measured a whopping 6x9 feet! These pieces would have been painted in vibrant colors, just like the toy sign I'm using this month as the header at the top of my blog. (The toy sign was an item available in Kamen's 1935 Christmas manual.) 

The Walt Disney Family Museum has an example of the first vignette in their collection. If you look closely at the second vignette pictured, you'll see some great representations of other Disney characters including a super, long-beaked Donald Duck, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, the Big Bad Wolf, a rarely, if ever seen, Little Red Riding Hood, and even what appears to be one of the bunny rabbits from the Silly Symphony cartoon Funny Little Bunnies.

In the display piece above, the signpost reads "Chicago." The sign in the vignette at The Walt Disney Family Museum reads "London." I would imagine the signpost would have the name of the city painted on it that the store purchasing the display piece was located in.

The next three images show some of the banners that were available in 1934. These decorations would have been printed in color on paper, and either taped or tied to columns, posts, and/or the walls in strategic locations around the store.

All of the photos in this post are courtesy my friend Ted Hake, of Hake's Americana.

"A Christmas gift from Mickey Mouse" - 1934

This premium was featured in Kay Kamen's 1934 Christmas Promotion manual. Retailers purchased these little booklets by the gross and had their toyland Santa give them away to children. What a great way to get a neat Disney item . . . and it was free!

Of course the visiting children and their parents had to navigate all of the point of sale display advertising, and aisles with shelves filled to the brim with neat merchandise, to get in line to see Santa . . . and this usually resulted in more than a few sales, thus offsetting the cost of the premium to the retailer. So much for free.

 Image courtesy Hake's Americana. 

The premium is from my own collection. The two images show the front cover, and the interior spread.

The wheel seen on the left with all the little illustrations could be spun. When viewed through a small opening on the front cover, the spinning illustrations gave the illusion of Mickey ice-skating. When viewed through the opening in the back cover, the illustrations depicted Minnie walking down a snowy trail.

Mickey Mouse at Toyfair - Christmas 1933

Great pair of sample ads that were included in Disney merchandising rep Kay Kamen's 1933 Christmas Promotion campaign manual.

Images courtesy Hakes Americana.

Happy Birthday Walt Disney

 

Walt Disney and his brand new 1932 Packard DeLuxe Roadster.

2719 Hyperion Avenue - then and now

Research continues on the Hyperion history project with several new and exciting discoveries over the past couple of months. I can't quite tell you what those new finds are just yet. Instead, here are a couple of related images I think readers of this blog might enjoy:

First, the new addition to the front of the Disney studio's original 1925 building, circa the spring of 1930. This addition brought the front of the building flush to the sidewalk. The entrance door was also relocated several feet to the east:

Next up is a photo of the same spot taken just a couple of months ago:

 

Lastly, the two images married together courtesy my time machine (aka friend Paul Sorokowski). If only . . .

As always, I'm looking for any historic material related to Hyperion including letters, documents, staff newsletters, interior and exterior photographs, etc. Please email me if you have any related material to share or for sale.

Kamen, Blair, and a boy named Tim

Prior to becoming Disney's sole merchandising rep, Herman Samuel "Kay" Kamen, (the son of Russian immigrants), and his business partner Streeter Blair, operated a marketing firm called Kamen-Blair out of Omaha, and later Kansas City.

In the 1920s the duo ran a department store campaign, which promoted the sale of boy's clothing. The main attraction was a club called The Pie-eaters, which by some accounts had 500,000 members aged six to 16 years of age.

Members of The Pie-eaters received a pin-back button, which featured the likeness of the club's leader, a cartoon character named Tim.

Tim was described as "the world's most famous author, inventor, and champion detective." Tim's exploits were documented in The Knicker, a multi-page newsletter edited by Blair, which contained short stories, cartoons, and advertising. I own several copies of this little publication, and what strikes me are the similarities in content and layout between The Knicker and the early Mickey Mouse dairy magazines, which Kamen was instrumental in launching.

From my collection:

In the 1920s, Kay Kamen, Kamen's first wife Lilaine, and Streeter Blair drove cross-country promoting Tim and The Pie-eater's club. Note the art on the spare tire cover on the rear of the car. 

Kamen and Blair eventually parted company. As for Tim, he eventually became associated with Superman.

There can be no doubt the experience Kamen gained from marketing Tim, (and Our Gang merchandise for Hal Roach's series of the same name), served him well when he was at the helm of Disney's merchandise and licensing division.

Hyperion Avenue night shot circa 1931

This post features a night shot of The Walt Disney Studio, which at this point in time was located at 2719 Hyperion Avenue, in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles.

This image was actually created by my friend Paul Sorkowski, and it's based on a daytime press photo of the newly completed "L-shaped" Animator's Building No. 1, and sound stage, which were built in 1931.

To the center-left of this photo are the two music rooms, while on the far right side of the second floor is Walt's office.

Paul has also created about a dozen schematics showing the physical development of the Hyperion site, and floor plans detailing the various rooms. He is now working on a three-dimensional computer model. It's all amazing stuff.

Followers of this blog know I am currently researching the history of Disney's Hyperion Avenue studio. If anyone has anything related to Hyperion they wish to share, I'd love to hear from you. Myself and several other researchers are now working on this project, which will document the years 1925-1939/40.

I'm currently looking for Hyperion-related photos, employee recollections, letters, diaries, internal company  documents like inter-office memos, lecture/classroom notes, employee newsletters, as well as newspaper and magazine articles. If you have items for sale, or are willing to make copies (I'll pay any related costs), please contact me.

Disney Film Recording Corp. Roy Disney with trucks, 1929

The photograph in this post is currently being offered on eBay right now. While I have read about the Disney Film Recording Corporation and how the brothers had a fleet of mobile sound trucks, until yesterday I had never seen an image of one.

The following great image shows two converted trucks and another vehicle - the sum of the rolling stock of the Disney's Film Recording Corp. Walt's brother Roy is pictured in the center of the image, which appears to have been taken on a Studio back lot. I'm not sure who the fellows on each side of Roy are.

Walt Disney signed a contract with his distributor Pat Powers for the use of Power's sound recording system, known as Cinephone. In 1927 Powers had hired a former DeForest Phonofilm sound technician and had him create a clone of the DeForest system, which Powers promptly marketed as his own. The sound technician's name? None other than Bill Garity. 

 Detail from a 1929 trade magazine ad.

After inking an option deal in the spring of 1929 for the further use of Power's sound system, Bill Garity traveled to Hollywood to oversee the installation of Cinephone equipment at the Disney's new sound studio, which was located across the street from Paramount on Melrose Avenue. After the construction of the Animator's Building No. 1 and the sound stage in 1931, the sound studio was relocated to Disney's Hyperion Avenue Studio.

 March 7, 1929 The Film Daily article.

March 27, 1929 The Film Daily article.

Garity was later hired by Walt Disney and became the Studio's chief sound technician. He also helped design the Studio's version of a multiplane camera, (for which he holds the patent on), as well as several other pieces of equipment. My friend Hans Perk has written extensively about Garity on his own blog A. Film L.A.

UPDATE - I'm just wondering now if the person on the far right side of the photo might possibly be Bill Garity? Here's another image the person selling the image posted:

Click on any of the images to make them appear larger.