1922 Laugh-O-Gram ad and a 1925 Disney biography

A great new addition to a resource I'd previously known about was uncovered by Leonard Maltin and subsequently announced on the animation site Cartoon Brew. The research site, internetarchive.org, has hundreds of entries ranging from magazines to films.

I've used the site previously to search through 1930s magazines they've posted online, but hadn't visited recently. The site just uploaded a run of a The Film Daily, a trade magazine from the 1920s, and it's proving to be a trove of information for Disney geeks like me.

Over the past several days I have been searching through the issues that have been posted online, and I have to admit I've been amazed and delighted with the Disney content I've uncovered. I've located several dozen Disney-related ads, articles, and reviews, dating back to 1922.

The following Laugh-O-Gram ad was published in the June 19, 1922 edition. A little over one year after this ad appeared, Walt Disney had left Kansas City, Missouri, for Hollywood, California.


The following Walt Disney biography appeared in the June 27, 1925 edition. Just under one month after this ad was published, Walt and his brother Roy would place a down payment on a small plot of land on Hyperion Avenue, in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles. The Hyperion location would undergo drastic expansion over the next 14 years, eventually occupying the whole block. The Hyperion Studio would become home to Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Snow White and many other timeless characters.


I'll be posting many more of these great finds over the ensuing weeks. Enjoy!