Early Stages
Disney arrived in California in 1923 to try to sell his Alice in Wonderland comics to a distributor. M. J. Winkler became interested in these comics and agreed to be the distributor on Oct. 16, 1923, marking the start of the Disney Company. Walt Disney and his brother Roy Disney were equal partners, and so the company was called the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studios. However, the name was later changed to Walt Disney Studios, as Roy Disney suggested. Eventually Walt wanted to create more than just the Alice comics, and so Oswald the Rabbit was born in 1927. Disney created 26 Oswald cartoons in the first year. The second year presented itself with issues. The distributor “stole” the animators as well as the character Oswald from Disney. This news was shocking to Walt Disney, but as he reread the contract, he discovered he didn’t own the rights to Oswald.