Fortune 500 Company - Disney
Company history: From the very beginning, Disney's founder Walter Elias Disney fostered the spirit of creativity, innovation and excellence that continues to underlie all of the company's success. Walt arrived in California in the summer of 1923 with dreams and determination, but little else. He had made a short film in Kansas City about a little girl in a cartoon world, called Alice's Wonderland, and he planned to use it as his "pilot" film to sell a series of these Alice Comedies to a distributor. On October 16, 1923, a New York distributor, M. J. Winkler, contracted to release the Alice Comedies, and this date became the formal beginning of The Walt Disney Company. Originally known as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, with Walt Disney and his brother Roy as equal partners, the company soon changed its name, at Roy's suggestion, to the Walt Disney Studio, which was initially housed in a succession of storefront buildings in Hollywood before becoming established on Hyperion Avenue. (http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/complete_history_1.html) Walt now had to come up with a new character. With his chief animator, Ub Iwerks, Walt designed a mouse that Walt first wanted to name Mortimer, but his wife Lilly preferred Mickey. And so a star was born- animated two Mickey Mouse cartoons. But the first film with synchronized sound The Jazz Singer had premiered, and Walt decided that his studio should make the first sound cartoon. So, the studio poured all of its resources into a third Mickey Mouse cartoon before the first two were released, this one with fully synchronized sound. Steamboat Willie opened to rave reviews at the Colony Theater in New York November 18, 1928. Mickey Mouse was an immediate sensation around the world, and a series of Mickey Mouse cartoons followed. While the studio's cartoons were gaining popularity in movie houses, they also generated interest in related merchandise. As Walt recounted, "A fellow kept hanging around my