Mouse Tale

Walt Disney spent much of his youth in Kansas City after moving there from Marceline, Missouri, and his path toward animation was marked by early setbacks. At age 17, he was rejected for an artist’s position at The Kansas City Star, later lost a job at a local commercial art studio, and then found his passion for animation while working at the Kansas City Film Ad Company. Borrowing a company camera and using his family garage as a studio, he created animated shorts and sold them to the Newman Theatre as “Newman Laugh-O-grams.” With support from local investors, he started his own business, Laugh-O-gram Films. According to the story, a friendly mouse that begged for food at the studio later returned to Disney’s mind and was reborn as Mickey Mouse, first seen in “Steamboat Willie.” In mid-1923, distribution problems forced the closure of Laugh-O-gram Films, and Disney left for Hollywood, California, hoping for better opportunities.

Kansas City, Missouri · United States