You think of Disney and you think of a massive, unstoppable empire. But before the castle, before the mouse, and before the billions, Walt Disney was a 22-year-old who went bankrupt. Yes, really. He hit rock bottom, lost everything, and had to start over from scratch.
Long before Hollywood, Walt was just a guy in Kansas City, Missouri, with a tiny animation studio called Laugh-O-Gram Films. It was 1921, and he and his small team were making a series of modern-day fairy tales. Think Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, but with a 1920s twist.
They got what they thought was their big break: a deal with a New York distribution company for six cartoons, promising them a whopping $11,100. It was a fortune at the time! The Laugh-O-Gram crew worked like crazy, pouring everything they had into the films. But there was one huge problem...
The New York company never paid them. Not a single cent. 😱 The studio was left with no money, mounting debts, and a team that eventually had to work for free. Walt, being the eternal optimist, tried to keep it afloat. He even lived in the office and showered at the train station to save money.
But it wasn’t enough. In July 1923, Laugh-O-Gram Films was forced to declare bankruptcy. Walt was broke. He sold his camera just to get enough cash for a one-way train ticket to Hollywood, with nothing but an unfinished cartoon reel in his suitcase.
Okay, so he gets to Hollywood and starts over. He eventually creates a new, popular character: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. 🐰 Oswald was a huge hit! Disney was finally tasting success. So he goes to his distributor, Universal Pictures, to ask for a bigger budget.
Their response was insane. Not only did they refuse, but they told him that they owned the rights to Oswald, not him. They had stolen his animators and were going to make the cartoons without him. He lost his own creation. Again. Can you even imagine? 💔
On the train ride home from that disastrous meeting, defeated and betrayed, Walt started sketching. He needed a new character. One that he would own completely, no matter what. A character that no one could ever take from him.
That character was a mouse. And that mouse became Mickey. ⚡ The bankruptcy and the loss of Oswald were brutal, but they taught Walt a lesson he never forgot: own your own ideas. Without those epic failures, the Disney empire we know today might never have existed.
Walt Disney Bankruptcy - National Archives
How Oswald the Lucky Rabbit returned to The Walt Disney Company - The Walt Disney Company
Walt Disney’s Laugh-O-grams, 1921-1923 - Silent Film Festival
