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26-575: From the building's completion (in May 1922) to June 1923 the McConahay building housed Laugh-O-Gram Studio , Walt Disney 's first commercial film studio, which occupied a five-room suite of studios on the second floor. Here, he developed the cartoon character Mickey Mouse based on resident mice that he trained. He frequently ate at the Forest Inn Cafe in the building's first floor. The building

52-399: A black Dodge Charger struck the building and caused significant damage to the exterior. The incident occurred early in the morning, the driver fleeing the scene, though authorities subsequently found a woman's driving license and a margarita within the vehicle. Butch Rigby, who launched the campaign to save and restore the building, described the incident optimistically: "The bottom line, it's

78-474: A bump in the road, but it could have been worse". Disney told interviewers that the inspiration to draw Mickey came from a tame mouse at his desk at Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City, Missouri . They used to fight for little pieces of cheese in my waste-basket when I worked alone late at night. I lifted them out and kept them in wire cages on my desk. I grew particularly fond of one brown house mouse. He

104-435: A one-way train ticket, moving to Hollywood, California ; he brought along an unfinished reel of Alice's Wonderland . The bankruptcy trustee was able to force LOGF's erstwhile distributor and debtor, Pictorial Films, Inc., to pay LOGF's agents the sum owed while agreeing that Pictorial could exercise its contractual distribution rights for LOGF works and to purchase several of LOGF's films: The Four Musicians of Bremen , Jack

130-479: The Alice Comedies , Davis said, "It was a great time – full of fun, adventure, and 'let's pretend.' I adored and idolized Walt, as any child would. He would direct me in a large manner with great sweeping gestures. One of my favorite pictures was Alice's Wild West Show . I was always the kid with the curls, but I was really a tomboy, and that picture allowed me to act tough. I took great joy in that." Over

156-535: The Alice's Wonderland film's receipts. Looking for a distributor for Alice's Wonderland on May 14, Disney wrote to Margaret Winkler , a New York film distributor. After finishing the raw edits of Alice's Wonderland , the studio filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 1923. Disney finally made some money by shooting a film of a 6-month-old girl named Kathalee Viley and selling his movie camera , earning enough for

182-643: The La Brea Apartments in Hollywood, California. In 1925, Davis played the role of Resi in The Greater Glory , a First National Pictures production. The film's director, Curt Rehfeld, remarked that Davis "... has the technique of a finished artist, the unusual ability to follow direction and the disposition of an angel. Not once during the picture was it necessary for me to explain any angle twice and, with all of her mature understanding,

208-581: The Beast . Tommy Tucker's Tooth (1922) and Alice's Wonderland (1923) are also available on DVD, and Alice's Wonderland eventually became a bonus feature for the 60th Anniversary Blu-ray Edition of Alice in Wonderland . The original piece of filming and animation known as Newman Laugh-O-Grams (originally released theatrically on March 20, 1921) is available on some DVDs too. In accordance with United States copyright law, all 11 shorts produced by

234-661: The Giant Killer , the Lafflets series, and Alice's Wonderland . The studio building fell to ruin and efforts were made to restore it by a non-profit group called "Thank You, Walt Disney". The Disney family promised $ 450,000 in matching funds for the rights to other Disney memorabilia and to tell the history of Walt Disney's life in Kansas City, a movie house to exhibit original and restored Laugh-O-Grams, and an education center for animation workshops. On July 30, 2021,

260-629: The building and is in the process of restoring it. This article about a property in Kansas City, Missouri on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Laugh-O-Gram Studio The Laugh-O-Gram Studio (also called Laugh-O-Gram Studios ) was an animation studio located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, Missouri , that operated from June 28, 1921, to October 16, 1923. In

286-417: The cartoons, which were supposed to be shown at schools and other non-theatrical places, but only paid $ 100 in advance. The rest of the payment would have to wait until January 1, 1924, when all the shorts had been delivered. When Pictorial went bankrupt only a few months later, the studio never received the rest of the payment, its financial problems became even more serious, and the staff ended up leaving. When

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312-580: The couple had two daughters. During their 59-year marriage, they resided in New Jersey, Connecticut, Southern California, and Idaho. Over a 25-year period, Davis worked as a real estate agent mostly in the Irvine, California and Boise, Idaho areas. After a year of failing health, Davis-McGhee died of natural causes in her home in Corona, California on August 15, 2009, aged 90. In 1998, Davis received

338-616: The drawing to his wife Lillian Marie Bounds and said he was going to call it "Mortimer Mouse". She replied that the name sounded "too pompous" and suggested Mickey Mouse instead. Of the original seven Laugh-O-Grams fairy tales, four were long known to have survived, and have been restored for DVD: Newman Laugh-O-Grams (1921), Little Red Riding Hood (1922), The Four Musicians of Bremen (1922), Puss in Boots (1922), and Cinderella (1922). These shorts later became available on Blu-ray Disc as bonus features for Disney's Beauty and

364-452: The early years of animation , the studio was home to many of the pioneers of animation, brought there by Walt Disney . It was the site of inspiration for Disney and Ub Iwerks to create Mickey Mouse . Laugh-O-Gram is the subject of two feature films: As Dreamers Do and Walt Before Mickey . In 1921, Walt Disney was contracted by Milton Feld to animate twelve cartoons, which he called Newman's Laugh-O-Grams. On May 23, 1922, when Disney

390-594: The local Kansas City dentist Thomas B. McCrum, from the Deener Dental Institute, contacted Disney and offered him the job of producing a short subject about dental hygiene intended for the Missouri school system, he brought together some of his staff again and made Tommy Tucker's Tooth , which earned the studio $ 500. Instead of paying off his creditors, the money was invested in the live-action/animation demonstration film Alice's Wonderland , starring

416-561: The next 20 years, she went on to work at other Hollywood studios as a child actress and, later, as a supporting actress. She sang, danced, and acted in such films as Flying Down to Rio (1933), Young and Beautiful (1934), College Holiday (1936), Vivacious Lady (1938), Three on a Match (1932), Week-End in Havana (1941), Song of the Islands (1942) and The Harvey Girls (1946) among others. On several occasions, she used

442-606: The screen name Mary Daily, and appeared in such films as Hands Across the Rockies (1941) with cowboy star Bill Elliott . During her Hollywood tenure, she also occasionally worked for her old boss, Walt Disney , did a vocal test for Snow White , voiced some supporting characters in Pinocchio and served a short stint in the Disney Studio's Ink-and-Paint department. In 1943, she married Navy aviator Robert McGhee, and

468-618: The series were several pioneers of animation: Ub Iwerks , Hugh Harman , Friz Freleng , and Carman Maxwell . The company had financial problems and by the end of 1922, Disney was living in the office and taking baths once a week at Union Station . During the studio's sales manager Leslie Mace's stay in New York, where he was looking for distributors, he ended up signing a contract for six animated shorts with Pictorial Clubs, Inc. of Tennessee on Sunday, September 16, 1922. Pictorial agreed to pay US$ 11,000 (equivalent to $ 200,231 in 2023) for

494-694: The studio have entered into the public domain as of 2019. The missing fairy tale cartoons were Jack and the Beanstalk , Jack the Giant Killer , and Goldie Locks and the Three Bears (all 1922). In October 2010, copies of all three cartoons had been found according to animation historian David Gerstein . For many years the two Jack cartoons were believed to be one, until researcher John Kenworthy located old studio assets sheets confirming that they were separate shorts. Virginia Davis Virginia Davis (December 31, 1918 – August 15, 2009)

520-585: The youthful Virginia Davis . Disney had noted how popular the Out of the Inkwell series from the Fleischer Studios was, which had animated characters interacting with the real world. By reversing this gimmick and using a real-life character in a cartoon universe instead, he hoped for a hit. Virginia Davis's contract with Laugh-O-Gram was signed by her parents on April 23, 1923, with terms giving her 5% of

546-601: The youthful charm still remains, making a rare and appreciated combination." While filming The Greater Glory , Davis signed a contract with Harry Carey and the two actors worked together in The Man From Red Gulch (1925). In December 1929, Davis was in the cast of The Blue Bird at the Pasadena Playhouse . The fairy play included Janet Horning, a child actress who was only two years old. The cast included 150 children. Recalling her work on

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572-482: Was 20 years old, Laugh-O-Gram Films (LOGF) was incorporated by him using the remaining assets of the defunct Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists from local investors. LOGF produced nine of the requested 12 films with little income. Encouraged and inspired by his shorts' popularity at the theatre, Disney decided he wanted to make his own animated versions of fairy tales too, and invested six months on his first attempt at Little Red Riding Hood . Among Disney's employees on

598-403: Was a timid little guy. By tapping him on the nose with my pencil, I trained him to run inside a black circle I drew on my drawing board. When I left Kansas City to try my luck at Hollywood, I hated to leave him behind. So I carefully carried him to a backyard, making sure it was a nice neighborhood, and the tame little fellow scampered to freedom. In 1928 during a train trip to New York, he showed

624-430: Was an American child actress in films. She is best known for working with Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks on the animated short series Alice Comedies , in which she portrayed the protagonist Alice. Davis was born on December 31, 1918, in Kansas City, Missouri . Her father, a furniture salesman, was often away on business. Davis began working for Walt Disney 's Kansas City company, Laugh-O-Gram Studio , in 1923. She

650-555: Was hired to act in a film called Alice's Wonderland , which combined live action with animation. When Laugh-O-Gram failed and Disney moved to Los Angeles, on the basis of Alice's Wonderland Winkler Pictures signed Disney for a series known as the Alice Comedies , or Alice in Cartoonland. Disney convinced Davis' family to bring her from Missouri to Los Angeles to star in the series. During this time, Davis resided at

676-564: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The application for listing describes the building as "a fine local example of tapestry brick design architecture; exterior facades are of brickwork interspersed with cut stone and/or terra cotta blocks to form geometric designs". Historical status generally protects buildings from demolition, but it had deteriorated to the point where this had been considered. A local organization, Thank You Walt Disney, Inc., has acquired

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