# Disney Brothers signs with Margaret Winkler to produce the Alice Comedies, mixing a live child with animation in Hollywood

Date: 1923

## The fact

In October 1923 Walt and Roy Disney contracted with Margaret J. Winkler to produce Alice Comedies in Hollywood, combining a live girl with cartoon friends. He did not yet own Oswald or Mickey. Industrial path: a new hybrid product line on the West Coast. Archival locator: D23 — [Walt Disney](/people/walt-disney) at https://d23.com/walt-disney/ (D23 / The Walt Disney Company). Independent locator: Library of Congress — Dave Smith, Steamboat Willie (National Film Registry essay) at https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/steamboat_willie.pdf (Library of Congress / National Film Preservation Board).

## Context

The unfinished Kansas City Alice’s Wonderland reel was the sample. Iwerks soon joined. This is not Oswald and not Steamboat Willie. Lillian Bounds worked at the studio and later married Walt; that household is related, not this contract. Archival locator: D23 — Walt Disney at https://d23.com/walt-disney/ (D23 / The Walt Disney Company). Independent locator: Library of Congress — Dave Smith, Steamboat Willie (National Film Registry essay) at https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/steamboat_willie.pdf (Library of Congress / National Film Preservation Board).

Shared responsibility is part of Disney Brothers signs with Margaret Winkler to produce the Alice Comedies, mixing a live child with animation in Hollywood. Naming Walt Disney does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1923-10-16 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

## Evidence and sources

D23’s Walt page independently describes the Hollywood start and Alice. The LoC Steamboat Willie essay independently calls Alice Comedies an early Hollywood series before Oswald. Britannica aligns. No unique episode-profit table is invented. Archival locator: D23 — Walt Disney at https://d23.com/walt-disney/ (D23 / The Walt Disney Company). Independent locator: Library of Congress — Dave Smith, Steamboat Willie (National Film Registry essay) at https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/steamboat_willie.pdf (Library of Congress / National Film Preservation Board).

Official or archival record: D23 — Walt Disney (https://d23.com/walt-disney/; D23 / The Walt Disney Company).

## Significance

A hybrid series that creates a durable studio is an industrial path. High confidence on 1923 as the Hollywood start. Later corporate renaming is not this contract. Archival locator: D23 — Walt Disney at https://d23.com/walt-disney/ (D23 / The Walt Disney Company). Independent locator: Library of Congress — Dave Smith, Steamboat Willie (National Film Registry essay) at https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/steamboat_willie.pdf (Library of Congress / National Film Preservation Board).

## What is established and what is not

Established: 1923 Winkler contract and Alice series. Not established: a unique box-office census. 16 October 1923 as received contract neighbourhood. Not 1928. Archival locator: D23 — Walt Disney at https://d23.com/walt-disney/ (D23 / The Walt Disney Company). Independent locator: Library of Congress — Dave Smith, Steamboat Willie (National Film Registry essay) at https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/steamboat_willie.pdf (Library of Congress / National Film Preservation Board).

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Laugh-O-Gram’s Kansas City failure is a separate Fact. Mixed effects of Disney Brothers signs with Margaret Winkler to produce the Alice Comedies, mixing a live child with animation in Hollywood are separate paths.

The contribution type is direct. The attached driver is [industrial-policy-activism](/drivers/industrial-policy-activism). The welfare reading used in this dossier is improving. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

## People

- Walt Disney: https://factrail.ai/people/walt-disney

## Drivers

- Industrial-Policy Activism: https://factrail.ai/drivers/industrial-policy-activism

## Sources

- https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/steamboat_willie.pdf
- https://d23.com/walt-disney/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/wd-alice-comedies