As the studio marks its 90th anniversary today, Disney opened up its vault and gave BuzzFeed images and inside stories on some of its most iconic and important moments.
The contract that created the Walt Disney Company, 1923
On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney signed a deal with early industry titan Margaret Winler to create a series of cartoon-live action hybrid shorts called the Alice Comedies. The contract, the last page of which can be seen above, established the Walt Disney Company.
An original script and storyboard for Steamboat Willie, 1928
This original page from the script of Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey Mouse short, was found in Walt Disney's files several years after he died. The artwork was done by Ub Iwerks, the man who headed up the animation for the early Disney films, while the story came from Walt. Disney is actually the studio that came up with the storyboarding device, which is now a regular part of film pre-production.
Sketches for the Technicolor revolution, 1932
After initial success, the Technicolor corporation was having trouble getting movie studios to use its new technology to add color to their films. During the Great Depression, moviegoers didn't spring for frills, and producers didn't want to spare any profit margin. Walt Disney, though, decided to make his short Flowers and Trees with what was known as Process 4, the company's newest advancement in the technology. It was such a spectacular success — winning the first Oscar for short film — that he negotiated an exclusive three-year contract on the process. Ironically, it was Ub Iwerks, the man who created the design for Mickey Mouse, who made the first Technicolor cartoon, 1930's Fiddlesticks, while he was on a decade-long sabbatical from Disney.
A brainstormed list of alternate names for the seven dwarves, circa 1935
The now-iconic names of the Snow White's dwarves could have been very different. For example, Doc could have been named Dink, Grumpy was almost Squing, Bashful nearly Wiggsy, Dopey was in danger of being Doopo, and Happy was almost Toots. They also totally changed another dwarf, one they had originally conceived of as Deafy.
