Having returned home from his wedding and honeymoon with his new bride Lillian, Walt turned his focus back to his work. The Alice films were beginning to garner national attention, and Charles Mintz would attempt to use this as leverage against Walt Disney to negotiate more favorable terms in their next contract. Tensions between the two men would begin to rise and Walt would be forced to make a number of important decisions regarding the future of his beloved film series.

As Walt Disney continued to expand his studio staff, he hired several young ladies to work as ink and painters. Although Walt did not chase women, he did start to catch the eye of one of these young ladies in particular. Her name was Lillian Bounds, and as Roy and Edna finally tied the knot, Walt and Lillian served as best man and maid of honer respectively. Walt's first love was always animation, but he began making room in his heart for Lillian. All this and more on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

Walt Disney's relationship with his distributor Margaret Winkler was going well. Both of their visions for the future of the Alice series were generally aligned with one another. Somewhat unexpectedly however, Walt found himself dealing with a new distributor all together. With a new distributor came a new contract. With a new contract came an expanded staff and with an expanded staff came more of Walt's Laugh-O-Gram buddies. Hear all this and more, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

With the first Alice films now finished and well received by the public, Walt Disney and Margaret Winkler decided to speed up production on the films and produce not 1, but 2 films per month. This meant an increase in workload for the already understaffed Disney Bros. Studio. For weeks Walt had been corresponding with old friend Ub Iwerks in hopes of luring him to California. Will Ub join Walt in Hollywood or pass on the opportunity? Plus, hear about the emergence of Walt Disney's first recurring cartoon character. All of that and more, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

Walt had his contract from Margaret Winkler signed and ready to go, but being unsure of how to proceed, he would turn to his brother Roy for help getting his new venture off the ground. He needed an office space, supplies, a camera but most importantly he needed animators. Would he find some talented artists or would he go it alone? What was the process he would use to create his combination live-action, animation vision? And would he finish them on time and to the standards his distributor was expecting? We'll answer all these questions and more, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

When Walt was in Kansas City, he had an animation company and no distribution. When he moved to California, he had acquired distribution but had no animation company. In October of 1923, with a contract in hand for his Alice films, Walt now had to figure out how he was going to produce the series. He turned to Older brother Roy for advice. Hear this story and more on episode 31 of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

With Walt Disney settling into life in California, he received some news he had long been hoping for. A film distributor from New York had seen a reel of 'Alice's Wonderland' and wanted to negotiate a distribution deal. Who was the distributor? What were the terms of the contract? All this and more on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

When Walt Disney first arrived in Hollywood, CA in 1923, he knew he wanted to be in the movie business. He just wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do. He had not completely given up on animation, but it did take a back seat to his new hope of becoming a live-action director at a major motion picture studio. In this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast you'll hear all about Walt's first days and weeks in California, and the plans and dreams he began to piece together during that time.

Walt Disney put everything he had into his Laugh-O-Gram's animation studio. It was his dream come true in his early 20's. Unfortunately Walt's lack of experience showed. By summer of 1923 both Walt and his studio were at rock bottom. Would Walt stay in Kansas City and keep trying his hand with Laugh-O-Grams? Or, would he leave town in search of his next dream? Find out, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

By 1923, Walt Disney had hit rock bottom. Not just with his animation studio, but personally as well. Neither he nor Laugh-O-Grams had any money and Walt needed a hit cartoon badly if he was going to keep his dream alive and keep his beloved studio afloat. In what essentially amounted to a last ditch effort, Walt dreamed of a new series that would combine both animation and live-action in a way that had never been seen on screen before. Would it work? Or was it too little, too late... All this and more, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.