Chronology of the Walt Disney Company

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References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2009 October 29.


1933

January 7
  • The Mickey Mouse film Building a Building is released to theaters. [16] [23] [15] (1931 [13])
  • The first issue of Topolino magazine ("Mickey Mouse" in Italian) is published in Italy. [113.146] (1932 [501.565] [650.50])
January
  • Kay Kamen produces the first Mickey Mouse Magazine. (Over nine months, nine issues are given out at movie theaters and department stores.) [113.142,328] [228.323] [650.50]
January 21
  • The Mickey Mouse film The Mad Doctor is released to theaters. Pluto also appears. [16] [7] [23] [15] [228.302]
February
  • Disney publishes the last issue of Mickey Mouse Melodeon. [113.328]
February 18
  • The Mickey Mouse film Mickey's Pal Pluto is released to theaters. Pluto and Minnie Mouse also appear. [16] [23] [228.327] [650.82]
March 11
  • The Silly Symphony film Birds in the Spring is released to theaters. [16] [23] [228.56]
March 18
  • The Mickey Mouse film Mickey's Mellerdrammer is released to theaters. Goofy and Horace Horsecollar also appear. [16] [23] [228.327]
April 8
  • The Mickey Mouse film Ye Olden Days is released to theaters. Dippy Dog (Goofy) and Minnie Mouse also appear. [16] [23] [501.625] (Ye Golden Days [15])
  • The Silly Symphony film Father Noah's Ark is released to theaters. [16] [23] [229.49] [228.176]
May 13
  • The Mickey Mouse film The Mail Pilot is released to theaters. [16] [23] [15] [228.306]
May 27
  • Radio City Music Hall in New York premieres the Silly Symphony film Three Little Pigs. The film cost US$60,000 to produce, but with revenue from merchandising, represents the studio's first profit-making film. [7] [13] [16] [15] [22] [229.49] [34.76] [40.139] [62] [23] [49.240] [90.29] [97.55] [113.109] [209.31] [321.26] [501.553] [1102.185]
June 9
  • Disney cancels William Levy's merchandising contract in England. [113.82]
June
  • Walfgang Reitherman joins the Disney company. [228.411] [1102.227]
  • Disney signs a contract with the Ingersoll Watch Company to produce Mickey Mouse watches, and the company sells the first Mickey Mouse watch, for US$3.25. [416.19] [501.599] (Ingersoll-Waterbury [96.75] [228.255])
June 17
  • The Mickey Mouse film Mickey's Mechanical Man is released to theaters. Minnie Mouse also appears. [16] [23] [228.327]
(month unknown)
  • A contract is signed between Disney and Whitman Books for a series of childrens books. [228.64]
  • The first Mickey Mouse Club in Britain is formed, at Darlington's Arcade Cinema. [96.81]
July 1
  • The Mickey Mouse film Mickey's Gala Premiere is released to theaters. Minnie Mouse and Pluto also appear. [16] [23] [228.326] (Mickey's Gala Premier [15])
  • Kay Kamen signs his first big merchandising contract with Walt Disney Enterprises. Kamen would receive 40% of receipts on the first US$100,000, and 50% of receipts above that. [113.109]
July
  • Walt Dusnet takes a business trip to New York, stopping on the way back in Chicago to see the Century of Progress Fair. [1102.192]
July 29
  • The Silly Symphony film Old King Cole is released to theaters. [16] [23]
August 19
  • The Silly Symphony film Lullaby Land is released to theaters. [16] [23] [228.298]
September 2
  • The Mickey Mouse film Puppy Love is released to theaters. Pluto and Minnie Mouse also appear. Fifi the dog makes her first appearance. [16] [23] [15] [97.60] [228.403]
September
  • The ninth and last issue of Kay Kamen's original Mickey Mouse Magazine is published. [113.142,328]
September 16
  • The Silly Symphony film The Pied Piper is released to theaters. [16] [23] [228.387]

September 30
  • The Mickey Mouse film The Steeplechase is released to theaters. [16] [23] [501.523]
October 28
  • The Mickey Mouse film The Pet Store is released to theaters. Minnie Mouse also appears. [16] [23] [15] [228.384]
November 10
  • The Fox Film Corporation releases the film My Lips Betray to theaters. The first scene shows a portion of the Mickey Mouse film Ye Olden Days on a TV in a car. Disney provided the 10 foot clip for free. [42.1457] [97.29]
November
  • The second Mickey Mouse Magazine is first published, on behalf of a chain of dairies, to advertise milk products. (The magazine is produced for two years.) [96.78] [113.142,328] [228.323] [650.50]
November 25
  • The Mickey Mouse film Giantland is released to theaters. [15] [228.205] (Giant Land [16])
December 2
  • Clarence Nash joins the Disney studio, as employee number 125. [434.37]
December 9
  • The Silly Symphony film The Night Before Christmas is released to theaters. The film is a sequel to the film Santa's Workshop. [16] [23] [228.357]
December 18
  • Walt Disney receives an award from Parents magazine for the creation of Mickey Mouse. [1102.194]

End of 1933. Next: 1934.
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1919-1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933
1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943
1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953
1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963
1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973
1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983
1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
2004 2005 2006 2007-end


A list of references to all source material is available.

Other web pages of interest:

  • Walt Disney on Postage Stamps
  • Chronology of Disneyland
  • Chronology of Walt Disney World
  • Chronology of Mickey Mouse
  • Chronology of Donald Duck
  • Chronology of Goofy
  • Disney References in Pop Culture
  • Polsson's Garage Sale - Walt Disney
  • Ken P's Today in History
  • Last updated: 2009 October 29.
    Copyright © 1995-2009 Ken Polsson (email: kpolsson@islandnet.com).
    URL: http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/disnehis/
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