The Walt Disney Company is an American media and entertainment company, responsible for many of what are known today as classic kids’ movies. Headquartered in Burbank, California, the company’s mission is to entertain, inform and inspire people around the globe through the power of unparalleled storytelling. Behind it all, the mastermind of Walt Disney himself has built this media empire. Along with Disney, the one who brought it all to life before the formation of Walt Disney Studios was Walt Disney’s first employee: Fred Harman.

Harman met Disney through working together at the Kansas City Film Ad Company when he was 20 years old. After becoming good colleagues at work, they decided to open their own animation studio, which is when Disney hired Harman. They made a deal with a local Kansas City theater to play their own cartoons, known as Laugh-O-Grams. Also recruiting Fred Harman’s brother, Hugh Harman, they created their animation studio, titled Laugh-O-Gram. 

Despite the cartoons being well-loved, the company was in debt that could not be paid off, and went broke within a year. While the company did not last nearly as long as the current media giant, the series they created that consisted of seven-minute fairy tales that combined both live-action and animation inspired current Disney productions and brought them to a new and recognizable light back in the 1920s.

After the company came to a close, Harman went back to Colorado. After working with Laugh-O-Gram, Harmon began working on what he is best known for: the popular Red Ryder comic strip. He worked with writer and comic syndicator Stephen Slesinger to fabricate Red Ryder and bring Slesinger’s vision to life, as he was a genuine cowboy himself. He drew it for 25 years, reaching 40 million readers through 750 newspapers.

Cover Picture from Tyler Nix