Celebrity Productions Inc. was a film production and distribution company headed by Pat Powers. It was responsible for distributing the first 15 Mickey Mouse cartoons produced by Walt Disney Productions.
History[]
Powers made an unsuccessful takeover bid for DeForest Phonofilm, a sound film company run by Lee De Forest. Powers hired Bill Garity, a former DeForest technician, to produce a cloned version of the Phonofilm sound recording system after the failed takeover attempt. It became "Powers Cinephone".
After a failed attempt to find a distributor for Plane Crazy, Walt Disney decided to use synchronized sound for the Mickey Mouse cartoons. This decision led Walt to Powers, and Powers agreed to let Disney use the Cinephone sound system and to distribute Disney's cartoons through Celebrity Productions.
Problems would arise with Disney's contract with Powers, however. Their contract allowed Powers to advance Walt money on each film against its expected profit, but Powers did not have to send a receipt showing how much each cartoon was earning. When Walt's brother Roy suspected that Powers was swindling them, the two hired Gunther Lessing as their attorney and satisfied all the legal requirements owed to Powers while they looked for a different distributor. In response to this, Powers hired away Ub Iwerks and formed his own animation studio. Columbia Pictures would take over the distribution of future Mickey Mouse cartoons.[2]
Mickey Mouse Filmography[]
- Steamboat Willie
- The Gallopin' Gaucho
- Plane Crazy
- The Barn Dance
- The Opry House
- When the Cat's Away
- The Barnyard Battle
- The Plowboy
- The Karnival Kid
- Mickey's Choo-Choo
- Mickey's Follies
- The Jazz Fool
- Jungle Rhythm
- The Haunted House
- Wild Waves