Walt Disney Studios (Burbank) - History

History

Prior to the official opening of the Burbank lot in 1940, The Walt Disney Studios was located at several different locations in Los Angeles and Hollywood. During Summer 1923, Walt Disney created 'The Disney Bros Cartoon Studio' in his Uncle Robert Disney's garage, located at 4406 Kingswell Avenue, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. His brother Roy O. Disney was also in Los Angeles at the time. During October 1923, the brothers moved to a bigger lot, located in a former real estate agency at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney accepted Margaret Winkler's, of Universal Studios' offer to distribute the new Alice Comedies starring Virginia Davis. It was also at this site were on January 14, 1924, Walt Disney met his future wife Lillian Bounds, an Ink and Paint girl whom he personally hired. In February 1924, the studio moved next door to 4649 Kingswell Avenue.

In 1925, Walt Disney placed a deposit on a new, considerably larger lot at 2719 Hyperion Avenue. It was here were, after a train journey with his wife Lillian, Walt fully created the character of Mickey Mouse in 1928. The first color animation, the Silly Symphony, Flowers and Trees and the first animated cartoon using the multiplane camera, The Old Mill was created. In 1937, the Hyperion Studio produced the worlds first animated full length feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney's staff also began to grow at this studio, and Disney Legends such as Disney's Nine Old Men began their careers. The studio was closed down in 1940, however name 'Hyperion' has been used for multiple divisions and attractions within The Walt Disney Company including Hyperion Books and the Hyperion Theater at Disney California Adventure Park.

The current Walt Disney Studios, located at 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, was built from the revenue from the 1937 release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney and his staff began the move from the old studio at Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake on December 24, 1939. Designed primarily by Kem Weber under the supervision of Walt Disney and his brother Roy, the Burbank Disney Studio buildings are the only studios that have been owned by The Walt Disney Company to survive from the Golden Age of filming. A bungalow and other small buildings that were located at the Hyperion Avenue location were moved to Burbank.

The Walt Disney Studios was originally designed around the animation process, with the large animation building in the center of the campus, and adjacent buildings for the story department, the music department, the ink-and-paint departments, and the other various functions of the studio. Both above-ground walkways and tunnels connected the buildings, and the campus also included a movie theatre and a number of soundstages. The Disney feature The Reluctant Dragon, starring Robert Benchley, served as a tour of the then-new studio, which was also frequently seen and toured on the various Walt Disney television programs.

In the late 1940s, the studio began regular work on live-action features, as they needed the money. Though their first films were shot in England, the necessity to build live-action facilities still arose. Lacking the capital to do it themselves, Jack Webb offered to put up some of the money to build live-action stages in exchange for their use (Webb used it to shoot much of the Dragnet TV series). During this time, back lots were also built and remained standing at the studios until the management change of the mid-1980s.

In 1986, after the corporate restructuring of Walt Disney Productions into The Walt Disney Company, the buildings were remodeled to accommodate more live-action production space and administrative offices. The studios lot is now made up of multiple office and administration buildings and ten soundstages.