On Oct. 16, 1923, Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in California, the company that grew into today's Walt Disney Co., HISTORY and NPR reported.

That same day, film producer Margaret Winkler agreed to produce and distribute a new Disney series called the Alice Comedies, NPR reported. That contract is considered the founding document of the company, NPR said.

Walt Disney had come to California after his Kansas City company, Laugh-O-Gram, went bankrupt in 1923, HISTORY reported. In the summer of 1923, he used some of his last $40 to buy a train ticket to Los Angeles, where he and Roy began making cartoons in their uncle's garage, according to Disney, NPR reported.

The Alice Comedies mixed a live-action girl named Alice with cartoon characters, including her cat Julius, NPR said. HISTORY reported that the brothers persuaded Virginia Davis, who played Alice, and their collaborator Ub Iwerks to join them in Hollywood.

Winkler, a Hungarian immigrant, had started her career at 18 as a secretary for studio executive Harry Warner, NPR reported. She had already made Felix the Cat a global star. "If your comedies are what you say they are and what I think they should be, we can do business," she wrote to Walt Disney, NPR said.

Before signing, Walt checked on Winkler's "responsibility and standing" with Warner, NPR reported. "She is responsible for anything she may undertake," Warner replied.

After the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney introduced Mickey Mouse in the 1928 short Steamboat Willie, HISTORY said. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs followed in 1937. Today the company owns ABC, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, HISTORY reported.

What we know: The Disney brothers founded their studio on Oct. 16, 1923, the day Winkler agreed to the Alice Comedies deal.
What we don't: How much the first Alice Comedies earned the brothers.