In 1922, a young Walt Disney founded Laugh-O-Gram Studio in Kansas City to produce short animated films. The studio landed a distribution deal but was never paid what it was owed, and by 1923 it had run out of money entirely.
Too poor to afford an apartment, Disney reportedly slept on a couch in his own studio and bathed once a week at Kansas City's Union Station. He sold his camera to help fund a one-way train ticket to Hollywood, arriving with almost nothing. Years later, after building a new studio around a successful character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney lost the legal rights to Oswald in a contract dispute with his distributor — along with most of the animation staff, who were poached at the same time.
Rather than fight for Oswald, Disney and his remaining team created a new character to replace him: Mickey Mouse, first released in 1928. That character became the foundation of an entertainment empire — The Walt Disney Company is valued today at well over $200 billion.
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