When it was founded in 1923, Walt Disney Productions consisted of a small cracker-box studio in Hollywood housing a small group of creative artists headed by a young visionary who had recently arrived from the Midwest to produce cartoons for the movies. Beyond that, there was little more than a paper menagerie of barnyard animals and a mouse nicknamed "Mickey" who emerged at night to seek crumbs left behind by the artists. Five years later, that mouse had made the jump to the silver screen starring in Plane Crazy (1928) with the assistance of artist Ub Iwerks who supplied the artwork and Walt Disney, himself who came up with the trademark squeaky voice. The company was on its way.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Disneyland.

At the end of the twentieth century, The Walt Disney Co. was considered by many to be the most...