Disney in the UMKC Archives

So, why does the UMKC Libraries have photos of Walt Disney in our archival collections? Known as a “creative photographer,” Baron Siroon Missakian captured the images of Kansas City’s resident and visiting performers during the Jazz Age, a time when Kansas City was one of the most dynamic arts centers in America. His camera not only documented the worlds of classical music and dance, but also the new popular entertainments, vaudeville and the movies. By 1926 he was well established and garnered awards for his studio portraits. Among those photographed were Missakian’s friend and neighbor Walt Disney, Milton Berle, and Sir Carl Busch, founder of the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra.¹

Disney established the production company Laugh-O-Gram Films in an office located across the hall in the same building as Missakian’s studio. Disney’s personal secretary was Nadine, who later married Missakian and then donated a large collection of photographs and other memorabilia, including the Disney materials in this display, to LaBudde Special Collections.²

“Martha”

This recording of the song “Martha” is digitized from an original in our Sound Archives. Disney’s Kansas City company created short silent films called Song-O-Reels, which played at local movie theaters. One of them was created around this song and a recording of this music would have played concurrently with the film.

Disney on the radio

Recordings of Walt Disney speaking are fairly rare. Listen to this radio broadcast clip from the 1940s in which Disney talks about creating the characters of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and performs the voice of Mickey Mouse.