Kansas City Slide Co.
A rare 1925 Kansas City Slide Co. Shipping Package
(Three years after Walt left Kansas City for Los Angeles)
Author’s Collection
In the January 29, 1920 edition of the Kansas City Star, there appeared an ad placed by the Kansas City Slide Company for a “First Class Man” who could create cartoons and wash drawings, the latter being a technique where a semi-transparent layer of color is applied in combination with a pen drawing, in a manner similar to watercolor painting. Walt applied for the position and was hired. Ub Iwwerks would be hired soon afterwards.
When Walt saw the innovative animated film Gertie the Dinosaur in Kansas City’s Wonderland Theatre in late 1914 or early 1915, he likely also saw a number of slide advertisements displayed before and after the film, during reel changes, and perhaps even as commercials during the show, each very likely produced by the Kansas City Slide Co. He may have also seen one of the Kansas City Slide Co.’s “motion picture” ads, complete with the name Kansas City Motion Picture Co. displayed at the base of each individual slide. If he didn’t see them here, he no doubt saw them presented during other films he watched in town. As a result, when Walt saw the Help Wanted ad placed by the Kansas City Slide Co., he was fully aware that they were producing “motion pictures”, under the name of the Kansas City Motion Picture Co., making it the most promising opportunity in Kansas City for him to pursue his dreams of becoming an animator.
You can learn much more about the Kansas City Slide Co., as well as the kind of slides and “motion pictures” Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks were producing there, in the book Disney History - Rare & Unknown.
