Margaret J. Winkler Mintz (April 22, 1895 – June 21, 1990) was a key figure in
silent animation history, having a crucial role to play in the histories of
Max
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
and
Dave Fleischer
Dave Fleischer (; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City.
Biography
Fleischer was the y ...
,
Pat Sullivan,
Otto Messmer
Otto James Messmer (August 16, 1892 – October 28, 1983) was an American animator known for his work on the Felix the Cat cartoons and comic strip produced by the Pat Sullivan studio.
The extent of Messmer's role in the creation and populari ...
, and
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
. She was the first woman to produce and distribute animated films. Winkler was the subject of a feature film ''
Walt Before Mickey
''Walt Before Mickey'' is a 2015 American biographical drama film about the early years of Walt Disney based on the book ''Walt Before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919–1928'' by Timothy S. Susanin, with a foreword written by Diane Disney. The ...
''.
Early life and career
Hungarian-born of German descent, Winkler began her career as the personal secretary of
Harry Warner
Harry Morris Warner (born Hirsz Mojżesz Wonsal; December 12, 1881 – July 25, 1958) was an American studio executive, one of the founders of Warner Bros., and a major contributor to the development of the film industry. Along with his three y ...
, one of the founders of
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
. Through most of the silent era, Warner Brothers was strictly a film distributor, and Harry Warner was the man who made the deals. In 1917, Warner Brothers began distributing cartoons of ''
Mutt and Jeff
''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newsp ...
'' in New York and New Jersey. Warner was impressed with Winkler's talents.
In 1921, Winkler founded
M.J. Winkler Pictures
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
(later
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American brand name used by Sony Pictures' Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. It has served several different purposes for its parent ...
) and signed a contract with
Pat Sullivan Productions to produce ''
Felix the Cat
Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer during the silent film era. An anthropomorphic black cat with white eyes, a black body, and a giant grin, he was one of the most recognized cartoon charac ...
'' cartoons. The following year she signed another contract to distribute for
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...
on the ''
Out of the Inkwell
''Out of the Inkwell'' is an American major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929.
History
The series was the result of three short experimental films that Max Fleischer independently produced from 191 ...
'' series. This established her reputation as the top distributor in the cartoon world. It was a good thing, because at the end of the same year the Fleischer brothers, flush with success as a result of Winkler's work, left her to form their own distribution company, Red Seal Pictures. However much Sullivan helped Winkler's business, he and Winkler were constantly fighting. In September 1923, the renewal of his contract came up, and his unrealistic demands meant M.J. Winkler Pictures might have to survive for a while without its biggest star. Winkler viewed a pilot reel, called ''
Alice's Wonderland
''Alice's Wonderland'' is a 1923 Walt Disney short silent film, produced in Kansas City, Missouri by Laugh-O-Gram Studio. The black-and-white short was the first in a series of Walt Disney's famous ''Alice Comedies'' and had a working title of ...
'' (1923), submitted by then neophyte animator Walt Disney, the first entry in the ''
Alice Comedies
The ''Alice Comedies'' are a series of animated/live-action shorts created by Walt Disney in the 1920s, in which a live action little girl named Alice (originally played by Virginia Davis) and an animated cat named Julius have adventures in an ...
'' series.
Winkler was intrigued with the idea of a live-action girl in a cartoon world, and signed Disney to a year-long contract despite the fact that
Laugh-O-Gram Studio
The Laugh-O-Gram Studio (also called Laugh-O-Gram Studios) was a short-lived film studio located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, Missouri that operated from June 28, 1921 to November 20, 1923.
...
, the studio that made the cartoon, was now bankrupt.
Disney subsequently formed a new studio,
Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, which was the first cartoon studio in Hollywood and eventually changed its name to
Walt Disney Productions
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
. Disney was helped by the tutelage of Winkler, who insisted on editing all of the "Alice Comedies" episodes herself. One of her suggestions was the addition of a suspiciously Felix-like character called Julius. This was apparently the "straw that broke the camel's back" for Sullivan, who signed with rival distributor
E. W. Hammons of
Educational Pictures
Educational Pictures, also known as Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. or Educational Films Corporation of America, was an American film production and film distribution company founded in 1916 by Earle (E. W.) Hammons (1882–1962). Educational pr ...
in 1925.
Winkler was the first female member of the Motion Picture Producer's Guild. To disguise her gender, she would sign letters "M.J. Winkler."
Marriage
In 1924, she married
Charles B. Mintz
Charles Bear Mintz (November 5, 1889 – December 30, 1939)''Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014''. Social Security Administration. was an American film producer and distributor who assumed control over Margaret J. Winkler's Winkler Pictu ...
, a film distributor who had been working for her since 1922. Soon after she had her first child and retired from the business, turning her company over to her husband who renamed it Winkler Productions in 1926. The couple had two children, Katherine and William. The company was eventually renamed Screen Gems.
Death
Winkler died on June 21, 1990 in
Mamaroneck, New York
Mamaroneck ( ) is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States.
The population was 31,758 at the 2020 United States census over 29,156 at the 2010 census. There are two villages contained within the town: Larchmont and the Village of Ma ...
. She was 95 years old.
Margaret Winkler obituary
''L.A. Times''. June 24, 1990
References
Sources
* John Canemaker
John Cannizzaro Jr. (born 1943), better known as John Canemaker, is an American independent animator, animation historian, author, teacher and lecturer. In 1980, he began teaching and developing the animation program at New York University, Tisch S ...
; ''Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World's Most Famous Cat''; Pantheon Books; (1991)
* Donald Crafton; ''Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898–1928''; University of Chicago Press; (2nd edition, paperback, 1993)
* Denis Gifford; ''American Animated Films: The Silent Era, 1897–1929''; McFarland & Company; (library binding, 1990)
* Leonard Maltin; ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons''; Penguin Books; (1980, 1987)
* Russell Merritt and J. B. Kaufman; ''Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney''; Johns Hopkins University Press; (paperback, 1993)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winkler, Margaret
1895 births
1990 deaths
20th-century American businesspeople
20th-century American businesswomen
American film producers
American animated film producers
American film studio executives
American people of German descent
Hungarian emigrants to the United States
Film distributors (people)
Place of birth missing
American women animators
Screen Gems
Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery