Celebrity Productions Directory

After Walt Disney and longtime collaborator Ub Iwerks had a falling out in 1930, Pat Powers backed Iwerks in creating his own studio, Iwerks Studio. Iwerks' first two series- Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper were distributed by MGM. Iwerks and Powers tried to sell this series through MGM, too, but MGM rejected the series because they found it too dark. The mid-thirties has the studios more focused on kids with their animated films, and Iwerks' shorts were too adult for MGM's liking. Rejected, Iwerks and Powers created and distributed a third series through their own company, Celebrity Productions, but never reached the number of theaters- or the money- they could have with a major distributor.