The Walt Disney Company has evolved from a wholesome family-oriented entertainment company into a massive multimedia conglomerate. Not only is Disney a media producer, but it also distributes its own and others' media products through a variety of channels, operates theme parks and resorts, and produces, sells and licenses consumer products based on Disney characters and other intellectual properties. CEO Michael Eisner has been instrumental in many of these changes. How can such extensive changes occur in an effort to maintain the Disney brand? Disney Through the Years After the failure of his first movie business, artist Walt Disney and his brother Roy opened a movie studio in Hollywood in 1923. The first Mickey Mouse cartoon, Crazy Plane, was completed in 1928. Steamboat Willie , the first cartoon with a soundtrack, was the third production. The studio's first animated feature film was Snow White in 1937, followed by Fantasia and Pinocchio in the 1940s. Disneyland, the theme park largely developed by Walt, opened in 1955 in Anaheim, California. The television series, Mickey Mouse Club, ran from 1955 to 1959, and the weekly Disney television series (under different names, including The Wonderful World of Disney) ran for 29 consecutive years. (1)Walt Disney died in 1966 of lung cancer. Disney World in Orlando, Florida opened in 1971, the same year Roy Disney died. His son, Roy E., took over the organization. However, the creative leadership of brothers Walt and Roy Disney was noticeably absent. Walt's son-in-law, Ron Miller, became president in 1980. Many industry observers believed that Disney had lost its creative energy and sense of direction due to poor corporate leadership and nepotism. In 1984, the Bass family... at the center of the newspaper...y", Academy of Achievement Lobby, http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/eis0bio-14. Oneale, Michael. “The Kingdom of Disney,” Business Week, August 14, 1995: 30-34.5. Lubove, Seth and La Franco, Robert. “Why Mickey Doesn't Talk Much These Days,” Forbes, 8-25-97: 45-46.6. “Disney,” Value Line Investment Survey, 1998.7. Günther, Marc. “What's Wrong with This Picture?” .10. The Walt Disney Company Fact Book 2000: 44.11. 7.12. Shlachter, Barry and Fuquay, Jim. “Disney Holds Annual Stockholders Meeting in Fort Worth, Texas,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 7, 2001.13. Book of Facts 2002: op of facts 2002, op., 19.15. Book of facts 2002, op. 26.16. Book of facts 2002, op. 38.17. Annual report of the Walt Disney Company: 3.18.