Pat Powers

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Patrick A. Powers (1869 - July 30, 1948) was an Irish-American businessman.

Born in County Waterford, Ireland, he is notable for his Powers Motion Picture Company that merged with Carl Laemmle's IMP film company and others in 1912 to create Universal Pictures. Powers later became associated with animation producers Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks.

In 1928, Powers sold Disney a bootlegged sound recording system called the Cinephone so that Disney could make sound cartoons such as Mickey Mouse's Steamboat Willie. Unable to find a distributor, Disney began releasing his cartoons through Powers' Celebrity Pictures company.

After two years of successful Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies cartoons, Disney confronted Powers in 1930 about monies he felt were due him. Powers responded by signing Disney's head animator Ub Iwerks to an exclusive deal to create his own animation studio.

The Ub Iwerks studio was only mildly successful, with cartoon series such as Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper, released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and the Comicolor cartoons, released by Celebrity. The Iwerks studio closed after 1936.

Patrick Powers died in New York City in 1948, aged 78 or 79.

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