Producer Amedee J. Van Beuren first became involved in the animation industry in 1920, when he formed a partnership with Paul Terry and formed the "Aesop's Fables Studio" for the production of the Aesop's Film Fables cartoon series. van Beuren released Terry's first sound cartoon Dinner Time (1928) (a month before Disney's Steamboat Willie) through Pathé Exchange which later became part of RKO. Terry ran the animation studio while van Beuren focused on other parts of the business. In 1929, Terry quit to start his own Terrytoons studio and John Foster took over the animation department. It was at this time that the Fables Studio became the Van Beuren Studio.
