Margaret J. Winkler

Margaret Winkler Mintz, known professionally as Margaret J. Winkler or M.J. Winkler (April 22, 1895 – June 21, 1990), was an American film producer and distributor. A major figure in American animation history, Winkler distributed the early silent animated short films of Max and Dave Fleischer (Out of the Inkwell), Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer (Felix the Cat), and Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks (the Alice Comedies), playing a crucial role in each of their histories. She was the first woman to distribute animated films, and to produce them as well: in 1925, she began self-producing a series of Krazy Kat cartoons with Bill Nolan as the creative producer/director.

After marrying fellow film executive Charles Mintz and starting a family, Winkler retired from the film industry. Mintz took over her company, M.J. Winkler Productions, which would become Winkler Pictures, the Charles Mintz Studio, and, eventually, the Screen Gems animation studio subsidiary of Columbia Pictures.