Walt Disney

“All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

-Walt Disney

Walt Disney’s early life

He was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois. Disney was one of five children. He lived most of his childhood in Marceline, Missouri. He began drawing there where he was painting and selling pictures to neighbors and family friends. Disney went to McKinley High School in Chicago, where he took drawing and photography classes. He was drawing cartoons for the school paper. At night, he took courses at the Chicago Art Institute. When Disney was 16, he dropped out of school to join the army but was rejected for being underage. He then joined the Red Cross and was sent to France for a year.

Getting startedDisney returned from France in 1919. He moved back to Kansas City to become a newspaper artist. From there, Disney worked at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he made commercials based on cutout animation. Disney started to experiment with a camera, doing hand-drawn cel animation, and decided to open his own business. From the ad company, he recruited Fred Harman as his first employee. They got there cartoons to be shown at a local theatre in Kansas City. They called their cartoons Laugh-O-Gram. The cartoons became popular and the partners hired more people. They then created a series of seven minute fairytales called Alice in Cartoon land.

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

-Walt Disney

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Obstacles In 1923 the studio became buried in debt and they became bankrupt. Disney and his brother then got some money and moved to California. Iwerks one of Disney’s employees also moved to California with them. To distribute their cartoons they made a deal with Margaret Wrinkler. They also created a new character called Oswald. Disney the hired an artist named Lillian Bound who he later married. A couple of years later Disney found out that Wrinkler and her husband stole the rights to Oswald and all of their animators except for Iwerks. Disney and the rest of his group quickly then created three cartoons. They created silent Mickey Mouse cartoons but they failed. When sound came into the film industry Disney made another Mickey Mouse cartoon and it did very well.

Achievements In 1929, Disney created Silly Symphonies, which

included Mickey's newly created friends. Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. One of their most popular cartoons, Flowers and Trees, was the first to be produced in color and to win an Oscar. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Disney’s first full-length animated. It was premiered in Los Angeles. It produced $1.499 million, in spite of the Depression, and won a total of eight Oscars. During the next five years, Walt Disney Studios completed another string of full-length animated films, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi.

The next five years, Walt Disney Studios accomplished another batch of full-length animated films, which were Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi.” He continued to create films including Cinderella which was released in 1950, followed by Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), a live-action film called Treasure Island (1950), Lady in the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959) and 101 Dalmatians (1961).”(Walt Disney bio.) In all, more than 100 features were produced by his studio. Disney was also among the first to use television as an entertainment medium. Disney's $17 million Disneyland theme park opened in 1955. The park was a place where children and their families could have fun take rides and meet their favorite Disney characters. The park did extremely well. Disney’s last major success was Mary Poppins, which he produced himself.

Walt Disney created some of the most popular animated characters. He opened Disneyland which was the first big modern theme park. He died when Disney World in Florida was in its planning stages, but he left a legacy including Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. And there are still more Disneylands being created all around the world. Without him most modern theme parks probably wouldn't exist

Walt Disney inspired kids all around the world to keep dreaming. He also inspired many animators to keep trying no matter the obstacle. He inspires anyone who is starting out. He taught kids that you could become whatever you want in life with hard work. And to be yourself. He inspires me by how he was not famous before and through hard work he became famous and will always be remembered.

Contributions

How he inspires

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.-Walt Disney

InterviewBy Fletcher Markel 1963

Ethnography

1. How did you come up with idea

of starting Disneyland?

I took my daughters out to merry-

go-round and as I sat on the bench

I thought why I can’t make a

place where parents and kids have

a good time.

2. Why did you start to make live

action films?

I wanted to do more things and

make Walt Disney Production

more diverse.

3. What made you want to start

drawing cartoons?

I just wanted to entertain people

and I have always liked drawing

cartoons.

1. How do you think Disney inspired people?He showed people you could do whatever you want in life.

2. What’s your favorite Disney movie?Cinderella

“Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.”

-Walt Disney

“If you can dream it you can do it.”

-Walt Disney

Mla

“Walt Elias Disney.”2014. The BiographyChannel Website.

“Disney History.”2014. The Walt Disney Company.