It is hard to imagine our world without the magic brought to us by Walt Disney. So lets go back to where it all started. Who was Mr. Disney?
His story began in Hermosa, Illinois where he was born in 1901. He was one of five children of Elias and Flora Disney. Walter Elias Disney spent most of his childhood in Marceline, Missouri and moved to Kansas City in 1911. His chief childhood interests were trains and drawing. From a young age he would draw and paint pictures and sell them to family and friends. As a high school student he took drawing and photography lessons and was a cartoonist for the school paper. He attended The Art Institute of Chicago for night courses.
In 1919 Walt decided to pursue a career as a newspaper artist. His brother Roy Disney who later co founded the Walt Disney Company found him a job at Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio. He also worked at the Kansas City Film Ad company. This is when he began experimenting with commercials based on cut-out animation, hand drawn cel animation and the camera. He named his cartoons ‘Laugh O Grams.’ Shortly after this, the Disney Brothers Studio was set up between Walt, his brother Roy and cartoonist Ub Iwerks. During this time a character known as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was invented.
Unfortunately the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit were stolen and the Disney crew had to come up with another character. This character was Mickey Mouse. The first animated shorts for Mickey were The Gallopin’ Gaucho, which were both silent films. These cartoons were not so successful due to lack of distribution. Steamboat Willie was the third cartoon to be created upon the introduction of sound into film and was an instant success. The following year Disney created a cartoon called Instant Symphonies, which featured Mickey and his newly created friends, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. The first cartoon to be created in colour was Flowers and Trees, which won Disney an Oscar. The ball was now rolling.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney’s first full length animated film, hit the spotlight in 1937 producing $1.499 million, in spite of the Depression and also won eight Oscars. Snow White was followed by some other classic favourites, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi. Walt Disney studios was finally opened in 1939 where some other Walt Disney classics were produced including Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Lady and the Tramp. As well as his animations, Disney became popular for other forms of television entertainment. He was indeed one of the first people to use television as an entertainment medium. Shows such as The Zorro and The Mickey Mouse Club were popular with children. He used his Sunday night show Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Colour to promote his new theme park. What can I say, the man was a genius.
On July 17th 1955 Disney embraced a new challenge by opening up the first ever Disneyland theme park where families could meet Disney characters and enjoy rides. Disney World in Florida was under construction when Disney was diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 65. Walt died on December 15th 1966 and his brother Roy followed through with the Florida theme park project, which eventually opened in 1971.
Walt Disney Productions is one of the best- known motion picture production companies in the world. During his lifetime, Disney became known as one of the most innovative animators and won 22 academy awards. His efforts and notions have led to The Walt Disney Company becoming a leading diversified global entertainment and media enterprise; a colossal success, an international phenomenon and an inspiration to the world of creativity and innovation. He started the magic and left us with a lifetime of enchantment, dreams and delight. Can we ever thank him enough?
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| Lets hear it for Walt Disney! |
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