Walter Elias Disney, or Walt for short, was born on December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. He was one of five children, four boys and one girl. Growing up, Walt loved to draw, paint, and sell his pictures to his neighbors, family, and friends. During high school, Walt took several drawing and painting classes. He was also a cartoonist for the school paper.
After returning from France where he served in the army as an ambulance driver, Walt began to work for many different design, art, and ad companies.
During his time at these studios, Walt met Fred Harman who became his first employee. The two created Laugh-O-Grams, which were wildly popular. The success of the show even earned Walt enough money to allow him to open his own studio. Over time however, the series began to decline in popularity and Disney was forced to declare bankruptcy. Walt Disney, his brother Roy Disney, and his friend Ub Iwerks pooled their money together and moved to Hollywood in 1923 to pursue their dreams.
For years, Walt had been working on a new animated character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. This new series was gaining attention and was beginning to become very successful. However, in late 1928, Disney discovered that his good friend M.J. Winkler and her husband had stolen the rights to the character and he could no longer take claim for Oswald. They had even taken all of Walt’s employees. All animators, except Ub Iwerks had left Walt.
Upset about the recent news, Disney rode the train home, doodling on the piece of paper the entire way. The result of these doodles was a mouse who he names, Mickey.
Walt Disney was now running in the big leagues. He had his own studio now, which he named Walt Disney Studios. He created several more cartoon series, Silly Symphonies, Flowers and Trees, and Three Little Pigs. Flowers and Trees was the first cartoon to ever be produced in color and it was the first cartoon to win an Oscar award. Walt also began work on Mickey and Friends, creating characters Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and plenty more to accompany Mickey on all of his adventures.
As the studio grew, he became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, feature-length cartoons and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen in features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio, Fantasia (both 1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942), furthered the development of animated film. New animated and live-action films followed after World War II, including the critically successful Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Mary Poppins (1964), the last of which received five Academy Awards.
One night in 1934, Walt informed his animators that they were going to make an animated feature film, and then he told them the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. There were some skeptics in the group, but before long everyone had caught Walt’s enthusiasm, and work began in earnest. It took three years, but the landmark film debuted on December 21, 1937 and became a spectacular hit. Snow White soon became the highest-grossing film of all time, a record it held until it was surpassed by Gone with the Wind. Now Walt Disney’s studio had firmer footing. The short cartoons paid the bills, but Walt knew that future profits would come from feature films.
Dumbo was based on a children’s book of the same name written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl. The story packs myriad emotions, from tragic sadness to triumphant joy, into 64 minutes, the shortest running time of any Disney feature film.
Bambi is considered a classic in the Disney canon for its lush hand-drawn animation and its sensitive affective narrative. The movie was adapted from the book Bambi. Walt Disney doted for years on his animators’ work in an effort to depict the animals’ anatomy and movement as realistically as possible. Their labours were rewarded when Bambi was released in 1942 to immediate acclaim, though the film did not start earning a profit until it was rereleased five years later.
Walt was never satisfied with what he had already accomplished. As his motion pictures and television programs became successful, he felt a desire to branch out. One area that intrigued him was amusement parks. As a father, he had taken his two young daughters to zoos, carnivals, and other entertainment enterprises, but he always ended up sitting on the bench as they rode the merry-go-round and had all the fun. He felt that there should be a park where parents and children could go and have a good time together. This was the genesis of Disneyland. After several years of planning and construction, the new park opened on July 17, 1955.
Neuschwanstein Castle, with its white limestone facade and deep blue turrets, is the real-life inspiration for the castle in the Disney classic, ‘Cinderella,’ released in 1950. The resemblance, after all, is striking.
But there’s another Disney castle that looks quite a bit like Neuschwanstein as well: ‘Sleeping Beauty’s’ castle in Disneyland. Before Walt Disney began constructing his California theme park, he and his wife took a trip to Europe that included a stop at Neuschwanstein Castle.
Walt Disney was more than just a visionary. His creations remind us of the power of dreams, the importance of imagination, and the beauty of perseverance. Walt Disney’s story is the epitome of the American dream; a boy from humble beginnings creates an empire of smiles. His life is a testament to the belief that dreams do come true. His relentless pursuit of quality and innovation transformed traditional animation, creating timeless classics that remain cherished pieces of our shared cultural heritage.
