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Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, the forth of five children. Disney was able to acquire some rudimentary art instruction from correspondence courses and Saturday museum classes while living on a farm in Marceline, Missouri, and in Kansas City. He dropped out of high school when he was 17 to serve in World War I, briefly serving overseas as an ambulance driver. Disney returned in 1919 to Kansas City for an apprenticeship as a commercial illustrator and later made primitive animated advertising cartoons. He had his on shop in association with Ub Iwerks in 1922.
Walt traveled to Hollywood to resume cartoon production in 1923, where he was a partner with his older brother, Roy. Steamboat Willie, with Mickey Mouse was Disney’s first hit. Steamboat Willie was the first fully synchronized sound cartoon and featured Walt’s voice for the character first called “Mortimer’s Mouse.” Disney agreed to change Mortimer’s name after Walt’s wife, Lillian, suggested changing it to Mickey. During the 1930’s, Disney shorts became a worldwide success with characters Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie, and Goofy, combined with the daring and innovative use of music, sound, and folk material. Disney controlled the sidelines in advertising publishing, and franchised goods, which helped shape popular taste for nearly 40 years.
Disney expanded his studio facilities, including a training school where a whole new generation of animators made the production of the first feature length cartoon, Snow White, in 1937. Pinocchio, Bambi, and Fantasia were other costly animated films that followed. Wildlife films became an additional source of income with the release of Seal Island in 1948, and in 1950, his use of blocked funds in England helped make pictures like Treasure Island. Eventually the Disney formula emphasized production techniques. It included his biggest hit, Mary Poppins.
Disney successfully broke into television in 1954, and by the time of his death, Disney Studio’s output 21 full length animated films, 493 short stories, 47 live-action films, seven True-Life Adventure features, 330 hours of Mickey Mouse Club television programs, 78 half-hour Zorro television adventures, and 280 other television shows. Disney opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California on July 18, 1955, and was proven to be the most successful amusement park in history with 6.7 million people visiting it by 1966. Since then, Disney theme parks have opened in Tokyo and Paris. Disney also dreamed of developing a city of the future, so in 1982 the Disney Company opened the Center for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). EPCOT Center, which cost an initial $900 million, was designed to appeal to adults rather than children. Disney created a new university, the California Institute of the Arts, known as Cal Arts, as well.
Disney received an Academy Award in 1939 [next page]