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Walt Disney: Biography
Walt Disney was a symbol of goodness and morality, threw the years we learned to love him threw his magic with animation, he brought to us many unforgettable charters that we will never forget but we must ask our self’s where did it all start, well it all stared on a chilly December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois. Walt was raised on a farm in Kansas City. He went to McKinley High School in Chicago; Disney divided his attention between drawing and photography, contributing both to the school paper. At night he attended the Academy of Fine Arts. Disney dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to join the Red Cross during World War 1. After the war, Walt returned to Kansas City, where he began his career as an advertising cartoonist. In 1920, he created and marketed his first original animated cartoons, and later perfected a new method for combining live-action and animation. In 1923 Disney went to Hollywood to go into cartoon production with his older brother Roy. Mickey made his screen debut in “;Steamboat Willie,”; the world's first fully synchronized sound cartoon, which premiered at the Colony Theatre in New Yorkon November 18, 1928. Technicolor was introduced to animation during the production of his “Silly Symphonies.” In 1932, the film entitled ”Flowers and Trees” won Walt the first of his 32 personal Academy Awards. In 1937, he released “The Old Mill,” the first short subject to utilize the multiplane camera technique. On December 21 of that same year, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the first full-length animated musical feature, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. Produced at the unheard cost of $1,499,000 during the depths of the Depression. During the next five years, Walt completed such other full-length animated classics “Pinocchio,” “Fantasia” & “Dumbo,” and, ”Bambi.” In 1940, construction was completed on Disney's Burbank studio. The staff grew to more than 1,000 artists, animators, story men and technicians. During World War II, 94 percent of the Disney facilities were engaged in special government work, including the production of training and propaganda films for the armed services. On July 17th, 1955, after being stalled repeatedly, Disneyland opened. The idea of a safe, clean amusement park was a success with over one million people having visited Disneyland within the first seven weeks of its opening. Walt also became a television pioneer, Disney began television production in 1954, and was among the first to present full-color programming with his Wonderful World of Color in 1961. Disney also took a deep interest in the establishment of California Institute of the Arts, a college-level professional school of all the creative and performing arts. In 1965 Disney purchase 43 square miles of land in the center of the state of Florida. Here he master-planned a whole Disney world of entertainment to include a new amusement theme park, a motel-hotel resort vacation center, and his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. After more than seven years of master planning [next page]