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Walt Disney

• Born December 5 , 1901 · Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Died December 15 , 1966 · Los Angeles, California, USA (complications from lung cancer)
• Birth name Walter Elias Disney
• Height 5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
• Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Flora Disney (née Call) and Elias Disney , a Canadian-born farmer and businessperson. He had Irish, German, and English ancestry. Walt moved with his parents to Kansas City at age seven, where he spent the majority of his childhood. At age 16, during World War I, he faked his age to join the American Red Cross. He soon returned home, where he won a scholarship to the Kansas City Art Institute. There, he met a fellow animator, Ub Iwerks . The two soon set up their own company. In the early 1920s, they made a series of animated shorts for the Newman theater chain, entitled "Newman's Laugh-O-Grams". Their company soon went bankrupt, however. The two then went to Hollywood in 1923. They started work on a new series, about a live-action little girl who journeys to a world of animated characters. Entitled the "Alice Comedies", they were distributed by M.J. Winkler (Margaret). Walt was backed up financially only by Winkler and his older brother Roy O. Disney , who remained his business partner for the rest of his life. Hundreds of "Alice Comedies" were produced between 1923 and 1927, before they lost popularity. Walt then started work on a series around a new animated character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. This series was successful, but in 1928, Walt discovered that M.J. Winkler and her husband, Charles Mintz , had stolen the rights to the character away from him. They had also stolen all his animators, except for Ub Iwerks . While taking the train home, Walt started doodling on a piece of paper. The result of these doodles was a mouse named Mickey. With only Walt and Ub to animate, and Walt's wife Lillian Disney (Lilly) and Roy's wife Edna Disney to ink in the animation cells, three Mickey Mouse cartoons were quickly produced. The first two didn't sell, so Walt added synchronized sound to the last one, Steamboat Willie (1928) , and it was immediately picked up. With Walt as the voice of Mickey, it premiered to great success. Many more cartoons followed. Walt was now in the big time, but he didn't stop creating new ideas. In 1929, he created the 'Silly Symphonies', a cartoon series that didn't have a continuous character. They were another success. One of them, Flowers and Trees (1932) , was the first cartoon to be produced in color and the first cartoon to win an Oscar; another, Three Little Pigs (1933) , was so popular it was often billed above the feature films it accompanied. The Silly Symphonies stopped coming out in 1939, but Mickey and friends, (including Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and plenty more), were still going strong and still very popular. In 1934, Walt started work on another new idea: a cartoon that ran the length of a feature film. Everyone in Hollywood was calling it "Disney's Folly", but Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was anything but, winning critical raves, the adoration of the public, and one big and seven little special Oscars for Walt. Now Walt listed animated features among his ever-growing list of accomplishments. While continuing to produce cartoon shorts, he also started producing more of the animated features. Pinocchio (1940) , Dumbo (1941) , and Bambi (1942) were all successes; not even a flop like Fantasia (1940) and a studio animators' strike in 1941 could stop Disney now. In the mid 1940s, he began producing "packaged features", essentially a group of shorts put together to run feature length, but by 1950 he was back with animated features that stuck to one story, with Cinderella (1950) , Alice in Wonderland (1951) , and Peter Pan (1953) . In 1950, he also started producing live-action films, with Treasure Island (1950) . These began taking on greater importance throughout the 50s and 60s, but Walt continued to produce animated features, including Lady and the Tramp (1955) , Sleeping Beauty (1959) , and One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) . In 1955 he opened a theme park in southern California: Disneyland. It was a place where children and their parents could take rides, just explore, and meet the familiar animated characters, all in a clean, safe environment. It was another great success. Walt also became one of the first producers of films to venture into television, with his series The Magical World of Disney (1954) which he began in 1954 to promote his theme park. He also produced The Mickey Mouse Club (1955) and Zorro (1957) . To top it all off, Walt came out with the lavish musical fantasy Mary Poppins (1964) , which mixed live-action with animation. It is considered by many to be his magnum opus. Even after that, Walt continued to forge onward, with plans to build a new theme park and an experimental prototype city in Florida. He did not live to see the culmination of those plans, however; in 1966, he developed lung cancer brought on by his lifelong chain-smoking. He died of a heart attack following cancer surgery on December 15, 1966 at age 65. But not even his death, it seemed, could stop him. Roy carried on plans to build the Florida theme park, and it premiered in 1971 under the name Walt Disney World. His company continues to flourish, still producing animated and live-action films and overseeing the still-growing empire started by one man: Walt Disney, who will never be forgotten. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Tommy Peter
• Spouse Lillian Disney (July 13, 1925 - December 15, 1966) (his death, 2 children)
• Children Diane Disney
• Parents Flora Disney Elias Disney
• Relatives Robert Disney (Aunt or Uncle) Christopher Disney Miller (Grandchild) Tamara Scheer (Grandchild) Walter Elias Disney Miller (Grandchild) Joanna Miller (Grandchild) Ronald Miller (Grandchild) Abigail Disney (Niece or Nephew) Roy P. Disney (Niece or Nephew) Tim Disney (Niece or Nephew) Marjorie Sewell (Niece or Nephew) Roy O. Disney (Sibling) Herbert Disney (Sibling) Ruth Disney (Sibling) Raymond Disney (Sibling) Roy Edward Disney (Niece or Nephew) Victoria Brown (Grandchild) Jennifer Miller-Goff (Grandchild)
• Happy endings on all pictures produced by himself (also posthumous and actual works).
• Main characters using big white gloves (Example: Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Peter Pete, Jiminy Cricket, etc.)
• His moustache
• Animated Films
• Distinctive, deep voice
• Personally disliked Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953) because of the lack of "heart" and "warmth" in their main characters. Was very sad about the unfavorable reception of Fantasia (1940) as he was proud of the film. Ironically, the first re-issue of Fantasia (1940) after his death was the first time it turned a profit.
• Reports surfaced that shortly after his death, Disney Company executive board members were shown a short film that Disney had made before his death, where he addressed the board members by name, telling each of them what was expected of them. The film ended with Disney saying, "I'll be seeing you."
• Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, an Army draft notice, addressed to Mr. Donald Duck, was delivered to the Disney studios.
• Has a record of 59 Oscar-nominations.
• Before his 35th birthday, his brother Roy encouraged employees to throw the boss a surprise party. Two of the animators thought it would be hilarious to make a short movie of Mickey and Minnie Mouse "consummating their relationship." When Disney saw the animation at the party, he feigned laughter and playfully asked who made the film. As soon as the two animators came forward, he fired them on the spot and left.
• I don't make pictures just to make money. I make money to make more pictures.
• I'd rather entertain and hope that people learn, than teach and hope that people are entertained.
• I'm not interested in pleasing the critics. I'll take my chances pleasing the audiences.
• I hope we'll never lose sight of one thing--that it was all started by a mouse.
• I happen to be an inquisitive guy and when I see things I don't like, I start thinking why do they have to be like this and how can I improve them.
• One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) - $5,166 /week
• Swiss Family Robinson (1960) - $3,000 /week

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Biography Online

Walt Disney Biography

Early Life – Walt Disney

Walt Disney was born on 5 December 1901, in Chicago. His parents were of German/English and Irish descent. As a child, the Disney family moved between Marceline in Missouri, Kansas City and back to Chicago. The young Walt Disney developed an interest in art and took lessons at the Kansas City Institute and later Chicago Art Institute. He became the cartoonist for the school magazine.

When America joined the First World War, Walt dropped out of school and tried to enlist in the army. He was rejected for being underage, but he was later able to join in the Red Cross and in late 1918 was sent to France to drive an ambulance.

In 1919, he moved back to Kansas City where he got a series of jobs, before finding employment in his area of greatest interest – the film industry. It was working for the Kansas City Film Ad company that he gained the opportunity to begin working in the relatively new field of animation. Walt used his talent as a cartoonist to start his first work.

The success of his early cartoons enabled him to set up his own studio called Laugh-O-Gram. However, the popularity of his cartoons was not matched by his ability to run a profitable business. With high labour costs, the firm went bankrupt. After his first failure, he decided to move to Hollywood, California which was home to the growing film industry in America. This ability to overcome adversity was a standard feature of Disney’s career.

“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.”

– The Story of Walt Disney (1957)

With his brother, Roy, Walt set up another company and sought to find a distributor for his new film – Alice Comedies – based on the adventures of Alice in Wonderland.

Mickey Mouse

In 1927, the Disney studio was involved in the successful production of ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’, distributed by Universal Pictures. However, with Universal Pictures controlling the rights to ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’, Walt was not able to profit from this success. He rejected an offer from Universal and went back to working on his own.

The Mickey Mouse cartoons with soundtracks became very popular and cemented the growing reputation and strength of Disney Productions. The skill of Walt Disney was to give his cartoons believable real-life characteristics. They were skillfully depicted and captured the imagination of the audience through his pioneering use of uplifting stories and moral characteristics.

In 1932, he received his first Academy Award for the Best Short Subject: Cartoons for the three coloured ‘Flowers and Trees’ He also won a special Academy Award for Mickey Mouse.

In 1933, he developed his most successful cartoon of all time ‘The Three Little Pigs’ (1933) with the famous song ‘Whose Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.”

In 1924, Walt Disney began his most ambitious project to date. He wished to make a full length animated feature film of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ Many expected it to be a commercial failure. But, using new techniques of filming, the production was met with glowing reviews. It took nearly three years to film – coming out in 1937 after Disney had run out of money. But, the movie’s strong critical reception, made it the most successful film of 1938, earning $8 million on its first release. The film had very high production values but also captured the essence of a fairy tale on film for the first time. Walt Disney would later write that he never produced films for the critic, but the general public. Replying to criticism that his productions were somewhat corny, he replied:

“All right. I’m corny. But I think there’s just about a-hundred-and-forty-million people in this country that are just as corny as I am.” – Walt Disney

Disney always had a great ability to know what the public loved to see.

After the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the studio produced several other successful animations, such as ‘Pinocchio’, ‘Peter Pan’, ‘Bambi’ and ‘The Wind in the Willows’. After America’s entry into the Second World War in 1941, this ‘golden age’ of animation faded and the studio struggled as it made unprofitable propaganda films.

Political and religious views

In 1941, Disney also had to deal with a major strike by his writers and animators. This strike left a strong impression on Disney. He would later become a leading member of the anti-Communist organisation ‘Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals’ (the right-wing organisation was also considered to be anti-semitic.) At one point, he (unsuccessfully) tried to brand his labour union organisers as Communist agitators.

However, in the 1950s, Disney distanced himself from the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. However, by associating with the organisation, he was often associated with the anti-labour and anti-semitic philosophy it expressed. Disney was a Republican, though was not particularly involved in politics. It is often asked whether Walt Disney was anti-semitic.

His biographer, Neal Gabler stated:

“…And though Walt himself, in my estimation, was not anti-semitic, nevertheless, he willingly allied himself with people who were anti-semitic, and that reputation stuck. He was never really able to expunge it throughout his life.”

Walt Disney believed in the benefits of a religious approach to life, though he never went to church and disliked sanctimonious teachers.

“I believe firmly in the efficacy of religion, in its powerful influence on a person’s whole life. It helps immeasurably to meet the storms and stress of life and keep you attuned to the Divine inspiration. Without inspiration, we would perish.”

Ch. 15: Walt Lives!, p. 379

He respected other religions and retained a firm faith in God.

Post-war success

During the war, there was much less demand for cartoon animation. It took until the late 1940s, for Disney to recover some of its lustre and success. Disney finished production of Cinderella and also Peter Pan (which had been shelved during the war) In the 1950s, Walt Disney Productions also began expanding its operations into popular action films. They produced several successful films, such as ‘Treasure Island’ (1950), ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ (1954) and ‘Pollyanna’ (1960)

In another innovation, the studio created one of the first specifically children’s shows – The Mickey Mouse Club. Walt Disney even returned to the studio to provide the voice. In the 1960s, the Disney Empire continued to successfully expand. In 1964, they produced their most successful ever film ‘Mary Poppins.’

In the late 1940s, Walt Disney began building up plans for a massive Theme Park. Walt Disney wished the Theme Park to be like nothing ever created on earth. In particular, he wanted it to be a magical world for children and surrounded by a train. Disney had a great love of trains since his childhood when he regularly saw trains pass near his home. It was characteristic of Walt Disney that he was willing to take risks in trying something new.

“Courage is the main quality of leadership, in my opinion, no matter where it is exercised. Usually, it implies some risk, especially in new undertakings. Courage to initiate something and to keep it going, pioneering and adventurous spirit to blaze new ways, often, in our land of opportunity.”

– The Disney Way Fieldbook (2000) by Bill Capodagli

After several years in the planning and building, Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955. Disney spoke at the address.

“To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past …. and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America … with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”

The success of Disneyland encouraged Walt to consider another park in Orlando, Florida. In 1965, another theme park was planned.

Walt Disney died of lung cancer on December 15, 1966. He had been a chain smoker all his life. An internet myth suggested Walt Disney had his body cryonically frozen, but this is untrue. It seems to have been spread by his employers, looking for one last joke at the expense of their boss.

After his death, his brother Roy returned to lead The Disney Company, but the company missed the direction and genius of Walt Disney. The 1970s were a relatively fallow period for the company, before a renaissance in the 1980s, with a new generation of films, such as ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ (1988) and ‘The Lion King’ (1994)

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of Walt Disney”, Oxford, UK.  www.biographyonline.net , 8th August 2014. Last updated 1st March 2019.

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination

Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination at Amazon

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Walt Disney

Walt Disney   Biography

Walter Elías Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5, 1901, and died in Burbank, California, on December 15, 1966. Walter was a director, producer, animator, cartoonist and screenwriter from the United States, winner of the Oscar Award 22 times, plus 4 honorary awards of the Academy, and of the Emmy in 7 opportunities .

Walt Disney is known for his famous children’s characters such as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck , and for founding one of the most important animations, film, and entertainment companies, Walt Disney Productions.

Walt Disney is the son of Elias Disney, a farmer of Irish ascendancy who had come from Canada, and Flora Call, a school teacher. Walt was the fourth of five children. When he was five years old, the family moved to Marceline, Missouri, where Walt spent a happy childhood drawing and playing with his sister Ruth. However, in 1909, his father became ill with typhoid fever and was unable to work in the field, so he had to sell the farm and go to Kansas City to work as a delivery boy for the Kansas City Star, with the help of his children Walt and Roy. Due to this work, Walt graduated from the Benton Grammar School in 1911. Then he did several jobs while studying at the Art Institute of Chicago and at McKinley High School, where he was a school newspaper cartoonist.

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

During the First World War, Walt Disney wanted to imitate his brother, who was in the Navy, and he appeared in the army after leaving the Institute but was not admitted because of his age. Preventing the same thing happening, he presented himself to the Red Cross lying about his age, and this organization sent him to Europe when Germany had already signed the armistice. In Germany, he drove ambulances in which he drew and took some officers from one place to another until in 1919 he returned to America, to Kansas City.

While in Kansas City and thanks to his brother Roy, he got a job where he had to create ads for magazines, cinemas, and newspapers. In this job, he met Ubbe Iwerks, with whom he founded an advertising company in 1920, which they had to leave shortly afterward because of the lack of clients. Later, they both were hired at Kansas City Films Ad, where they learned basic animation techniques.

After studying anatomy and physics, and experimenting with his work team, Walt Disney started his own studio called Laugh-O-Gram Films. In it, he dedicated himself to producing animated short stories of popular stories , but that cost them more than they earned. This is why his studio went bankrupt in 1923 and Disney traveled to Hollywood in search of opportunities.

In Hollywood after knocking on doors looking for an opportunity without success , so he decided to send the last short film he had produced in his previous studio, Alice’s Wonderland , to the distributor Margaret Winkler, who hired him to make more films. To do this, Walt set up a studio in his uncle’s garage and entrusted his brother Roy with the financial issues , founding the Disney Brother’s Studio, which would be the beginning of Walt Disney Productions.

After successfully exhibiting nine Alice films, Disney created Oswald, a character whose show, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, quickly triumphed when it was distributed by Universal Pictures. Before this, the husband of Margaret Winkler asked Disney to continue working on this new series for a lower salary, and that it did not really matter if he refused because he and Universal Studios had the rights of the character. Walt Disney refused and preferred to create a new character, Mickey Mouse . This one appeared for the first time in 1928, but in its beginnings, it did not attract much attention . It was not until the implementation of sound that became a resounding success, having the voice of Walt Disney himself.

After 1930, there were already different products of Mickey Mouse, and several personalities had admitted their sympathy for the character, among which were politicians such as Jorge V, Roosevelt, and Mussolini. By 1935, all Disney short films already had sound and color image.

“Ask yourself if what you’re doing today will get you where you want to go tomorrow.” Walt Disney

After two years of production, from 1935 to 1937, Snow White was released, managing to raise more than six times the enormous sum that the production had cost. With the income, Disney opened some studios in Burbank and hired more employees. However, in 1941 several workers called a strike to complain about the poor salary and the lack of prominence they had in the credits. Disney, which refused to recognize the demands at the beginning, had to agree at the end because of the bad image that the strike was having on his name and his company.

In the forties, the company was economically affected by the World War II, but he was able to recover thanks to the adaptation he made of the market, which now asked for different formats than the short film. By the 50s, Disney was introduced in the market of the television and the action movies. In 1955, the Disneyland amusement park was completed. Already by the 1960’s, Walt Disney’s company was considered to be the most important family training company in the world and after receiving 26 Oscar Awards for his productions, 10 feature films, 12 short films and 4 honorary awards, one of them for having created Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966, due to cardiorespiratory arrest.

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Fernando Botero Biography

Fernando Botero Angulo (April 19, 1932 – September 15, 2023) was a sculptor, painter, muralist, and draftsman, hailing from Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia. He was a Colombian artist known and celebrated for infusing a substantial volume to human and animal figures in his works.

Early Years and Beginnings

Fernando Botero was born into an affluent Paisa family , composed of his parents, David Botero and Flora Angulo, along with his older brother Juan David, who was four years his senior, and his younger brother, Rodrigo, who would be born four years after Fernando, in the same year that their father passed away. In 1938, he enrolled in primary school at the Ateneo Antioqueño and later entered the Bolivariana to continue his high school education. However, he was expelled from the institution due to an article he published in the newspaper El Colombiano about Picasso , as well as his drawings that were considered obscene. As a result, he graduated from high school at the Liceo of the University of Antioquia in 1950.

In parallel to his studies, Fernando attended a bullfighting school in La Macarena at the request of one of his uncles. However, due to an issue related to bullfighting, Botero left the bullring and embarked on a journey into painting. In 1948, he held his first exhibition in Medellín. Two years later, he traveled to Bogotá where he had two more exhibitions and had the opportunity to meet some intellectuals of the time. He then stayed at Isolina García’s boarding house in Tolú, which he paid for by painting a mural. Once again in Bogotá, he won the second prize at the IX National Artists Salon with his oil painting “Facing the Sea” .

“Ephemeral art is a lesser form of expression that cannot be compared to the concept of art conceived with the desire for perpetuity. What many people fail to understand is that Picasso is a traditional artist”- Fernando Botero

Due to the prize from the IX Salon and the sale of several of his works, Fernando Botero traveled to Spain in 1952 to enroll at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. There, he lived by selling drawings and paintings in the vicinity of the Prado Museum. In 1953, he went to Paris with filmmaker Ricardo Irrigarri, and later, they both traveled to Florence. Here, he entered the Academy of San Marco, where he was heavily influenced by Renaissance painters such as Piero della Francesca, Titian, and Paolo Uccello.

Career and Personal Life

In 1955, Botero returned to Colombia to hold an exhibition featuring several of his works created during his time in Europe, but it was met with a lukewarm reception from the public.

Woman With a Mirror / Foto:Luis García (Zaqarbal) / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Spain (CC BY-SA 3.0 ES)

In 1956, he married Gloria Zea, with whom he would later have three children: Fernando, Juan Carlos, and Lina. The couple traveled to Mexico City, where Fernando Botero was eager to see the works of Mexican muralists, but this experience left him disillusioned. Consequently, he began searching for his own artistic style, drawing influence from both the Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo and the Colombian artist Alejandro Obregón . In this quest, he started experimenting with volume, initially in still lifes, and gradually extending this approach to other elements.

In 1957, he successfully exhibited in New York, showcasing his new artistic sensibility. The following year, he returned to Bogotá, where he was appointed as a professor at the School of Fine Arts at the National University of Colombia . He presented his work “La Camera Degli Sposi” at the X Colombian Artists Salon , winning the first prize and becoming the country’s most prominent painter. This piece sparked some controversy as it was initially censored for being almost a parody of Andrea Mantegna’s “La Cámara de los Esposos”. However, it was later reinstated in the exhibition on the advice of Marta Traba. Subsequently, Fernando Botero exhibited his works in various spaces in the United States, where a businessman from Chicago purchased “La Camera Degli Sposi” .

“Fernando Botero and his works are the finest ambassadors of our country in this land of navigators and discoverers, of poets and fado singers”- Juan Manuel Santos

In 1960, Botero separated from Gloria Zea and traveled to New York. He led a modest life here as the New York art scene was primarily inclined towards abstract expressionism. Consequently, Botero was influenced by artists like Pollock, which led him to experiment with color, brushwork, and format, to the point of nearly abandoning his distinctive style characterized by the manipulation of volume. Aware of this, Botero returned to his usual style of flat colors and figurative representations.

Starting in 1962, he began a series of exhibitions in both Europe and the United States, as well as in Colombia. By 1970, the year his son Pedro was born to his second wife, Cecilia Zambrano, Fernando Botero had already become the world’s most sought-after sculptor. However, in 1974, his son Pedro tragically died in a traffic accident, leading to his second divorce and leaving significant marks on his artistic endeavors.

In 1978, the Colombian painter married Sophia Vari , a renowned Greek artist with whom he shared a significant part of his life, until sadly, she passed away in May 2023.

Since 1983, Fernando Botero has been exhibiting his works and donating them to various cities around the world. As a result, we can find his pieces in the streets of Medellín, Barcelona, Oviedo, Singapore, and Madrid, among others. In 2008, the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in Mexico conferred upon him an honorary Doctorate.

Renowned Colombian artist, Fernando Botero, died on September 15, 2023 , in Monaco at the age of 91 due to pneumonia . His artistic legacy will endure forever. In his hometown, seven days of mourning were declared.

Pedrito a Caballo, Fernando Botero (1975).

Top 10 Famous works by Fernando Botero

Some of the most recognized works by Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero:

• “Pedrito on Horseback” / “Pedrito a Caballo” (1974): This is an oil painting on canvas measuring 194.5 cm x 150.5 cm. For Botero, this work is his masterpiece and a refuge during a personal tragedy. The child depicted is Pedro, his son from his second marriage, who tragically passed away in an accident when he was young.
• “Mona Lisa at 12 Years Old” / “Mona lisa a los 12 años” (1978): This piece stands out as a unique version of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, the Mona Lisa . Painted in oil on canvas and measuring 183 cm x 166 cm, Botero incorporates his characteristic style of voluptuous and rounded figures into this work, which has become one of his most distinctive pieces.
• “Woman’s Torso” / “Torso de Mujer” (1986): It is a majestic bronze sculpture that rises to an impressive height of approximately 2.48 meters. It is often affectionately referred to as “La Gorda” (“The Fat One”). This artwork finds its home in Parque de Berrío, located in the captivating city of Medellín.
• “Woman with Mirror” / “Mujer con Espejo” (1987): An imposing bronze sculpture weighing 1000 kg. It is located in Plaza de Colón, in the heart of Madrid, Spain. The artwork captivates the gaze with the portrayal of a woman peacefully lying face down on the ground, holding a mirror in her hands. Her expression reflects deep introspection and enigmatic melancholy.
• “The Orchestra” / “La Orquesta” (1991): In this oil on canvas artwork, measuring 200 cm x 172 cm, Botero presents a band of musicians with a singer, all immersed in a spirit of celebration. The artist aims to convey a sense of harmony and joy through his portrayal.
• “Woman Smoking” / “Mujer Fumando” (1994): It is a creation executed in watercolor, spanning dimensions of 122 cm x 99 cm. In this work, Maestro Botero skillfully captures the essence of a woman elegantly holding a cigarette between her fingers. His meticulous focus on voluptuous forms, posture, and the serene expression of the figure masterfully combine to emphasize the sensuality and profound intimacy of the moment captured in the artwork.
• “Man on Horseback” / “Hombre a Caballo” (1996): This bronze sculpture is one of the most iconic works in the artist’s career. It depicts a rider in a majestic and proud posture. Over the years, this imposing work has been exhibited in multiple cities around the world, solidifying its place as a prominent piece in the sculptor’s body of work.
• “The Horse” / “El Caballo” (1997): This iconic sculpture showcases a horse of majestic presence and a distinctive rounded form, sculpted in bronze and measuring approximately 3 meters in height. This masterpiece reflects Botero’s profound passion for horses while also serving as a powerful representation of the mythical Trojan Horse.
• “The Death of Pablo Escobar” / “La muerte de Pablo Escobar” (1999): This artwork, created using the oil on canvas technique, has dimensions of 58 cm x 38 cm. While not considered a masterpiece, this artistic piece represents one of the most significant moments in Colombia’s history. Fernando Botero captures, in his distinctive style, the moment of the death of the drug lord Pablo Escobar , addressing issues related to violence and criminality that have marked the country’s history. An interesting detail is that, although Pablo Escobar admired Fernando Botero’s art, it cannot be said that the admiration was mutual. The painter created two works depicting the death of the drug trafficker.
• “Boterosutra Series” / “Serie Boterosutra” (2011): This work by Botero is part of an erotic art collection called Boterosutra , marking a milestone in the history of Colombian art as the first artistic representation of sexual intimacy between lovers. This series comprises around 70 small-sized pieces created using various techniques, including colored drawings, watercolors, brushstrokes, and also black and white, all of which constitute one of the most contemporary works by the painter.

Gustave Courbet

Biography of Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet, Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was a painter. Courbet was born in the French town of Ornans. His parents and family were landowners in Ornans. Courbet was influenced by his parents to study law, but his true passion was drawing. Therefore, while studying law, he began drawing under the tutelage of a student named Flajoulot. When he turned 20, he withdrew from his law studies and moved to Paris to complete his artistic training with the teachings of Steuben, Bonvin, and Père Baud, a student of Gros. There he became interested in the works of Chardin, the Le Nain brothers, and the Spanish painters Ribera, Zurbarán, Murillo, and Velázquez.

Based in Paris since 1839, he delved into the Realist painting trend of the 19th century. He studied at the Swiss Academy and extensively analyzed the works of some artists from the Flemish, Venetian, and Dutch schools of the 16th and 17th centuries. He achieved artistic maturity when he discovered the works of Rembrandt on a trip he took to the Netherlands in 1847. From then on, works such as L’après diner a Ornans (1849), El entierro en Ornans (1849) or Los paisanos de Flagey volviendo del campo (1850) emerged, where the characters are represented with all their vulgarity or a compromising sensuality.

Courbet’s works caused a stir and controversy because the public was faced with a new realistic vision of everyday events. Additionally, his style as a revolutionary and provocative man, follower of the anarchist philosophy of Proudhon, and participant in the 1871 Paris Commune, led to his imprisonment for six months, until he sought refuge in Switzerland in 1873. All of this scandalized the public, who often criticized him but also admired him. His self-portraits were based on Romanticism. In 1846, he wrote a manifesto against Romantic and neoclassical tendencies with Bouchon. Courbet’s realism was a protest against the sterile academic painting and exotic motifs of Romanticism. He focused on the revolutionary environments of the 19th century.

He traveled to Holland to study the works of Hals and Rembrandt and participated indirectly in the military uprising. During this period, two of his most important realist works were created: The Burial at Ornans and The Stone Breakers, this work was lost due to World War II. Courbet’s paintings elicited all types of comments due to their realistic portrayal of the lives of ordinary people. After the coup d’etat of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in 1852, the painter returned to his hometown.

While there, Courbet opened his own exhibition titled “Realism.” It was born as a protest against the rejection of his works at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855. The central work was the enormous painting: “The Painter’s Studio” (1855). It was presented as a “realistic allegory.” Later, other figure and portrait paintings emerged: “Ladies by the Seine” (1857), the self-portrait “The Cellist” (1849) and “The Beautiful Irishwoman” (1866). The artist also created works related to the sea, landscapes of forests and mountains with their fauna, flowers and still lifes.

Courbet became a representative of the emerging realism of the time. Courbet was described as a conceited man, who claimed to be the most handsome and seductive of humans, due to his Assyrian profile, he boasted of his ability to illuminate new forms of truth and beauty to end the outdated trends of Paris. For this reason, we can understand why he was such a controversial painter and was often hated. Nevertheless, the magnificent works that this painter conceived during his life could not be denied.

Let’s return to The Burial at Ornans (1849), it is his work of greatest dimensions and complexity, he wanted to bring a huge fragment of rural reality from his land to the refined environment of Paris. This composition can be seen as disordered and with little hierarchy. Courbet manages to make the viewer sit at the same level as the villagers of Ornans and symbolically attend the funeral of a humble peasant. In addition, the diversity of individual expressions tries to make a critical description and a study of the social categories of a population. This work is admired for its formal and coloristic stylization, and its horizontal composition.

Another great work of this French painter is Bonjour, monsieur Courbet (1854). The painting shows in great detail the local environment, as well as the light and characters, reflecting a real event with great objectivity. This painting has become a kind of standard-bearer of realistic art for many artists in recent decades. Courbet broke the mold with the work Señoritas a orillas del Sena (1857), because the Parisian public was used to paintings on mythological or historical themes; on the contrary, in Courbet’s canvas, the two women represented in showy clothes are two prostitutes resting by the river.

Also impressive was the way it was painted, in opposition to the tastes and rules of the time; the thick brushstrokes, the color tones and the disregard for the canons of beauty. In that work both the composition and the color, want to reflect reality, each of the elements reflect the same importance, transmitting a certain sense of imperceptible objectivity. Courbet showed total uninhibitedness in front of the female sex. A reflection of this is the work The Origin of the World (1866), was made by order of Bey, this was the most transgressive painting of the 19th century.

Other paintings by this French painter include: Self-Portrait with Black Dog (1842), The Desperate Man (1845), The Meeting (1854), The Painter’s Studio (1855), Woman with Parrot (1866), The Trout (1871) among others. These are just a few of the many works that this artist left for posterity and for future generations interested in realistic art. Courbet’s radical stance, reflected in the realm of politics, specifically with the Paris Commune, led to him being accused of participating in the demolition of the Vendôme Column. He had to go into exile in 1875 in Switzerland, where he died two years later in solitude and poverty.

Anime history

Japanese anime or animation emerged at the beginning of the 20th century influenced by animation and the world of cinema developed in the United States, later it was modified and claimed Japanese culture. The anime-style as we know it began to develop in the late 1950s, when the production company Toei Studios and the different series based on short sleeves or cartoons, such as Tetsuwan Atomu, also known as Astro Boy. From the 1980s and 1990s, the anime became popular, appearing large cult series such as Dragon Ball, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sailor Moon, Detective Conan, Rurouni Kenshin, and Cowboy Bebop, among others. In the new millennium, the Japanese animated industry has been booming, providing new content every season based on successful manga, light novels, video games, and music.

The earliest surviving Japanese animated short made for cinemas, produced in 1917

The first Japanese animations were small short films developed at the end of the 1910s, largely inspired by American animation, in these, folk and comic themes were addressed. The first short film was Namakura Gatana by Junichi Kouchi, it was two minutes long, the story told the story of a man with his katana (Japanese sword or saber) . In the following decade, the duration of the short films was extended to ten or fifteen minutes, in which typical oriental tales were represented. Among the pioneer artists of this era are Oten Shimokawa, Junichi Kouchi, Seitaro Kitayama and Sanae Yamamoto; by this time the short film Obasuteyama (The Mountain Where Old Women Are Abandoned) by Yamamoto was published.

During the 30s and 40s, the Japanese animated industry went through a series of changes, the stories were neglected and western stories were taken into account. A short time later the anime Norakuro (1934) of Mituyo Seo, one of the first animations based on a manga. Since then this became a frequent practice. By the end of the 1930s, World War II broke out, a warlike confrontation in which Japan was involved as a member of the Axis powers, at which time the animations became war propaganda. At the end of the war, the country was occupied by the allied powers led by the United States, which seriously affected the country that was going through a deep economic crisis.

Industry development and international boom

In the course of the crisis, the manga and anime industry became popular in the country, thus establishing the basis for the development of the own animated style that occurred around the middle of the 20th century. It was around this time that Toei Studios, an animation film producer, emerged as one of the key figures in the history of anime. This company was a pioneer in the animation of Japan, provided various productions that allowed the advancement of animation in the country. The company’s first animation was Koneko no rakugaki, a short thirteen-minute film published in 1957. The following decade the company grew by focusing on the development of feature films. Other companies such as Mushi Pro, a producer that made the animation of Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy) by Osamu Tezuka, mangaka and animator, one of the most relevant artists of the Japanese animated industry of the 20th century.

Between the 1960s and 1970s, the anime of robots (mecha) became popular appearing iconic series such as Tetsujin 28-gō and Mazinger Z or Gundam, for this same period the popular Doraemon series (1973), based on the homonymous anime, began to air Fujiko Fujio, a series that tells the story of a cosmic robot cat that has attached to its body a bag from which it subtracts various artifacts which are used in the adventures of Doraemon and his human friend Nobita. In the 1980s and 1990s, Japanese animation boomed internationally, which led to many series beginning to dub into English and Spanish, in these years cult series such as Dragon Ball, based on the manga of Akira Toriyama. Saint Seiya also known as The Knights of the Zodiac, Captain Tsubasa, exported as Super champions; Rurouni Kenshin, known in the west as Samurai X, Neon Genesis Evangelion of Hideaki Anno; Pokémon, Ranma ½, and Sakura Card Captor, among others.

In 2000, the already booming anime is largely massified by the acceptance and the huge fan base that it had acquired at the time, these followers known as otakus, boosted the Japanese animated industry. Since then there have been numerous animated productions that have been distributed worldwide, among the most prominent series of the new millennium are One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, Inuyasha, Yu-Gi-Oh, Rozen Maiden, Kuroshitsuji, and Death Note, all are ace based on sleeves that when becoming successful, allowed the development of the animated series.

At present, any manga that has a large number of followers is very likely to have adapted in an animated series, such as Hunter x Hunter, Pandora Hearts, Ao no Exorcist, Mirai Nikki, Bakuman and Shingeki no Kyojin, among many others, light novels have been adapted that have become popular as Durarara!!, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, Sword Art Online, and My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected, among others. In recent years, the Yaoi and Yuri genres have been popularized in which romantic relationships between people of the same sex are addressed, among these series it is possible to rescue Junjō Romantica, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, No. 6, Aoi Hana, Sasameki Koto and Yagate Kimi ni Naru

At present, the Japanese animated industry produces numerous series, ova, and films per year, becoming one of the strongest industries in the world of animation. Among the most prominent people in this industry is Hayao Miyazaki, founder of Studio Ghibli, a studio where films such as My Neighbor Totoro, The Incredible Vagabond Castle, The Journey of Chihiro, and Ponyo, among others, likewise, stand out in the present, artist Makoto Shinkai, creator of 5 centimeters per second, Hoshi Wo Ou Kodomo, Kotonoha no Niwa and Kimi no Na Wa.

John Ruskin

John Ruskin Biography

John Ruskin (February 8, 1819 – January 20, 1900) writer, painter, art critic, and reformer. He was born in London, England. His parents were Margaret Cox and John James Ruskin, a rich merchant who instilled in him a passion for art, literature, and adventure. He studied at the University of Oxford. In 1837, he entered the University of Oxford. Then, he founded a drawing school for students: the Company of St George, for social improvement, useful arts, and the defense of an ornamentalism linked to the reform of society.

He received socialist influences, especially from the group of “Sheffield socialists,” as did William Morris. He advanced a postulate regarding the relationship between art and morals, these dissertations appear in the first volume of Modern Painters (1843), a work that provided an important place among art critics. Later, he published The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) and The Stones of Venice (1851-1853), where the moral, economic and political importance of architecture were analyzed. In 1851 he became interested in pre-Raphaelist painters such as Dante Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, and John Everett Millais.

His ideas denounce the aesthetic numbness and the pernicious social effects of the Industrial Revolution. His work at Oxford ended in the rejection of the vivisection practices carried out in the laboratories of that institution. After marrying Effie Gray, he published Conferences on architecture and painting (1854), Conferences on the political economy of art (1858) and Fors Clavigera (1871-1884).

Ruskin suffered some psychiatric episodes and little by little he lost the sense of reality. Finally, he died in Lancashire on January 20, 1900. He aroused the admiration of generations of Victorian artists, especially as an introducer of the neo-Gothic taste in England, the greatest champion of pre-Raphaelism. Currently, part of his works is preserved between drawings of nature and different Gothic cathedrals at the University of Oxford.

• Modern painters
• The seven lamps of architecture
• The stones of Venice
• Conferences on architecture and painting
• The political economy of art
• Sesame and lilies
• The morale of dust
• The crown of wild olive
• Fors Clavigera
• The Amiens Bible

John Harvey McCracken

John Harvey McCracken Biography

John Harvey McCracken (December 9, 1934 – April 8, 2011) minimalist artist. He was born in Berkeley, California, United States. He excelled in sculpture and was a reference to the Minimalist Movement. He dedicated four years of his youth to serve in the United States Navy. Subsequently, he entered the California School of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

Obtaining a BFA in 1962 and completing most of the work for an MFA. Academic life allowed him to meet characters like Gordon Onslow Ford and Tony DeLap. He was hired at several recognized universities where he taught different art subjects, worked at the University of California, School of Visual Arts, University of Nevada, University of California, Santa Barbara, among others.

His first sculptural work was done with the minimalists John Slorp and Peter Schnore, and the painters Tom Nuzum, Vincent Perez, and Terry StJohn. Dennis also known Oppenheim, enrolled in the MFA program at Stanford. He began to experiment with increasingly three-dimensional canvases, McCracken began producing art objects made with industrial techniques and materials such as plywood, spray lacquer, pigmented resin, resulting in striking minimalist works with highly reflective and soft surfaces. He applied similar techniques in the construction of surfboards.

Later, McCracken was part of the Light and Space movement composed by artists such as James Turrell, Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, and others. The biggest influences of the art circle were Barnett Newman and the minimalists like Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and Carl Andre. Thanks to this space, his sculptural work began to walk between the material world and design. He was the first to conceive the idea of ​​the plank. The artist combined aspects of painting and sculpture in his work and many experimented with impersonal and elegant surfaces. In addition to the planks, the artist also created independent wall pieces and sculptures with different shapes and sizes, worked in highly polished stainless steel and bronze.

In McCracken’s work, it is usual to see solid colors in bold with its highly polished finish, it is a way that takes work to another dimension. His palette included pink gum, lemon yellow, deep sapphire and ebony, which he applied as a monochrome. He also made objects of stained wood, highly polished bronze and reflective stainless steel. For several years he relied on Hindu and Buddhist mandalas to make a series of paintings, they were exhibited at Castello di Rivoli in 2011.

His wife was the artist Gail Barringer, she revived to a certain extent her husband’s artistic career, and earned her the recognition of a younger generation of artists, merchants, and curators. Unfortunately, he died on April 8, 2011. Years before, his work had been honored in Documenta 12 in Kassel.

EXHIBITIONS

• “Primary structures” in the Jewish Museum (1966)
• “American sculpture of the sixties” at the Los Angeles County Museum (1967).
• “Inverleith House” at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2009)

His top ten auction prices exceed $ 200,000, including his high auction mark for a Black Plank, in polyester resin, fiberglass and plywood, which sold for $ 358,637 at Phillips de Pury & Company London in June 2007. More recently, Flash (2002), a red-board piece of firefighters, sold for $ 290,500 at Christie’s New York in 2010.

Nine Planks V, Blue column, Plank, Don’t tell me when to stop, Mykonos, Pyramid, Blue Post and Dintel I, Love in Italian, Right, Blue Post and Dintel, Yellow pyramid, The Absolutely Naked Fragrance, Violet Block in two parties, you won’t know which one until you’ve been to All of Them, Red Plank, Ala (Aile), among others.

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Walt Disney: 7 Things You Didn't Know About the Man and the Magic

Here are seven facts you may not have known about both the man and the studio he created.

Mickey was almost named Mortimer

On a train ride following a less than fruitful business meeting in 1928, Disney, then only 27 years old, sketched a mouse. This mouse would eventually become the official mascot of a multinational corporation worth tens of billions of dollars, but Walt, of course, didn’t know this at the time. He called the sketch “Mortimer Mouse” and showed it to his wife, Lily. After deeming the name Mortimer much too pompous, Lily suggested giving the mouse a cuter name, such as Mickey. Thankfully, Walt agreed with her, and a star was born.

Disney was anti facial hair with one exception

It took almost 60 years, but, as of this year, employees at Walt Disney’s two U.S. theme parks can finally show up at work with a stylish beard or goatee (but only if they are “neat, polished, and professional,” according to the official memo). However, at Disneyland in the 50s and 60s, even guests with facial hair, not to mention longhaired hippies, were turned away, as they were told they unfortunately failed to meet the standards of Disneyland’s dress code. Even Jim McGuinn, the future frontman of The Byrds, was once denied admittance for sporting a provocative Beatle cut. The company eventually relented on this policy, though, and allowed all hirsute patrons to enjoy “The Happiest Place on Earth.” Now, the peculiar double standard: Think of any picture of Walt Disney that you have ever seen. What exists in almost all of them? A mustache.

The final words ever written by Disney were “Kurt Russell”

In 1966, as Disney was suffering from lung cancer and nearing the end of his life, he scrawled the name “ Kurt Russell ” on a piece of paper and died soon after. At the time, Russell was a child actor for the studio and had just signed a lengthy contract. To this day, no one knows what Disney meant or intended, including Russell himself.

Disney still has a home at Disneyland

During the construction of Disneyland in the 1950s, Disney moved into a one-bedroom apartment above the theme park’s Fire Station on Main Street in order to work and watch his dream come to life. The apartment still exists and has been left largely untouched. During his stay there, Disney lit a lamp in the window to alert the staff of his presence. This lamp is now permanently ablaze in his honor.

Don’t be surprised if you experience Disney déjà vu

When you first watched Disney’s Robin Hood , did you wonder if you had seen it all before? If so, there’s no need to worry. In 1915, an animation technique called rotoscoping was invented. This technique involves drawing over film footage of live actors, which allows animators to capture realistic human movement. It also lets animators recycle animated movements for use on characters in different films. So, the next time you watch Disney’s Robin Hood , just remember that large parts of it were, thanks to the studio’s use of rotoscoping, gathered from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , The Jungle Book , and The Aristocats .

Mickey and Minnie Mouse actually got married

Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor are not well-known names, even among Disney aficionados, but their animated personas are seared into most people’s minds. In 1991, Allwine, who was the voice of Mickey Mouse for 32 years, married Taylor, the voice of Minnie Mouse, and the couple remained happily married until Allwine’s death in 2009.

Nobody, including Walt Disney, is perfect

While Disney was an innovative and successful man, he was also the subject of many controversies, most of which involved rumors that he was anti-Semitic and racist. These rumors were, and still are, hard to dispel. In the 1930s, Disney attended meetings of a pro-Nazi organization, the German American Bund. He also hosted a known Nazi propagandist and filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl, and gave her a tour of Disney Studios. To make matters worse, Disney was also accused of perpetuating black stereotypes in his films. But, for all of his critics, Disney also had scores of supporters who claimed he was far from being either anti-Semitic or racist. The debate on Disney’s alleged discrimination and racism continues to this day.

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15 Intriguing Facts About Walt Disney

By stacy conradt | dec 5, 2021, 12:00 pm est.

Artist, producer, entrepreneur, and all-around game-changer Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901. More than a century later, it’s easy to forget that Disney was a real person, not just a caricature or company figurehead. In honor of the man, not the corporation, here are 15 facts about his life.

1. Walt Disney played Peter Pan in a school play.

The story Peter Pan surely held a special place in Walt Disney’s heart: not only was it a hit movie for him in 1953, it also took him back to his childhood. After seeing Peter Pan on stage, young Walt was given the opportunity to play the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up in a school performance. Walt later recalled that his brother Roy was in charge of the rope used to hoist him over the stage to simulate flying; it was just one of their many creative collaborations.

2. Walt Disney was a high school dropout.

Walt was just 16 when he left school to join the Red Cross Ambulance Corps, wanting to do his part in World War I. But because he was just shy of the minimum age requirement of 17, he forged a different date on his birth certificate. Disney didn’t see much action, however. He was sent to France in late 1918, not long after the armistice was signed that ended the fighting. He still helped where he could, driving Red Cross officials and performing other tasks, before he was discharged in 1919.

3. Walt Disney almost sold vacuum cleaners for a living.

In 1923, Walt joined his older brother Roy in L.A. to pursue a career in animation. Roy had been selling vacuum cleaners door-to-door to make ends meet and encouraged Walt do the same. Walt considered it, but before he could get sucked in by a Kirbyesque scheme, he got a call from a company in New York that wanted him to make shorts for them.

4. Mickey Mouse wasn’t Walt Disney's first big creation.

In 1927, Universal asked Walt and his chief animator Ub Iwerks to create a cartoon character for them; the result was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald was a huge hit, complete with robust merchandising. With this success under his belt, in 1928, Disney went to New York to renegotiate his contract with producer Charles Mintz. Mintz, however, countered with a different deal: He wanted to cut the budget. And to add salt to the wound, Mintz had been working backdoor deals to hire Disney’s animators out from under him. In the end, Universal ended up with the rights to Oswald, and Disney left New York feeling as if he had lost almost everything. But it all worked out in the end—on the train ride back to California, Disney sketched a character that would eclipse Oswald in popularity: Mickey Mouse.

The company regained control of the obscure character in 2006, almost eight decades after losing him. The rights were part of a trade between Disney and NBC/Universal: They agreed to let Disney have Oswald back, and Disney, the owner of ABC and ESPN, agreed to let NBC use sportscaster Al Michaels for Sunday Night Football.

5. Walt Disney didn’t draw Mickey Mouse.

He did at first, but it didn't last long—after 1928, Walt was no longer animating , focusing instead on story development and direction. He relied on Iwerks and other superior artists to do the drawing dirty work. He never drew Mickey in any of his theatrical releases, and in fact, probably only really drew Mickey when autograph seekers requested it.

6. But Walt Disney did voice Mickey Mouse.

From 1928 to 1947, Walt was the man behind the mouse—literally. Even after the voice work was officially turned over to Jimmy MacDonald in 1947, Walt continued to do Mickey’s voice for shorts on The Mickey Mouse Club.

7. Walt Disney drove his daughters to school every day.

Despite the fact that he had drivers, a live-in housekeeper, and a number of other staff members at his disposal, Disney took great pleasure in driving his two daughters to school every day. He also spoiled them unabashedly, which historian Steve Watts believed was a reaction to Walt’s own stern upbringing.

8. Walt Disney had a secret apartment at Disneyland.

It’s still there, in fact, above the fire station. Walt’s private apartment isn’t typically open to the public, but VIPs are occasionally offered tours. The furnishings remain virtually unchanged from when Walt used to spend time there, including a lamp in the window visible from outside. It’s always kept on to signify that Walt is always in the park.

9. Walt Disney's favorite song was “Feed the Birds.”

There have been a lot of toe-tapping hits in Disney movies over the years, but Walt’s personal favorite was a ballad: “Feed the Birds,” the song about the pigeon lady in Mary Poppins . According to songwriter Richard Sherman, Walt often stopped by the Sherman brothers’ office at Disney on Friday afternoons and requested a personal performance of “Feed the Birds.” "He loved that song, and knew it was the heartbeat of the whole movie,” Sherman said .

10. Walt Disney found golf anything but relaxing.

Though many people play golf to relax, Disney couldn't deal with it. After giving up polo at his doctor's behest, Walt took up golf, getting up at 4:30 a.m. to squeeze in nine holes before work. He found the game so frustrating that he quit and took up a more chill sport—lawn bowling.

11. Walt Disney felt responsible for his mother’s death.

Once he became successful, Walt bought his parents a rather extravagant present: a new house. And when his parents needed something fixed, tweaked, or repaired, he sent his own repairmen from the studio over to take care of it. Such was the case when they discovered a problem with their furnace in 1938. Tragically, his team didn’t take care of the issue properly, and Flora Call Disney died of carbon monoxide poisoning at the age of 70. His father, Elias, also fell very ill from the gas leak, but survived. Walt’s daughter, Sharon, said that even years later, Walt found the subject nearly impossible to talk about.

12. Walt Disney's housekeeper was a very wealthy woman.

Thelma Howard was the Disney family’s live-in housekeeper and cook for three decades. She was hired in 1951 and quickly became part of the family, even making sure the fridge was well-stocked with hot dogs—Walt liked to eat them cold as a snack when he got home from work. As part of her annual Christmas gift, the Disneys gave her stock in the company. She never did anything with her shares, and by the time she died in 1994, the woman was a multimillionaire because of them. She left nearly $4.5 million to poor and disabled children, and roughly the same amount to her disabled son.

13. Walt Disney was obsessed with trains.

Walt always had an interest in trains, even building an elaborate model in his office, which he enjoyed running for his guests. In 1948, his hobby grew to new heights when he constructed a 1/8 scale model in his backyard, with track spanning half a mile. He deemed it the Carolwood Pacific Railroad.

14. One of Walt Disney's last written communications was rather mysterious—and involved Kurt Russell.

Shortly before his death, Disney wrote “Kurt Russell” on a piece of paper. It was later found on his desk, and, according to Disney historian Dave Smith, the notes were among Disney's last few written words. At the time of Disney’s death, Russell was a largely unknown child actor working for the studio. No one has any idea what Disney was referring to with his note— not even Kurt Russell.

15. Walt Disney is not cryogenically frozen.

Bob Nelson, the former president of the Cryonics Society of California, makes a good point : if Disney was the first cryogenically frozen man, it would have been a pretty big deal for cryonics, and they would have publicized the heck out of the Mickey Mouse-cicle. No, Walt was cremated and buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale. His gravesite is in a public area for people who want to see it for themselves.

The chilly rumor may have been started by Ward Kimball, one of Disney’s famed “ Nine Old Men ” animators, who had a wicked sense of humor.

A version of this story ran in 2018; it has been updated for 2021.

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Disney, Walt

Disney, walt.

Animator. Nationality: American. Born: Walter Elias Disney in Chicago, 5 December 1901. Education: Attended McKinley High School, Chicago; Kansas City Art Institute, 1915. Family: Married Lillian Bounds, 1925; children: Diane, Sharon. Career: 1918—in France with Red Cross Ambulance Corps, arriving just after Armistice; 1919—returned to Kansas, became commercial art studio apprentice, met Ub Iwerks; with Iwerks briefly in business, doing illustrations and ads; 1920—joined Kansas City Film Ad Co., making cartoon commercials for local businesses; 1922—incorporated Laugh-o-Gram Films, first studio, went bankrupt; 1923—to Hollywood, contract with M. J. Winkler, began Alice in Cartoonland series; soon joined by Iwerks; 1927—ended Alice series, began Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series; salary dispute with Winkler; formed Walt Disney Productions; 1928— Steamboat Willie released, first synchronized sound cartoon, featuring Mickey Mouse; made deal with Pat Powers for independent distribution; 1930—began distributing through Columbia; 1932— Flowers and Trees , first cartoon in Technicolor and first to win an Academy Award; released through United Artists; 1937— Snow White , first feature-length cartoon, marked innovative use of multi-plane camera, developed by Disney Studios; began releasing through RKO; 1941—strike by Disney staff belonging to Cartoonists Guild; Art Babbitt fired, later rehired; changes introduced included credit titles on cartoon shorts; 1944—"Mickey Mouse" is password on D-Day invasion of Europe; 1945—"True Life Adventure" series began, Disney's first live-action films; 1951–60—Disney developed several television programs; 1954—formed Buena Vista Distributing Co. for release of Disneyand occasionally other films; hosting Disneyland TV series (later Walt Disney Presents , Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color , The Wonderful World of Disney ); 1955—Disneyland opened, Anaheim, California; The Mickey Mouse Club premiered on TV; 1960— Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color premiered on television; 1971—Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida. Awards: Special Academy Award, 1932; Special Academy Award for contributions to sound, with William Garity and John N.A. Hawkins, 1941; Irving G. Thalberg Award, 1941; Best Director for his work as a whole, Cannes Film Festival, 1953. Died: California, 15 December 1966.

Films as Director, Animator and Producer:

Newman Laugh-O-Grams series

Cinderella ; The Four Musicians of Bremen ; Goldie Locks and the Three Bears ; Jack and the Beanstalk ; Little Red Riding Hood ; Puss in Boots

Alice's Wonderland ; Tommy Tucker's Tooth ; Martha

(Alice Series)

Alice and the Dog Catcher ; Alice and the Three Bears ; Alice Cans the Cannibals ; Alice Gets in Dutch ; Alice Hunting in Africa ; Alice's Day at Sea ; Alice's Fishy Story ; Alice's Spooky Adventure ; Alice's Wild West Show ; Alice the Peacemaker ; Alice the Piper ; Alice the Toreador

Alice Chops the Suey ; Alice Gets Stung ; Alice in the Jungle ; Alice Loses Out ; Alice on the Farm ; Alice Picks the Champ ; Alice Plays Cupid ; Alice Rattled by Rats ; Alice's Balloon Race ; Alice's Egg Plant ; Alice's Little Parade ; Alice's Mysterious Mystery ; Alice Solves the Puzzle ; Alice's Ornery Orphan ; Alice Stage Struck ; Alice's Tin Pony ; Alice the Jail Bird ; Alice Wins the Derby

Alice Charms the Fish ; Alice's Monkey Business ; Alice in the Wooly West ; Alice the Fire Fighter ; Alice Cuts the Ice ; Alice Helps the Romance ; Alice's Spanish Guitar ; Alice's Brown Derby ; Clara Cleans Her Teeth

Alice the Golf Bag ; Alice Foils the Pirates ; Alice at the Carnival ; Alice's Rodeo ( Alice at the Rodeo ); Alice the Collegiate ; Alice in the Alps ; Alice's Auto Race ; Alice's Circus Daze ; Alice's Knaughty Knight ; Alice's Three Bad Eggs ; Alice's Picnic ; Alice's Channel Swim ; Alice in the Klondike ; Alice's Medicine Show ; Alice the Whaler ; Alice the Beach Nut ; Alice in the Big League

(Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Series)

Trolley Troubles ; Oh, Teacher ; The Ocean Hop ; All Wet ; The Mechanical Cow ; The Banker's Daughter ; Great Guns ; Rickety Gin ; Empty Socks ; Harem Scarem ; Neck 'n Neck

The Ol' Swimmin' 'ole ; Africa Before Dark ; Rival Romeos ; Bright Lights ; Sagebrush Sadie ; Ozzie of the Mounted ; Ride 'em Plow Boy! ; Hungry Hoboes ; Oh, What a Knight ; Sky Scrappers ; Poor Papa ; The Fox Chase ; Tall Timber ; Sleigh Bells ; Hot Dog

Films as Head of Walt Disney Productions, co-d with Ub Iwerks:

(Mickey Mouse Series)

• Steamboat Willie

Plane Crazy (made as silent, 1928, but released with synch sound); The Gallopin' Gaucho (made as silent, 1928, but released with synch sound); The Barn Dance ; The Opry House ; When the Cat's Away ; The Barnyard Battle ; The Plow Boy ; The Karnival Kid ; Mickey's Choo Choo ; The Jazz Fool ; Jungle Rhythm ; The Haunted House

The Barnyard Concert (sole director); Just Mickey ( Fiddling Around ) (sole director); The Cactus Kid (sole director)

(Silly Symphonies Series)

The Skeleton Dance ; E1 Terrible Toreador ; The Merry Dwarfs (sole director)

Night (sole director)

The Golden Touch (sole director)

Other Films as Head of Walt Disney Productions:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Hand)

Pinocchio (Sharpsteen); Fantasia (Sharps teen)

The Reluctant Dragon (Luske, Handley, Beebe, Verity, Blystone and Werker) (+ ro); Dumbo (Sharpsteen)

Bambi (Hand); Saludos Amigos (Ferguson) (+ ro)

Victory through Air Power (Hand and Potter)

The Three Caballeros (Ferguson)

Make Mine Music (Grant); Song of the South (Jackson and Foster)

Fun and Fancy Free (Sharpsteen)

Melody Time (Sharpsteen); So Dear to My Heart (Luske and Schuster)

Ichabod and Mr. Toad ( The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad ) (Sharpsteen)

Cinderella (Sharpsteen); Treasure Island (Haskin)

Alice in Wonderland (Sharpsteen)

The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (Annakin)

Peter Pan (Luske, Geronimi, and Jackson); The Sword and the Rose (Annakin); Rob Roy , the Highland Rogue (French)

20,000 Leagues under the Sea (Fleischer); The Littlest Outlaw ( E1 pequino proscrito ) (Gavaldon)

Lady and the Tramp (Luske, Geronimi and Jackson); Davy Crockett and the River Pirates

The Great Locomotive Chase (Lyon); Westward Ho the Wagons! (Beaudine)

Johnny Tremain (Stevenson); Old Yeller (Stevenson)

The Light in the Forest (Daugherty); Sleeping Beauty (Geronimi); Tonka (L. Foster)

The Shaggy Dog (Barton); Darby O'Gill and the Little People (Stevenson); Third Man on the Mountain (Annakin); Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus (Barton)

Kidnapped (Stevenson); Pollyanna (Swift); Ten Who Dared (Beaudine); Swiss Family Robinson (Annakin); One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Reitherman, Luske and Geronimi); The Absent-Minded Professor (Stevenson)

Moon Pilot (Neilson); In Search of the Castaways (Stevenson); Nikki, Wild Dog of the North (Couffer and Haldane); The Parent Trap (Swift); Greyfriars Bobby (Chaffey); Babes in Toyland (Donohue)

Son of Flubber (Stevenson); The Miracle of the White Stallions ( Flight of the White Stallions ) (Hiller); Big Red (Tokar); Bon Voyage (Neilson); Almost Angels ( Born to Sing ) (Previn); The Legend of Lobo (Algar and Couffer)

Savage Sam (Tokar); Summer Magic (Neilson); The Incredible Journey (Markle); The Sword in the Stone (Reitherman); The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (Stevenson); The Three Lives of Thomasina (Chaffey)

A Tiger Walks (Tokar); The Moon-Spinners (Neilson); Mary Poppins (Stevenson); Emil and the Detectives (Tewksbury); Those Calloways (Tokar); The Monkey's Uncle (Stevenson)

That Darn Cat (Stevenson)

The Ugly Dachshund (Tokar); Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (Paul) (story under pseudonym Retlaw Yensid); The Fighting Prince of Donegal (O'Herlihy); Follow Me, Boys! (Tokar); Monkeys, Go Home! (McLaglen); The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (Neilson); The Gnome-Mobile (Stevenson)

The Jungle Book (commentary) (Reitherman)

Publications

By disney, book—.

Sketch Book , Old Saybrook, CT, 1993.

By DISNEY: articles—

"What I've Learned from Animals," in American Magazine , February 1953.

"The Lurking Camera," in Atlantic Monthly ( New York ), August 1954.

"Too Long at the Sugar Bowls: Frances C. Sayers Raps with Disney," in Library Journal ( New York ), 15 October 1965.

On DISNEY: books—

Rotha, Paul, Celluloid, the Film Today , New York, 1931.

Bardeche, Maurice, and Robert Brasillach, Histoire du Cinéma , Paris, 1935.

Field, Robert D., The Art of Walt Disney , New York,1942.

Eisenstein, Sergei, Film Sense , translated and edited by Jay Leyda, New York, 1947.

Clair, René, Reflections on the Cinema , translated by Vera Traill, London, 1953.

Manvell, Roger, and J. Huntley, The Technique of Film Music , New York, 1957.

Martin, Pete, (ed.), The Story of Walt Disney , New York, 1957.McGowan, Kenneth, Behind the Screen: The History and Techniques of Motion Pictures , New York, 1965.

Stephenson, Ralph, Animation in the Cinema , New York, 1967.

Bessy, Maurice, Walt Disney , Paris, 1970.

Kurland, Gerald, Walt Disney: The Master of Animation , New York, 1971.

Maltin, Leonard, The Disney Films , New York, 1973, revised edition, 1984.

Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life , New York, 1982.

Bruno, Eduardo, and Enrico Ghezzi, Walt Disney , Venice, 1985.

Mosley, Leonard, The Real Walt Disney , London, 1986.

Schickel, Richard, The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney , London, 1986.

Culhane, Shamus, Talking Animals and Other People , New York, 1986 + filmo.

Taylor, John, Storming the Magic Kingdom , New York, 1987.

Grant, John, Encyclopaedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters , New York, 1987.

Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston, Too Funny for Words , New York, 1987.

Holliss, Richard, and Brian Sibley, The Disney Studio Story , London, 1988.

Duchene, Alain, Walt Disney n'est pas mort! , Paris, 1989.

Ford, Barbara, Walt Disney , New York, 1989.

Grover, Ron, The Disney Touch , Homewood, Illinois, 1991.

Jackson, Kathy Merlock, Walt Disney: A Bio-bibliography , Westport, CT, 1993.

Merritt, Russell, Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney , Gemona, 1993.

Fanning, Jim, Walt Disney , New York, 1994.

Smoodkin, Eric, (ed.), Disney Discourse: Producing the Magic Kingdom , New York, 1994.

Thomas, Bob, Walt Disney: An American Original , New York, 1994.

West, John G., Jr., The Disney Live-action Productions , Milton, WA, 1994.

Eliot, Marc, Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince, A Biography , Deutsch, 1995.

Finch, Christopher, The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom , New York, 1995.

Bell, Elizabeth, Lynda Haas, and Laura Sells, editors, From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture , Bloomington, Indiana, 1995.

Cole, Michael D. Walt Disney: Creator of Mickey Mouse , Springfield, NJ, 1996.

Watts, Steven, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life , Boston, 1997.

Sherman, Robert B., and Richard M. Sherman, Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond , Santa Clarita, California, 1998.

On DISNEY: articles—

"The Mechanized Mouse," in The Saturday Review of Literature (New York), 11 November 1933.

Mann, Arthur, in Harper (New York), May 1934.

Bragdon, Claude, "Straws in the Wind," in Scribner's Magazine (New York), July 1934.

Boone, Andrew R., "A Famous Fairytale is Brought to the Screen as the Pioneer Feature Length Cartoon in Color," in Popular Science Monthly (New York), 1938.

Jeanne, René, "Comment naquirent les dessins animés," in Revue des Deux Mondes (Paris), 15 March 1938.

Moellenhoff, F., "Remarks on the Popularity of Mickey Mouse," in American Imago , (Detroit, Michigan) no. 3, 1940.

Boone, R., "Mickey Mouse Goes Classical," in Popular Science Monthly (New York), January 1941.

Ahl, Frances Norene, "Disney Techniques in Educational Film," in The Social Studies , December 1941.

"Walt Disney: Great Teacher," in Fortune (New York), August 1942.

"Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck Work for Victory," in Popular Science Monthly (New York), September 1942.

Mosdell, D., "Film Review," in Canadian Forum , November 1946.

Wallace, Irving, "Mickey Mouse and How He Grew," in Colliers (New York), 9 April 1949.

"A Silver Anniversary for Walt and Mickey: Disney's Magic Wand Has Enriched the World with Birds, Beasts and Fairy Princesses," in Life (New York), 2 November 1953.

"Disney Comes to Television," in Newsweek (New York), 12 April 1954.

Fishwick, Marshall, "Aesop in Hollywood: The Man and the Mouse," in Saturday Review (New York), 10 July 1954.

"Cinema: Father Goose—Walt Disney: To Enchanted Worlds on Electronic Wings," in Time (New York), 27 December 1954.

McEvoy, J.P., "McEvoy in Disneyland: A Visit with the Wonderful Wizard of Filmdom," in Reader's Digest (Pleasantville, New York), February 1955.

"A Wonderful World: Growing Impact of the Disney Art," in Newsweek (New York), 18 April 1955.

Powell, Dilys, "Hayley Mills on the Pickford Path," in New York Times , 13 August 1961.

Sadoul, Georges, "Sur le 'huitième art'," in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), June 1962.

Special Disney issue of National Geographic (Washington, D.C.), August 1963.

"The Wide World of Walt Disney," in Newsweek (New York), 31 December 1963.

Whitaker, Frederic, "A Day with Disney," in American Artist (New York), September 1965.

Aubriant, Michel, "Le vrai Walt Disney est mort il y a des années mais ne soyons pas injustes . . . ," in Paris Presse , 21 December 1966.

Comolii, Jean-Louis, and Michel Delahaye, "Le Cinéma à l'expo de Montréal," in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), April 1967.

"Disney without Walt . . . Is Like a Fine Car without an Engine. Will the Great Entertainment Company Find a New Creative Boss? Or Will It Slowly Lose Momentum?," in Forbes (New York), 1 July 1967.

Tucker, N., "Who's Afraid of Walt Disney," in New Society , no.11, 1968.

Gessner, Robert, "Letters to the Editor: Class in Fantasia ," in The Nation (New York), 30 November 1970.

"The Ten Greatest Men of American Business—As You Picked Them," in Nation's Business , March 1971.

Pérez, F., "Walt Disney, una pedagogía reaccionaria," in Cine Cubano (Havana), no. 81–83, 1973.

Murray, J.C., "Lest We Forget," in Lumiere (Melbourne), November 1973.

Stuart, A., "Decay of an American Dream," in Films and Filming (London), November 1973.

Special Disney issue of Kosmorama (Copenhagen), November 1973.

Canemaker, J., "A Visit to the Walt Disney Studio," in Filmmakers Newsletter (Ward Hill, Massachusetts), January 1974.

Sklar, Robert, in Movie Made America: A Social History of American Movies , New York, 1975.

Rosenbaum, Jonathan, "Dream Masters," in Film Comment (New York), January-February 1975.

Smith, D.R., "Ben Sharpsteen . . . 33 Years with Disney," in Millimeter (New York), April 1975.

Beckerman, H., "Animation Kit: Movies, Myth and Us," in Filmmakers Newsletter (Ward Hill, Massachusetts), September 1975.

Brody, M., "The Wonderful World of Disney: Its Psychological Appeal," in American Imago (Detroit, Michigan), no. 4, 1976.

"Disney Night at the A.S.C.," in American Cinematographer ( Los Angeles ), February 1977.

Paul, W., "Art, Music, Nature and Walt Disney," in Movie (London), Spring 1977.

Schupp, P., "Mickey a cinquante ans," in Sequences (Montreal), January 1979.

Canemaker, J., "Disney Animation: History and Technique," in Film News (NewYork), January-February 1979.

Hulett, S., "A Star Is Drawn," in Film Comment (New York), January-February 1979.

Canemaker, J., "Disney Design: 1928–1979," in Millimeter (New York), February 1979.

Barrier, M., "'Building a Better Mouse': Fifty Years of Disney Animation," in Funnyworld (New York), Summer 1979.

Smith, D.R., "Disney Before Burbank: The Kingswell and Hyperion Studios," in Funnyworld (New York), Summer 1979.

Cawley, J., Jr., "Disney Out-Foxed: The Tale of Reynard at the Disney Studio," in American Classic Screen (Shawnee Mission, Kansas), July-August 1979.

"Journals: Tom Allen from New York," in Film Comment (New York), September-October 1981.

Griffithiana (Gemona, Italy), no. 34, December 1988.

CinémAction (Conde-sur-Noireau), no. 51, April 1989.

Kosmorama (Copenhagen), vol. 35, no. 188, Summer 1989.

Animatrix , no. 6, 1990/1992.

Cineforum , no. 319, 1992.

Skoop , October 1992.

Plateau , no. 2, 1993.

The South Atlantic Quarterly , no. 1, 1993.

New York Times , 6 May 1993.

New York Times , 8 May 1993.

Positif , no. 388, June 1993.

New York Times , 13 July 1993.

New York Times , 18 July 1993.

Newsweek , 26 July 1993.

Before Walt Disney, there was Emile Cohl (the "first animator," who made over 250 films in the early years of the twentieth century); Winsor McCay (whose Gertie the Dinosaur, created in 1914, was the original animated personality); John Randolph Bray (the Henry Ford of animation, whose technological and organizational contributions revolutionized the art form); and Otto Messmer, inventor of Felix the Cat, the Charlie Chaplin of animated characters and the most popular cartoon creation of the 1920s, entertaining audiences before Mickey Mouse ever uttered a squeak.

So why is Walt Disney synonymous with animation? How could Fantasia , Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , and Bambi have been re-released to theaters every few years and then marketed to home video, to delight generations of children? Simply because no other animator ever duplicated the Disney studio's appealingly lifelike cartoon characters and wonderful flair for storytelling.

First, Disney was an innovator, a perfectionist who was forever attempting to improve his product and explore the medium to its fullest potential. He was the first to utilize sound in animation, in Steamboat Willie , which was the third Mickey Mouse cartoon. The soundtrack here is more than just a gimmick: for example, in an animal concert, a cow's udder is played like a bagpipe and its teeth are transformed into a xylophone. The musical accompaniment thus emerges from the background, becoming an integral element in the film's structure.

In Flowers and Trees , Disney was the first to utilize three-strip Technicolor in animation, a process devised by Joseph Arthur Ball: three different negatives, each recording a primary color, replaced the single camera film previously used. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first full-length cartoon feature: during the production, Disney staffers developed the multiplane method of realistically creating the illusion of perspective and depth. The camera, operated by several technicians, filled an entire room. A sequence was drawn and painted on several panes of glass, with each one carefully placed and rigidly held down. Cels of the animated characters were placed on the various planes, which would then be moved past the camera at varying speeds. Those close to the camera would go by rapidly; those in the rear would be moved more slowly.

Just as significantly, however, Disney was a master organizer and administrator. As a result, from the 1930s on, the Disney Studio practically monopolized the animation industry. He established an industrialized assembly line , employing hundreds of animators and technicians who regularly churned out high-quality, Academy Award-caliber product. In the early 1930s, he opened distribution offices in London and Paris. He instigated large merchandising campaigns to reap additional profits via T-shirts, toys, and watches. Today, Disneyland and Disneyworld are living monuments to his memory. And it is not surprising that Disney eventually stretched his talents beyond pure animation, first combining cartoons with actors and, finally, producing live-action features, wildlife documentaries, and television series. In 1950, he produced Treasure Island , his first non-animated feature. In 1953, he made his first nature documentary, The Living Desert. The following year, he premiered his weekly television anthology series, which aired for decades. And he established the Buena Vista company as a distribution outlet for his films.

Yet Walt Disney's ultimate legacy remains his animated stories, and the narrative elements which lifted them above his competition. His characters are not just caricatures who insult each other, bash each other with baseball bats, or push each other off cliffs. They are lifelike, three-dimensional creatures with personalities all their own: they are simple, but never simplistic, and rarely, if ever, fail to thoroughly involve the viewer.

It is virtually impossible to rank the best of Disney's animated features in order of quality or popularity. Snow White , with its enchanting storyline and sweet humor, remains a joy for audiences many decades after its release. It is the perfect romantic fairy tale, with Snow White and her Prince Charming in a happy-ever-after ending, the comic relief of the lovable dwarfs, and the villainy of the evil Queen. The film's financial history is typical of most Disney features: originally budgeted at $250,000, it eventually cost $1,700,000 to produce. It earned $4.2 million in the United States and Canada alone when first released; by the mid-1990s, it had grossed over $175-million.

Jiminy Cricket singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" is the highlight of Pinocchio . Bambi is easily the most delicate of all Disney features. And there is Fantasia , a series of animated sequences set to musical classics conducted by Leopold Stokowski and performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra : Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker Suite , Dukas's The Sorcerer's Apprentice , Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring , and Beethoven's Symphony No.6 in F Major , among others. Fantasia is ambitious, innovative, controversial—how dare anyone attempt to visually interpret music?—and, ultimately, timeless.

Since Disney's death in 1966, his studio has had its failures and triumphs. After a dry spell in the late 1960s and 1970s, it established a subsidiary, Touchstone Pictures, which successfully debuted in 1984 with the PG-rated Splash. In the intervening years, the studio struck deals with the likes of Bob and Harvey Weinstein of Miramax Films and Merchant-Ivory Productions, and marketed such traditionally un-Disney-like fare as Pulp Fiction, Kids, Pretty Woman , and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. But the studio remains mostly synonymous with animation. In the 1990s, it produced a string of animated features which ranks with its classics of decades past: The Lion King, Pocahontas, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. As of 1996, The Lion King rated number five on Variety's list of all-time money-earning champs, taking in over $312 million. Also ranked in the top 50 were other animated and non-animated Disney fare, which certifies the studio's status as a major Hollywood player: Aladdin (number 16, $217-million); Toy Story (number 24, $182 million); Pretty Woman (number 26, $178 million); the previously mentioned Snow White (number 29); Three Men and a Baby (number 34, $167 million); Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (number 42, $154 million); Beauty and the Beast (number 49, $145 million); and The Santa Clause (number 50, $144 million).

In 1991, Beauty and the Beast became the first animated film ever nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. And in 1995 came Toy Story , a groundbreaking feature produced completely on computer.

An essay on Walt Disney would be incomplete without a note on Mickey Mouse, the most famous of all Disney creations and one of the world's most identifiable and best-loved characters. Appropriately, Disney himself was the voice of Mickey, who was originally named Mortimer. The filmmaker himself best explained the popularity of his mouse: ". . . Mickey is so simple and uncomplicated, so easy to understand, that you can't help liking him."

With pen, pencil, ink, and paint, Walt Disney created a unique, special world. Max and Dave Fleischer, Walter Lantz, Chuck Jones, and many others may all be great animators, but Disney is unarguably the most identifiable name in the art form.

—Rob Edelman

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Disney, Walt 1901-1966

Bibliography.

Walter Elias Disney and his brother Roy established the Walt Disney Company in the late 1920s to produce short animations. The company ’ s first synchronized-sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928), featured Mickey Mouse, a character that became one of the best-known icons in the world. In the wake of the nineteenth-century transformation of the oral tradition of fairy tales into a literary tradition by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen , and others, Disney, in the early decades of the twentieth century, employed technological advances to turn literary fairy tales into animations. The first feature-length animation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), paved the way for the Disney brand of family-oriented celluloid fantasies targeting children as their primary audience.

A 1941 strike by Disney animators seeking more recognition, along with economic hard times, crippled the company, but World War II (1939 – 1945) reenergized the Disney Company through government commissions. The Three Caballeros (1944) was made at the behest of Nelson Rockefeller ’ s Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to promote “ Good Neighborliness ” between North America and Latin America . The conservative Disney also served as a Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ) agent from 1940 to his death in 1966. The public image of “ Uncle Walt ” with a gentle smile and with roots in rural small-town America is the result of mythmaking, which masks Walt Disney ’ s traumatic childhood and distrustful personality. Disney ’ s vendetta against striking employees of his studio in the 1940s betrays not only a suspicious and controlling character but an anticommunist obsession. His hidden career as a secret informant in the last two decades of his life gives a perverse twist to the family entertainment Disney has come to symbolize.

The Disney television show went on the air in 1954. Theme parks proved to be far more successful than animations and live-action films and television. Disneyland in Anaheim, California , opened in 1955, followed by Disney World in Orlando , Florida , in 1971. Tokyo saw the Japanese version of Disneyland in 1983, France in 1992, and Hong Kong in 2005. Having languished after Walt Disney ’ s death, the Disney Company resurged under Michael Eisner in the 1980s. Disney has now grown into a global business conglomerate of film studio, television network, cable company, magazine, merchandise bearing various Disney logos, theme parks and resorts, and other ventures, with revenues totaling over $25 billion around the turn of the century. Disney also works through the Touchstone label, Miramax Films, Buena Vista International, and other business entities to produce and distribute less family-oriented shows.

With its increasing monopoly of media and entertainment, Disney has given rise to the phenomenon of Disneyfication , that is, trivialization and sanitization. The key to the success of the “ Magic Kingdom ” is indeed carefully controlled, heavily edited images of childhood innocence and fun. Yet what appears to the child to be happy tunes and carefree joy often veils sexist, racist, ageist, and neo-imperialist reality. From Sleeping Beauty to the Little Mermaid to Mulan, every Disney female lead embodies idealized Euro-American beauty in facial features, balletic physique, and youth-culture obsessions. These Disney females, including the sword-wielding Mulan, ultimately derive their meaning in life through male characters. The blatant racism in the happy plantation African Americans in The Song of the South (1946) and the slant-eyed, buck-toothed, pidgin-speaking Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp (1955) and The Aristocats (1970) has gone underground, occasionally resurfacing in, for example, the cruel, hand-chopping Arabs in Aladdin (1992) and the stereotypical, “ multicultural ” duo of “ kung fu ” Mulan and her familiar, the blabbering Mushu dubbed by Eddie Murphy .

Theme parks best exemplify the Disney culture of control. The enclosed environment of these sites separates visitors from the outside world, encouraging consumption in the guise of family fun. Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyland is, of course, a shopping mall. Various adventures at Disneyland are centrally themed to formulate a narrative and to shape consumer perception. Even Disney employees with smiling faces are trained in “ performative labor ” : they are not so much working as role-playing; they are cast members in the Disney discourse of happiness.

Any critique of Disneyfication faces the challenge that animated fantasy is customarily regarded as devoid of ideology, notwithstanding the fact that the racial, gender, national, and capitalist undertones of Disney have repeatedly been the subject of study. Adults ’ nostalgia for childlike simplicity and pleasure further leads to an acquiescence to Disney ’ s ahistorical and apolitical universe. Assuredly, growing up anywhere in the world, one is invariably nurtured on Disney ’ s breast milk of superior quality in terms of ingenuity and craftsmanship. To contend that consumers have been fed with something aesthetically refined but culturally suspect is likely to provoke vigorous opposition. Yet the 1995 defeat of the proposed 3,000-acre Disney theme park in Virginia ’ s Civil War battlegrounds signals the potential of grassroots resistance to corporate greed and expansionism. With the shadows of the omnivorous, lawsuit-happy Disney Company looming over the twenty-first century, new battles will be fought far away from Virginia. Globalization has brought Disney to every corner of the world. In the company of giants such as McDonald ’ s, Nike, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft, Disney ’ s transnational operations will continue to perpetuate Americanization globally, but it remains a severely constricted vision of America, one enjoyed principally by middle-class visitors to Disney World and passive consumers of Disney culture.

SEE ALSO Children; Culture; Racism; Sexism

Bell, Elizabeth, Lynda Haas, and Laura Sells, eds. 1995. From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture . Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Giroux, Henry A. 1999. The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence . Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Smoodin, Eric, ed. 1994. Disney Discourse: Producing the Magic Kingdom . New York : Routledge.

Sheng-mei Ma

" Disney, Walt . " International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences . . Encyclopedia.com. 15 May. 2024 < https://www.encyclopedia.com > .

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Walt Disney 's name has not always been synonymous with childhood. In the 1930s his work was seen as populist and avant-garde. It was considered populist because, three decades earlier, he had been born into poverty, and his cartoons had the simple outlines of folk art . (They were seen as "his" cartoons even though, as the story goes, one of his animators had to teach him to draw his signature Mickey Mouse.) Disney's cartoons were considered avant-garde because the cinema was a new art form, and at this time when photography still had only dubious claims to artistry and live-action motion pictures could be seen merely as moving photographs, animated cartoons could make a greater claim to artistry. The preeminent name in the art of animation – thanks to Mickey Mouse, the Silly Symphonies, and "The Three Little Pigs" – was Walt Disney .

Early in his career Disney was both a popular success and the darling of intellectuals. Between 1932 and 1941 his work won thirteen Academy Awards, and he was granted honorary degrees by Yale and Harvard. The philosopher Mortimer

Adler rhapsodized about Disney's greatness, as did the Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein; the French filmmaker Ren é Clair called his artistry sublime; the artist David Low called him the most significant graphic artist since Leonardo. The film historian Lewis Jacobs referred to Disney as the most acclaimed of current directors: Disney's willingness to plow profits into new technology and to take financial risks to achieve desired effects was, for Jacobs, a sign of artistic integrity – not, as it would later be construed, entrepreneurial savvy.

Disney's audience included both young and old. Critics often praised his films for addressing the young, the old, indeed "artists, intellectuals, children, workers, and everyday people the world over," to quote the Atlantic Monthly in 1940. Consider the Disney merchandise of the 1930s, which included not just Mickey Mouse dolls but also ashtrays, beer trays, negligees, and Donald Duck Coffee. (Disney pioneered tieins and cross-merchandising, and the corporation is now the industry leader in cross-promotion.)

Changing Attitudes

In the 1940s Disney's productions continued to be popular with the general public, but his reputation among critics and intellectuals waned. In the 1950s it plummeted. This shift may have resulted from Disney's decision to include human figures in his feature-length cartoons, starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1938, and that these figures imitated real life only imperfectly. Perhaps disenchantment derived from the bitter strike at Disney Brothers Studios in 1941, or from the experimentalism of The Three Caballeros in 1945. Perhaps, too, critics resented the fact that Disney simply did not focus as much on his cartoons as he had in the past, producing live-action films, nature documentaries, television programs, and theme parks, launching what has been called the first multimedia empire.

Disney's reputation continued to suffer in the 1950s. The reason may have had something to do with the advent of television. Previously cartoon shorts had been an expected part of an evening's entertainment at the movies, no matter how sophisticated the feature film. But in the decades following World War II , cartoons appeared less often in the theater and more often on Saturday morning television. Eventually, they were regarded as strictly for children.

In other words, once Disney's cartoons came to be seen as suitable only for children, and once he himself became Uncle Walt to millions of viewers, Disney's cartoons were no longer suitable for intellectuals. In a twentieth-century intellectual climate where anything considered juvenile was suspect (a very different climate from that of the nineteenth century) Disney's productions were devalued.

Some critics disapproved of Disney's works even in the 1930s. As a Mickey Mouse book was placed on the recommended reading list for New York City schools in 1938, Louise Seaman Bechtel, in the Saturday Review of Literature, regretted "the pressing semi-reality of all the hurrying scenes in color on the screen, the over-elaborated story and crowded canvas" of the film Snow White. In later decades one of the louder salvos was fired by the librarian Frances Clarke Sayers, who in a 1965 letter to the Los Angeles Times (later expanded into an article for the Horn Book Magazine ) made an often-quoted statement bemoaning the obviousness of Disney's work, particularly its violence, mediocrity, vulgarity, and its "pretending that everything is so sweet, so saccharine, so without any conflict except the obvious conflict of violence." Other critics include Richard Schickel, who in his The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney (1968) lamented, "In this most childlike of our mass communicators I see what is most childish and therefore most dangerous in all of us who were his fellow Americans."

I'm Going to Disney World!

In recent years Disney's popularity with the general public has soared. Disney products are seen as cute, safe, and cheerful. The company's CEO Michael Eisner claimed, in the 2001 annual report, that Disney's various studios had been number one at the U.S. box office for six of the previous seven years and number one internationally for five of them.

He added that Disney was the largest publisher of children's books in the world and that more than a billion people worldwide had used a Disney product during the previous year. Giants slugger Barry Bonds exclaimed, upon hitting his record-breaking homerun in 2001, "I'm going to Disney World!," and in the wake of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush advised the American public, "Go down to Disney World in Florida . Take your families and enjoy life the way we want it to be enjoyed."

Yet cultural critics and film historians continue to accuse the entertainment company of reinforcing corporate, patriarchal, ethnocentric, and imperialistic values by modifying, for instance, traditional tales such as "Snow White," " Cinderella ," "Sleeping Beauty," and "Beauty and the Beast." Only in Disney's version is Snow White such a happy housewife for the dwarfs. While traditional tales with oral sources have been altered throughout their history to reflect the concerns and biases of individual tellers and transcribers, once Walt Disney Productions (as the company is now known) creates a version of a story – whether it is a traditional tale or a classic text such as Pinocchio or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Winnie-the-Pooh – Disney's version becomes the standard one for millions of children. The Little Mermaid 's underwater witch is now visualized around the world as a drag queen named Ursula, and the American Indian Pocahontas is a brunette Barbie.

Other cultural critics and historians find points of contestation in Disney's films. In From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture Elizabeth Bell found visual images of strength and discipline in the fairy-tale heroines, whose bodies were modeled on those of classical dancers. Lori Kenschaft, in her essay "Just a Spoonful of Sugar? Anxieties of Gender and Class in Mary Poppins, " reminded us that not everyone experiences a film such as Disney's Mary Poppins in the same way, especially in this age of multimedia and fast-forwarding: whereas one individual might register the energy of the chimney sweeps in the film, another viewer might pick up on the film's intermittent critiques of class and gender.

The company struggled financially in the 1930s and 1940s, achieving stability only in the late 1950s, and since Walt Disney's death in 1966 the corporation has experienced a number of ups and downs. In 1999 and again in 2002 Fortune magazine called it the "world's most troubled entertainment giant." Nevertheless, it is one of the largest media corporations in the world, firmly ensconced in the Fortune 100, with annual revenues of more than twenty-five billion dollars. Its holdings include Touchstone Pictures, Miramax, the Disney Channel, Radio Disney, Hyperion Books, Hollywood Records, the various theme parks, and the television networks ABC and ESPN. It is arguably the most influential corporation in the world. For Disney gets us young and helps to shape our understanding of who we are, getting us to whistle while we work, to be unafraid of the big bad wolf, to wish upon a star that some day our prince will come, indeed to accept Disney products as the spoonful of sugar that helps any medicine go down, in this small world after all.

bibliography

Bell, Elizabeth, Lynda Haas, and Laura Sells, eds. 1995. From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Kenschaft, Lori. 1999. "Just a Spoonful of Sugar? Anxieties of Gender and Class in Mary Poppins. " In Girls, Boys, Books, Toys: Gender in Children's Literature and Culture, ed. Beverly Lyon Clark and Margaret R. Higonnet. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.

The Project on Disney. 1995. Inside the Mouse: Work and Play at Disney World. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Sayers, Frances Clarke, and Charles M. Weisenberg. 1965. "Walt Disney Accused." Horn Book Magazine 40: 602 – 611.

Schickel, Richard. 1968. The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney. New York : Simon and Schuster.

Smoodin, Eric, ed. 1994. Disney Discourse: Producing the Magic Kingdom. New York : Routledge.

Watts, Steven. 1997. The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Beverly Lyon Clark

CLARK, BEVERLY LYON " Disney . " Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society . . Encyclopedia.com. 15 May. 2024 < https://www.encyclopedia.com > .

CLARK, BEVERLY LYON "Disney ." Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society . . Encyclopedia.com. (May 15, 2024). https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/disney

CLARK, BEVERLY LYON "Disney ." Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society . . Retrieved May 15, 2024 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/children/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/disney

Walt Disney

Born: December 5, 1901 Chicago , Illinois Died: December 15, 1966 Burbank, California Animator and cofounder, Walt Disney Company

During his career, Walt Disney found ways to make children of all ages believe in a certain kind of magic. His films brought talking animals to life. His theme parks transported people to distant lands or make-believe castles. And through Walt Disney Productions, the Disney name became one of the most famous and trusted brands in the world. His company promoted him as a carefree man whose only goal was to "bring happiness to the millions." In business, however, Disney was demanding, seeking perfection in his art and total control of his business.

"When does a person stop being a child? Can you say that a child is ever entirely eliminated from the adult? I believe that the right kind of entertainment can appeal to all persons, young or old."

Struggling Artist

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois. He was the fourth son of Elias and Mary Disney. He also had a younger sister. In 1905, the Disneys moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri . Disney later recalled the small-town atmosphere of the town when he built Disneyland. His family moved again in 1911, settling in Kansas City . Mr. Disney began a successful paper route, and Walt and his brother Roy helped him. Walt also showed an early interest in art, copying a popular comic strip and making up his own.

By high school, with his family now living in Chicago, Disney was winning recognition for his art, publishing his cartoons in the school paper. In 1918, about a year after the United States entered World War I (1914-18), Disney lied about his age to volunteer as a Red Cross ambulance driver. He arrived in Europe shortly after the war ended and spent most of his time as a chauffeur for army officers. In his free time, he kept drawing cartoons.

When he returned to the United States in 1919, Disney settled in Kansas City and began his career as an artist. His first job was at a commercial art studio, drawing animals in farm-equipment catalogues. Disney later worked for the Kansas City Slide Company, which created advertising films for local companies. Disney began to study the new art of animation for the ads, then began experimenting with his own cartoon films. By 1921, he was working on his own on the side, making short cartoons he called Laugh-O-Grams. Disney officially incorporated the company in 1922 and produced cartoons of fairy tales. The next year, however, the company went bankrupt. Disney took a half-finished film of Alice's Wonderland, which combined live actors with cartoon figures, and headed for California.

Walt Disney's earliest animation may have been a flip book he made for his sister when he was nine years old. He drew a series of pictures on different pieces of paper. Flipping the pages made the figures appear to move.

The Daring Animator and His New Company

Disney set up a studio in his uncle's shop so he could finish Alice's Wonderland and make other films like it. His brother Roy was also in California, and he loaned Disney money to get his company off the ground. The two brothers went into business together, forming Disney Brothers Studio. By 1924, the "Alice" cartoons were playing in theaters on the East Coast and receiving positive reviews. Disney's personal life was also improving, as he started dating Lilly Bounds, a young woman he had hired to work at the studio. They were married in June 1925 and eventually had two daughters, one of them adopted.

Although Disney and his company struggled financially during the early years, he did well enough to buy a new studio and hire more workers. Disney was also constantly looking for new opportunities. In 1928, while coming home from a business trip in New York , he had an idea for a new cartoon creature, a mouse. Disney wanted to call him Mortimer Mouse; his wife suggested Mickey instead. Mickey became Disney's first cartoon star.

Around the same time, Disney saw that sound films, then a novelty, would change Hollywood . Matching music with cartoon action, however, was not easy, and Disney demanded perfection. At one point he sold his beloved car to finance a recording for one of his cartoons. Disney also worked hard, sometimes falling asleep in his studio after working late into the night.

After the success of Mickey Mouse and other short cartoons, Disney began planning his first full-length feature. In 1934, an excited Disney acted out the story of "Snow White" for his staff, playing all the roles. He was convinced the film would be a success. Once again, Disney was right in guessing what people would pay to see. As Time magazine wrote many years later, Disney had "a deep, intuitive identification with the common impulses of common people."

Building New Worlds

Creating animated films let Disney invent worlds that did not exist and gave him the control he craved. During the 1940s, he had an idea for a real world that he could also shape as he chose. Bob Thomas quotes him in Walt Disney: An American Original: The concept of Disneyland "started when my daughters were very young, and I took them to amusement parks on Sundays. … I said to myself … why can't there be a better place to take your children, where you can have fun together?"

At the new home Walt Disney built for his family during the 1940s, he included a half-mile railroad track for his own model train, which was large enough to carry several people at once.

In 1952, Disney formed a second company, Walt Disney Inc., to build his new theme park. He later changed the name to WED Enterprises. Out of WED came the Imagineers, the designers of new rides and new technologies that could make Disney's dreams come to life. One Disney idea was creating moving models of people that could talk. WED created these figures, called Audio-Animatronics.

Michael Eisner: The "Outsider" Who Saved Disney

In 1984, Michael Eisner became the first person with no personal connection to Walt Disney to lead Walt Disney Productions. And unlike most Americans, Eisner had never even grown up on Disney films as a child. He admitted that he first saw them with his own children. But like Disney, Eisner seemed to have a flair for the creative. And like the company's founder, Eisner could be difficult to work with, as he fought to have things done his way.

The product of a wealthy New York family, Eisner was born in 1942. He originally planned to study medicine, but found himself drawn to entertainment. After college, Eisner took a job at NBC, then moved over to ABC, where he worked with Barry Diller , one of the rising young television executives of the 1960s. During the 1970s, Eisner scheduled such hit shows as Happy Days and Welcome Back, Kotter. From television he moved to motion pictures , working for Diller at Paramount Pictures. Eisner, as president, helped Paramount regain its position as one of the top studios in Hollywood.

When Disney Productions first considered hiring Eisner, some important investors questioned if he was the right person to run the company. As he wrote in his autobiography Work in Progress, Eisner told them they needed someone with creativity to keep the company growing. "In a creative business," he said, "you … have to be willing to take chances and even to fail sometimes, because otherwise nothing innovative is ever going to happen." When Eisner got the job, he found ways to make money from old Disney products and created new animated classics to revive the Disney image.

During the 1990s, Eisner's moves made Disney one of the most successful stocks in the United States . But Eisner's personal style, considered arrogant by some, did not please everyone who worked for him. Disney developed a reputation as the cheapest film studio in Hollywood. And Disney's movement away from strict family entertainment into more "adult" content upset some people who felt Eisner was betraying Disney's wholesome image.

Disney under Eisner was also criticized for being too concerned with making money and controlling markets, instead of offering good entertainment. But in 2002, Eisner insisted to Fortune that he and the Disney company were still committed to quality. "There are two ways to make money in entertainment," he said, "the high road or the low road. The low road is a road that I don't choose to be on."

Disney, however, was not content with just building theme parks. He wanted to create a whole town. In the early 1960s, Disney's company began buying thousands of acres in central Florida . Part of the land would become a second theme park — Disney World — but Disney wanted to use some of it for a planned community, the "City of Tomorrow." In October 1966, Disney gave an interview describing his vision.

Bob Thomas quotes him as saying, "It's like the city of tomorrow ought to be. … It will be a planned, controlled community, a showcase for American industry and research, schools, cultural and educational opportunities."

Disney called his idea the Environmental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). Today's EPCOT features exhibits on science and technology, along with tributes to several foreign countries, but it is not the town Disney envisioned. Celebration, a nearby planned community the company opened in 1998, is probably closer to what Disney had in mind.

Disney's comments on EPCOT were some of the last public statements he ever made. A lifelong smoker, he died of lung cancer just a few months later, on December 15, 1966. Newspapers around the world mourned the loss of a man who had brought so much happiness to children and adults.

For many years, people spread a rumor that Walt Disney had ordered his body frozen after his death, hoping it could be unfrozen years later when doctors had a cure for cancer. The rumor was untrue.

For More Information

Eisner, Michael, with Tony Schwartz. Work in Progress. New York : Random House, 1998.

Masters, Kim. The Keys to the Kingdom: How Michael Eisner Lost His Grip. New York: William Morrow, 2000.

Schweizer, Peter, and Rochelle Schweizer. Disney: The Mouse Betrayed. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc. 1998.

Thomas, Bob. Walt Disney: An American Original. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976.

Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.

Periodicals

Boroughs, Don, et al. "Disney's All Smiles." U.S. News & World Report (August 14, 1995): p. 32.

"From the Archives." Time (December 28, 1998): p. 14.

Gabor, Andrea, and Steve Hawkins. "Of Mice and Money in the Magic Kingdom." U.S. News & World Report (December 22, 1986): p. 44.

Gunther, Marc. "Has Eisner Lost the Disney Magic?" Fortune (January 7, 2002): p. 64.

Huey, John. "Eisner Explains Everything." Fortune (April 17, 1995): p. 44.

Koepp, Stephen. "Do You Believe in Magic." Time (April 25, 1988): p. 66.

Koselka, Rita. "Mickey's Midlife Crisis." Forbes (May 13, 1991): p. 42.

Schickel, Richard. "Walt Disney." Time (December 7, 1998): p. 124.

Streisand, Betty. "Shareholders Smell a Rat." U.S. News & World Report (March 3, 1997): p. 59.

Vinzant, Carol. "Eisner's Mousetrap." Fortune (September 6,1999): p. 106. Wiegner, Kathleen K. "The Tinker Bell Principle." Forbes (December 2,1985): p. 102.

Buena Vista Online Entertainment. [On-line] http://www.bventertainment.go.com (accessed on August 16, 2002).

Disney Online. [On-line] http://www.disney.go.com (accessed on August 16, 2002).

" Disney, Walt . " Leading American Businesses . . Encyclopedia.com. 15 May. 2024 < https://www.encyclopedia.com > .

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(1901-1966) The Walt Disney Company

Walt Disney was one of the great pioneers of filmmaking and the creator of several classic films, most notably his feature-length animated films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio. Disney, who grew up almost without a childhood, found a way to amuse himself as an adult by making cartoons and filling them with characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Creator of cartoons, live-action movies, theme parks, and television programs for the whole family, Disney introduced wholesome family entertainment on a world scale, and was one of the major entertainment forces of the twentieth century.

Personal Life

Walter Elias Disney, known throughout most of his life as Walt Disney, was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois. He had three older brothers and a younger sister. He and one of his older brothers remained especially close throughout Disney's lifetime and pursued the same business together.

Disney's parents, Elias and Flora Disney, came from farming backgrounds, Elias from Canada and Flora from Ohio. Walt's father was a strong influence on the entire family. A stern religious fundamentalist, he readily disciplined his children with his belt. He also denied the children toys, games, and sporting equipment associated with childhood, and this experience may have had some impact on Disney's later passion for the entertainment of children.

Growing up in the Disney family was further complicated by the father's pro-union activism and his political support of the socialist presidential candidate, Eugene Debs, as well as his tendency to change jobs frequently. The family was forced to move to both rural and urban areas all over the Midwest, from Chicago to Marceline, Missouri, to Kansas City , Missouri, and back to Chicago. Disney's father worked in farming, railway shops, carpentry and contracting work, and newspaper distribution. The family was always on the verge of financial collapse, and everyone in the family who could do some kind of work, like deliver newspapers, did.

Disney, according to his brother and lifelong business partner Roy, always enjoyed country life. He loved the animals he encountered, some of which may have inspired him to create cartoon animals in his later career in filmmaking.

Disney had a difficult time gaining an education because of his family's constant moving and his need to work to help support the family. When he was 16, though, he was able to join an art class at the Chicago Academy and Fine Arts, where he developed his modest drawing skills.

Disney dropped out of high school at age 17 to serve in World War I . He had tried to follow his brother Roy into the Navy but was rejected because he was underage. He was accepted as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross after altering the birthdate on his application. He served in France for a short time and returned to the United States in 1919. After returning from the war, he moved on his own to Kansas City , Missouri, where he worked a variety of jobs as a commercial artist and cartoonist.

Disney met Lillian Bounds, one of the employees in his first cartoon-film studio in the early 1920s, and they married on July 13, 1925. The marriage lasted a lifetime, and they produced two daughters.

Disney was known as a perfectionist and a demanding man. Some people saw him as self-centered, and he seemed often baffled when people disagreed with him. He was described by friends and coworkers as a driven man, even "a workaholic." Disney's personal life was filled with paradoxes. He smoked constantly, yet seemed to dislike this bad habit in others. Politically, he was the total opposite of his father. Disney joined the Republican Party in California and remained a firm political conservative. Though he loved country life, he spent most of his life in cities. A complex man, he suffered two nervous breakdowns in his life, one at age 30, and another a decade later, after half the cartoonists of his company went out on strike against him in a dispute about his labor practices.

By 1960, Disney had become a wealthy man, despite many ups and downs in his career. Just as he neared the pinnacle of his career, after having won five Oscars for his production of the movie Mary Poppins, he learned that his lifetime of cigarette smoking was to have consequences. He had surgery for lung cancer in 1966. Though he appeared to be recovering, he had a relapse and died on December 15, 1966.

Disney received more than 700 awards for his creative achievements, including an honorary Academy Award in 1939, four Academy Awards in 1954, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded to him by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. He was also honored with the Freedom Foundation Award later that same year.

Career Details

By 1922, Disney had set up his first small cartoon-production company in Kansas City with Ub Iwerks, whose drawing ability and technical inventiveness were prime factors in Disney's eventual success. Their business soon failed, though, and Disney took a job with an ad service that made cartoon advertisements to be shown between movies at the local theater. Disney gained a basic understanding of the medium and, anxious to get back out on his own, moved to Hollywood, California, in 1923 and started a business with his brother Roy. Out of his "garage" operation there, Disney filmed a live performance with cartoon figures from Alice in Wonderland. He expanded on this idea with the creation of a series called Alice in Cartoonland. He produced 56 of these cartoons in three years and in 1927 returned to a straight cartoon format with his Oswald the Rabbit series, producing 26 of these cartoons in less than two years.

By about 1927, Disney began looking for a new approach to his cartoons and a new character. He came up with a mouse character called Mortimer, but his wife Lilly thought the name was too stiff and convinced Disney to go with Mickey instead. Mickey Mouse came to life in 1928, first as a pilot, then as an adventurer, a sort of pirate-character. Late in 1928, after seeing the first sound movie, The Jazz Singer , Disney decided to make the first all-sound, talking-and-music cartoon, with Mickey Mouse starring as "Steamboat Willie."

By 1936, eight years later, critics and fans alike agreed that Mickey Mouse was the most recognized figure in the world. Songs were written about him. Watches had his face on them. He could be found everywhere. Disney was called "a genius."

During this time, Disney studios launched other successful cartoon characters, including Donald Duck and Pluto. Although he had stopped actually drawing the cartoons himself by 1927, and relied on a staff of animators to implement his ideas, Disney himself was the voice of Mickey Mouse in all the cartoons from 1928 to 1946. Disney's cartoons, both short and full-length features, won many awards. During the 1930s, the Disney cartoons were a phenomenon of worldwide success. This success led to the establishment of immensely profitable, Disney-controlled, sidelines in advertising, publishing, and franchised goods, which helped shape popular tastes for nearly 40 years.

Disney expanded his business rapidly, creating new studios and a training school for animators. It was these students, using state-of-the-art technology, who made possible the first feature-length cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Other costly animated features followed, including Pinocchio and Bambi.

In the 1940s, despite his many successes, Disney produced a series of financial "flops," including a film now regarded as a classic, the animated feature Fantasia. Fantasia did poorly at the box office, and Disney was devastated. Then half his artists went on strike against him, protesting his dictatorial style. Some say that if it were not for a government contract he obtained to produce service-related training films, Disney might have gone bankrupt by the end of World War II .

Luckily, he was able to reexamine his studio operations and pursue other directions successfully. During the 1950s he made a series of live-action feature movies, such as Treasure Island, and his favorite, So Dear To My Heart. With the advent of Seal Island, Disney moved into wildlife films, and expanded production of live-action pictures, which led to many other family films. His elaborate production of Mary Poppins, which won five Academy Awards two years before Disney's death, was one example of a successful family film that used occasional animation and plenty of music.

In 1954, Disney also began to do something revolutionary for the time: he began to produce for television, which had been the traditional "enemy" of the movie business. During the 1950s, Disney joined with American Broadcasting Company TV productions and made a fortune producing Davy Crockett and The Mickey Mouse Club for television exclusively. By the time of his death, Disney had more than 280 television shows to his name.

Disney also began to develop his famous Disneyland theme parks, the first opening in 1957 in Anaheim, California. Disney World, in Orlando, Florida, was not completed until after his death, in 1971. Disney's vision was to interconnect all his many business ventures so that one would help the other; in other words, seeing his work on TV would cause people to want to go to Disneyland, and going to Disneyland would cause people to want to see family-oriented Disney movies.

Disney's dream of creating a city of the future was realized in 1982 with the opening of EPCOT, which stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, a real-life community of the future. Disney theme parks have continued to expand with the opening of Disney-MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom.

Chronology: Walt Disney

1901: Born.

1923: Produced his first cartoon series, "Alice in Cartoonland."

1928: Created Mickey Mouse.

1937: Produced first great critical and financial success, Snow White and Seven Dwarfs.

1941: Began making training and instructional films for the armed forces.

1954: Appearance of the television show, Disneyland.

1954: Received four Academy Awards.

1955: Opened Disneyland theme park.

1966: Died.

By the 1960s, Disney had created a diversified empire, founded on the animal icons, like Mickey Mouse, that had first brought him such fame. The Disney empire is noted for its traditional family values, wholesome middle-class productions, and high level of quality control. Today, the Walt Disney Company , with the creation of Touchstone Pictures, has branched out to a broader range of films. Disney also owns Hollywood Records, and even has its own cruise line. It is a multibillion-dollar enterprise with undertakings all over the world.

Social and Economic Impact

The impact of Walt Disney's career has been felt throughout much of the twentieth century. His creation of wholesome cartoon characters and first-rate animation made Disney what British cartoonist David Low called "the most significant figure in graphic arts since Leonardo." After Disney's death, his classic films continue to be shown, the TV Disney Channel broadcasts his work to TV audiences 24 hours a day, and his theme parks in America and elsewhere (including Tokyo and Paris) sell his wholesome vision of America as a mecca. Disney's impact on childhood entertainment is almost immeasurably great and, at the time of his death, Disney's business empire was estimated to be worth over $100 million a year. In addition, Disney created a new university, the California Institute of the Arts. Disney once said, "If I can help provide a place to develop the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something." "Walt Disney" continues to be a household name in American homes.

Sources of Information

Contact at: The Walt Disney Company 500 S. Buena Vista St. Burbank, CA 91521 Business Phone: (818)560-1000 URL: http://www.disney.com

Bibliography

Anderson, Harry. "Staking Their Names on It." Los Angeles Times, 2 October, 1989.

Apple, Max. "Uncle Walt." Esquire, December 1983.

Byers, Paula and Suzanne Bourgoin, eds. Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997.

Downs, Robert B., John T. Flanagan, and Harold W. Scott. More Memorable Americans, 1750-1950. Littleton, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1985.

Finch, Christopher. The Art of Walt Disney. New York : Harry N. Abrams, 1973.

Garraty, John A. and Mark C. Carnes, eds. Dictionary of American Biography. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.

Maltin, Leonard. The Disney Films. New York: Bonanza Books, 1973.

Mosely, Leonard. Disney's World. New York: Stein and Day, 1985.

Munsey, Cecil. Disneyana: Walt Disney Collectibles. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1974.

Schickel, Richard. The Disney Version. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985.

Shaw, John Mackay. Childhood in Poetry. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980.

Who Was Who in America. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1968.

" Disney, Walt . " Business Leader Profiles for Students . . Encyclopedia.com. 15 May. 2024 < https://www.encyclopedia.com > .

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"Disney, Walt ." Business Leader Profiles for Students . . Retrieved May 15, 2024 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/economics-magazines/disney-walt

The name "Disney" is synonymous with children's entertainment. Disney movies, television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) shows, and animated characters help create some of the happiest and most magical childhood memories. "Disney" is also the name of the founder of a moving picture empire: Walt Disney (1901–1966), a visionary who in 1923 formed Walt Disney Productions and began producing experimental animated short films. Little did he imagine that this modest beginning would evolve into an entertainment industry giant that would create classic animated short subjects and features, live-action films and television series—and even spawn fantasy-oriented theme parks.

The first Disney series was called Alice in Cartoonland and mixed live-action and animation. Among the individual titles in the series were Alice's Wild West Show (1924), Alice's Egg Plant (1925), and Alice Chops the Suey (1925). In 1927, Disney and Ub Iwerks (1901–1971), a fellow animator and special-effects wizard, created a series of short films based on a character named Oswald the Rabbit. The following year they conjured up Mickey Mouse, the character who is most closely associated with Disney—and the creation that put Disney on the Hollywood map. Plane Crazy (1928) and The Gallopin' Gaucho (1928), the first two Mickey Mouse cartoons, were silent. The next, Steamboat Willie (1928; see entry under 1920s—Film and Theater in volume 2), was a talkie, with Disney himself providing Mickey's trademark squeaky voice.

Audiences were entranced by the singing, dancing, and talking mouse. Disney followed this success with his Silly Symphonies cartoon series, the first of which was The Skeleton Dance (1929). What made this series distinctive was that the scenarios and characters' movements were created in conjunction with the sounds of a prerecorded music track. The most famous was The Three Little Pigs (1933), which introduced the hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" Meanwhile, Mickey Mouse continued starring in Disney cartoons. He was eventually joined by a host of animated pals, including Pluto (1930), Minnie Mouse (1933), Donald Duck (1934), and Goofy (who first appeared as Dippy Dawg in 1932).

In the early 1930s, Disney worked with the Technicolor corporation, to add color to his cartoons. His first colored short, Flowers and Trees, won an Academy Award in 1932, and Technicolor signed an exclusive agreement to color Disney's animations.

Disney had long desired to produce a feature-length animated film. At the time, no one had ever chanced such an expensive and risky endeavor. In 1934, he began to realize this dream, all the while aware that he was gambling with the future of his flourishing company. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the initial Disney animated feature, was released to great critical and commercial acclaim. The key to its success was that its characters were not artificially or excessively portrayed but rather were presented as distinct personalities who believably expressed emotion. In addition, the film featured original musical numbers. Snow White was followed by Pinocchio (1940); Dumbo (1941); Bambi (1942); Cinderella (1950); Alice in Wonderland (1951); Lady and the Tramp (1955); 101 Dalmatians (1961); and many others. Easily the most ambitious early Disney feature was Fantasia (1940; see entry under 1940s—Film and Theater in volume 3), made in conjunction with conductor Leopold Stokowski (1882–1977). Fantasia was a bold attempt to unite classical music and the movements of animated characters.

In 1941, a number of Disney animators went on strike, in protest of Disney's authoritarian command of the studio and what by then had evolved into a formulaic (systematic) animation style. Many eventually resigned and established their own animation studio, United Productions of America (UPA). Disney survived the crisis and soon became heavily involved in the war effort, producing a series of propaganda and training films during World War II (1939–45). Among them were the feature documentary Victory through Air Power (1943), which included live-action and animation, and Der Fuhrer's Face (1943), in which Donald Duck lampooned Adolf Hitler (1889–1945).

With the post– World War II era came the production of a short nature documentary, Seal Island (1948), whose success prompted a "True-Life Adventure" series of feature-length follow-ups. The Living Desert (1953) was the first. The studio also produced its initial live-action feature, Treasure Island (1950). Subsequent features ranged from Rob Roy —The Highland Rogue (1954) to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Davy Crockett —King of the Wild Frontier (1955; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3) to Old Yeller (1957) and Pollyanna (1960). During the 1960s, the studio produced live-action comedies, beginning with The Shaggy Dog (1959) and including The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) and The Parent Trap (1961). Mary Poppins (1964; see entry under 1960s—Film and Theater in volume 2) was not the first film to feature animation blended with live action, but it became one of the most beloved.

During the 1950s, television sets were fast becoming staples in American homes, and Disney eagerly entered the TV marketplace. In 1954, he began a weekly anthology series that initially was known as Disneyland. This series was broadcast for decades under different titles and on different networks. Disneyland was followed by a classic afternoon children's series called The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–59; see entry under 1950s—TV and Radio in volume 3). In 1955, Disney opened Disneyland, the company's first fantasy theme park, on 160 acres of land in Anaheim, California. That same year, he established his own film distribution company, Buena Vista.

The company suffered artistically in the wake of its founder's death in 1966. In general, Disney movies lost their sparkle. On the upside, Walt Disney World, a second theme park, opened in Orlando, Florida, in 1971, but the studio's entertainment output was mired in mediocrity. A low point came in 1979 when top animator Don Bluth (1938–) and a number of colleagues left Disney to form their own company, citing the studio's artistic and commercial deterioration.

In 1984, the studio formed Touchstone Pictures, a subsidiary that would produce and release a more adult-oriented product. The first Touchstone film was Splash (1984), a romantic comedy about a man who falls for a mermaid. The comedy was a box office smash. Other hits followed, including Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1985), Three Men and a Baby (1987), Stakeout (1987), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), Pretty Woman (1990), and Sister Act (1992). Pretty Woman, which made a star of its leading actress, Julia Roberts (1967–), offered a modern-day twist on the Cinderella story in that it was the tale of a prostitute who is romanced by a millionaire.

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Disney recaptured its status as an animation giant. The production of a series of features—including The Black Cauldron (1985), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994; see entry under 1990s—Film and Theater in volume 5)—enchanted a new generation of youngsters. Disney expanded its empire to include video distribution; a cable TV (see entry under 1970s—TV and Radio in volume 4) station; book publishing ; Broadway (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) show production; and the ownership of hotels, real estate, professional sports teams, and the ABC television network, which it purchased in 1996 for $19 billion. By this time, the company had also evolved into a merchandising giant. Decades earlier, it had marketed a line of Mickey Mouse watches that were treasured by coming-of-age baby boomers (see entry under 1940s—The Way We Lived in volume 3). In the 1990s, the company opened numerous stores in malls (see entry under 1950s—Commerce in volume 3) and storefronts across the globe. On sale were Disney-related T-shirts (see entry under 1910s—Fashion in volume 1), pins, figurines, mugs, and stuffed animals—and the latest designs in Mickey Mouse watches.

Across the years, the Disney studio has savored its successes and rode out its rough times. Other motion picture production companies have evolved into mega-giant corporations, and others have produced animated films and children's entertainment. None remains as synonymous with childhood, magic, and Americana as Disney.

Bailey, Adrian. Walt Disney's World of Fantasy. New York : Everest House, 1982.

Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. Rev. ed. New York : New American Library, 1987.

Schickel, Richard. The Disney Version. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968.

Smith, Dave. Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia. New York: Hyperion, 1996.

Solomon, Charles. The Disney That Never Was: The Stories and Art From Five Decades of Unproduced Animation. New York: Hyperion, 1995.

" Disney . " Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America . . Encyclopedia.com. 15 May. 2024 < https://www.encyclopedia.com > .

"Disney ." Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America . . Encyclopedia.com. (May 15, 2024). https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/culture-magazines/disney

"Disney ." Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th-Century America . . Retrieved May 15, 2024 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/culture-magazines/disney

Born: December 5, 1901 Chicago , Illinois Died: December 15, 1966 Los Angeles , California American animator, filmmaker, and businessman

An American filmmaker and businessman, Walt Disney created a new kind of popular culture with feature-length animated cartoons and live-action "family" films.

Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5, 1901, the fourth of five children born to Elias and Flora Call Disney. His father, a strict and religious man who often physically abused his children, was working as a building contractor when Walter was born. Soon afterward, his father took over a farm in Marceline, Missouri , where he moved the family. Walter was very happy on the farm and developed his love of animals while living there. After the farm failed, the family moved to Kansas City , Missouri, where Walter helped his father deliver newspapers. He also worked selling candy and newspapers on the train that traveled between Kansas City and Chicago, Illinois. He began drawing and took some art lessons during this time.

Disney dropped out of high school at seventeen to serve in World War I (1914 – 18; a war between German-led Central powers and the Allies — England, the United States , and other nations). After a short stretch as an ambulance driver, he returned to Kansas City in 1919 to work as a commercial illustrator and later made crude animated cartoons (a series of drawings with slight changes in each that resemble movement when filmed in order). By 1922 he had set up his own shop as a partner with Ub Iwerks, whose drawing ability and technical skill were major factors in Disney's eventual success.

Off to Hollywood

Initial failure with Ub Iwerks sent Disney to Hollywood, California, in 1923. In partnership with his older brother, Roy, he began producing Oswald the Rabbit cartoons for Universal Studios. After a contract dispute led to the end of this work, Disney and his brother decided to come up with their own character. Their first success came in Steamboat Willie, which was the first all-sound cartoon. It also featured Disney as the voice of a character first called "Mortimer Mouse." Disney's wife, Lillian (whom he had married in 1925) suggested that Mickey sounded better, and Disney agreed.

Disney reinvested all of his profits toward improving his pictures. He insisted on technical perfection, and his gifts as a story editor quickly pushed his firm ahead. The invention of such cartoon characters as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie, and Goofy, combined with the clever use of music, sound, and folk material (as in The Three Little Pigs ), made the Disney shorts of the 1930s successful all over the world. This success led to the establishment of the hugely profitable, Disney-controlled sidelines in advertising, publishing, and merchandising.

Branching out

Disney rapidly expanded his studio operations to include a training school where a whole new generation of artists developed and made possible the production of the first feature-length cartoon, Snow White (1937). Other costly animated features followed, including Pinocchio, Bambi, and the famous musical experiment Fantasia. With Seal Island (1948), wildlife films became an additional source of income. In 1950 Treasure Island led to what became the studio's major product, live-action films, which basically cornered the traditional "family" market. Disney's biggest hit, Mary Poppins, was one of his many films that used occasional animation to project wholesome, exciting stories containing sentiment and music.

In 1954 Disney successfully invaded television, and by the time of his death the Disney studio had produced 21 full-length animated films, 493 short subjects, 47 live-action films, 7 True-Life Adventure features, 330 hours of Mickey Mouse Club television programs, 78 half-hour Zorro television adventures, and 280 other television shows.

Construction of theme parks

On July 18, 1957, Disney opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California, the most successful amusement park in history, with 6.7 million people visiting it by 1966. The idea for the park came to him after taking his children to other amusement parks and watching them have fun on amusement rides. He decided to build a park where the entire family could have fun together. In 1971 Disney World in Orlando , Florida , opened. Since then, Disney theme parks have opened in Tokyo , Japan , and Paris , France .

Disney also dreamed of developing a city of the future, a dream that came true in 1982 with the opening of Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). EPCOT, which cost an initial $900 million, was planned as a real-life community of the future with the very latest in technology (the use of science to achieve a practical purpose). The two principle areas of EPCOT are Future World and World Showcase, both of which were designed for adults rather than children.

Disney's business empire

Furthermore, Disney created and funded a new university, the California Institute of the Arts, known as Cal Arts. He thought of this as the peak of education for the arts, where people in many different forms could work together, dream and develop, and create the mixture of arts needed for the future. Disney once commented: "It's the principal thing I hope to leave when I move on to greener pastures. If I can help provide a place to develop the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something."

Disney's parks continue to grow with the creation of the Disney-MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, and an extensive sports complex in Orlando. The Disney Corporation has also branched out into other types of films with the creation of Touchstone Films, into music with Hollywood Records, and even into vacations with its Disney Cruise Lines. In all, the Disney name now covers a multi-billion dollar enterprise, with business ventures all over the world.

In 1939 Disney received an honorary (received without meeting the usual requirements) Academy Award, and in 1954 he received four more Academy Awards. In 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908 – 1973) presented Disney with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in the same year Disney was awarded the Freedom Foundation Award.

Walt Disney, happily married for forty-one years, was moving ahead with his plans for huge, new outdoor recreational areas when he died on December 15, 1966, in Los Angeles , California. At the time of his death, his enterprises had brought him respect, admiration, and a business empire worth over $100 million a year, but Disney was still mainly remembered as the man who had created Mickey Mouse almost forty years before.

Barrett, Katherine, and Richard Greene. Inside the Dream: The Personal Story of Walt Disney. New York : Disney Editions, 2001.

Green, Amy Boothe. Remembering Walt. New York : Hyperion, 1999.

Logue, Mary. Imagination: The Story of Walt Disney. Chanhassen, MN: Child's World, 1999.

Thomas, Bob. Walt Disney: An American Original. New York : Simon and Schuster, 1976.

Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

" Disney, Walt . " UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography . . Encyclopedia.com. 15 May. 2024 < https://www.encyclopedia.com > .

"Disney, Walt ." UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography . . Encyclopedia.com. (May 15, 2024). https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/disney-walt

"Disney, Walt ." UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography . . Retrieved May 15, 2024 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/disney-walt

Disney, Walter Elias

Disney, walter elias.

Walt Disney (1901 – 1966) was a major business pioneer of the twentieth century. He created cartoons, live-action movies, imaginative theme parks, and wholesome family entertainment on a global scale. Having himself grown up almost without a childhood, Disney found a way to find the child in everyone by making cartoons and filling them with amusing characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Born in 1901, Walt Disney had a difficult upbringing. His father Elias, a restless and unsuccessful carpenter and farmer, was a stern religious fundamentalist who readily disciplined his children with his belt. He also denied the children toys, games, and sporting equipment. This experience may have had an impact on his son's later determination to look on the sunny side of life. As the father changed jobs, the family moved frequently: from Chicago to Marceline, Missouri , to Kansas City , Missouri, and back to Chicago. Because of the family's constant traveling and the necessity for the children to contribute to the household's income, Disney's formal education ended at the ninth grade. At age 16, hoping to become a newspaper cartoonist, he joined an art class at the Academy of Fine Arts to develop his drawing skills.

In 1919, after a stint as a driver in the Red Cross Ambulance Corps during World War I (1914 – 1918), Disney moved to Kansas City , Missouri. There he worked at a variety of jobs as a commercial artist and cartoonist. With another young artist, Ub Iwerks, he formed his first small cartoon-film production company in the early 1920s. Along with brief animated advertising films, the company produced a series of animated fairy tales, "Alice in Cartoonland." With Disney's brother Roy as business manager, the little film company moved to Hollywood and produced 56 "Alice" films in three years. They also introduced the "Oswald the Rabbit" series, producing 26 of these cartoons in less than two years.

Mickey Mouse came to life in 1928, first as an airplane pilot, then as an adventurer and a sort of pirate-character. After viewing the first sound movie, " The Jazz Singer ," late in 1928, Disney decided to make the first talking-and-music cartoon: Mickey Mouse as "Steamboat Willie." (He used his own voice for Mickey.) Soon, Mickey was joined by a girlfriend, Minnie. Their popularity led to the invention of such familiar characters as Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy. By 1936, eight years after the mouse with human characteristics appeared on the scene, Mickey Mouse had become one of the most widely recognized personalities in the world. Throughout the 1930s Disney continued to make both long and short cartoon features, many of which later became classics, including "Snow White," "Pinocchio," and "Dumbo."

In the 1940s, despite his many successes, Disney produced a series of financial failures, notably "Fantasia," a very different animated film set to classical music and later regarded as a classic. Disney was devastated when "Fantasia" did poorly at the box office and when half his artists went on strike to protest his dictatorial style. The training films combining live action with cartoon characters that he made for the federal government during World War II (1939 – 1945), however, turned Disney in a new and very successful direction.

Following the war, Disney made many films combining live-action and cartoons, including "The Song of the South ." His company also produced very popular full-length animated films, including " Cinderella ," "Alice in Wonderland," and "Peter Pan." In the early 1950s Disney made a popular series of nature films. His film career was capped by "Mary Poppins" in 1964, for which he won five Academy Awards.

By the mid-1950s Disney had begun to produce such television shows as " Davy Crockett " and "The Mickey Mouse Club." At the same time, he was also developing the first of his famous Disneyland theme parks. The first Disneyland, near Los Angeles , California , opened in 1955. Disney's brilliant move was to integrate all his business ventures, using his television programs to motivate people to visit Disneyland, intending Disneyland to inspire parents and children to attend family-oriented Disney films. Disneyland was such a success that later the Disney company opened another theme park, Disney World, near Orlando , Florida .

By the 1960s Disney had created a very diversified entertainment empire, built on cartoon themes, animal icons, nostalgic sentiment, and a high level of quality control. His imagination, highly-developed merchandising skills, and uncanny ability to tap into the fantasies of children of all ages ensured that his company would thrive long after his death from lung cancer in 1966.

See also: Amusement Parks, Entertainment Industry, Movies

FURTHER READING

Finch, Christopher. The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms . New York : Abrams, 1995.

Mosely, Leonard. Disney's World . New York : Stein and Day, 1985.

Schickel, Richard. The Disney Version . Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1997.

Thomas, Bob. Walt Disney: An American Original . New York : Simon and Schuster, 1976.

"Walt Disney: A Biography." [cited July 12, 1999] Available on the World Wide Web @ disney.go.com/disneyatoz/read/walt .

Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.

" Disney, Walter Elias . " Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History . . Encyclopedia.com. 15 May. 2024 < https://www.encyclopedia.com > .

"Disney, Walter Elias ." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History . . Encyclopedia.com. (May 15, 2024). https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/disney-walter-elias

"Disney, Walter Elias ." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History . . Retrieved May 15, 2024 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/disney-walter-elias

Walter Elias Disney

An American film maker and entrepreneur, Walter Elias Disney (1901-1966) created a new kind of popular culture in feature-length animated cartoons and live-action "family" films.

Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, IL, on December 5, 1901, the fourth of five children born to a Canadian farmer and a mother from Ohio. He was raised on a Midwestern farm in Marceline, Missouri, and in Kansas City , where he was able to acquire some rudimentary art instruction from correspondence courses and Saturday museum classes. He would later use many of the animals and characters that he knew from that Missouri farm in his cartoons.

He dropped out of high school at 17 to serve in World War I . After serving briefly 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. By 1922, he had set up his own shop in association with Ub Iwerks, whose drawing ability and technical inventiveness were prime factors in Disney's eventual success.

Initial failure sent Disney to Hollywood in 1923, where in partnership with his loyal elder brother Roy, he managed to resume cartoon production. His first success came with the creation of Mickey Mouse in Steamboat Willie. Steamboat Willie was the first fully synchronized sound cartoon and featured Disney as the voice of a character first called "Mortimer Mouse." Disney's wife, Lillian, suggested that Mickey sounded better and Disney agreed.

Living frugally, he reinvested profits to make better pictures. His insistence on technical perfection and his unsurpassed gifts as story editor quickly pushed his firm ahead. The invention of such cartoon characters as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie, and Goofy combined with the daring and innovative use of music, sound, and folk material (as in The Three Little Pigs ) made the Disney shorts of the 1930s a phenomenon of worldwide success. This success led to the establishment of immensely profitable, Disney-controlled sidelines in advertising, publishing, and franchised goods, which helped shape popular taste for nearly 40 years.

Disney rapidly expanded his studio facilities to include a training school where a whole new generation of animators developed and made possible the production of the first feature-length cartoon, Snow White (1937). Other costly animated features followed, including Pinocchio, Bambi, and the celebrated musical experiment Fantasia. With Seal Island (1948), wildlife films became an additional source of income, and in 1950 his use of blocked funds in England to make pictures like Treasure Island led to what became the studio's major product, live-action films, which practically cornered the traditional "family" market. Eventually the Disney formula emphasized slick production techniques. It included, as in his biggest hit, Mary Poppins, occasional animation to project wholesome, exciting stories heavily laced with sentiment and, often, music.

In 1954, Disney successfully invaded television, and by the time of his death, the Disney studio's output amounted to 21 full-length animated films, 493 short subjects, 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.

On July 18, 1957, Disney opened Disneyland, a gigantic projection of his personal fantasies in Anaheim, CA, which has proved the most successful amusement park in history with 6.7 million people visiting it by 1966. The idea for the park came to him after taking his children to other amusement parks and watching them have fun on amusement rides. He decided to build a park where the entire family could have fun together. In 1971, Disney World, in Orlando, FL, opened. Since then, Disney theme parks have opened in Tokyo and Paris.

Disney had also dreamed of developing a city of the future, a dream realized in 1982 with the opening of EPCOT, which stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. EPCOT, which cost an initial $900 million, was conceived of as a real-life community of the future with the very latest in high technology. The two principle areas of EPCOT are Future World and World Showcase, both of which were designed to appeal to adults rather than children.

In addition to his theme parks, Disney created and endowed a new university, the California Institute of the Arts, known as Cal Arts. He thought of this as the ultimate in education for the arts, where people in many different disciplines could work together, dream and develop, and create the mixture of arts needed for the future. Disney once commented: "It's the principle thing I hope to leave when I move on to greener pastures. If I can help provide a place to develop the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something."

Disney's parks continue to grow with the creation of the Disney-MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, and a extensive sports complex in Orlando. The Disney Corporation has also branched out into other types of films with the creation of Touchstone Films, into music with Hollywood Records, and even vacationing with its Disney Cruise Lines. In all, the Disney name now lends itself to a multi-billion dollar enterprise, with multiple undertakings all over the world.

In 1939, Disney received an honorary Academy Award and in 1954 he received four Academy Awards. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson presented Disney with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in the same year Disney was awarded the Freedom Foundation Award.

Happily married for 41 years, this moody, deliberately "ordinary" man was moving ahead with his plans for gigantic new outdoor recreational facilities when he died of circulatory problems on December 15, 1966, at St. Joseph's Hospital in Los Angeles , CA. At the time of his death, his enterprises had garnered him respect, admiration, and a business empire worth over $100 million-a-year, but Disney was still remembered primarily as the man who had created Mickey Mouse over two decades before.

Further Reading

The best book on Disney is Richard Schickel, The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney (1968). A useful source of technical information is Robert D. Feild, The Art of Walt Disney (1942). The most intimate portrait of Disney is by his daughter, Diane Disney Miller, The Story of Walt Disney (1957). Biographies of Disney appear in both the 1952 and 1967 issues of Current Biography. Disney's obituary appears in the December 16, 1966, issue of New York Times. □

" Walter Elias Disney . " Encyclopedia of World Biography . . Encyclopedia.com. 15 May. 2024 < https://www.encyclopedia.com > .

"Walter Elias Disney ." Encyclopedia of World Biography . . Encyclopedia.com. (May 15, 2024). https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/walter-elias-disney

"Walter Elias Disney ." Encyclopedia of World Biography . . Retrieved May 15, 2024 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/walter-elias-disney

DISNEY, WALT

Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901–December 15, 1966) was a motion picture and television producer and entrepreneur. After a childhood and youth in the Midwest, Walt Disney entered the field of animated cartoon films in the 1920s and ultimately achieved world fame with the creation of Mickey Mouse. He went on to a long and successful career producing cartoons, feature-length films, and wildlife documentaries, then branched out into television during the 1950s and broke new ground in that medium as well. He also pioneered the concept of theme parks with Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, the latter in progress at the time of his death.

Although Disney achieved recognition in a variety of fields during his life, his lasting reputation as an artist rests on his work in animated cartoons. The Disney studio introduced technological innovations and a new level of artistic brilliance into animation, transforming a relatively crude medium into a dazzling and sophisticated form. The years of this transformation, and Walt Disney's peak years as an artist, were the 1930s and early 1940s—a period corresponding almost exactly to the Great Depression —during which Disney produced a series of one-reel Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons, then ambitiously tackled the making of feature-length animated films. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Disney's first full-length animated film, was a commercial success that captivated audiences and demonstrated the viability of the genre. By the early 1940s, in films like The Old Mill (1937), Snow White, and Fantasia (1940), the studio had established a standard of artistic excellence in animation that has never since been equaled.

The Depression years lent more than a backdrop to this creative phenomenon; they had a direct bearing on the process. In the early 1930s, when Disney's explosive growth was beginning, numerous artists were drawn to his studio out of simple necessity. Veterans of the period have testified that, in those bleak economic times, jobs for artists were exceedingly scarce. Cartoonists, fine draftsmen, skilled painters, and other artists flocked to the Disney studio, grateful for a chance at steady employment. Disney, in turn, displayed an uncanny knack for assessing the varied gifts of these artists, and encouraged them to use their distinctive abilities to elevate the quality of the films.

In addition, the films themselves reflected the spirit of their time. Mickey Mouse, created in 1928, gradually achieved nationwide recognition during 1929, and thus the rise of his popularity coincided with the onset of the Depression. Mickey, with his humble barnyard origins, made an ideal mascot for an America faced with hard times; his unflagging good cheer and plucky resourcefulness seemed to symbolize the indomitable spirit of the country. In his very first film, Plane Crazy, he improvises an airplane out of an old jalopy and other found objects, and in many succeeding films he similarly makes do with whatever unlikely items may be at hand.

An even more striking morale builder was the 1933 Silly Symphony Three Little Pigs. In this immensely popular cartoon, a nation facing a figurative "wolf at the door" saw the title characters defeat their Big Bad Wolf through a combination of optimism and hard work. The Pigs and their taunting theme song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" sparked a nationwide craze in 1933, and observers have often seen the film as an antidote to the Depression. Other Silly Symphonies like Grass-hopper and the Ants and The Wise Little Hen (both 1934) entertainingly stressed the benefits of diligence and industry.

The happy antics of Mickey, the Pigs, and other Disney creations made life a little more bearable for millions of Americans during the 1930s. Small wonder that those same Americans continued to reward Disney with their loyal support in succeeding decades.

See Also: HOLLYWOOD AND THE FILM INDUSTRY ; SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS .

Barrier, Michael. Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age . 1999.

Greene, Katherine, and Richard Greene. The Man behind the Magic: The Story of Walt Disney. 1991.

Isbouts, Jean-Pierre, director. Walt: The Man behind the Myth. 2001.

Kaufman, J. B. "Three Little Pigs: Big Little Picture." American Cinematographer 69, no. 11 (November 1988): 38–44.

Merritt, Russell, and J. B. Kaufman. A Companion to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies. 2004.

Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. 1997.

J. B. Kaufman

" Disney, Walt . " Encyclopedia of the Great Depression . . Encyclopedia.com. 15 May. 2024 < https://www.encyclopedia.com > .

"Disney, Walt ." Encyclopedia of the Great Depression . . Encyclopedia.com. (May 15, 2024). https://www.encyclopedia.com/economics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/disney-walt

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Biography of Walt Disney, Animator and Film Producer

Love of drawing, laugh-o-gram films, mickey mouse, sound and color, feature-length cartoons, union strikes, world war ii, more movies, plans for disneyland, disneyland opens, plans for walt disney world, florida.

Walt Disney (born Walter Elias Disney; December 5, 1901–December 15, 1966) was a cartoonist and entrepreneur who developed a multibillion-dollar family entertainment empire. Disney was the renowned creator of Mickey Mouse, the first sound cartoon, the first Technicolor cartoon, and the first feature-length cartoon. In addition to winning 22 Academy Awards in his lifetime, Disney also created the first major theme park: Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

Fast Facts: Walt Disney

• Known For: Disney was a pioneering animator and film producer who won 22 Academy Awards and built one of the largest media empires in the world.
• Born: December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois
• Parents: Elias and Flora Disney
• Died: December 15, 1966 in Burbank, California
• Awards and Honors: 22 Academy Awards, Cecil B. DeMille Award, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Congressional Gold Medal
• Spouse: Lillian Bounds (m. 1925-1966)
• Children: Diane, Sharon

Walt Disney was born the fourth son of Elias Disney and Flora Disney (née Call) in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5, 1901. By 1903, Elias, a handyman and carpenter, had grown weary of crime in Chicago; thus, he moved his family to a 45-acre farm he purchased in Marceline, Missouri. Elias was a stern man who administered “corrective” beatings to his five children; Flora soothed the children with nightly readings of fairy tales.

After the two eldest sons grew up and left home, Walt Disney and his older brother Roy worked on the farm with their father. In his free time, Disney made up games and sketched the farm animals. In 1909, Elias sold the farm and purchased an established newspaper route in Kansas City, where he moved his remaining family.

It was in Kansas City that Disney developed a love for an amusement park called Electric Park, which featured 100,000 electric lights illuminating a roller coaster, a dime museum, penny arcade, swimming pool, and a colorful fountain light show.

Rising at 3:30 a.m. seven days a week, 8-year-old Walt Disney and brother Roy delivered the newspapers, taking quick naps in alleyways before heading to Benton Grammar School. In school, Disney excelled in reading; his favorite authors were Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.

In art class, Disney surprised his teacher with original sketches of flowers with human hands and faces. After stepping on a nail on his newspaper route, Disney had to spend two weeks in bed recuperating. He spent his time reading and drawing newspaper-style cartoons.

Elias sold the newspaper route in 1917 and bought a partnership in the O-Zell Jelly factory in Chicago, moving Flora and Walt with him (Roy had enlisted in the U.S. Navy). Sixteen-year-old Walt Disney attended McKinley High School, where he became the school newspaper’s junior art editor. To pay for evening art classes at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, he washed jars in his father’s jelly factory.

Wanting to join Roy, who was fighting in World War I, Disney tried to join the Army but at age 16 he was too young. Undeterred, he joined the Red Cross’ Ambulance Corps, which took him to France and Germany.

After spending 10 months in Europe, Disney returned to the U.S. In October 1919, he got a job as a commercial artist at the Pressman-Rubin Studio in Kansas City. Disney met and became friends with fellow artist Ub Iwerks at the studio.

When Disney and Iwerks were laid off in January 1920, they formed Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists. Due to a lack of clients, however, the duo only survived for about a month. After getting jobs at the Kansas City Film Ad Company as cartoonists, Disney and Iwerks began making commercials for movie theaters.

Disney borrowed a camera from the studio and began experimenting with stop-action animation in his garage. He shot footage of his animal drawings using different techniques until the pictures actually “moved” in fast and slow motion. His cartoons (which he called Laugh-O-Grams) eventually became superior to the ones he was working on at the studio; he even figured out a way to merge live action with animation. Disney suggested to his boss that they make cartoons, but his boss flatly turned down the idea, content with making commercials.

In 1922, Disney quit the Kansas City Film Ad Company and opened a studio in Kansas City called Laugh-O-Gram Films. He hired a few employees, including Iwerks, and sold a series of fairy tale cartoons to Pictorial Films in Tennessee.

Disney and his staff began work on six cartoons, each one a seven-minute fairy tale that combined live action and animation. Unfortunately, Pictorial Films went bankrupt in July 1923; as a result, so did Laugh-O-Gram Films.

Next, Disney decided he would try his luck at working in a Hollywood studio as a director and joined his brother Roy in Los Angeles, where Roy was recovering from tuberculosis.

Having no luck getting a job at any of the studios, Disney sent a letter to Margaret J. Winkler, a New York cartoon distributor, to see if she had any interest in distributing his Laugh-O-Grams. After Winkler viewed the cartoons, she and Disney signed a contract.

On October 16, 1923, Disney and Roy rented a room at the back of a real estate office in Hollywood. Roy took on the role of accountant and cameraman of the live action; a little girl was hired to act in the cartoons; two women were hired to ink and paint the celluloid, and Disney wrote the stories and drew and filmed the animation.

By February 1924, Disney had hired his first animator, Rollin Hamilton, and moved into a small storefront with a window bearing the sign “Disney Bros. Studio.” Disney’s "Alice in Cartoonland" reached theaters in June 1924.

In early 1925, Disney moved his growing staff to a one-story, stucco building and renamed his business “Walt Disney Studio.” Disney hired Lillian Bounds, an ink artist, and began dating her. On July 13, 1925, the couple married in her hometown of Spalding, Idaho. Disney was 24; Lillian was 26.

Meanwhile, Margaret Winkler also married, and her new husband, Charles Mintz, took over her cartoon distribution business. In 1927, Mintz asked Disney to rival the popular “Felix the Cat” series. Mintz suggested the name “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit” and Disney created the character and made the series.

In 1928, when costs became increasingly high, Disney and Lillian took a train trip to New York to renegotiate the contract for the popular Oswald series. Mintz countered with even less money than he was currently paying, informing Disney that he owned the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and that he had lured most of Disney’s animators to come work for him.

Shocked, shaken, and saddened, Disney boarded the train for the long ride back. In a depressed state, he sketched a character and named him Mortimer Mouse. Lillian suggested the name Mickey Mouse instead.

Back in Los Angeles, Disney copyrighted Mickey Mouse and, along with Iwerks, created new cartoons with Mickey Mouse as the star. Without a distributor, though, Disney could not sell the silent Mickey Mouse cartoons.

In 1928, sound became the latest in film technology. Disney pursued several New York film companies to record his cartoons with this new novelty. He struck a deal with Pat Powers of Cinephone. Disney provided the voice of Mickey Mouse and Powers added sound effects and music.

Powers became the distributor of the cartoons and on November 18, 1928, "Steamboat Willie" opened at the Colon Theater in New York. It was Disney’s (and the world’s) first cartoon with sound. "Steamboat Willie" received rave reviews and audiences everywhere adored Mickey Mouse.

In 1929, Disney began making “Silly Symphonies,” a series of cartoons that included dancing skeletons, the Three Little Pigs, and characters other than Mickey Mouse, including Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto.

In 1931, a new film-coloring technique known as Technicolor became the latest in film technology. Until then, everything had been filmed in black and white. To hold off the competition, Disney paid to hold the rights to Technicolor for two years. He filmed a Silly Symphony titled "Flowers and Trees" in Technicolor, showing colorful nature with human faces, and the film won the Academy Award for Best Cartoon of 1932.

On December 18, 1933, Lillian gave birth to Diane Marie Disney, and on December 21, 1936, Lillian and Walt Disney adopted Sharon Mae Disney.

Disney decided to add dramatic storytelling to his cartoons, but making a feature-length cartoon had everyone (including Roy and Lillian) saying it would never work; they believed audiences just wouldn’t sit that long through a dramatic cartoon.

Despite the naysayers, Disney, ever the experimenter, went to work on the feature-length fairy tale "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Production of the cartoon cost $1.4 million (a massive sum in 1937) and was soon dubbed “Disney’s Folly.”

When it premiered in theaters on December 21, 1937, though, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a box office sensation. Despite the Great Depression, it earned $416 million.

A notable achievement in cinema, the movie won Disney an Honorary Academy Award. The citation read, "For 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,' recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field."

After the success of "Snow White," Disney constructed his state-of-the-art Burbank Studio, deemed a worker’s paradise for a staff of about 1,000 workers. The studio, with animation buildings, sound stages, and recording rooms, produced "Pinocchio" (1940), "Fantasia" (1940), "Dumbo" (1941), and "Bambi" (1942).

Unfortunately, these feature-length cartoons lost money worldwide due to the start of World War II. Along with the cost of the new studio, Disney found himself in debt. He offered 600,000 shares of common stock, sold at five dollars apiece. The stock offerings sold out quickly and erased the debt.

Between 1940 and 1941, movie studios began unionizing; it wasn’t long before Disney’s workers wanted to unionize as well. While his workers demanded better pay and working conditions, Disney believed that his company had been infiltrated by communists.

After numerous and heated meetings, strikes, and lengthy negotiations, Disney finally became unionized. However, the whole process left Disney feeling disillusioned and discouraged.

With the union question finally settled, Disney was able to turn his attention back to his cartoons; this time for the U.S. government. The United States had joined World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and it was sending millions of young men overseas to fight.

The U.S. government wanted Disney to produce training films using his popular characters ; Disney obliged, creating more than 400,000 feet of film (about 68 hours).

After the war, Disney returned to his own agenda and made "Song of the South" (1946), a movie that was 30 percent animation and 70 percent live action. "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" was named the best movie song of 1946 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, while James Baskett, who played the character of Uncle Remus in the movie, won an Oscar.

In 1947, Disney decided to make a documentary about Alaskan seals titled "Seal Island" (1948). It won an Academy Award for best two-reel documentary. Disney then assigned his top talent to make "Cinderella" (1950), "Alice in Wonderland" (1951), and "Peter Pan" (1953).

After building a train to ride his two daughters around his new home in Holmby Hills, California, Disney began formulating a dream in 1948 to build Mickey Mouse Amusement Park across the street from his studio. He visited fairs, carnivals, and parks around the world to study the choreography of people and attractions.

Disney borrowed on his life insurance policy and created WED Enterprises to organize his amusement park idea, which he was now referring to as Disneyland. Disney and Herb Ryman drew out the plans for the park in one weekend. The plan included an entrance gate to "Main Street" that would lead to Cinderella’s Castle and off to different lands of interest, including Frontier Land, Fantasy Land, Tomorrow Land, and Adventure Land.

The park would be clean and innovative, a place where parents and children could have fun together on rides and attractions; they would be entertained by Disney characters in the “happiest place on earth.”

Roy visited New York to seek a contract with a television network. Roy and Leonard Goldman reached an agreement where ABC would give Disney a $500,000 investment in Disneyland in exchange for a weekly Disney television series.

ABC became a 35 percent owner of Disneyland and guaranteed loans up to $4.5 million. In July 1953, Disney commissioned the Stanford Research Institute to find a location for his (and the world’s) first major theme park. Anaheim, California, was selected since it could easily be reached by freeway from Los Angeles.

Previous movie profits were not enough to cover the cost of building Disneyland, which took about a year to build at a cost of $17 million. Roy made numerous visits to the Bank of America's headquarters to secure more funding.

On July 13, 1955, Disney sent out 6,000 exclusive guest invitations, including to Hollywood movie stars, to enjoy the opening of Disneyland. ABC sent cameramen to film the opening. However, many tickets were counterfeited and 28,000 people showed up.

Rides broke down, food stands ran out of food, a heat wave caused freshly poured asphalt to capture shoes, and a gas leak caused temporary closings in a few themed areas.

Despite the newspapers referring to this cartoon-ish day as "Black Sunday," guests from all over the world loved it and the park became a major success. Ninety days later, the one-millionth guest passed through the park's turnstile.

In 1964, Disney’s "Mary Poppins" premiered; the film was nominated for 13 Academy Awards. With this success, Disney sent Roy and a few other Disney executives to Florida in 1965 to purchase land for another theme park.

In October 1966, Disney gave a press conference to describe his plans for building an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) in Florida. The new park would be five times the size of Disneyland, and it would include shopping, entertainment venues, and hotels.

The new Disney World development would not be completed, however, until five years after Disney’s death. The new Magic Kingdom (which included Main Street USA; Cinderella's Castle leading to Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Tomorrowland) opened on October 1, 1971, along with Disney's Contemporary Resort, Disney's Polynesian Resort, and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. EPCOT, Walt Disney’s second theme park vision, which featured a future world of innovation and a showcase of other countries, opened in 1982.

In 1966, doctors informed Disney that he had lung cancer. After having a lung removed and several chemotherapy sessions, Disney collapsed in his home and was admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital on December 15, 1966. He died at 9:35 a.m. from an acute circulatory collapse and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Disney left behind one of the largest media empires in the world. Since his death, the Walt Disney Company has only grown; today, it employs more than 200,000 people and generates billions in revenue each year. For his artistic achievements, Disney amassed 22 Oscars and numerous other honors. In 1960, he was given two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one for his film and one for his television work).

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Read more stories about Walt Disney here .

During a 43-year Hollywood career, which spanned the development of the motion picture medium as a modern American art, Walter Elias Disney, a modern Aesop, established himself and his product as a genuine part of Americana.

David Low, the late British political cartoonist, called Disney “the most significant figure in graphic arts since Leonardo.” A pioneer and innovator, and the possessor of one of the most fertile imaginations the world has ever known, Walt Disney, along with members of his staff, received more than 950 honors and citations from throughout the world, including 48 Academy Awards® and 7 Emmys® in his lifetime.

Walt Disney’s personal awards included honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, the University of Southern California, and UCLA; the Presidential Medal of Freedom; France’s Legion of Honor and Officer d’Academie decorations; Thailand’s Order of the Crown; Brazil’s Order of the Southern Cross; Mexico’s Order of the Aztec Eagle; and the Showman of the World Award from the National Association of Theatre Owners.

The creator of Mickey Mouse and founder of Disneyland and Walt Disney World was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5, 1901. His father, Elias Disney, was an Irish-Canadian. His mother, Flora Call Disney, was of German-American descent. Walt was one of five children, four boys and a girl.

Raised on a farm near Marceline, Missouri, Walt early became interested in drawing, selling his first sketches to neighbors when he was only seven years old. At 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.

During the fall of 1918, Disney attempted to enlist for military service. Rejected because he was only 16 years of age, Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas, where he spent a year driving an ambulance and chauffeuring Red Cross officials. His ambulance was covered from stem to stern, not with stock camouflage, but with drawings and cartoons.

After the war, Walt returned to Kansas City, where he began his career as an advertising cartoonist. Here, in 1920, he created and marketed his first original animated cartoons, and later perfected a new method for combining live-action and animation.

In August of 1923, Walt Disney left Kansas City for Hollywood with nothing but a few drawing materials, $40 in his pocket and a completed animated and live-action film. Walt’s brother Roy O. Disney was already in California, with an immense amount of sympathy and encouragement, and $250. Pooling their resources, they borrowed an additional $500 and constructed a camera stand in their uncle’s garage. Soon, they received an order from New York for the first “Alice Comedy” short, and the brothers began their production operation in the rear of a Hollywood real estate office two blocks away.

On July 13, 1925, Walt married one of his first employees, Lillian Bounds, in Lewiston, Idaho. They were blessed with two daughters — Diane, married to Ron Miller, former president and chief executive officer of Walt Disney Productions; and Sharon Disney Lund, formerly a member of Disney’s Board of Directors. The Millers have seven children and Mrs. Lund had three. Mrs. Lund passed away in 1993.

Mickey Mouse was created in 1928, and his talents were first used in a silent cartoon entitled Plane Crazy . However, before the cartoon could be released, sound burst upon the motion picture screen. Thus Mickey made his screen debut in Steamboat Willie , the world’s first fully synchronized sound cartoon, which premiered at the Colony Theatre in New York on November 18, 1928.

Walt’s drive to perfect the art of animation was endless. 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 of cost of $1,499,000 during the depths of the Great Depression, the film is still accounted as one of the great feats and imperishable monuments of the motion picture industry. During the next five years, Walt completed such other full-length animated classics as Pinocchio , Fantasia , Dumbo and Bambi .

In 1940, construction was completed on Disney’s Burbank studio, and the staff swelled 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, as well as health films which are still shown throughout the world by the U.S. State Department. The remainder of his efforts were devoted to the production of comedy short subjects, deemed highly essential to civilian and military morale.

Disney’s 1945 feature, the musical The Three Caballeros , combined live action with the cartoon medium, a process he used successfully in such other features as Song of the South and the highly acclaimed Mary Poppins . In all, 81 features were released by the studio during his lifetime.

Walt’s inquisitive mind and keen sense for education through entertainment resulted in the award-winning “True-Life Adventure” series. Through such films as The Living Desert , The Vanishing Prairie , The African Lion and White Wilderness , Disney brought fascinating insights into the world of wild animals and taught the importance of conserving our nation’s outdoor heritage.

Disneyland, launched in 1955 as a fabulous $17 million Magic Kingdom, soon increased its investment tenfold and entertained, by its fourth decade, more than 400 million people, including presidents, kings and queens and royalty from all over the globe.

A pioneer in the field of television programming, Disney began production in 1954, and was among the first to present full-color programming with his Wonderful World of Color in 1961. The Mickey Mouse Club and Zorro were popular favorites in the 1950s.

But that was only the beginning. In 1965, Walt Disney turned his attention toward the problem of improving the quality of urban life in America. He personally directed the design on an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT, planned as a living showcase for the creativity of American industry.

Said Disney, “I don’t believe there is a challenge anywhere in the world that is more important to people everywhere than finding the solution to the problems of our cities. But where do we begin? Well, we’re convinced we must start with the public need. And the need is not just for curing the old ills of old cities. We think the need is for starting from scratch on virgin land and building a community that will become a prototype for the future.”

Thus, Disney directed the purchase of 43 square miles of virgin land — twice the size of Manhattan Island — in the center of the state of Florida. Here, he master planned a whole new Disney world of entertainment to include a new amusement theme park, motel-hotel resort vacation center and his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. After more than seven years of master planning and preparation, including 52 months of actual construction, Walt Disney World opened to the public as scheduled on October 1, 1971. Epcot Center opened on October 1, 1982.

Prior to his death on December 15, 1966, Walt Disney 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. Of Cal Arts, Walt once said, “It’s the principal thing I hope to leave when I move on to greener pastures. If I can help provide a place to develop the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something.”

California Institute of the Arts was founded in 1961 with the amalgamation of two schools, the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and Chouinard Art Institute. The campus is located in the city of Valencia, 32 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Walt Disney conceived the new school as a place where all the performing and creative arts would be taught under one roof in a “community of the arts” as a completely new approach to professional arts training.

Walt Disney is a legend, a folk hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity was based upon the ideas which his name represents: imagination, optimism and self-made success in the American tradition. Walt Disney did more to touch the hearts, minds and emotions of millions of Americans than any other man in the past century. Through his work, he brought joy, happiness and a universal means of communication to the people of every nation. Certainly, our world shall know but one Walt Disney.

• World Biography

Walt Disney Biography

Born: December 5, 1901 Chicago, Illinois Died: December 15, 1966 Los Angeles, California American animator, filmmaker, and businessman

An American filmmaker and businessman, Walt Disney created a new kind of popular culture with feature-length animated cartoons and live-action "family" films.

Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5, 1901, the fourth of five children born to Elias and Flora Call Disney. His father, a strict and religious man who often physically abused his children, was working as a building contractor when Walter was born. Soon afterward, his father took over a farm in Marceline, Missouri, where he moved the family. Walter was very happy on the farm and developed his love of animals while living there. After the farm failed, the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Walter helped his father deliver newspapers. He also worked selling candy and newspapers on the train that traveled between Kansas City and Chicago, Illinois. He began drawing and took some art lessons during this time.

Disney dropped out of high school at seventeen to serve in World War I (1914–18; a war between German-led Central powers and the Allies—England, the United States, and other nations). After a short stretch as an ambulance driver, he returned to Kansas City in 1919 to work as a commercial illustrator and later made crude animated cartoons (a series of drawings with slight changes in each that resemble movement when filmed in order). By 1922 he had set up his own shop as a partner with Ub Iwerks, whose drawing ability and technical skill were major factors in Disney's eventual success.

Off to Hollywood

Initial failure with Ub Iwerks sent Disney to Hollywood, California, in 1923. In partnership with his older brother, Roy, he began producing Oswald the Rabbit cartoons for Universal Studios. After a contract dispute led to the end of this work, Disney and his brother decided to come up with their own character. Their first success came in Steamboat Willie, which was the first all-sound cartoon. It also featured Disney as the voice of a character first called "Mortimer Mouse." Disney's wife, Lillian (whom he had married in 1925) suggested that Mickey sounded better, and Disney agreed.

Branching out

Disney rapidly expanded his studio operations to include a training school where a whole new generation of artists developed and made possible the production of the first feature-length cartoon, Snow White (1937). Other costly animated features followed, including Pinocchio, Bambi, and the famous musical experiment Fantasia. With Seal Island (1948), wildlife films became an additional source of income. In 1950 Treasure Island led to what became the studio's major product, live-action films, which basically cornered the traditional "family" market. Disney's biggest hit, Mary Poppins, was one of his many films that used occasional animation to project wholesome, exciting stories containing sentiment and music.

In 1954 Disney successfully invaded television, and by the time of his death the Disney studio had produced 21 full-length animated films, 493 short subjects, 47 live-action films, 7 True-Life Adventure features, 330 hours of Mickey Mouse Club television programs, 78 half-hour Zorro television adventures, and 280 other television shows.

Construction of theme parks

On July 18, 1957, Disney opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California, the most successful amusement park in history, with 6.7 million people visiting it by 1966. The idea for the park came to him after taking his children to other amusement parks and watching them have fun on amusement rides. He decided to build a park where the entire family could have fun together. In 1971 Disney World in Orlando, Florida, opened. Since then, Disney theme parks have opened in Tokyo, Japan, and Paris, France.

Disney also dreamed of developing a city of the future, a dream that came true in 1982 with the opening of Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). EPCOT, which cost an initial $900 million, was planned as a real-life community of the future with the very latest in technology (the use of science to achieve a practical purpose). The two principle areas of EPCOT are Future World and World Showcase, both of which were designed for adults rather than children.

Disney's business empire

Furthermore, Disney created and funded a new university, the California Institute of the Arts, known as Cal Arts. He thought of this as the peak of education for the arts, where people in many different forms could work together, dream and develop, and create the mixture of arts needed for the future. Disney once commented: "It's the principal thing I hope to leave when I move on to greener pastures. If I can help provide a place to develop the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something."

Disney's parks continue to grow with the creation of the Disney-MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, and an extensive sports complex in Orlando. The Disney Corporation has also branched out into other types of films with the creation of Touchstone Films, into music with Hollywood Records, and even into vacations with its Disney Cruise Lines. In all, the Disney name now covers a multi-billion dollar enterprise, with business ventures all over the world.

In 1939 Disney received an honorary (received without meeting the usual requirements) Academy Award, and in 1954 he received four more Academy Awards. In 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) presented Disney with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in the same year Disney was awarded the Freedom Foundation Award.

Walt Disney, happily married for forty-one years, was moving ahead with his plans for huge, new outdoor recreational areas when he died on December 15, 1966, in Los Angeles, California. At the time of his death, his enterprises had brought him respect, admiration, and a business empire worth over $100 million a year, but Disney was still mainly remembered as the man who had created Mickey Mouse almost forty years before.

For More Information

Barrett, Katherine, and Richard Greene. Inside the Dream: The Personal Story of Walt Disney. New York: Disney Editions, 2001.

Green, Amy Boothe. Remembering Walt. New York: Hyperion, 1999.

Logue, Mary. Imagination: The Story of Walt Disney. Chanhassen, MN: Child's World, 1999.

Thomas, Bob. Walt Disney: An American Original. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1976.

Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

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7 Things You May Not Know About Walt Disney

By: Elizabeth Nix

Updated: August 10, 2023 | Original: February 24, 2015

1. Disney came from humble beginnings.

Born in Chicago on December 5, 1901, Walt Disney , the fourth of five children, moved with his family to a farm in Marceline, Missouri, when he was four. It was in Marceline—a small-town community Disney remembered as an adult as having been idyllic—that he first received encouragement for his burgeoning interest in drawing, from both an aunt as well as a neighbor who was a retired doctor. However, Disney’s father had difficulty making a living in Marceline and sold the farm in 1910; the following year, the family relocated to Kansas City. There, Disney’s father purchased a newspaper route and for the next six years, Walt helped with the deliveries, working before and after school and on weekends. In 1917, his father sold the paper route and moved the family back to Chicago, where he was employed at a jelly and fruit juice company.

An inattentive student who drew constantly, Walt dropped out of high school at 16. With the United States fighting World War I , joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corps by forging his birth certificate in order to meet the Corps’ minimum age requirement of 17. He was sent to France in late 1918, shortly after the signing of the armistice that ended the fighting. Disney spent his time driving Red Cross officials and doing other tasks before being discharged in 1919.

2. He was the voice of Mickey Mouse.

Following his Red Cross service, Disney moved to Kansas City, hoping to become a newspaper cartoonist. Instead, he found work creating advertisements for magazines and movie theaters then became interested in animation. In 1922, he opened a film studio called Laugh-O-Gram but it struggled financially and shut down in 1923.

That same year, he moved to Hollywood and formed Disney Brothers Studio with his older sibling Roy. After producing various short, animated cartoons, the studio started making a series in 1927 about a character Walt had developed called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. However, the next year, in what was a major blow, Walt lost the rights to his popular creation and many of his employees were poached in a corporate dispute.

In response, he developed a new character originally dubbed Mortimer Mouse before it was decided Mickey would be a better moniker. Mickey Mouse made his official debut in a 1928 short film titled “Steamboat Willie,” one of the first cartoons ever to use synchronized sound effects. The rodent quickly became a star, and soon there were Mickey Mouse Clubs for children, merchandise, and a comic strip. When Mickey spoke for the first time, in 1929’s “The Karnival Kid” (his words were “Hot dog, hot dog”), Walt was unhappy with how the character sounded and went on to lend his own voice to the mouse until 1947’s “Mickey and the Beanstalk,” when he said he was too busy to continue doing so.

3. Disney produced propaganda films for the U.S. government during World War II.

During World War II , Disney employees created educational films for various federal agencies, including a 1942 animated short, “The New Spirit,” commissioned by the Treasury Department to encourage people to pay their income taxes as a way to support the war effort. The film, which starred Donald Duck, was shown in thousands of movie theaters and earned an Academy Award nomination. The Disney studio also made training films for the American military, and created, free of charge, more than a thousand insignia for military units; the designs centered around established Disney characters as well as new characters.

Although Disney initially was reluctant to risk tarnishing his image as a non-political entertainer by producing blatantly propagandistic works, his team eventually turned out animated shorts such as 1943’s “Der Fuerher’s Face,” which made fun of the Nazis and again starred Donald Duck. Additionally, after reading the 1942 best-seller “Victory Through Air Power” by Major Alexander de Seversky, Disney, driven by his own patriotism, decided to adapt it as a 1943 live action-animated feature of the same name in order to win support for the book’s theories—considered controversial by some U.S. military officials—about the strategic long-range bombing. Both President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill saw the film, which reportedly made an impression on them.

4. He was a train buff.

The famous filmmaker had a long fascination with trains. His father and an uncle had spent time working on railroads, and as a teen in Kansas City Walt did a brief stint selling newspapers and snacks on trains. It was on a 1928 train trip back to Los Angeles from New York (after learning he’d lost the rights to his cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) that Walt began developing the idea for the character eventually known to the world as Mickey Mouse. (Contrary to legend, Walt didn’t have a pet mouse on which he based Mickey.)

Later, Walt constructed elaborate model train sets as a way to unwind from the stress of his job. In the late 1940s, he built himself a one-eighth-scale steam locomotive, and after moving into a new home in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles in 1950 he laid half a mile of tracks around the property for his railroad. He would dress up in a train engineer’s clothing and give visitors rides on his Carolwood Pacific Railroad, named for the street he lived on. His passion for trains is reflected at Disneyland, which has been home to its own railroad since opening in 1955.

5. The initial plans for Disneyland were small-scale.

Walt originally intended to build a small amusement park near his Burbank studio; however, his plans soon grew more ambitious and in 1953 he hired a research firm to find the optimal southern California location for a large-scale theme park. After studying factors such as population growth, weather patterns and transportation options, the firm recommended the site that would become Disneyland’s home: a 160-acre parcel, consisting mostly of orange trees, in Anaheim. Construction began in July 1954 and Disneyland opened a year later, on July 17.

Opening day didn’t go smoothly, though: People produced counterfeit tickets, leading to an over-capacity crowd of attendees; rides broke; parts of the park were unfinished and a gas leak forced Fantasyland to be closed. Disneyland’s debut was showcased in a live TV broadcast—co-hosted by then-actor Ronald Reagan and seen by approximately 70 million Americans—yet the program was riddled with technical difficulties.

6. He won more Academy Awards than anyone else.

Disney holds the record for most individual Oscar wins (22) and nominations (59). In 1932, at the fifth Academy Awards ceremony, he earned his inaugural award, in the best short subject (cartoon) category, for “Flowers and Trees,” which used the new three-strip Technicolor process. Disney went on to win the same category at the next seven Oscar ceremonies. He scored one best picture nomination, for 1964’s “Mary Poppins,” but lost to “My Fair Lady.” (“Mary Poppins” did, however, rack up wins in five other Oscar categories, including best leading actress, given to Julie Andrews.)

Disney also received four honorary Oscars, including one (handed out in 1932) for creating Mickey Mouse, another (in 1939) for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (child actress Shirley Temple presented Disney with the award, which consisted of a regular-size statuette along with seven miniature versions, as a nod to the dwarfs); and a third (in 1942) for “Fantasia” and its contribution to sound design.

7. Disney wasn’t cryogenically frozen.

In November 1966, doctors discovered that Disney, a longtime smoker, had lung cancer. He died at a Burbank hospital the following month, on December 15, at age 65. Not long after his death, stories began circulating in the tabloid press that the filmmaker had been cryogenically preserved—that is, he’d been frozen with the hope that science might one day make it possible for him to be brought back to life. Despite the persistent rumors regarding Disney and cryonics, he was, in fact, cremated and his ashes were interred in a mausoleum at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California. The first person to be frozen cryogenically was an American university professor in January 1967. Since that time, more than a hundred others have been cryopreserved, including baseball great Ted Williams, who died in 2002.

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Walt Disney

• Occupation: Entrepreneur
• Born: December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois
• Died: December 15, 1966 in Burbank, California
• Best known for: Disney animated movies and theme parks
• Nickname: Uncle Walt

• Tom Hanks played the role of Walt Disney in the 2013 movie Saving Mr. Banks .
• The original name for Mickey Mouse was Mortimer, but his wife didn't like the name and suggested Mickey.
• He won 22 Academy Awards and received 59 nominations.
• His last written words were "Kurt Russell." No one, not even Kurt Russell, knows why he wrote this.
• He was married to Lillian Bounds in 1925. They had a daughter, Diane, in 1933 and later adopted another daughter, Sharon.
• The robot from Wall-E was named after Walter Elias Disney.
• The sorcerer from Fantasia is named "Yen Sid", or "Disney" spelled backwards.
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Walt Disney facts for kids

Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 - December 15, 1966) was an American business entrepreneur, animator , cartoonist , producer , screenwriter , entrepreneur , and voice actor . Disney was an important person in the American animation industry and throughout the world. He is regarded as an international icon, and philanthropist. He is well known for his influence and contributions to the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy Disney, he was the founder of Walt Disney Productions. The corporation is now known as The Walt Disney Company .

As an extraordinary animator and entrepreneur, Disney was well known as a film producer and a showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters including Mickey Mouse . He provided the original voice for Mickey Mouse. He received four honorary Academy Awards and won 22 Academy Awards from a total of 59 nominations, including a record four in one year. It gave him more awards and nominations than any other person in history. Disney also won seven Emmy Awards . He gave his name to the Disneyland , and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, as well as international resorts like Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland.

He died on December 15, 1966 from lung cancer . A year later, construction of the Walt Disney World Resort began in Florida. His brother Roy Disney inaugurated the Magic Kingdom in 1971.

Personal life and character

Death and legacy, awards and honors, related pages, images for kids.

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 at 2156 North Tripp Avenue in Hermosa, Chicago , Illinois . His father Elias Disney had Irish-Canadian ancestry and his mother, Flora Call Disney had German and English ancestry. His great-grandfather, Arundel Elias Disney, had emigrated from Gowran, County Kilkenny, Ireland where he was born in 1801. Arundel Disney was a descendant of Robert d' Isigny , a Frenchman who had traveled to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. The d'Isigny name was anglicized as "Disney" and the family settled in a village now known as Norton Disney, south of the city of Lincoln , in the county of Lincolnshire .

About the time Disney was entering high school, his family moved to the big city of Chicago . Disney took classes at the Chicago Art Institute and drew for the school newspaper. When he was sixteen, Disney decided he wanted to help fight in World War I . Since he was still too young to join the army, he dropped out of school and joined the Red Cross . He spent the next year driving ambulances for the Red Cross in France .

Disney's best-known creation is the cartoon character, Mickey Mouse . Disney even provided the voice for Mickey Mouse for many years. Donald Duck is another famous creation. Minnie Mouse and Pluto are also his creations. Disney was once fired from a newspaper company in Kansas City, Missouri because of his lack of creativity.

Disney began as a cartoonist in the 1920s. He created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit but lost ownership of the character due to a contract problem. He then created Mickey Mouse. Disney started the Walt Disney Studios and created the first full-length animated movie when he created Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). The movie was a huge success. The money from the movie helped Disney create many more cartoons and movies such as Fantasia , Pinocchio (both 1940) , Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942). New animated and live-action films followed after World War II , including the critically successful  Cinderella  (1950), Peter Pan (1953), and  Mary Poppins  (1964), the latter of which received five Academy Awards. He earned 32 academy awards. Disney once refused an offer from Alfred Hitchcock to make a movie at Disney World after Hitchcock filmed Psycho . He also served as the host of The Wonderful World of Disney, a weekly variety show that had Disney cartoons and some live-action skits.

In the 1950s, Disney created Disneyland in Anaheim, California . Disneyland was the first modern theme park. Disney also bought the land for Walt Disney World Resort in Florida . Disney did not see Walt Disney World finished though because he died before it opened. Both Disneyland and Walt Disney World (and now other Disney theme parks) are famous for their design, level of detail, being very clean, and animatronics .

Early in 1925, Disney hired an ink artist, Lillian Bounds . They married in July of that year, at her brother's house in her hometown of Lewiston, Idaho . The marriage was generally happy, according to Lillian, although according to Disney's biographer Neal Gabler she did not "accept Walt's decisions meekly or his status unquestionably, and she admitted that he was always telling people 'how henpecked he is'." Lillian had little interest in films or the Hollywood social scene and she was, in the words of the historian Steven Watts, "content with household management and providing support for her husband". Their marriage produced two daughters, Diane (born December 1933) and Sharon (adopted in December 1936, born six weeks previously). Within the family, neither Disney nor his wife hid the fact Sharon had been adopted, although they became annoyed if people outside the family raised the point. The Disneys were careful to keep their daughters out of the public eye as much as possible, particularly in the light of the Lindbergh kidnapping; Disney took steps to ensure his daughters were not photographed by the press.

In 1949, Disney and his family moved to a new home in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles. With the help of his friends Ward and Betty Kimball, who already had their own backyard railroad, Disney developed blueprints and immediately set to work on creating a miniature live steam railroad for his backyard. The name of the railroad, Carolwood Pacific Railroad, came from his home's location on Carolwood Drive. The miniature working steam locomotive was built by Disney Studios engineer Roger E. Broggie, and Disney named it Lilly Belle after his wife; after three years Disney ordered it into storage due to a series of accidents involving his guests.

Disney grew more politically conservative as he got older. A Democratic Party supporter until the 1940 presidential election, when he switched allegiance to the Republican Party , he became a generous donor to Thomas E. Dewey 's 1944 bid for the presidency . In 1946, he was a founding member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, an organization who stated they "believ[ed] in, and like, the American Way of Life ... we find ourselves in sharp revolt against a rising tide of Communism, Fascism and kindred beliefs, that seek by subversive means to undermine and change this way of life". In 1947, during the Second Red Scare , Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), where he branded Herbert Sorrell, David Hilberman and William Pomerance, former animators and labor union organizers, as communist agitators; Disney stated that the 1941 strike led by them was part of an organized communist effort to gain influence in Hollywood. It was alleged by The New York Times in 1993 that Disney had been passing secret information to the FBI from 1940 until his death in 1966. In return for this information, J. Edgar Hoover allowed Disney to film in FBI headquarters in Washington. Disney was made a "full Special Agent in Charge Contact" in 1954.

Disney's public persona was very different from his actual personality. Playwright Robert E. Sherwood described him as "almost painfully shy ... diffident" and self-deprecating. According to his biographer Richard Schickel , Disney hid his shy and insecure personality behind his public identity. Kimball argues that Disney "played the role of a bashful tycoon who was embarrassed in public" and knew that he was doing so. Disney acknowledged the façade and told a friend that "I'm not Walt Disney. I do a lot of things Walt Disney would not do. Walt Disney does not smoke. I smoke. Walt Disney does not drink. I drink." Critic Otis Ferguson, in The New Republic , called the private Disney: "common and everyday, not inaccessible, not in a foreign language, not suppressed or sponsored or anything. Just Disney." Many of those with whom Disney worked commented that he gave his staff little encouragement due to his exceptionally high expectations. Norman recalls that when Disney said "That'll work", it was an indication of high praise. Instead of direct approval, Disney gave high-performing staff financial bonuses, or recommended certain individuals to others, expecting that his praise would be passed on.

On December 15, 1966, Disney died of lung cancer in Burbank, California at the age of 65. His movies and theme parks are still enjoyed by millions of people. His company continues to produce very successful new theme parks and films.

His ashes were interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park cemetery in Glendale, California.

Disney received 59 Academy Award nominations, including 22 awards: both totals are records. He was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards , but did not win, but he was presented with two Special Achievement Awards‍—‌for Bambi (1942) and The Living Desert (1953)‍—‌and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. He also received four Emmy Award nominations, winning once, for Best Producer for the Disneyland television series. Several of his films are included in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant": Steamboat Willie , The Three Little Pigs , Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , Fantasia , Pinocchio , Bambi , Dumbo and Mary Poppins . In 1998, the American Film Institute published a list of the 100 greatest American films, according to industry experts; the list included Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (at number 49), and Fantasia (at 58).

In February 1960, Disney was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame with two stars, one for motion pictures and the other for his television work; Mickey Mouse was given his own star for motion pictures in 1978. Disney was also inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1986, the California Hall of Fame in December 2006, and was the inaugural recipient of a star on the Anaheim walk of stars in 2014.

The Walt Disney Family Museum records that he "along with members of his staff, received more than 950 honors and citations from throughout the world". He was made a Chevalier in the French Légion d'honneur in 1935, and in 1952 he was awarded the country's highest artistic decoration, the Officer d'Academie . Other national awards include Thailand's Order of the Crown (1960); Germany's Order of Merit (1956), Brazil's Order of the Southern Cross (1941), and Mexico's Order of the Aztec Eagle (1943). In the United States, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on September 14, 1964, and on May 24, 1968, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal . He received the Showman of the World Award from the National Association of Theatre Owners, and in 1955, the National Audubon Society awarded Disney its highest honor, the Audubon Medal, for promoting the "appreciation and understanding of nature" through his True-Life Adventures nature films. A minor planet discovered in 1980 by astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina , was named 4017 Disneya, and he was also awarded honorary degrees from Harvard , Yale , the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles .

• The Walt Disney Company
• Walt Disney Pictures
• Roy E. Disney
• Michael Eisner
• List of Disney animated movies

Theatrical poster for Trolley Troubles (1927)

Disney in 1935

Roy O. Disney finished the building of Disney World

Display case in the lobby of The Walt Disney Family Museum showing many of the Academy Awards won by Disney

1968 U.S. postage stamp

• This page was last modified on 20 February 2024, at 12:05. Suggest an edit .

Walt Disney Facts for Kids

• Name : Walt Disney
• Profession : Animator, Writer, Voice Actor and Film Producer
• Born : December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, United States
• Died : December 15th, 1966 in Burbank, California, United States
• Resting Place : Forest Lawn Memorial Park
• Legacy : Famous for the creation of the Walt Disney Company

22 Walt Disney Facts for Kids

• Walt Disney was an American animator, film producer, voice actor and writer.
• Walt Disney is most famous for creating the Walt Disney Company and several popular cartoon characters.
• Walt Disney was born on December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
• Walt Disney’s full birthname was Walter Elias Disney.
• Walt Disney was the son of Elias Disney and Flora Disney.
• Walt Disney was one of five children by Elias and Flora Disney.
• Walt Disney had three brothers (Herbert, Raymond and Roy) and one sister (Ruth).
• Walt Disney married American ink artist Lillian Disney on July 13th, 1925.
• Walt and Lillian Disney had two children, Diane M. Disney (biological) and Sharon Mae Disney (adopted).
• Walt Disney died at the age of 65 due to complications from lung cancer (circulatory collapse) on December 15th, 1966 in Burbank, California, United States.
• In 1919, Disney becomes an apprentice artist at the Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio in Kansas City.
• In 1920, Disney meets Ub Iwerks and together they form the Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists company. However, the company is dissolved in a month after it fails. That same year both Disney and Iwerks discover animation when they get jobs with the Kansas City Slide Company.
• In 1925, Disney hires Lillian Bounds as an ink artist and the two get married the same year.
• In 1928, Disney along with Ub Iwerks create the famous cartoon character Mickey Mouse. This newly created character by Walt and Ub appears first in the animated short films Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie. Mickey Mouse becomes very popular within a year of its first films being released.
• In 1931, more than one million people are members of the Mickey Mouse Club.
• In 1933, Lillian Disney gives birth to Diane M. Disney. Diane is the only biological child of Walt and Lillian.
• In 1936, Disney and his wife adopt Sharon Mae Disney.
• In 1937, Disney releases Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This is the first feature film released by Walt Disney.
• Between 1937 and 1963, Disney and Walt Disney productions release 18 different films. Many of these films become huge hits, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
• In 1955, Disneyland is opens in Anaheim, California, United States. This is an amusement park was designed and built under the direct supervision of Disney.
• In 1965, Disney started working on another amusement park known at the time as “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” (EPCOT). This would eventually morph into Disney World in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
• In 1966, Disney dies from lung cancer caused by heavy smoking. His body is cremated, and his remains are laid to rest at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, United States.

Pictures of Walt Disney

Additional Resources on Walt Disney

• About Walt Disney – Find more information on Walt Disney on the Duckster website.
• Biography of Walt Disney – Read the biography of Walt Disney on the Biography website.
• Timeline of Walt Disney – View a timeline of the life of Walt Disney on the Walt Disney Family Museum website.
• Walt Disney – Wikipedia – Discover more facts and information about Walt Disney on the Wikipedia website.

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Table of Contents

Early Life and Background

Walt Disney’s early life gave him the drive to be great. Growing up in a small town, he used drawing and storytelling to nurture his imagination. His passion for animation began young, and with the help of his brother Roy , they formed the Disney Brothers Studio in 1923. Despite hardships, Walt’s passion for excellence brought their studio to new heights.

Most people know about Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck , but did you know Walt Disney pioneered synchronized sound in animation with Steamboat Willie ? This was a breakthrough that revolutionized the industry.

Walt Disney was relentless in his pursuit of improvement. After producing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , he even burned all prior drawings to symbolize his commitment to never settle for mediocrity. His dedication to innovation made Disney an iconic brand known for imagination and enchantment.

Walt Disney crafted a legendary legacy out of his humble beginnings. Through perseverance, creativity, and the belief in dreams, his legacy continues to inspire generations around the world. It turns out, Walt Disney didn’t just build a kingdom out of dreams, he also managed to make more talking animals than a park full of politicians.

Founding of Disney Studios

To better understand the founding of Disney Studios and its significance, delve into the sub-sections: the creation of Mickey Mouse. Explore the pivotal role played by Mickey Mouse in the success and legacy of Walt Disney, shedding light on the groundbreaking and transformative impact of this beloved animated character.

Creation of Mickey Mouse

The 18th of November, 1928 saw the birth of an iconic character – Mickey Mouse ! Created by Walt Disney , he quickly became synonymous with the Disney brand . He was not the first character of Walt Disney though – it was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit . However, due to a dispute over the rights, Walt had to come up with a new character. Thus, Mickey Mouse was born!

Did you know that his first ever appearance was in a short film called ‘ Steamboat Willie ‘? It became an instant hit, launching Mickey Mouse to stardom.

What’s more, he wasn’t just a cartoon character – he was Walt Disney’s clever way of saying, ‘Come for the animation, stay for the overpriced popcorn!’

Expansion into Animation and Theme Parks

To deepen your understanding of Walt Disney’s expansion into animation and theme parks, this section focuses on the pivotal launch of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Discover the significance of this milestone, along with its lasting impact.

Launch of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a major milestone for Disney. This 1937 film left its mark on audiences worldwide. It used innovative Technicolor animation and storytelling like never before.

Snow White’s success set the stage for Disney’s future animation projects . It also had a big impact on theme parks. The popularity of the characters inspired Walt Disney to create attractions like “Snow White’s Scary Adventures” and “Seven Dwarfs Mine Train” .

To take things to the next level, Disney should invest in cutting-edge tech. This means incorporating virtual and augmented reality into their attractions. They can also keep working with talented animators and storytellers. Finally, expanding internationally through theme parks in new locations can introduce millions to the Disney magic.

Parents everywhere dread the endless hours of their kid’s favorite characters on repeat. But Disney’s expansion into animation and theme parks is here to stay.

Legacy and Impact

Walt Disney’s immense impact on the entertainment industry and pop culture is undeniable. His legacy continues to thrive through the countless animated films, theme parks, and beloved characters that captivate audiences worldwide.

Let’s explore some facts and figures to get a better understanding of Disney’s impact:

Disney revolutionized film with classics like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “The Lion King,” which became cultural classics. He created Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida, opening a new world of theme park experiences.

Besides film and theme parks, Disney made significant contributions to television programming. His shows such as “The Mickey Mouse Club” and “The Wonderful World of Disney” brought quality family entertainment into households across America.

In addition, Disney’s knack for merchandising extended his empire beyond traditional media. Mickey Mouse became an iconic symbol adored by people of all ages. His characters can be seen across toys, clothing, and home decor .

As we reflect on Walt Disney’s impact, it is clear that his legacy still shapes our world today. Through timeless films and magical theme park experiences, his creations bring joy to millions.

Come join us to celebrate Walt Disney’s lasting influence and experience the magic he left behind. Don’t miss out on the chance to enter a realm where dreams come true!

It’s amazing to think that Walt Disney, who was doodling cartoon characters and daydreaming at a young age, grew up to become a billionaire – while algebra still searches for its purpose in life!

Heading: Early Life and Background

Walt Disney’s humble beginnings shaped his remarkable journey. Born in 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, he grew up on a farm and was passionate about drawing and animation. Despite facing financial difficulties and rejections, Disney was determined to pursue his dreams.

He and his brother Roy founded the Disney Brothers Studio in 1923. Initially, they faced struggles, but then created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit . Unfortunately, they lost control of him and had to develop a new character – leading to the birth of Mickey Mouse .

Mickey Mouse revolutionized the film industry with his charm. This success allowed Disney to experiment with sound synchronization, Technicolor animation, and eventually venture into feature-length films. He created Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 – the first full-length animated film ever produced.

Today, Walt Disney’s legacy lives on through his imaginative creations. From classic characters to modern favorites, he continues to inspire generations of artists and storytellers.

Dreams really do come true! Step into Walt Disney’s world and explore his life story further. Discover how this visionary artist overcame hardships to create a place where magic and imagination come alive. Dare to dream big and delve into Walt Disney’s extraordinary journey today!

Heading: Founding of Disney Studios

To understand the founding of Disney Studios, delve into the creation of Mickey Mouse. Explore how this iconic character came to life and discover the role he played in shaping the success of Walt Disney’s visionary studio.

Sub-Heading: Creation of Mickey Mouse

Disney Studios’ creation of Mickey Mouse was a monumental moment in the entertainment industry. It marked the birth of a beloved character and opened a journey that would shape the industry.

Mickey Mouse , with his endearing personality and fun-loving antics, charmed millions. His success paved the path for other popular characters like Donald Duck and Goofy. Even today, Mickey continues to be loved by both young and old.

Disney Studios could consider the following to further strengthen Mickey’s legacy :

• Collaborate with contemporary artists to introduce new takes on Mickey in art exhibitions. This would give fans the chance to explore different artistic styles while celebrating the beloved mouse.
• Utilize technology to create immersive Mickey experiences . Virtual or augmented reality attractions could transport people to his world, providing an interactive and memorable adventure.
• Release limited-edition merchandise to mark special occasions related to Mickey . These exclusive items would cater to collectors and enthusiasts, generating enthusiasm in the fan base.

By executing these ideas, Disney Studios can keep the magical essence of Mickey alive for future generations.

Heading: Expansion into Animation and Theme Parks

To understand the expansion of Walt Disney into animation and theme parks, delve into the launch of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the subsequent milestones achieved. Explore the immense impact this film had on Disney’s career and the iconic characters that emerged.

Sub-heading: Launch of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made history with its launch. Its captivating story and Technicolor visuals won hearts worldwide. Walt Disney’s ambition brought these characters to life, spawning the sensational Disneyland theme park. This film showed Disney’s commitment to storytelling and immersive experiences, and even today it’s celebrated as a timeless classic.

Its innovative animation techniques amazed audiences. Animators studied live-action footage to capture subtle gestures and facial expressions. This dedication to realism was key to its success.

Snow White’s influence extended beyond animation. It laid the foundation for Disneyland, a revolutionary theme park. Walt Disney envisioned a place where visitors could enter their favorite stories. In 1955, Disneyland opened, transforming theme parks forever.

On December 21, 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered at Carthay Circle Theater. It was an instant sensation, and marked a new era for Disney. It opened the door to endless possibilities in animation and theme park entertainment.

Heading: Legacy and Impact

Walt Disney’s impact is undeniable. His creativity & innovation revolutionized the entertainment industry, making its mark on popular culture. From cartoonist to global empire , his influence is seen around the world.

One of Disney’s biggest contributions was Mickey Mouse . With this character, he pioneered sound in animation, changing the way cartoons were made. This has led to countless animated classics that still captivate audiences.

Disneyland , another iconic creation, revolutionized amusement parks & family entertainment. It combined storytelling & experiences, transporting visitors to magical worlds. Disneyland became a symbol of joy, inspiring generations to believe in make-believe.

Walt Disney left behind principles that guide his company. One is “ keep moving forward ,” which encourages innovation & adaptation. This has allowed Disney to stay relevant & successful over the years.

To ensure Disney’s legacy lives on, future creators should embrace his spirit & stay true to their own visions. By seeking inspiration & pushing boundaries, meaningful works can be made that stand the test of time.

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Walt Disney Facts

Written by Selina

Modified & Updated: 28 May 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

• Frozen Facts
• Pixar Facts
• The Lion King Facts
• Toy Story Facts

Walt Disney is a name that has become synonymous with magic, imagination, and beloved characters. From Mickey Mouse to Cinderella, Disney’s creations have brought joy to millions of children around the world. In this article, we’ll explore 11 fun and fascinating facts about Walt Disney that kids will love.

Walt Disney’s Full Name

Walt Disney’s full name was Walter Elias Disney . He was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois . As a child, Walt showed a passion for drawing and storytelling, which eventually led him to create one of the most famous entertainment companies in the world.

The Birth of Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse, Disney’s most iconic character, made his debut in 1928 . Walt Disney and his friend Ub Iwerks co-created Mickey Mouse, who quickly became a sensation. Mickey Mouse starred in the first synchronized sound cartoon, “ Steamboat Willie ,” which was a groundbreaking achievement in the animation industry.

Disneyland: The Happiest Place on Earth

Walt Disney’s dream of creating a magical place where families could have fun together led to the opening of Disneyland. On July 17, 1955 , the first Disneyland park opened its doors in Anaheim, California . Today, Disneyland continues to enchant visitors with its thrilling rides, enchanting characters, and enchanting atmosphere.

The Academy Awards

Walt Disney holds the record for the most Academy Awards won by an individual. Throughout his career, he received 22 Academy Awards and was nominated a total of 59 times . His contributions to animation and filmmaking revolutionized the industry and left a lasting legacy.

Walt Disney’s Inspirational Quote

One of Walt Disney’s famous quotes is, “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them . “ This quote encourages children to believe in themselves and follow their dreams, reminding them that anything is possible with determination and perseverance.

Disney’s Favourite Character

While Walt Disney loved all of his creations, he had a special fondness for Mickey Mouse was not only a symbol of Disney’s success but also represented his own optimistic and adventurous spirit.

Disney’s Motto: “Dream, Believe, Dare, Do”

Disney’s motto, “Dream, Believe, Dare, Do,” reflects the company’s core values and the creative spirit of Walt Disney himself. It encourages individuals to dream big, believe in themselves, take risks, and turn their dreams into reality.

The Seven Disney Values

Disney has a set of core values that guide its employees and creators. These values include storytelling, innovation, excellence, inclusivity, optimism, decency, and integrity . They serve as the foundation for the magic and inspiration found in Disney’s films, theme parks, and entertainment experiences

Disney’s Main Theme: Magic and Imagination

The main theme that runs through all of Disney’s creations is magic and imagination. From enchanting princess tales to thrilling adventures in faraway lands, Disney’s stories transport children to worlds where anything is possible. This theme sparks imagination, encourages creativity, and invites children to believe in the power of their own dreams .

The Disney Animation Studios

Disney Animation Studios is responsible for creating some of the most beloved animated films of all time. Classics like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “The Lion King,” and “Frozen” were all produced by Disney Animation Studios. The studio continues to bring magical characters and captivating stories to life through the art of animation.

Disney’s Enduring Legacy

Walt Disney’s legacy extends far beyond his lifetime. His creations have become a significant part of popular culture and have left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. Today, Disney continues to create new stories, characters, and experiences that inspire and entertain children of all ages.

Final Thoughts

Walt Disney’s contributions to the world of entertainment have brought happiness and inspiration to countless children. Through his timeless characters and imaginative storytelling, he continues to touch the hearts of both young and old. So, let your imagination soar, believe in the magic, and embark on a magical journey into the enchanting world of Disney.

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Wealth of Geeks

24 Fun Facts Only Real Insiders Know About Disney World

Posted: March 26, 2024 | Last updated: March 26, 2024

Disney World is a cherished travel destination where magic, wonder, and excitement meet. From thrilling attractions to enchanting lands, there is no shortage of ways to explore the spectacular parks Disney has to offer.

We’re spilling all the secrets only Disney World insiders know about the beloved theme parks.

1. A Chosen Family Opens the Magic Kingdom Every Morning

On your next trip to Disney World, you should show up early to get a chance to open the park. Each morning, the Magic Kingdom has a rope drop to open the park, and employees choose a new family to open the park each day.

Disney experts recommend that families show up early and wear matching Disney clothes.

2. Walt Disney Intended for Epcot to be a Private Community

Walt Disney initially intended Epcot to be an experimental community for residents . The community would house 20,000 people and feature restaurants, theaters, homes, and a climate-controlled city center.

When Walt Disney died, workers scrapped the project, and Epcot became a park filled with essential attractions everyone loves.

3. The Cinderella Castle Has a Secret Suite

Originally built for Walt Disney and his family, the secret suite in the Cinderella Castle is now only open to contest winners and special guests.

The suite features beautiful 17th-century furniture, a mosaic floor that includes 24-karat gold pieces, a clock frozen at 11:59, and a Jacuzzi tub.

4. Disney World Has Secret Underground Tunnels

Disney World is home to secret underground tunnels , also known as Utilidor tunnels. The Magic Kingdom tunnels, spanning nine acres, were built in 1971 and connect to every area in the park.

The system is only open to Disney World employees and is so large that they need to use golf carts to get around.

5. Disney World Constantly Sprays Scents Into Each Park

If you’ve ever noticed that different theme parks smell a certain way, it’s because they’re meant to.

To keep the magic alive, Disney Imagineers use Smellitzer machines that spray pleasant scents, such as tasty snack smells, through hidden vents in the park.

6. The Garbage is Removed in Secret

The Magic Kingdom uses an automated vacuum collection system to remove garbage from the park. The collection system is in Disney’s secret underground tunnels, so you’ll never see garbage removed throughout the park.

Custodians place the trash into particular processors, bringing it underground to be moved and processed.

7. None of the American Flags Are Real

All of the flags you see at the park may look like American flags, but they aren’t the traditional version. Each flag is missing a star or a stripe to remain raised permanently.

Another fun fact many guests don’t know is that flagpoles also double as lightning rods to protect guests in case of severe weather.

8. None of the Buildings or Structures in Disney World Are Taller Than 200 Feet

While some buildings may look tall, none reach taller than 200 feet.

Disney World uses optical illusions, such as using smaller bricks at the top of buildings, to make them appear taller than they are.

9. In the Magic Kingdom, You’ll Never See a Neighboring Land

Magic Kingdom is specifically designed so that when you’re in one land, you won’t be able to see a nearby land, regardless of where you are.

The design keeps the magic and mystery of Disney alive.

10. Employees Aren’t Allowed to Point With a Finger to Guide a Guest

If a guest is lost and needs help with directions, Disney employees must be careful about how they help them.

Since it’s considered rude in some cultures to point with your index finger when explaining directions, employees must point with two fingers.

11. Mickeys Are Scattered Around the Park

Mickey Mouses are hidden all over the various parks for guests to find. They’re often hidden in tricky-to-find spots like small ride details and artwork.

The Mickeys all have the classic two round ears and round heads that define the beloved mouse.

12. You Can Hear a Secret Conversation at the Hat Shop on Main Street

When you stop by the hat shop at the end of Main Street, if you pick up the vintage phone, you’ll be able to listen in on a secret conversation.

The phone plays a recording of a mother and daughter disagreeing over the price of groceries.

13. Visitors Are Never More Than 30 Steps Away From a Garbage Can

Walt Disney was very particular about how many garbage cans were available in the park and wanted to ensure one was always within close reach.

When you visit the park, each garbage can is about 30 steps away from one another.

14. Two of the Same Characters Are Never Seen Together

To keep the charm of Disney World alive, you’ll never see two of the same characters together at the same time.

All of the characters have schedules to avoid run-ins.

15. The Cinderella Fountain Statue Looks Different to Adults Than It Does to Children

To an adult, the statue of Cinderella may look sad because her head is down. From a child’s perspective, however, Cinderella looks like she is wearing a crown.

The statue shows how things may look much different in a child’s eyes compared to an adult’s.

16. There is an Abandoned Airport Outside of the Magic Kingdom

In 1970, Disney built its first and only airport before the park opened. The airport was used for around two years before being shut down and turned into backstage parking.

You can find the airport underneath the Monorail before the entrance to Magic Kingdom.

17. You Can Catch a Secret Show at the End of the Night at the Magic Kingdom

Most guests don’t know that if you stick around the Magic Kingdom a few minutes after it closes, you can watch the “Kiss Goodnight” show.

You must be a guest staying at select Disney resorts to enjoy Extended Evening Hours to see Cinderella Castle light up while playing the song “When You Wish Upon a Star.”

18. Planes Can’t Fly Over the U.S. Parks

If you’ve ever noticed how peacefully quiet it is in Disney World, there’s a reason for it. There’s a strict no-fly zone over two of Disney’s parks, limiting the outside noise infiltrating the park.

19. Disney World Purposely Won’t Sell Gum

A detail that most visitors may overlook is that you can’t buy gum at any of the shops in Disney World. The park enforces a no-gum policy in shops to prevent gum from being spit out or stuck around the park.

While Disney World won’t sell you gum, you can bring your own in.

20. The Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle Isn’t Made of Stone

While the outside of Cinderella’s Castle may look like it’s made of stone, it’s actually made of fiberglass.

Disney designed the castle strategically to withstand up to 110 miles per hour winds , hurricanes, and any severe weather or storms that may cross its path.

21. The Haunted Mansion Has a Secret Donald Duck

While Disney World is filled with hidden Mickeys for you to find, the park also has a secret Donald Duck in the Haunted Mansion.

You can find Donald’s silhouette on a chair — which may be in the endless hallway or the library as it occasionally changes.

22. There is a Hidden Character at the Animal Kingdom

A street performer called “DiVine” can be found at the Animal Kingdom if guests look closely enough.

She wears green face paint, leaves, vines, and stilts and can often be found between Asia and Africa or at the entrance of the Kingdom.

23. Disney Sprays Garlic Extract Around the Park to Repel Bugs

Disney World rarely has mosquitoes and bugs. The park has a bug repellent made of garlic that repels mosquitoes wandering into the park.

Fortunately, the garlic repellent isn’t detectable by humans, so guests won’t have to worry about any unpleasant smells.

24. Blue Employee Name Tags Are Unique

All Disney employees or cast members must wear a name tag with their name and hometown on it.

Employees with a blue name tag earned the Walt Disney Legacy Award, the highest honor an employee can receive.

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