When it comes to animated cartoons, “Walt Disney” is the first name that comes to mind. He is widely recognized as the most popular and well-known animator worldwide. Despite encountering early career obstacles, Walt Disney demonstrated determination and business acumen. His hard work and entrepreneurial spirit led to the creation of Mickey Mouse, who remains the beloved cartoon character in the world. As an animator and owner of Disney Corporation, Walt Disney has left a lasting impact on history from past to present times. This discussion will explore his chronological significance in life and examine the influences he has had.
Walter Elias Disney, born on December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, was the fourth child of Elias and Flora Disney. During his childhood, the family often moved due to his father’s various occupations such as farming, business, orange growing, and carpentry. Despite being young, all family members were required to work relentlessly for Elias without any payment.
During his childhood, Walt developed a love for drawing while living on his father’s farm in Marceline, Missouri. However, in 1910, the family decided to move to Kansas City where Walt continued pursuing his passion by taking art classes at the Kansas City Art Institute. Eventually, in 1917 they returned to Chicago.
After volunteering for the Red Cross in Chicago and serving as an ambulance driver in France during World War I, Walt Disney decided to pursue art professionally upon his return to the United States in 1919. He then joined the Kansas City Film Advertising Company, where he worked on animation alongside Ubbe Iwerks. Together, they gained enough knowledge and skill to start their own venture, Laugh-O-Gram Films.
The company created cartoons that mocked local issues and scandals, and these cartoons were successful enough to encourage Walt and Iwerks to start their own business. However, Walt quickly lost interest in the Laugh-O-Grams. He had a new concept to explore, which involved illustrating modernized fairy tales through a series of cartoons. Although the cartoons produced by him and Iwerks were decent, Walt never received any payment for his films. Subsequently, Walt embarked on a new venture: a series of humorous stories featuring a girl actress and animated characters, titled “Alice’s Wonderland.”
Despite the scarcity of money, he was able to produce a pilot film for the Alice series using the little funds he had. Believing that Kansas City did not offer significant financial opportunities, he made the decision to relocate to California. In 1923, Walt Disney moved to California and collaborated with his brother Roy Disney and colleague Ubbe Iwerks to establish Walt Disney Production. Following five years of creating silent cartoons, he achieved a milestone by producing “SteamBoat Willie,” which was the first cartoon to incorporate synchronized sound1.
Walt Disney animated Mickey Mouse in a cartoon using his own voice in 1928. In 1929, he established the film series “Silly Symphonies,” and introduced color in 1932. Disney then created full-color cartoons like “Three Little Pigs” and “The Tortoise and the Hare,” both of which won academy awards. Throughout the 1930s, Walt Disney became famous for creating iconic characters including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy. These beloved characters appeared not only in cartoons but also on licensed merchandise by Disney Production.
The Walt Disney Production Studio revolutionized the film industry by creating the world’s first animated feature film, “Snow White and Seven Dwarfs,” in 1937. They continued their success with the releases of “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia” in 1940, followed by “Dumbo” in 1941 and “Bambi” in 1942. In addition to these beloved films, they also ventured into a unique combination of cartoon characters and live actors with their release of “Song of the South” in 1946. All of these cinematic creations achieved tremendous popularity among audiences.
Furthermore, during World War II, The Walt Disney Production Studio demonstrated their patriotism by producing military insignias and training films for the United States armed forces.
After the war, Walt Disney continued making animated films like “Alice in Wonderland” (1951), “Peter Pan” (1953), and “The Jungle Book” (1967). He also explored live-action filmmaking with “Treasure Island” (1950) and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” (1954). Remarkably innovative, he opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California in 1955. The park aimed to create a clean and friendly environment for families while providing exciting rides and attractions.
In the United States and possibly the world, Disneyland eventually became a top tourist attraction. Disney introduced new attractions to Disneyland and created family-friendly films, leading to its popularity. In 1964, his greatest filmmaking accomplishment was “Mary Poppins,” for which Disney received multiple Academy Awards due to his innovative ideas and advancements in film.
Walt Disney revolutionized feature films for television through various platforms. Notably, his weekly series “The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-59)” and the long-running “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” highlighted some of these films across its 29 seasons. Moreover, Disney developed exclusive shows for the New York World’s Fair in 1964, where he presented his beloved Audio-Animatronics figures in iconic attractions such as “It’s a Small World” and “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.”
The incredibly realistic portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, who spoke lines from his speeches, never failed to astonish those attending the fair. Walt Disney never stopped working. Even in his final moments on December 15th, 1966, he was envisioning the creation of a brand new Walt Disney World vacation kingdom in Florida, as well as EPCOT—a experimental prototype community of tomorrow. This amusement area is composed of a display area imitating various foreign cities, arranged in a fan-like formation around a lagoon.
The world of the future, on the other side of water, is dominated by a 180-foot geodesic sphere and Spaceship Earth. Surrounding the sphere, there are several pavilions that contain entertaining displays showcasing future possibilities in various fields such as energy, transportation, agriculture, mariculture, and technology. Spaceship Earth focuses on providing information and communications spanning from dinosaur time to the 21st century. In summary, Walter Elias Disney was an innovative and influential figure who made numerous movies and cartoons that played a significant role in shaping children’s lives.
