Walt Disney. He has been a household name for over 80 years. He was the driving force behind the classic Disney films as well as Disneyland, the happiest place on earth. Everyone knows the outcome of his success but what about the struggles and failures that helped shape him? His childhood adventures, his struggle to have his own successful studio and his grand ideas for a theme park. Sometimes it the struggle that makes the man and Walt Disney is no exception.
Walter Disney was born December 5, 1901 to Elias and Flora Disney. (Biograpgy.com) His father Elias wanting to move the family away from the crime in Chicago moved the family to Marceline, Missouri where he had bought some farm land. Walt loved that town and it would later become his inspiration for Main Street USA. (Barrett, 1991) Walt loved adventures and
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Walt only made it through the 7th grade. He dropped out and started working odd jobs to help sustain his family. At the age of 16 he lied about his age to join the Red Cross. After about a year in France as an ambulance driver he came home and started to pursue his dream of drawing. He got a job at an animation company and that was the match that lit Walt’s passion for animation. While working he decided he wanted to start up his own business, so he up and quit his job and created a startup company “Laugh-O-Grams”. The company didn’t last long so he picked up and moved out to Hollywood to be with his brother Roy. That’s when the Disney Studio was born. It was at his studio when Walt met and fell in love with Lillian Bounds. The two married in June 1925. They had 2 daughters Sharon and Diane. With his family life thriving the studio had taken a hit. The studios star was Oswald the Rabbit was stolen by Walt’s business partner named Charlie Mintz as well as almost all of Disney’s animators. It was then when it looked like there was no hope that Mickey Mouse was born. (Gabler,
Walt Disney was born on December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Disney was the fourth child in the family out of five. His father 's name was Elias Disney and his mother’s name was Flora Call Disney. His father was Canadian and his mother was from Ohio. Disney was raised on his uncle’s farm near Marceline, Missouri. He actually used many of the farm animals that he grew up with in his animated
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois. His father, Elias, was a carpenter when Walt was born. Eventually, Elias and his wife, Flora, saved up enough money to start a home building company together. Walter had four siblings: Roy, Herbert, Raymond, and Ruth (Russell 9). Because Ruth was younger than Walt, Walt waited until the age of seven to start school so that he could start at the same time as Ruth. Before he went to school, his mother, Flora, taught him how to read (Russell 10). Walt grew up on the Disney family farm and worked hard on the farm. He worked at the neighbor’s farm- raising corn, wheat, barley, cows, pigs, and chickens (Giltin 18). Later, Elias grew sick, and the Disney’s had to sell the farm. They moved to Kansas City (Russell 11). Throughout Walter’s schooling, he loved to be on stage- directing, producing, and being on stage (Russell 11). Many things inspired Walt Disney’s creativity: moving, roaming, playing in the farmyard, fishing, doodling in class, and editing the school newspaper are just a few
On December 5, 1901, Elias Disney and Flora Call Disney gave birth to a man who would eventually change our world by the creation of a little mouse. Walter Elias Disney, who was also known as “Walt,” was born in a small town in Chicago, Illinois, by a father who was an Irish-Canadian descent, and his mother who was a German- English descent. Walt was one out of five children, four brothers and a sister. Their names were Herbert Arthur Disney, Raymond Arnold Disney, Roy Oliver Disney, and Ruth Flora Disney. Walt was the oldest one out of the five. While he attended school, he was introduced to Walter Pfeiffer, who decided to show Walt vaudeville and the art of making movies. Walt decided to drop out of high school, at the age of sixteen, to join the army. He was rejected to join because he was too young of age. He and a friend decided to join the Red Cross, where Walt was an ambulance driver during World War II. In 1919, Walt moved to Kansas City to begin a career in art, and worked for the newspaper, as a newspaper artist. He met Ubbe Iwerks, and he and Disney soon made their own commercial company called, “Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists.”
Walter Elias Disney was always seen as a very imaginative and outgoing person at any point in his life. Walt loved life and would make appearances at Disneyland all the time to make sure employees were being kind and courteous to the guests while managing to talk and ride rides with children that looked up to him. Never in his life would Walt give up on something, which made him very stubborn at times, but a good businessman with the guidance of his brother, Roy. All of these traits made Walt Disney into one of the greatest entrepreneurs the world has ever seen, and some say he even helped shape the 20th century.
Benson, Morgan , and Kit Benson. "Walt Disney." Find A Grave. N.p., 1 Jan. 2001. Web. 21 Apr. 2017. .
With his fellow artists in Kansas City Walt began his long endeavour into the art of production. Working with his brother Roy and a few others Walt worked his way to his dream, and in 1923 he was able to set up his studio in Hollywood where his first famous cartoons were produced. Walter and his partners had previously aired their cartoons dubbed Laugh-O-Grams which were wildly popular and after they created a series of seven-minute fairy tales that combined live action and animation. Out of their studio in Hollywood, also known as the “Disney Brothers’ Studio”, came incredible characters such as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit who was famously feuded over by the brothers and caused their famous split. Although the most beloved of all was the sensational Mickey Mouse. Up to this point in Walt’s career all of his work and other animations in the industry have one thing in common,
After returning from his service in France, Walt pursued a career in commercial art instead of getting a high school diploma, leading to his experiments in animation. He first worked for Pesman-Rubin Commercial Art Studio where he was designing letterhead and advertisements. After getting laid off, he found another job at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he was educated about animation, producing advertisements prior the movies would begin. He later departed the Film Ad Company in May 1922 with confidence in starting Laugh-O-Gram Films, where he created Alice’s Wonderland. Later, making a series of these films, known, as the Alice Comedies. Walt’s company last for one year and a half and went bankrupt in July 1923. Unlike most people, Walt Disney didn’t give up. Instead, he left Kansas City and headed to Hollywood.
Disney Productions is one of the leading entertainment businesses, bringing tremendous profits not to mention the joy it brings many people. It has not always been this easy for Disney however. It took the mind of one man to bring it to what it is today, and that’s mans name is Walt Disney. Walt Disney’s life was devoted to the arts and entertainment almost from birth. However, Walt’s fortunes and fame didn’t take form until his creation of Mickey Mouse.
Their company however was a failure and both started to work in animation at the Kansas City Film Ad Company. After learning all about animation, he pursued another start-up with another co-worker Fred Harman. This time he created an animation business and started screening cartoon’s titled “Laugh-O-Grams” in a local theatre. Following their success, Disney acquired Laugh-O-Gram studios, which soon went bankrupt due to Walt’s poor financial management. Later that year, Walt and his Brother Roy opened Disney Brothers’ Studio in Hollywood, California (WDFM, 2012). He then started selling his produced cartoons to a New York distributor that was a huge success. Everything was going well until Disney found out that his client had hired Walt’s animators under contract and took the rights to his most popular animated characters (Gabler, 2006).
3. On the heels of a successful run with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt learned not only that he did not hold ownership of the character, but that most of the artists who worked for him had committed themselves to working for the distributor instead. Essentially, Walt's entire organization was taken from him, with the exception of his artist Ub Iwerks.
Walt took classes at the Chicago Art Institute three nights a week. When summer finally rolled along, Walt worked for his father at the post office. Of course, even when working, Walt made drawings.When school started back up again, Walt was seventeen years old. He dropped out of school then to try and fight in the war. He got denied to fight because he was too young. So Walt lied about his age, and he got a job as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross. The Red Cross sent him to work in France, and of course in his free time, Walt drew cartoons. When he came back he didn’t want to work for his dad again, “I want to be an artist.”(Walt Disney) So he moved to Missouri, and when he finally found a job, it only lasted for six months. During those six months, Walt met a man named Ubbe Iwerks. The two men decided to go into business together. They wanted to make animations, or pictures that move. To make money to help make the animations, Walt and Ub made short films, which were about a minute long. Their first production was, “The Alice Comedies.” Walt wanted to make loner movies though which were about seven minutes long. He longed to make fairy tales. Walt and Ub finally came out with the production of Little Red Riding Hood. It took six months. Both men quit their day jobs, and opened a company called Laugh-O-Gram
Walt Elias Disney was born December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, but moved shortly after his birth to the Disney family farm in Marceline, Missouri and shortly after he moved to Kansas City. He was too young to remember Marceline, so he considered Kansas his home.He had three brothers and a sister who were raised by their parents Elias and Flora Disney. He grew up a regular kid; disliked school work and loved to play. Early in his life, Walt started drawing and would often draw rather than do his homework. He even sold cute, little sketches to the neighbors when he was seven years old.
At the age of 31, Walt Disney and his brother, Roy Disney, founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (currently known as the Walt Disney Company), which became the industry leaders in the creation of cartoons. Gradually, the company expanded to also produce motion pictures and provide entrainment services through cable services or its theme parks.
After Walt left home, he started his own business-- Laugh-O-Grams, but Walt had to file for bankruptcy because Laugh-O-Grams weren’t producing enough money. Instead of giving up, Walt packed up his dreams and headed to Hollywood to start a business with his brother, Roy. Even though Walt’s idea of creating short filmed animation had already led to bankruptcy, he was passionate about his idea and wanted it to succeed. Over time, Walt’s ideas led to the creation of Mickey Mouse and eventually Snow White and the Seven Dwarves which made Walt Disney one of the most successful people in his time (“Walt Disney: Long Biography”). Walt Disney was on a roller coaster that only knew how to go up because he was determined to have his dreams succeed. No matter how hard life got, Walt remained passionate about his ideas and gave his best effort. Walt Disney was always determined and passionate about his dreams and did whatever it took to accomplish them-- this is why he is one of the world’s most influential and successful
Iwerks and Disney eventually fell through, but Walt was determined to succeed, and he read as many books and magazine articles about cartooning and cinematic animation as he could get his hands on. After a while, Walt began working for the Kansas City Film Ad Company. On the side he began his own company called Laugh-O-Gram Films, Inc. During this time Walt and Iwerks did a series of seven-minute fairy tales entitled "Alice in Cartoonland," which contained a