Walt Disney: the Man Behind the Magic

Disney's empire has spread throughout the world, with his films being translated Into dozens of languages and his theme parks being located in many different countries. Animation became an important part of society with the innovative mind of Walt Disney who shook up the 20th Century with his quirky characters and charming storyline. Walter Alias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. Walt Disney was named after his father, Ells Disney who was "a peripatetic carpenter, farmer, and a bulling contractor" that would do any Job he could find do make money for his Emily.

His mother, Flora Disney, spent most of her time as a public school teacher. Alias and Flora had five children: Herbert, Raymond, Roy, Walt, and Ruth in order of oldest to youngest, descending in age with Herbert being their oldest. Soon after Walt was born, "the family moved to a farm near Marline, Missouri, a typical small Midwestern town. " There Walt Disney started studying the art of cartooning and even attended classes at the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design. Chicago called the Disney back to the windy city In 1917 when "Walt entered McKinley High

School, where he took photographs, made drawings for the school paper, and studied cartooning on the side. " Disney eventually striver to become a newspaper cartoonist when he graduated (Crotchet). Walt Disney's childhood dream of being a newspaper cartoonist was shattered with the outbreak of World War I In which he participated as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross In France and Germany (Crotchet). When Disney got back home he started pursuing his career as a cartoonist again with "little than a public education, a few art courses in Chicago, and a year's service as an ambulance driver n France. He tried to open an animation studio in Kansas City with his previously listed experience and five hundred dollars of poker winnings he had made overseas. Disney was not successful in his attempts, though, and he ended up even worse off than he had been before. He was seen sitting on a box, eating cold beans from a can and dry bread (Nilsson). Diane Disney Miller, his daughter, recalled her father telling her of his misfortunes before his fame and said that, "when Dad was telling me this story I asked, Wasn't this about the low point of your life? And he said, No, it wasn't ad.

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I love beans'. " Disney's adult life was full of struggles to reach his dreams but Walt fell for his secretary, Lillian, and they were married on July 13, 1925 (Sitting 40). Even with his unfortunate situations and hopelessness at times, "by the time he was 30 years old, Walt Disney had become a public figure" (Finch 15). Back in Kansas City together. The dynamic duo "acquired a secondhand movie camera with which they made one and two minute animated advertising films for distribution in local theaters. " Finally things had begun to look up for the two when a

New York film distributor cheated them out of their money and they were forced to "file for bankruptcy in 1923" (Crotchet). When Disney moved to California to pursue a career as a cinematographer, lowers stayed behind (Finch 50). Surprisingly, one of Disney's Alice films compelled Walt and Roy, his brother, to open another studio in Los Angels. Although, the Disney brothers realized they needed the fellow cartoonist's genius at Disney Brothers Productions in California (Finch 50). Walt Disney decided to "change the company name from Disney Brothers Studio to Walt

Disney Studio" (Sitting 42). Some believe it was his selfish decision to hog all of the fame, but supposedly it was Roy Disney who suggested the new studio name (Sitting 43). The Great Depression and its economic hardships that came along with it in the early sass's hardly hurt Disney. Walt Disney tried his hardest to make his cartoons appeal to audiences all over the world, so he made money in spite of everyone else's suffering. Many people know that Walt Disney wasn't the sole animator of his characters, but most do not know Just who he worked with in the beginning (Crotchet).

Pub lowers who was said to be "easily the best animator of the day' was Disney's other half (Finch 49). Together they invented one of their first characters that became semi- famous, the character was named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald was one of Disney's most famous characters of his early career which "propitiously launched their small enterprise. " 1927 was a huge year for lowers and Disney, little did the men know that they were designing what would become Disney's most prized, well- known character "a cheerful, energetic, and mischievous mouse called

Mackey' (Crotchet). Although most credit for Mackey Mouse is given to Walt Disney, lowers was primarily responsible for perfecting Mickey's physical characteristics (Finch 49). lowers may have been responsible for Mickey's physical characteristics, but Walt Disney invented his personality and behaviors. Mickey's voice was "supplied by Disney himself, a task which he continued to perform for many years after. " After Mackey, Disney and lowers developed many legendary characters such as Pluto, Goofy, and the prominent Donald Fauntleroy Duck. Donald F.

Duck came into existence when Clarence Nash, one of Disney's employees, witnessed an ill-mannered duck at the park and became greatly amused. Disney loved the impression Nash gave, so Nash provided the comical, aggressive voice for Mr.. Duck (Alexander). During the early days of Disney, the cartoon sketches called Laugh-O-Grams that were soundless were popular as well as a "series of seven minute fairy tales that combined both live action and animation called Alice in Cortland. " Disney was able to distribute his films at $1 ,500 each at times, which helped launch what was his mall business at the time.

Talkies were being introduced into society and he began to "recognize the possibilities for sound in animated cartoon films. " Disney's third Mackey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie was fully equipped with music and voices, and it totally overshadowed his last soundless cartoons. Steamboat Willie appeared in 1928 and "was a sensation" (Crotchet). Walt Disney began making his first full called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and cost Walt Disney $1 but over the years has made over $20,000,000 (Davidson 73).

Roy Disney tried to bring in more none by "franchising the tie-in sales with the cartoons of Mackey Mouse and Donald Duck watches, dolls, shirts, and tops which reaped more wealth for the company" (Crotchet). Walt Disney passed away from lung cancer on December 1 5th, 1966 in Los Angels, California at the age of 65 years old. The Disney Company, which changed its name again in the sass's, became one of the "world's largest entertainment conglomerates" (Crotchet). Disney's words, planned and unplanned, were translated into numerous languages and his image could be found on any magazine or swapper across the world (Finch 15).

Disney has said, "Maybe it's because I Just make what I like- good human stories where you can get with people and prove that the better things of life can be as interesting as the sordid things," which is Just the attitude and way of thinking that almost everyone loves about the man behind the magic (Davidson 74). Disney's Mackey Mouse and Donald Duck, the first two characters to be multilingual, were great successes overseas. Disney has become the "world's most celebrated entertainer and possibly its best-known non-political public guru" from the spread of his achievements.

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