What better way to start off the Disney Dynasty then with the beginning of the life of the man who created the magic, Walter Elias Disney. Everyone has heard of Walt Disney’s parks and animation, but exactly how did it all begin?
The imaginative innovator was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois into a family of four brothers and one sister. The family relocated to a farm in Missouri where Walt spent much of his childhood. He discovered early on that he had a passion for drawing and often practiced his talents by selling his drawings to friends and neighbors who would take the time to notice his great knack for creation. His home town surroundings, especially the train tracks nearby the family farm, were a source of inspiration and comfort throughout his childhood. Working his teenage summers aboard the trains selling passengers snacks, gave him the feeling of freedom that he would never forget.
Attending high school, Walt focused in on his talents of drawing and at night attended a drawing school to pursue his talents and further his education. Walt very much loved family togetherness and the natural gifts of nature. With little money growing up, his mother and brother Roy still continued to push Walt to continue following his inborn talent. Walt later was rejected from the military from which he then decided to work for the Red Cross stationed in France. Walt worked hard at his job, but still made time to cover the inside of the ambulance he drove, not with care supplies, but with cartoon drawings.
Once returning from France, Walt began producing short films for surrounding businesses with his education in art. Walt created the “The Alice Comedies” about a little girl with big adventures, but unexpectedly the company went bankrupt. Walt didn’t let this get him down. Soon after, he packed his bags and headed to Hollywood, California to set up a new business, all before the age of 22. Meeting up with his brother Roy, who lived in California, the two came together and borrowed money to start there very own business in a small garage. After selling “The Alice Comedies” they expanded to a real office. Soon after, Walt met his faithful employee Lillan and the two married in 1925. Three years after their marriage the beginning of the cartoon legend was created.
On a train ride back across country with his wife, Walt felt helpless and cheated. Walt went by train to discuss a new contract for his cartoon character Oswald the Rabbit, but the sponsors didn’t except his offer. As they owned the copyright to the character, Walt was suddenly left with nothing but a shattered dream. As he tried to keep his mind off of the terrible news, he decided to pass the time on the train by doing the one thing that always gave him faith, drawing.
Walt Disney had no idea that his one simple sketch of a little mouse in shorts and shoes would change his life forever. He had no idea that his bad day opened a whole new window to pursuing his dream. After his drawing was competed he decided that Mortimer Mouse seemed an appropriate title for this character, but when he turned to show his wife Lillan his new creation, she suggested that he looked like a Mickey and that it would be a more conventional name. And so Mickey Mouse was born. Little did he know, he was the beginning and long-lasting icon of his future empire.
Mickey Mouse History. Retrieved from http://www.vex.net/~dq711/mickey_mouse.htm
Brad Aldridge Productions, Berkeley, CA. (2002) Walt Disney, Biography. Retrieved from http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/biography/long_bio.html
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