FUNNY KIDDY: THE WALT DISNEY STORY
In our Funny Kiddy blog today we tell you the story of Walt Disney. A director who knew how to take a whole generation into his pocket with his grace and art. We hope you like his story!
Who Was Walt Disney?
Walt Disney was an American animated film director and producer. He is one of the most crucial figures in the history of the Cartoon industry worldwide.
Walt Diseny was born in Chicago on December 5, 1901. He died on December 15, 1966 in Burbank, California.
CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
He was originally called Walter Elias Disney but by the vast majority he was Walt. He was the son of two Chicago farmers from Ireland. He was the fourth of five siblings.
Walt’s family had to leave the field in 1909 due to the health of his father. They even had to sell the farm because of the economic problems it was dragging on and they moved to Kansas City.
In the city Walt Disney combined his studies in elementary school with his job as a newspaper boy. Some time later he enrolled at the Kansas City Art Institute. There he learned the first drawing techniques.
In 1918, following the advice of one of his older brothers, Walt wanted to enlist in the army. He forged his birth certificate so he got accepted and sent to Europe. But he never made it to combat. The following year he returned to the United States, where he sought work as a cartoonist, which was his great passion.
EARLY YEARS IN ANIMATION
After his attempt to create an animation studio that ended in failure, in 1923 he moved to Hollywood. There he could not find work, so he decided to set up his own production company with his brother, his Roy. This was called the Disney Brothers Studio. That same year he got his first contract. The following year, Ubbe Iwerks, a former Walt Disney partner, joined the studio.
In July 1925, Walt Disney married Lillian Bounds. She was an employee of his studio. With her he had two daughters named Diane Marie and Sharon Mae.
The study was getting better and better. In 1926, they had no choice but to change offices because they were more and more workers. At that time the company name changed to Walt Disney Studio.
That success was in part because of the Oswald (Oswaldo) the Rabbit series. This was a character directly created by Disney. However, his main client took over his rights so the animation studio was forbidden to make any more short films with Oswaldo the rabbit.
This was a nasty low blow for the Walt Disney studio. Well, because of that reason, their creatives and cartoonists went to the competition. However, despite these problems, Disney began to imagine new characters.
MICKEY MOUSE
With this, the most famous mouse in the animation factory was born: Mickey Mouse. His first performance was on May 15, 1928 in the silent short called Plane Crazy with Minnie Mouse. Many say that Mickey Mouse was not created by Walt but everything was a great success greater than that of his predecessor Oswaldo.
Although he was ahead of his time, Walt Disney was confident that talkies would come forever. Thus was born the third Mickey Mouse short film, in addition to the first with his own voice: Willie on the steamboat (1928).
From this moment on, Disney took off with Mickey Mouse and he became the star character of the study. This detail has not changed 90 years later.
However, the success did not blind Walt Disney. For he knew that his luck could turn again at any moment and he continued creating one of his best works, Silly Symphonies, played for 10 years, from 1929 to 1939.
Within this series, he premiered his first full-color short in 1932, Flowers and Trees. It won the Oscar for best animated short. Also in that edition, Walt Disney received an Oscar in honor of Mickey Mouse.
Since 1935, short films featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse and the rest of his friends, Donald, Goofy and Pluto, have been made in color.
FIRST FEATURE FILMS
In the mid-1930s, Walt Disney hit the nail on the head again. He wanted to create his first full-color cartoon feature film. This desire was developed in the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs project in 1937.
The production of this film was difficult and highly expensive. In addition, the process took about two years and was much more expensive than they expected. Still, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a huge hit, grossing millions of dollars at the box office.
With this indisputable success and fame that had brought Walt Disney, in 1939 the company moved to new larger studios. Where they could house their 2000 employees. From there new feature films came out in 1940 such as Pinocchio and Fantasia
In 1941, he faced a general strike that most of his employees seconded. Well, they were looking for a salary increase. The strikes lasted a year when the conditions were accepted.
During the 1940s, during the world war, Disney studios produced propaganda material for the United States on behalf of the authorities. Walt Disney, was a convinced anti-communist as well as a collaborator with the FBI. Walt accepted this production without reservation.
CONSOLIDATION OF THE DISNEY EMPIRE
The 1950s saw the consolidation of Walt Disney’s dream empire. He had an interest-free loan of one million dollars. This provided him with an entrepreneur and Walt produced 18 new projects such as Cinderella (1950), Peter Pan (1950) or Alice in Wonderland (1951) are some of the feature films that took him to the top.
Contrary to the thinking of most producers and filmmakers, Walt Disney saw the birth of television as a new business model. He let himself be guided by his instincts, gave his films to the first network to be broadcast.
With the money he raised over the years, he carried out his most ambitious project: the creation of the Disneyland theme park. The park opened on July 17, 1955 in Anaheim, California.
LAST YEARS AND DEATH
By 1960, the Walt Disney studios were already more than consolidated. During these years, the production of films continued and the recognitions did not stop arriving. One of his riskiest bets was that of Mary Poppins in 1964. The first Disney movie with real actors.
Walt Disney worked until the last day of his life. His remains have been resting in California since December 15, 1966.
Today, The Walt Disney Company is one of the most successful companies in the world.
