The Art of Walt Disney - From Mickey Mouse to Magical Kingdoms

Walt Elias Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5, 1901. Early on, Walt showed an interest in drawing. He sold some of his first drawing in his neighborhood when he was seven. During high school he studied drawing, photography, and was a contributing student editor to the school paper. He attended night school at the Academy of Fine Arts.

After Walt Disney graduated from high school at age sixteen he wanted to join the army. He was rejected because he was too young. He promptly joined the Red Cross and served his tour of duty overseas driving Red Cross officials in the ambulances he was in charge of. It has been said that he illustrated the outside of his ambulance with colorful cartoons.

When Walt returned to Kansas City, he began his career as an advertising cartoonist. His first real job as a cartoon animator was in 1920, when he created and marketed his first original animated cartoons. He worked hard and invented a procedure that combined live-action and animation which really didn’t catch on right away.

A few years later Walt Disney decided he had better leave Kansas if he wanted to get anywhere in show biz. He headed for Hollywood with only his drawing materials, a completed animated film, and $40 dollars. Roy 0. Disney, Walt’s brother, was already living in California. He was excited about Walt’s talents and the two of them borrowed some money, bought a camera, set up a studio in their garage and began making films using Walt’s filming invention of combining live action and animation. They got their first order from a New York company. Eventually they began receiving more orders for their films and the business began expanding.

Walt and his brother moved into a bigger studio and hired employees. Walt had an employee named Lillian Bounds who he married on July 13, 1925. They had two daughters together: Diane and Sharon.

Walt came up with his Mickey Mouse cartoon character in 1928 in his first cartoon "Steamboat Willie,". It was the world's first fully-synchronized sound cartoon, which showed at the Colony Theater in New York on November 18, 1928.

Walt was a dreamer and an innovator. He continued perfecting and striving for perfect animation films. Another huge success was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the very first full length animated musical that Walt wrote, cartooned and filmed with the help of his colleagues premiered on December 21, 1933, at the Cathay Circle Theater in Los Angeles. The cost of the film was $1,499,000 which was an astronomical cost during the Depression. Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs is still a very popular film which has made many times back the original investment. The film is still thought of as one of the greatest achievements of the motion picture industry. During the next five years, Walt completed several other full-length animated classics as "Pinocchio," "Fantasia," "Dumbo," and "Bambi", all of these, still very popular films, bringing in millions of dollars each year.

Walt Disney began producing movies and cartoons made for television in 1954. He was a pioneer in programming family shows and was one of the first to produce a full-color line up in the very popular series, “The Wonderful World of Color.” He also produced, "The Mickey Mouse Club" and "Zorro" which were very popular in the 1950's.

Walt Disney was not only interested in animation, but in education through the film media. He filmed hundreds of award- winning educational documentaries about nature.