The Incredible Life of Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney was an international icon of the 20

th
century. He was born on
December 5,1901 in the city of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Walt had to
overcome many challenges to be the great man he is known as today. He started out
with his amateur cartoons in college, and it eventually led to his billion dollar company
and famous Disneyland theme parks. Many people in his life majorly helped and
influenced Walt. One of them was his older brother, Roy, who was his mentor and
business partner. Another influence of his was Ubbe Iwerks, who was Walts closest
colleague and fellow cartoonist in school. Several theme parks of his childhood also
inspired the idea of Disneyland later in life.
Walt Disney was a pioneer in character animation. He not only disapproved of the
average and basic cartoon, but managed to uplift them; bringing spirit, life, and
unexplainable magic to every single one of his works. Basically transforming animation
into an art form, Walt created heartwarming stories and characters that the audience
can connect to on an emotional level. It all started when Walt Disney teamed up with a
few other coworkers to build their very own animation studio. There, they produced
simple cartoons for show called Laugh-O-Grams which grew to be wildly popular.
Unfortunately, their studio profits were not enough to cover the high salaries paid to his
hardworking employees. Eventually, insufficient profit resulted in debt and bankruptcy.
Deciding to start out fresh, he relocated to Hollywood, California to kick off his new
studio, Alice Comedies. His main series, Alices Wonderland, (not to be confused with
Alice in Wonderland), was filled with live-action animated short films.
In 1927, Disney and his workers came up with a new character, Oswald the Lucky
Rabbit. Due to ownership and trademark complications, they lost the right to Oswald,
resulting in Universal Pictures owning him. To replace Oswald, Disney had invented
Mickey Mouse, who was based off of his adopted pet mouse in Kansas City. Ubbe
Iwerks, Disneys close friend and colleague, had altered some rough sketches and had
come up with a bigger and better Oswald. Before Mickey Mouse, Disneys former
works were black and white silent films. After featuring Mickey, then adding sound and
color, his productions were a big success. Shortly after, Disney and his crew included
several supporting characters to his popular series, which was called Silly Symphonies.
Disney won his first Academy Award for the series. As Mickey Mouses popularity
skyrocketed in the early 1930s, many competing studios had come to exist. Disneys
main rival, Max Fleischer, was the creator of the equally popular Betty Boop. Numerous
workers for Disney were won over by some of the competing studios, leaving Disney
practically by himself. To add a little spark, Herbert Kalmus, one of Disneys few
workers left, suggested for him to retouch some of his old, unpopular films. Disney
agreed, so he added color and sound to Flowers and Trees. Miraculously, he won an
Academy Award for it. (Academy Award- Best Short- Subject: Cartoons 1932) When
Walt Disney was first starting his career, he hired Lillian Bounds to ink and paint
celluloid. They fell in love, and got married that same year. Their first daughter was
named Diane Marie Disney, who was born on December 18, 1933. They then adopted
Sharon Mae Disney due to Lillians birth complications on December 31, 1936.
Together, the four of them lived a happy life. At the same time, Disney and his
increasing crew had been living in their Golden Age of Animation (1937-1941). Their
Golden Age included boundless creativity and imagination. The completed movies
during this time were Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and
Wind in the Willows. World War II abruptly ended their Golden Age because Disney and
his crew were greatly persuaded to produce educational military films. Most of them
proved to be financial disappointments. When the war finally ended, the studios
animations were no longer as popular as they once were. The public had a tendency to
pay more attention to Warner Bros and their new animation star, Bugs Bunny.
Disney had a vision which was to create a place where it was possible to be free of
reality and its struggles, and to instead enter a world of happiness and fantasy. Often,
Disney would draw sketches of his vision for a childrens amusement park, for which he
entitled Disneyland. His idea for the theme park came to him after a recent visit to
Childrens Fairyland located in Oakland, California. After lots of hard work, Disney had
developed and finalized his plans for Disneyland. He then created a company called
WED Enterprises to carry out the production, planning, and construction of the park.
The engineers and planners for the company were dubbed as Imagineers. At last, the
grand opening of Disneyland took place on July 17, 1955. There was a live TV preview
with thousands in the excited crowd. Walt Disney gave an opening speech, To all who
come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here, age relives fond
memories of the past and here, youth may savor the challenge and promise of the
future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have
created America with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the
world.
By the early 1960s, the Disney empire had become a major success and Walt
Disney Productions had established itself as the worlds leading producer of family
entertainment. During the late 1965s, Disney had announced his official plans for
Disneyworld, which was planned to ne a few miles southwest of Orlando. Disneyworld
was to become a larger, more elaborate version of Disneyland. It would also feature
numerous golf courses and resort hotels. The heart of Disneyworld was to be EPCOT
(The Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow).
Unfortunately, Walt Disney was a chain smoker for his entire adult life. In 1966,
Disney was scheduled to undergo neck surgery because of his many years of playing
polo in Hollywood. During pre-operative X-rays, doctors at Providence St. Joseph
Medical Center discovered a tumor in his left lung. Several days later, a biopsy showed
results that the tumor was already in a critical stage and has spread throughout the
entire left lung. On December 15, 1966, Walt Disney died of acute circulatory collapse
which was caused by lung cancer.
I chose Walt Disney as my hero because hes inspired me, along with the millions
worldwide. Hes an inspiration to others because he taught people that nothing is
impossible. With hard work and determination, you can accomplish anything. Like he
said, If you can dream it, you can do it. Walt also has many heroic traits including
determination, willpower, and confidence. He definitely stands apart from other heroes
because he has so many challenges to overcome, and yet he still strived to reach his
goal. Disney somehow managed to rise beyond the average levels of creativity and
imagination; and turned it into something truly incredible. He made simple stories and
characters come to life with a little touch of his Disney magic. Lastly, he made his vision
come true. Walter Elias Disney made it possible to leave behind reality and its troubles,
and to enter the truly magnificent world of happiness, fantasy, and imagination.