American cartoonist who created Mickey Mouse in 1928 and later made the first feature-length cartoon ever filmed, “Fantasia,” 1940, a visual interpretation of orchestral music. He created and built the vast amusement park of Disneyland and founded Disney studios. Though the world cherished the myth of Disney as a kindly, happy storyteller, the truth is that he was “a tall, somber man who appeared to be under the lash of some private demon.” With no particular sense of humor, he was, in fact, withdrawn, suspicious and controlling.
He was born the fourth son of five kids into a poverty that was emotional as well as fiscal with a father who spared his kids affection but not the rod. In modern terms, Walt would be called an abused child. His dad, Elias, wandered the land seeking work, and his kids all fled from him as soon as they were able.
Walt went to work at ten, delivering newspapers, and left home at 16 to join the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in WW I. He had learned early to escape his dad by going to art classes and while in the service, kept drawing.
Mustered out of the service, he set up shop as a commercial artist in Kansas City, Missouri. He discovered animation, a new field and took to it. Reduced to living in his studio and eating cold beans out of a can, Disney endured hard times getting established. It was not until he moved to Los Angeles and partnered with his shrewd and kindly older brother Roy, who took care of the business end, that he began to modestly prosper. His mouse, Mickey, became a symbol of the unconquerable chipper American spirit in the depths of the Depression.
Disney was the first to add a music and effects track to a cartoon and that, along with his animation, wowed his audiences. Artistically the ’30s were his best years. He embraced Technicolor as readily as he had sound, and actually was, himself, a better gag man and story editor than an animator. He drove his team of young, enthusiastic artists to ever greater sophistication of technique and expression.
When Disney risked everything on his first feature, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the film was breathlessly embraced by the public. In his dark and brilliant “Pinocchio” and the hugely ambitious “Fantasia,” he stretched technique to the limits. Predictably, he became the first Hollywood mogul to embrace TV. He turned out live-action comedies and nature documentaries.
Disneyland was another risk-all venture and Disney threw himself obsessively into the park’s design, which embraced the best of urban planning, and into all the venues of imagination in creatures, places and fantasies.
Disney smoked three packs of Lucky Strikes a day for decades and liked to unwind with a glass or two of Cutty Sark Scotch. In times of stress, he washed his hands compulsively, as many as 30 times in an hour. Obsessed with trains, he built his one private one, an eighth scale train line on the grounds of his Holmby Hills estate. He collected many cuckoo clocks. He had a strong puritanical streak and broke off his friendship with Spencer Tracy when the actor began an affair with Katherine Hepburn. Many of his employees found him a difficult and demanding boss and resented his patronizing rules. He would fire anyone instantly who used profanity. Though deeply conservative politically, he took risks in business that were breathtaking. His original gamble on “Snow White” was called “Disney’s Folly” at the time, but was repaid with enormous success. It made $8 million in its initial 1937 release and is considered a landmark in the history of film. When he started Disneyland, he borrowed heavily to make his dream a reality.
The opening on 17 July 1955 was a disaster, plagued by mechanical breakdowns, power failures and gate-crashers. “It was a madhouse,” one observer noted, “People were counterfeiting invitations. We even found a guy who had a ladder up to the fence and was letting people in for five bucks a head.” Recovering quickly, Disneyland went on to become a huge success and popular destination for tourists from all over the world.
Disney died of circulatory collapse following lung surgery on 15 December 1966 in Burbank, California and was cremated. He left an institution whose $22 billion in annual sales make it the world’s largest media company. He had been awarded some 700 honorary degrees and awards, among them the French Legion of Honor, and his studio had received 29 Academy Awards. Mickey Mouse, for which he had supplied the original voice, had by then become perhaps the most recognizable and enduring character in the world.
For further study, the following dates are given for Disney releases:
1. Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs- 12/21/1937
2. Pinocchio- 2/02/1940
3. Fantasia- 11/13/1940
4. Dumbo- 10/23/1941
5. Bambi- 8/13/1942
6. Saludos Amigos- 2/06/1943
7. The Three Caballeros- 2/03/1945
8. Make Mine Music- 8/15/1946
9. Fun and Fancy Free- 9/27/1947
10. Melody Time- 7/27/1947
11. Adventures of Ichabod And Mr.Toad- 10/05/1949
12. Cinderella- 2/15/1950
13. Alice In Wonderland- 7/28/1951
14. Peter Pan- 2/05/1953
15. Lady and The Tramp- J6/22/1955
16. Sleeping Beauty- J1/29/1959
17. 101 Dalmatians- 1/25/1961
18. The Sword In The Stone- 12/25/1963
19. The Jungle Book- 10/18/1967
20. The Aristocats- 23/24/1970
21. Robin Hood- 11/08/1973
22. Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh- 3/11/1977
23. The Rescuers- 6/22/1977
24. The Fox and The Hound- 7/10/1981
25. The Black Cauldron- 7/24/1985
26. The Great Mouse Detective- 7/02/1986
27. Oliver and Company- 11/18/1988
28. The Little Mermaid- 11/17/1989
29. The Rescuers Down Under- 11/10/1990
30. Beauty and The Beast- 11/15/1991
31. Aladdin- 11/11/1992
32. The Lion King- 6/15/1994
33. Pocahontas- J6/23/1995
34. The Hunchback of Notre Dame- 7/21/1996
35. Hercules- 6/27/1997
36. Mulan- 6/19/1998
37. Tarzan- 6/18/1999
Link to Wikipedia biography