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{{Short description|American animator, producer and entrepreneur (1901–1966)}} | |||
{{Infobox Biography | |||
{{Other uses}} | |||
| subject_name=Walt Disney | |||
{{Pp-move}} | |||
| image_name=Waltdisney.jpg | |||
{{Featured article}} | |||
| image_caption=Walt Disney | |||
{{Pp-extended|small=yes}} | |||
| date_of_birth=], ] | |||
{{Use American English|date=May 2016}} | |||
| place_of_birth=], ], ] | |||
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}} | |||
| date_of_death=], ] | |||
{{Infobox person | |||
| place_of_death=], ], ] | |||
| name = Walt Disney | |||
| image = Walt Disney 1946.JPG | |||
| caption = Disney in 1946 | |||
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1901|12|05|mf=yes}} | |||
| birth_place = ], Illinois, <!--Per WP:OVERLINK "The names of subjects with which most readers will be at least somewhat familiar", including locations with Chicago as an example, do not typically need to be linked)--> U.S. | |||
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1966|12|15|1901|12|05|mf=yes}} | |||
| death_place = ], California, U.S. | |||
| title = President of ]<ref>{{cite news|date=September 11, 1945|title= Disney to Quit Post at Studio|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380710879/|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> | |||
| occupation = {{Flatlist| | |||
* Animator | |||
* film producer | |||
* voice actor | |||
* entrepreneur | |||
}} | |||
| spouse = {{marriage|]|1925}} | |||
| children = 2, including ] | |||
| relations = <!-- See --> ] | |||
| awards = {{Plainlist| | |||
* 26 ]{{efn|]}} | |||
* 3 ] | |||
* 1 ] | |||
}} | |||
| module = {{Listen | |||
| embed = yes | |||
| type = trailer | |||
| filename = Walt Disney Snow White Trailer.wav | |||
| title = Walt Disney's voice | |||
| description = Disney explaining each of the seven dwarfs from the trailer of ] (1937) | |||
}} | |||
| signature = Walt Disney 1942 signature.svg | |||
}} | }} | ||
{{dablink|For the company founded by Disney, see ]. For other uses, see ]}} | |||
'''Walter Elias Disney''' (], ] – ], ]), was an ] ], ], ], ], and ]. He was the son of parents ] and ], and had three brothers and one sister. As the co-founder (with his brother ]) of Walt Disney Productions, Walt became one of the most well-known ] producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as ], today has annual revenues of approximately US $30 billion. | |||
'''Walter Elias Disney''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɪ|z|n|i}} {{respell|DIZ|nee}};<ref name="OD: pronunciation" /> December 5, 1901{{snd}}December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur.<!-- Only the most notable occupations are listed here, see ]. --> A pioneer of the ], he introduced several developments in the production of ]s. As a film producer, he holds the record for most ] earned (22) and nominations (59) by an individual. He was presented with two ] Special Achievement Awards and an ], among other honors. Several of his films are included in the ] by the ] and have also been named as some of the ] by the ]. | |||
Walt Disney is particularly noted for being a successful storyteller, a hands-on film producer, and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in ] and ] design. His brother Roy helped him tremendously with his work. He also had two daughters, Diane and Sharon. He and his staff created a number of the world's most popular animated properties, including the one many consider Disney's ], ]. He is also well-known as the namesake of the ] and ] theme parks in the United States. | |||
Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and took a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio (now ]) with his brother ]. With ], he developed the character ] in 1928, his first highly popular success; he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, he became more adventurous, introducing ], full-color three-strip ], ] cartoons and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen in features such as '']'' (1937), '']'', '']'' (both 1940), '']'' (1941), and '']'' (1942), furthered the development of animated film. New animated and ]s followed after World War II, including the critically successful '']'' (1950), '']'' (1959) and '']'' (1964), the last of which received five Academy Awards. | |||
Walt Disney died of ] on ], ], a few years prior to the opening of his ] dream project in ]. | |||
In the 1950s, Disney expanded into the ] industry, and in July 1955 he opened ] in ]. To fund the project he diversified into television programs, such as '']'' and '']''. He was also involved in planning the ], the ], and the ]. In 1965, he began development of another theme park, ], the heart of which was to be a new type of city, the "]" (EPCOT). Disney was a heavy smoker throughout his life and died of lung cancer in 1966 before either the park or the EPCOT project were completed. | |||
==1906-1937: The beginnings== | |||
===Chicago=== | |||
Walt Disney's ancestors emigrated from ], ] in Ireland. Disney was born in ]. His father ] had moved to the United States after his parents failed at farming in Canada. As a child Elias moved with his family all around the United States, as his father chased various business ventures. He also worked as a mailman in Kissimmee (Orlando), Florida, future home of Walt Disney World. Elias moved to Chicago in the late 1800s soon after his marriage to Flora Call. | |||
Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in private but adopted a warm and outgoing public persona. He had high standards and high expectations of those with whom he worked. Although there have been accusations that he was ] or ], they have been contradicted by many who knew him. Historiography of Disney has taken a variety of perspectives, ranging from views of him as a purveyor of ] to being a representative of American ]. Widely considered to be one of the most influential cultural figures of the 20th century, Disney remains an important presence in the ] and in the ], where he is acknowledged as a national ]. His film work continues to be shown and adapted, the Disney theme parks have grown in size and number around the world and his company has grown to become one of the world's largest mass media and entertainment ]. | |||
===Marceline=== | |||
In 1906 the family moved to a farm near ], ]. Disney later said that these were the best years of his life. Since he and his younger sister, Ruth, were not of suitable age to help at the farm, they spent most of their days playing. They would swim in the pond, play with the farm animals, and lounge around under the trees. | |||
==Early life== | |||
While in Marceline, Disney developed his love of drawing. One of their neighbours, a retired doctor named "Doc" Sherwood, paid him to draw pictures of Sherwood's horse, Rupert. He also developed his love of trains in Marceline. He would put his ear to the tracks in anticipation of the coming train. He would also look for his uncle, engineer Mike Martin, running the train. | |||
] | |||
Disney was born on December 5, 1901, at 1249 Tripp Avenue, in Chicago's ] neighborhood.{{efn|In 1909, in a renumbering exercise, the property's address changed to 2156 North Tripp Avenue.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=8}}}} He was the fourth son of ]{{nsmdns}}born in the ], to Irish parents{{nsmdns}}and Flora ({{nee}} Call), an American of German and English descent.<ref name="ST: background" /><ref name="EB: Crowther" />{{efn|Disney was a descendant of Robert d'Isigny, a Frenchman who had traveled to England with ] in 1066.{{sfnm|1a1=Mosley|1y=1990|1p=22|2a1=Eliot|2y=1995|2p=2}} The family ] the d'Isigny name to "Disney" and settled in the English village now known as ] in the ].<ref name=Ancestors />}} Aside from Walt, Elias and Flora's sons were Herbert, Raymond and ]; and the couple had a fifth child, Ruth, in December 1903.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|pp=9–10}} In 1906, when Disney was four, the family moved to a farm in ], where his uncle Robert had just purchased land. In Marceline, Disney developed his interest in drawing when he was paid to draw the horse of a retired neighborhood doctor.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=9–10, 15}} Elias was a subscriber to the '']'' newspaper, and Disney practiced drawing by copying the front-page cartoons of ].{{sfn|Barrier|2007|p=13}} He also began to develop an ability to work with watercolors and crayons.<ref name="EB: Crowther" /> He lived near the ] line and became enamored with trains.{{sfn|Broggie|2006|pp=33–35}} He and his younger sister Ruth started school at the same time at the Park School in Marceline in late 1909.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|p=16}} The Disney family were active members of a ].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=41e-Ru0wRkEC&q=Congregational|isbn=9780679757474|title=Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination|year=2007|publisher=Vintage Books}}</ref> | |||
In 1911, the Disneys moved to ].{{sfn|Finch|1999|p=10}} There, Disney attended the ], where he met fellow-student Walter Pfeiffer, who came from a family of theatre fans and introduced him to the world of ] and motion pictures. Before long, Disney was spending more time at the Pfeiffers' house than at home.{{sfn|Krasniewicz|2010|p=13}} Elias had purchased a newspaper delivery route for '']'' and '']''. Disney and his brother Roy woke up at 4:30 every morning to deliver the ''Times'' before school and repeated the round for the evening ''Star'' after school. The schedule was exhausting, and Disney often received poor grades after falling asleep in class, but he continued his paper route for more than six years.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|pp=18–19}} He attended Saturday courses at the ] and also took a ] in cartooning.<ref name="EB: Crowther" /><ref name="KCL: WD" /> | |||
===Kansas City=== | |||
In 1909, Elias Disney suddenly came down with ] and was unable to work the farm, even with his older sons helping him. He reluctantly sold the farm and lived in a rented house until 1910, when they moved to ]. Young Disney was incredibly devastated to leave his rustic paradise. He and his brother Roy the morning every day. Disney later recalled that they would deliver the paper in the heat of summer and during the dead of winter. | |||
According to the Kansas City Public School District records, Disney began attending the Benton Grammar School in 1910, and graduated on June 8, 1911, being held back a year so that Ruth could go with him. In 1915 Disney enrolled in weekend classes at the ]. Because of his early-morning paper runs, he had trouble concentrating and fell asleep in class often. He was also prone to daydreaming and doodling during class. | |||
In 1917, Elias bought stock in a Chicago jelly producer, the O-Zell Company, and moved back to the city with his family.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=30}} Disney enrolled at ] and became the cartoonist of the school newspaper, drawing patriotic pictures about World War I;<ref name="D23: WD" />{{sfn|Finch|1999|p=12}} he also took night courses at the ].{{sfn|Mosley|1990|p=39}} In mid-1918, he attempted to join the ] to ], but he was rejected as too young. After ] on his birth certificate, he joined the ] in September 1918 as an ambulance driver. He was shipped to France but arrived in November, after ].{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=36–38}} He drew cartoons on the side of his ambulance for decoration and had some of his work published in the army newspaper '']''.<ref name="NYT: Obit" /> He returned to Kansas City in October 1919,{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=41}} where he worked as an apprentice artist at the Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio, where he drew commercial illustrations for advertising, theater programs and catalogs, and befriended fellow artist ].{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=55–56}} | |||
At 15, Disney took a summer job as a news butcher on the ] line. He sold soda pop, candy, and newspapers to passengers of the railroad. He was more fascinated with the train than selling his items. He would return and find that most of his items had been taken. His brother Roy loaned him the money to pay back his bosses and told him to quit, given his negative net earnings. | |||
== |
==Career== | ||
===Early career: 1920–1928=== | |||
In 1917 Disney began his freshman year at ] in ] and began taking night courses at the ]. Disney was the cartoonist for the school newspaper, '']''. His cartoons were very patriotic and political, focusing on ]. Disney dropped out of high school at 16 so he could join the ]. His brother Roy had previously joined the ]. The Army didn't take him, however, as he was too young to enlist. | |||
] | |||
In January 1920, as Pesmen-Rubin's revenue declined after Christmas, Disney, aged 18, and Iwerks were laid off. They started their own business, the short-lived Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists.{{sfnm|1a1=Thomas|1y=1994|1p=56|2a1=Barrier|2y=2007|2pp=24–25}} Failing to attract many customers, Disney and Iwerks agreed that Disney should leave temporarily to earn money at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, run by A. V. Cauger; the following month Iwerks, who was not able to run their business alone, also joined.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|p=25}} The company produced commercials using the ] technique.{{sfn|Mosley|1990|p=63}} Disney became interested in animation, although he preferred drawn cartoons such as '']'' and ]'s '']''. With the assistance of a borrowed book on animation and a camera, he began experimenting at home.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=57–58}}{{efn|The book, Edwin G. Lutz's ''Animated Cartoons: How They Are Made, Their Origin and Development'' (1920), was the only one in the local library on the subject; the camera he borrowed from Cauger.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=57–58}}}} He came to the conclusion that ] was more promising than the cutout method.{{efn|Cutout animation is the technique of producing cartoons by animating objects cut from paper, material or photographs and photographing them moving incrementally. Cel animation is the method of drawing or painting onto transparent celluloid sheets ("cels"), with each sheet an incremental movement on from the previous.{{sfn|Withrow|2009|p=48}}}} Unable to persuade Cauger to try ] animation at the company, Disney opened a new business with a co-worker from the Film Ad Co, ].{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=56}} Their main client was the local Newman Theater, and the short cartoons they produced were sold as "Newman's Laugh-O-Grams".{{sfn|Finch|1999|p=14}} Disney studied ] '']'' as a model, and the first six "Laugh-O-Grams" were modernized fairy tales.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|p=60}} | |||
In May 1921, the success of the "Laugh-O-Grams" led to the establishment of ], for which he hired more animators, including Fred Harman's brother ], ] and Iwerks.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=60–61, 64–66}} The Laugh-O-Grams cartoons did not provide enough income to keep the company solvent, so Disney started production of '']''{{nsmdns}}based on '']''{{nsmdns}}which combined live action with animation; he cast ] in ].{{sfn|Finch|1999|p=15}} The result, a 12½-minute, ] film, was completed too late to save Laugh-O-Gram Studio, which went into bankruptcy in 1923.{{sfnm|1a1=Gabler|1y=2006|1pp=71–73|2a1=Nichols|2y=2014|2p=102}} | |||
===World War I=== | |||
He and one of his schoolmates Russell Maas attempted to join ] Ambulance Corps which was looking for 17-year-olds. They attempted to join as the "St. John" brothers but were discovered when their passports were inspected. His father refused to permit his son to join but his mother agreed noting that their other children had left in the night. She signed the permission sheet but Disney's birth certificate showed he was still too young being in born in 1901. He forged it to 1900.<ref>"How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life" by Pat Williams Page 12 ISBN 0-7573-0231-9</ref> | |||
{{See also|Walt Disney Animation Studios}} | |||
During the war one of his cohorts was ]. Kroc later noted: | |||
Disney moved to Hollywood in July 1923 at 21 years old. Although New York was the center of the cartoon industry, he was attracted to Los Angeles because his brother Roy was convalescing from ] there,{{sfn|Barrier|1999|p=39}} and he hoped to become a live-action film director.{{sfn|Thomas|Johnston|1995|p=29}} Disney's efforts to sell ''Alice's Wonderland'' were in vain until he heard from New York film distributor ]. She was losing the rights to both the ''Out of the Inkwell'' and '']'' cartoons, and needed a new series. In October, they signed a contract for six ], with an option for two further series of six episodes each.{{sfn|Thomas|Johnston|1995|p=29}}{{sfn|Barrier|2007|p=40}} Disney and his brother Roy formed the Disney Brothers Studio{{nsmdns}}which later became ]{{nsmdns}}to produce the films;{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=78}}<ref name="WDC: About" /> they persuaded Davis and her family to relocate to ] to continue production, with Davis on contract at $100 a month. In July 1924, Disney also hired Iwerks, persuading him to relocate to Hollywood from Kansas City.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=73–75}} In 1926,<ref>{{cite web |title=Disney Studios on Hyperion |url=https://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/86048 |website=Photo Collection |publisher=] |access-date=May 29, 2022}}</ref> the first official Walt Disney Studio was established at 2725 Hyperion Avenue; the building was demolished in 1940.<ref>{{cite web |title=Demolition of Disney Hyperion Studios |url=https://tessa.lapl.org/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/36331 |website=Photo Collection |publisher=] |access-date=May 29, 2022}}</ref> | |||
By 1926, Winkler's role in the distribution of the ''Alice'' series had been handed over to her husband, the film producer ], although the relationship between him and Disney was sometimes strained.<ref name="WDFM: Alice Skids" /> The series ran until July 1927,<ref name="WDFM: Final Alice" /> by which time Disney had begun to tire of it and wanted to move away from the mixed format to all animation.<ref name="WDFM: Alice Skids" /><ref name="BBC: Oswald" /> After Mintz requested new material to distribute through ], Disney and Iwerks created ], a character Disney wanted to be "peppy, alert, saucy and venturesome, keeping him also neat and trim".<ref name="BBC: Oswald" />{{sfn|Thomas|1994|p=83}} | |||
: Whenever we had time off and went on the town to chase girls, he stayed in the camp drawing pictures..<ref>"How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life" by Pat Williams Page 13 ISBN 0-7573-0231-9</ref> | |||
In February 1928, Disney hoped to negotiate a larger fee for producing the ''Oswald'' series, but found Mintz wanting to reduce the payments. Mintz had also persuaded many of the artists involved to work directly for him, including Harman, Ising, ] and ]. Disney also found out that Universal owned the ] to Oswald. Mintz threatened to start his own studio and produce the series himself if Disney refused to accept the reductions. Disney declined Mintz's ultimatum and lost most of his animation staff, except Iwerks, who chose to remain with him.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=109}}<ref name="WDFM: Secret Talks" />{{efn|In 2006, ] finally re-acquired Oswald the Lucky Rabbit when its subsidiary ] purchased rights to the character, along with other properties from ].<ref name="EPSN: Oswald" />}} | |||
Disney never saw combat. By the time he finished training and headed for ], ] had signed an armistice and the war was over. He spent the rest of his term in ] as an ambulance driver, shuttling around important officers. He chose to pass the time by drawing all over his ambulance. It was also in France that he began smoking, a habit he would keep all his life. | |||
===Creation of Mickey Mouse and following successes: 1928–1934=== | |||
By 1919, Disney had had enough of France and became "very lonely". He put in a request to be ] and was sent back to the U.S. With that experience under his belt, he knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. | |||
To replace Oswald, Disney and Iwerks developed ], possibly inspired by a pet mouse that Disney had adopted while working in his Laugh-O-Gram studio, although the origins of the character are unclear.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|p=88}}{{efn|Several stories about the origins exist. Disney's biographer, ], observes that "The birth of Mickey Mouse is obscured in legend, much of it created by Walt Disney himself."{{sfn|Thomas|1994|p=88}}}} Disney's original choice of name was Mortimer Mouse, but his wife ] thought it too pompous, and suggested Mickey instead.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=112}}{{efn|The name Mortimer Mouse was used in the 1936 cartoon '']'' as a potential love-interest for ]. He was portrayed as a "humorous denigration of the smooth city slicker" with a smart car, but failed to win over Minnie from the more homespun Mickey.{{sfn|Watts|2013|p=73}}}} Iwerks revised Disney's provisional sketches to make the character easier to animate. Disney, who had begun to distance himself from the animation process,{{sfn|Thomas|Johnston|1995|p=39}} provided Mickey's voice until 1947. In the words of one Disney employee, "Ub designed Mickey's physical appearance, but Walt gave him his soul."<ref name="WDFM: MM" /> | |||
], in '']'' (1928)]] | |||
===Kansas City=== | |||
Mickey Mouse first appeared in May 1928 as a single test screening of the short '']'', but it, and the second feature, '']'', failed to find a distributor.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=116}} Following the 1927 sensation '']'', Disney used synchronized sound on the third short, '']'', to create the first post-produced ]. After the animation was complete, Disney signed a contract with the former executive of Universal Pictures, ], to use the "Powers Cinephone" recording system;{{sfn|Langer|2000}} Cinephone became the new distributor for Disney's early sound cartoons, which soon became popular.{{sfnm|1a1=Finch|1y=1999|1pp=23–24|2a1=Gabler|2y=2006|2p=129}} | |||
====Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists==== | |||
]), 1931]] | |||
When Disney returned to America, he told his father he wanted to be an artist. When his father refused to support him, he went out on his own. | |||
To improve the quality of the music, Disney hired the professional composer and arranger ], on whose suggestion the '']'' series was developed, providing stories through the use of music; the first in the series, '']'' (1929), was drawn and animated entirely by Iwerks. Also hired at this time were several artists, both local and from New York.{{sfnm|1a1=Finch|1y=1999|1pp=26–27|2a1=Thomas|2pp=109|2y=1994|3a1=Langer|3y=2000}} Both the Mickey Mouse and ''Silly Symphonies'' series were successful, but Disney and his brother felt they were not receiving their rightful share of profits from Powers. In 1930, Disney tried to trim costs from the process by urging Iwerks to abandon the practice of drawing every frame individually in favor of the more efficient technique of drawing key poses and letting assistants ]. Disney asked Powers for an increase in payments for the cartoons. Powers refused and signed Iwerks to work for him; Stalling resigned shortly afterwards, thinking that without Iwerks, the Disney Studio would close.{{sfnm|1a1=Finch|1y=1999|1pp=26–27|2a1=Gabler|2y=2006|2pp=142–44}} Disney had a nervous breakdown in October 1931{{nsmdns}}which he blamed on the machinations of Powers and his own overwork{{nsmdns}}so he and Lillian took an extended holiday to Cuba and a cruise to Panama to recover.{{sfn|Krasniewicz|2010|pp=59–60}} | |||
] on his right arm in 1935]] | |||
With the loss of Powers as distributor, Disney studios signed a contract with ] to distribute the Mickey Mouse cartoons, which became increasingly popular, including internationally.<ref name="Time: Rodent" />{{sfnm|1a1=Finch|1y=1999|1pp=26–27|2a1=Gabler|2y=2006|2p=142}}{{efn|By 1931 he was called Michael Maus in Germany, Michel Souris in France, Ratón Mickey in Spain and Miki Kuchi in Japan.<ref name="Time: Rodent" />}} Disney and his crew also introduced new cartoon stars like ] in 1930, ] in 1932 and ] in 1934.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|p=129}} Always keen to embrace new technology and encouraged by his new contract with ], Disney filmed '']'' (1932) in full-color three-strip ];{{sfnm|1a1=Gabler|1y=2006|1p=178|2a1=Thomas|2y=1994|2p=169}} he was also able to negotiate a deal giving him the sole right to use the three-strip process until August 31, 1935.{{sfnm|1a1=Barrier|1y=1999|1p=167|2a1=Gabler|2y=2006|2p=179}} All subsequent ''Silly Symphony'' cartoons were in color.{{sfn|Finch|1999|p=28}} ''Flowers and Trees'' was popular with audiences{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=178}} and won the inaugural ] for best ] at the ]. Disney had been nominated for another film in that category, '']'', and received an ] "for the creation of Mickey Mouse".{{sfn|Barrier|2007|pp=89–90}}<ref name="AA: 1932" /> | |||
In 1933, Disney produced '']'', a film described by the media historian Adrian Danks as "the most successful short animation of all time".<ref name="SoC: 3 Pigs" /> The film won Disney another Academy Award in the Short Subject (Cartoon) category. The film's success led to a further increase in the studio's staff, which numbered nearly 200 by the end of the year.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=184–86}} Disney realized the importance of telling emotionally gripping stories that would interest the audience,{{sfn|Lee|Madej|2012|pp=55–56}} and he invested in a "story department" separate from the animators, with ]s who would detail the plots of Disney's films.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=186}} | |||
He moved into ] to begin his artistic career. His brother Roy worked at a bank in the area and got a job for him through a friend at the Pesemen-Rubin Art Studio. At Pesmen-Rubin, Disney made ads for newspapers, magazines, and movie theatres. It was also there that he met a shy cartoonist named ]. The two respected each other's work so much, they became fast friends and decided to start their own art business. | |||
===Golden age of animation: 1934–1941=== | |||
Disney and Iwwerks (who now shortened his name to Ub Iwerks) formed a company called "Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists" in January 1920](It was originally called Disney-Iwerks, but the two thought they would be confused with a shop that made eyeglasses). Unfortunately, few clients were willing to hire the inexperienced duo. Iwerks left temporarily to earn money at Kansas City Film Ad. Disney followed suit after the business venture went nowhere and collapsed. | |||
]'' theatrical trailer]] | |||
====Kansas City Film Ad==== | |||
By 1934, Disney had become dissatisfied with producing cartoon shorts,{{sfn|Thomas|1994|p=129}} and believed a feature-length cartoon would be more profitable.{{sfn|Thomas|Johnston|1995|p=90}} The studio began the four-year production of '']'', based on ]. When news leaked out about the project, many in the film industry predicted it would bankrupt the company; industry insiders nicknamed it "Disney's Folly".{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=270}} The film, which was the first animated feature made in full color and sound, cost $1.5 million to produce{{nsmdns}}three times over budget.{{sfnm|1a1=Barrier|1y=1999|1p=130|2a1=Finch|2y=1999|2p=59}} To ensure the animation was as realistic as possible, Disney sent his animators on courses at the ];<ref name="Disney Myth" /> he brought animals into the studio and hired actors so that the animators could study realistic movement.<ref name="Disney Experience" /> To portray the changing perspective of the background as a camera moved through a scene, Disney's animators developed a ] which allowed drawings on pieces of glass to be set at various distances from the camera, creating an illusion of depth. The glass could be moved to create the impression of a camera passing through the scene. The first work created on the camera{{nsmdns}}a ''Silly Symphony'' called '']'' (1937){{nsmdns}}won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film because of its impressive visual power. Although ''Snow White'' had been largely finished by the time the multiplane camera had been completed, Disney ordered some scenes be re-drawn to use the new effects.{{sfn|Williams|Denney|Denney|2004|p=116}} | |||
At Kansas City Film Ad, Disney and Iwerks worked on primitive animated ]s for local ]. Disney was fascinated by the possibilities inherent in ]. He spent many days at the ] reading over books on anatomy and mechanics. He also read a book by ] about animation. He used his time at Film Ad wisely, experimenting with animation and film techniques. He even borrowed one of the film cameras and experimented at home. | |||
''Snow White'' premiered in December 1937 to high praise from critics and audiences. The film became the most successful motion picture of 1938 and by May 1939 its total gross of $6.5 million made it the most successful sound film made to that date.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=270}}{{efn|$1.5 million in 1937 equates to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|1500000|1937}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}; $6.5 million in 1939 equates to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|6500000|1939}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}, according to calculations based on the US ] measure of inflation.{{inflation-fn|US}}}} Disney won another Honorary Academy Award, which consisted of one full-sized and seven miniature Oscar statuettes.<ref name="AA: 1939" />{{efn|The citation for the award reads: "To Walt Disney for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon."<ref name="AA: 1939" />}} The success of ''Snow White'' heralded one of the most productive eras for the studio; ] calls the following years "the 'Golden Age of Animation{{' "}}.<ref name="WDFM: Golden Age" />{{sfn|Krasniewicz|2010|p=87}} With work on ''Snow White'' finished, the studio began producing '']'' in early 1938 and '']'' in November of the same year. Both films were released in 1940, and neither performed well at the box office{{nsmdns}}partly because revenues from Europe had dropped following the start of ] in 1939. The studio incurred a loss on both pictures and was deeply in debt by the end of February 1941.{{sfnm|1a1=Thomas|1y=1994|1pp=161–62|2a1=Barrier|2y=2007|2pp=152, 162–63}} | |||
After two years' experience at Film Ad, Disney felt he had enough experience to start another business venture. | |||
====Laugh-O-Gram Films==== | |||
''Main article: ]'' | |||
In response to the financial crisis, Disney and his brother Roy started the company's ] in 1940, and implemented heavy salary cuts. The latter measure, and Disney's sometimes high-handed and insensitive manner of dealing with staff, led to ] which lasted five weeks.{{sfnm|1a1=Ceplair|1a2=Englund|1y=1983|1p=158|2a1=Thomas|2y=1994|2pp=163–65|3a1=Barrier|3y=1999|3pp=171–73}} While a federal mediator from the ] negotiated with the two sides, Disney accepted an offer from the ] to make a goodwill trip to South America, ensuring he was absent during a resolution he knew would be unfavorable to the studio.{{sfnm|1a1=Thomas|1y=1994|1pp=170–71|2a1=Gabler|2y=2006|2pp=370–71}}{{efn|The trip inspired two combined live-action and animation works '']'' (1942) and '']'' (1945).{{sfn|Finch|1999|p=76}}{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=394–95}}}} Due to the strike{{nsmdns}}and the financial state of the company{{nsmdns}}several animators left the studio, and Disney's relationship with other members of staff was permanently strained as a result.{{sfnm|1a1=Langer|1y=2000|2a1=Gabler|2y=2006|2p=378}} The strike temporarily interrupted the studio's next production, '']'' (1941), which Disney produced in a simple and inexpensive manner; the film received a positive reaction from audiences and critics alike.{{sfnm|1a1=Finch|1y=1999|1p=71|2a1=Gabler|2y=2006|2pp=380–81}} | |||
In 1922, he started Laugh-O-Gram Films, Inc., which produced short cartoons based on popular ]s and children's stories with a contemporary spin (see ]). Among his employees were Iwerks, ], ], ], and ]. The shorts were popular in the local Kansas City area, but their costs exceeded their returns. | |||
===World War II and beyond: 1941–1950=== | |||
After creating one last short, the live-action/animation '']'', the studio declared bankruptcy in July 1923. Disney then decided that he needed to go to the blossoming center of the entertainment industry: ], ]. Disney sold his movie ], earning enough money for a one-way train ticket to ]. He left his friends and former staff behind, but took the unfinished reel of ''Alice's Wonderland'' with him. | |||
] | |||
Shortly after the release of ''Dumbo'' in October 1941, the U.S. entered World War II. Disney formed the Walt Disney Training Films Unit within the company to produce instruction films for the military such as ''Four Methods of Flush Riveting'' and ''Aircraft Production Methods''.{{sfnm|1a1=Thomas|1y=1994|1pp=184–85|2a1=Gabler|2y=2006|2pp=382–83}} Disney also met with ], the ], and agreed to produce short Donald Duck cartoons to promote ].{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=384–85}} Disney also produced several ], including shorts such as '']''{{nsmdns}}which won an Academy Award{{nsmdns}}and the 1943 feature film '']''.{{sfn|Finch|1999|p=77}} | |||
The military films generated only enough revenue to cover costs, and the feature film '']''{{nsmdns}}which had been in production since 1937{{nsmdns}}underperformed on its release in August 1942, and lost $200,000 at the box office.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=399}} On top of the low earnings from ''Pinocchio'' and ''Fantasia'', the company had debts of $4 million with the ] in 1944.<ref name="WDFM: Fiscal Crisis" />{{efn|$4 million in 1944 equates to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|4000000|1944}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}, according to calculations based on the ] measure of inflation.{{inflation-fn|US}}}} At a meeting with Bank of America executives to discuss the future of the company, the bank's chairman and founder, ], told his executives, "I've been watching the Disneys' pictures quite closely because I knew we were lending them money far above the financial risk. ... They're good this year, they're good next year, and they're good the year after. ... You have to relax and give them time to market their product."{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=186–87}} Disney's production of short films decreased in the late 1940s, coinciding with increasing competition in the animation market from ] and ]. Roy Disney, for financial reasons, suggested more combined animation and live-action productions.{{sfn|Langer|2000}}{{efn|These included '']'' (1946), '']'' (1946), '']'' (1948) and '']'' (1949).{{sfn|Langer|2000}}}} In 1948, Disney initiated a series of popular live-action nature films, titled '']'', with '']'' the first; the film won the Academy Award in the ] category.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=445–46}} | |||
===Hollywood=== | |||
When Disney arrived in ], he had $40 in his pocket and an unfinished cartoon in his suitcase. Interestingly, he first wanted to break away from animation, thinking he could not compete with the studios in ]. Disney said that his first ambition was to be a film director. He went to every studio in town looking for directing work; they all promptly turned him down. | |||
===Theme parks, television and other interests: 1950–1966=== | |||
Because of the lack of success in live-action film, Disney turned back to animation. His first Hollywood cartoon studio was a garage in his uncle Robert's house. Disney sent an unfinished print to New York distributor ], who promptly wrote back to him. She wanted a distribution deal with Disney for more live-action/animated shorts based upon ''Alice's Wonderland''. | |||
In early 1950, Disney produced '']'', his studio's first animated feature in eight years. It was popular with critics and theater audiences. Costing $2.2 million to produce, it earned nearly $8 million in its first year.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|p=220}}{{efn|$2.2 million in 1950 equates to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|2200000|1950}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}; $8 million in 1950 equates to ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|8000000|1950}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}, according to calculations based on the ] measure of inflation.{{inflation-fn|US}}}} Disney was less involved than he had been with previous pictures because of his involvement in his first entirely live-action feature, '']'' (1950), which was shot in Britain, as was '']'' (1952).{{sfnm|1a1=Finch|1y=1999|1pp=126–27|2a1=Barrier|2y=2007|2pp=221–23}} Other all-live-action features followed, many of which had patriotic themes.{{sfn|Langer|2000}}{{efn|The patriotic films include '']'' (1957), '']'' (1957), '']'' (1958), '']'' (1960), '']'' (1960).{{sfn|Langer|2000}}}} He continued to produce full-length animated features too, including '']'' (1951) and '']'' (1953). From the early to mid-1950s, Disney began to devote less attention to the animation department, entrusting most of its operations to his key animators, the ],{{efn|The ] consisted of ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ].{{sfn|Langer|2000}}}} although he was always present at story meetings. Instead, he started concentrating on other ventures.{{sfn|Canemaker|2001|p=110}} Around the same time, Disney established his own film distribution division ], replacing his most recent distributor ].{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=336–337}} | |||
] to officials from ] in December 1954]] | |||
Disney looked up his brother Roy, who was recovering from ] in a ] veteran's hospital. Disney pleaded with his brother to help him with his fledgling studio, saying that he could not keep his finances straight without him. Roy agreed and left the hospital with his brother. He never went back and never had a recurrence of tuberculosis. ] (the live-action star of ''Alice’s Wonderland'') and her family were relocated at Disney's request from Kansas City to ], as were Iwerks and his family. This was the beginning of the ]. | |||
For several years Disney had been considering building a theme park. When he visited ] in Los Angeles with his daughters, he wanted to be in a clean, unspoiled park, where both children and their parents could have fun.<ref name="WDFM: Dreaming" /> He visited the ] in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was heavily influenced by the cleanliness and layout of the park.<ref name="Disney Myth 2" /> In March 1952, he received zoning permission to build a theme park in Burbank, near the Disney studios.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|pp=233–34}} This site proved too small, and a larger plot in ], {{convert|35|mi|km}} south of the studio, was purchased. To distance the project from the studio{{nsmdns}}which might attract the criticism of shareholders{{nsmdns}}Disney formed WED Enterprises (now ]) and used his own money to fund a group of designers and animators to work on the plans;<ref name="WDFM: WED" /><ref name="WDFM: Genesis" /> those involved became known as "Imagineers".{{sfn|Finch|1999|p=139}} After obtaining bank funding he invited other stockholders, ]{{nsmdns}}part of ] (ABC){{nsmdns}}and ].{{sfn|Langer|2000}} In mid-1954, Disney sent his Imagineers to every amusement park in the U.S. to analyze what worked and what pitfalls or problems there were in the various locations and incorporated their findings into his design.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|p=246}} Construction work started in July 1954, and ] opened in July 1955; the opening ceremony was broadcast on ABC, which reached 70 million viewers.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=524, 530–32}} The park was designed as a series of themed lands, linked by the central ]{{nsmdns}}a replica of the main street in his hometown of Marceline. The connected themed areas were ], ], ] and ]. The park also contained the ] ] that linked the lands; around the outside of the park was a high ] to separate the park from the outside world.{{sfn|Eliot|1995|pp=225–26}}{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=498}} An editorial in '']'' considered that Disney had "tastefully combined some of the pleasant things of yesterday with fantasy and dreams of tomorrow".<ref name="NYT: Topics" /> Although there were early minor problems with the park, it was a success, and after a month's operation, Disneyland was receiving over 20,000 visitors a day; by the end of its first year, it attracted 3.6 million guests.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=537}} | |||
]]] | |||
The money from ABC was contingent on Disney television programs.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=508–09}} The studio had been involved in a successful television special on Christmas Day 1950 about the making of ''Alice in Wonderland''. Roy believed the program added millions to the box office takings. In a March 1951 letter to shareholders, he wrote that "television can be a most powerful selling aid for us, as well as a source of revenue. It will probably be on this premise that we enter television when we do".{{sfn|Langer|2000}} In 1954, after the Disneyland funding had been agreed, ABC broadcast '']'', an anthology consisting of animated cartoons, live-action features and other material from the studio's library. The show was successful in terms of ratings and profits, earning an audience share of over 50%.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=511}}{{efn|Even repeats of the program proved more popular than all other television shows—aside from ]'s '']''; no ABC program had ever been in the top 25 before ''Disneyland''.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=511}}}} In April 1955, '']'' called the series an "American institution".<ref name="NW: Wonderful" /> ABC was pleased with the ratings, leading to Disney's first daily television program, '']'', a variety show catering specifically to children.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=520–21}} The program was accompanied by merchandising through various companies (Western Printing, for example, had been producing coloring books and comics for over 20 years, and produced several items connected to the show).{{sfn|Barrier|2007|p=245}} One of the segments of ''Disneyland'' consisted of the five-part ] '']'' which, according to Disney biographer ], "became an overnight sensation".{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=514}} The show's theme song, "]", became internationally popular and ten million records were sold.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|p=257}} As a result, Disney formed his own record production and distribution entity, ].{{sfn|Hollis|Ehrbar|2006|pp=5–12, 20}} | |||
As well as the construction of Disneyland, Disney worked on other projects away from the studio. He was consultant to the 1959 ] in Moscow; Disney Studios' contribution was '']'', a 19-minute film in the 360-degree ] that was one of the most popular attractions.{{sfn|Langer|2000}} The following year he acted as the chairman of the Pageantry Committee for the ] in ], where he designed the ].{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=566}} He was one of twelve investors in the ], which opened in 1960 in ]; he and Roy bought out the others in 1962, making the Disney company the sole owner.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/celebrity-sports-center |title=Celebrity Sports Center: Bowling, video games, and your very first water slide|publisher=Denver Public Library|date=January 25, 2020}}</ref> | |||
In 1925, Disney hired a young woman named ] to ink and paint celluloid. He was immediately taken with her. She began to pull double duty as secretary a few months later. Disney then began to take her out on dates, their first being the ] show, '']''. He would also take her out on drives in the hills of ]. On one drive, he asked her if he should buy a new car or a ring for her finger. They were married on July 15, 1925. She later jokingly commented that he was disappointed that she did not tell him to buy the car. They honeymooned at ]. | |||
] | |||
====Alice Comedies==== | |||
Despite the demands wrought by non-studio projects, Disney continued to work on film and television projects. In 1955, he was involved in "]", an episode of the ''Disneyland'' series, which was made in collaboration with ] rocket designer ].{{efn|The program, which was produced by ], was nominated for an Academy Award for the ] at the ].<ref name="AA:1957" />}} Disney also oversaw aspects of the full-length features '']'' (the first animated film in ]) in 1955, '']'' (the first animated film in ] ]) in 1959, '']'' (the first animated feature film to use ]) in 1961, and '']'' in 1963.{{sfn|Finch|1999|pp=82–85}} | |||
The new series, "]," was reasonably successful, and featured both ] and ] as Alice after Virginia Davis’ parents pulled her out of the series because of a pay cut. Lois Hardwick also briefly assumed the role. By the time the series ended in 1927, the focus was more on the animated characters, in particular a cat named Julius who recalled ], rather than the live-action Alice. | |||
In 1964, Disney produced '']'', based on ] by ]; he had been trying to acquire the rights to the story since the 1940s.{{sfn|Finch|1999|p=130}} It became the most successful Disney film of the 1960s, although Travers disliked the film intensely and regretted having sold the rights.<ref name="DT: Travers dislike" /> The same year he also became involved in plans to expand the ] (colloquially called CalArts), and had an architect draw up blueprints for a new building.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|p=298}} | |||
====Oswald the Lucky Rabbit==== | |||
By 1927, ] had married Margaret Winkler and assumed control of her business, and ordered a new all-animated series to be put into production for distribution through ]. The new series, "]", was an almost instant success, and the Oswald character, first drawn and created by Iwerks, became a popular property. The Disney studio expanded, and Walt hired back Harman, Ising, Maxwell, and Freleng from Kansas City. | |||
Disney provided four exhibits for the ], for which he obtained funding from selected corporate sponsors. For ], who planned a tribute to ], Disney developed ], a boat ride with audio-animatronic dolls depicting children of the world; ] contained an animatronic ] giving excerpts from his speeches; ] promoted the importance of electricity; and Ford's Magic Skyway portrayed the progress of mankind. Elements of all four exhibits{{nsmdns}}principally concepts and technology{{nsmdns}}were re-installed in Disneyland, although It's a Small World is the ride that most closely resembles the original.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|p=293}}<ref name="WDFM: Fair" /> | |||
In February of 1928, Disney went to ] to negotiate a higher fee per short from Mintz. Disney was shocked when Mintz announced that not only did he want to reduce the fee he paid Disney per short, but that he had most of his main animators, including Harman, Ising, Maxwell, and Freleng (notably excepting Iwerks) under contract and would start his own studio if Disney did not accept the reduced production budgets. Universal, not Disney, owned the Oswald trademark, and could make the films without Disney. | |||
] (right) and then Governor of Florida ] (center) on November 15, 1965, publicly announcing the creation of Disney World]] | |||
During the early to mid-1960s, Disney developed plans for a ] in ], a glacial valley in California's ]. He hired experts such as the Olympic ski coach and ski-area designer ].{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=621–23}}<ref name="Ski: Schaeffler" />{{efn|Disney's death in 1966, and opposition from conservationists, stopped the building of the resort.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=631}}}} With income from Disneyland accounting for an increasing proportion of the studio's income, Disney continued to look for venues for other attractions. In 1963, he presented a project to create a theme park in downtown ], Missouri; he initially reached an agreement with the Civic Center Redevelopment Corp, which controlled the land, but the deal later collapsed over funding.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.stltoday.com/business/columns/david-nicklaus/no-disney-didn-t-spurn-st-louis-over-beer/article_8c800b33-b9da-51df-9049-70d448cd084b.html|title=No, Disney didn't spurn St. Louis over beer|first=David|last=Nicklaus|date=May 8, 2013|work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch|access-date=October 5, 2022|archive-date=December 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216041938/https://www.stltoday.com/business/columns/david-nicklaus/no-disney-didn-t-spurn-st-louis-over-beer/article_8c800b33-b9da-51df-9049-70d448cd084b.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/the-daily-disney/os-walt-disney-world-almost-in-st-louis-20151207-story.html|title=Walt Disney World was almost in St. Louis|first=Jim|last=Salter|work=Orlando Sentinel|date=December 7, 2015|access-date=October 5, 2022|archive-date=December 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222155639/https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/the-daily-disney/os-walt-disney-world-almost-in-st-louis-20151207-story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In late 1965, he announced plans to develop another theme park to be called "Disney World" (now ]), a few miles southwest of ]. Disney World was to include the "Magic Kingdom"{{nsmdns}}a larger and more elaborate version of Disneyland{{nsmdns}}plus golf courses and resort hotels. The heart of Disney World was to be the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (]),{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=606–08}} which he described as: | |||
<blockquote>an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise.{{sfn|Beard|1982|p=11}}</blockquote> | |||
Disney declined Mintz's offer and lost most of his animation staff. The defectors became the nucleus of the ], run by Mintz and his brother-in-law ]. When that studio went under after Universal assigned production of the Oswald shorts to an in-house division run by ], Mintz focused his attentions on the studio making the "]" shorts, which later became ], and Harman, Ising, Maxwell, and Freleng marketed an Oswald-like character named ] to ] and ], and began work on the first entries in the '']'' series. | |||
During 1966, Disney cultivated businesses willing to sponsor EPCOT.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|p=307}} He received a story credit in the 1966 film '']'' as {{anchor|Retlaw Yensid}}Retlaw Yensid, his name spelt backwards.{{sfn|Broggie|2006|pp=28}} He increased his involvement in the studio's films, and was heavily involved in the story development of '']'', the live-action musical feature '']'' (both 1967) and the animated short '']'' (1968).{{sfnm|1a1=Thomas|1y=1994|1p=343|2a1=Barrier|2y=2007|2p=276}} | |||
It took Disney's company 78 years to get back the rights to the Oswald character. In a move that sent sports broadcaster ] to ] Sports for their Sunday night ] coverage, the ] reacquired the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from ] in 2006. | |||
==Illness, death and aftermath== | |||
====Mickey Mouse==== | |||
] | |||
''Main article: ]'' | |||
Disney had been a ] since World War I. He did not use cigarettes with ] and had smoked a pipe as a young man. In early November 1966, he was diagnosed with ] and was treated with ]. On November 30, he felt unwell and was taken by ambulance from his home to ] where, on December 15, at age 65, he died of ] caused by the cancer.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=626–31}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/archives/la-me-walt-disney-19661216-story.html|title=Wizard of Fantasy Walt Disney Dies|lang=en-US|first=Harry|last=Trimborn|website=]|date=1966-12-16|access-date=2024-11-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The death of Walt Disney — folk hero|first=Alistair|last=Cooke|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/dec/16/from-the-archive-walt-disney-dies-1966|website=]|date=2011-12-16|access-date=2024-11-03|lang=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/12/16/archives/walt-disney-65-dies-on-coast-founded-an-empire-on-a-mouse-walt.html|title=Walt Disney, 65, Dies on Coast|lang=en|website=]|date=16 December 1966}}</ref> His remains were cremated two days later and his ashes interred at the ] in ].{{sfn|Mosley|1990|p=298}}{{efn|A long-standing ] maintains that Disney was ].{{sfn|Eliot|1995|p=268}} Disney's daughter Diane later stated, "There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that my father, Walt Disney, wished to be frozen."<ref name="WFP: Frozen" /><ref name="Snopes: Frozen" />}} | |||
The release of ''The Jungle Book'' and ''The Happiest Millionaire'' in 1967 raised the total number of feature films that Disney had been involved in to 81.<ref name="D23: WD" /> When ''Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day'' was released in 1968, it earned Disney an Academy Award in the Short Subject (Cartoon) category, awarded posthumously.{{sfn|Dobson|2009|p=220}} After Disney's death, his studios continued to produce live-action films prolifically while the quality of their animated films was allowed to languish. In the late 1980s, this trend was reversed in what '']'' describes as the "]" that began with '']'' (1989).<ref name="USA Today" /> Disney's studios continue to produce successful film, television and stage entertainment.<ref name="WDS: History" /> | |||
]'' credits both Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks]] | |||
Disney's plans for the futuristic city of EPCOT did not come to fruition. After Disney's death, his brother Roy deferred his retirement to take full control of the Disney companies. He changed the focus of the project from a town to an attraction.<ref name="Esquire: EPCOT" /> At the inauguration in 1971, Roy dedicated Walt Disney World to his brother.<ref name="DWR: WH" />{{efn|Roy died two months later, in December 1971.{{sfn|Thomas|1994|pp=357–58}}}} Walt Disney World expanded with the opening of ] in 1982; Walt Disney's vision of a functional city was replaced by a park more akin to a permanent ].<ref name="ATT: EPCOT" /> In 2009, the Walt Disney Family Museum, designed by Disney's daughter Diane and her son Walter E. D. Miller, opened in the ].<ref name="WDFM: About" /> Thousands of artifacts from Disney's life and career are on display, including numerous awards that he received.<ref name="NYT: WDFM" /> In 2014, the Disney theme parks around the world hosted approximately 134 million visitors.<ref name="NYDNOctober2015"/> | |||
After having lost the rights to Oswald, Disney had to develop a new "star". Most Disney biographies state that Disney came up with a mouse character on his trip back from New York. It is debated whether it was he, or Iwerks who actually designed the mouse (which basically looked like Oswald, but with round instead of long ears). The first films were animated by Iwerks, his name was prominently featured on the title cards. The mouse was originally named "Mortimer", but later christened "]" by Lillian Disney. | |||
==Personal life and character== | |||
Mickey's first animated short produced was '']'', which was, like all of Disney's previous works, a ]. After failing to find distributor interest in '']'' or its follow-up, '']'', Disney created a Mickey cartoon with ] called '']''. A businessman named ] provided Disney with both distribution and ], a sound-] process. ''Steamboat Willie'' became a success, and ''Plane Crazy'', ''The Galloping Gaucho'', and all future Mickey cartoons were released with soundtracks. Disney himself provided the vocal effects for the earliest cartoons and performed as the ] of Mickey Mouse until 1947. Disney believed Mickey would make it far into television. | |||
{{external media| float = right| video1 = , ]}} | |||
Early in 1925, Disney hired an ink artist, ]. They married in July of that year, at her brother's house in her home town of ].<ref name=wddiofclmt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=D7peAAAAIBAJ&pg=4762%2C3438544 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |title=Walt Disney dies of cancer at 65 |date=December 16, 1966 |page=1}}</ref> The marriage was generally happy, according to Lillian, although according to Disney's biographer ] she did not "accept Walt's decisions meekly or his status unquestionably, and she admitted that he was always telling people 'how henpecked he is'."{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=544}}{{efn|One possible exception to the stable relationship was during the making '']'' (1937), where the stresses and turmoil associated with the production led to the couple discussing divorce.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=544}}}} Lillian had little interest in films or the Hollywood social scene and she was, in the words of the historian Steven Watts, "content with household management and providing support for her husband".{{sfn|Watts|2013|p=352}} Their marriage produced two daughters, ] (born December 1933) and Sharon (adopted in December 1936, born six weeks previously).{{sfn|Barrier|2007|pp=102, 131}}{{efn|Lillian had two miscarriages during the eight years between marriage and the birth of Diane; she suffered a further miscarriage shortly before the family adopted Sharon.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|pp=102, 131}}}} Within ], neither Disney nor his wife hid the fact Sharon had been adopted, although they became annoyed if people outside the family raised the point.{{sfnm|1a1=Mosley|1y=1990|1p=169|2a1=Gabler|2y=2006|2p=280}} The Disneys were careful to keep their daughters out of the public eye as much as possible, particularly in the light of the ]; Disney took steps to ensure his daughters were not photographed by the press.{{sfnm|1a1=Thomas|1y=1994|1p=196|2a1=Watts|2y=2013|2p=352}} | |||
] (1951)]] | |||
====Silly Symphonies==== | |||
In 1949, Disney and his family moved to a new home in the ] district of Los Angeles. With the help of his friends ], who already had their own ], Disney developed blueprints and immediately set to work on creating a miniature ] railroad for his back yard. The name of the railroad, ], came from his home's location on Carolwood Drive. The miniature working steam locomotive was built by Disney Studios engineer ], and Disney named it ''Lilly Belle'' after his wife;{{sfn|Broggie|2006|pp=7, 109}} after three years Disney ordered it into storage due to a series of accidents involving his guests.{{sfn|Barrier|2007|p=219}} | |||
Joining the Mickey Mouse series in 1929 were a series of musical shorts called '']''. The first of these was entitled '']'' and was entirely drawn and animated by Iwerks, who was also responsible for drawing the majority of cartoons released by Disney in 1928 and 1929. Although both series were successful, the Disney studio was not seeing its rightful share of profits from Pat Powers, and in 1930 Disney signed a new distribution deal with ]. | |||
Disney grew more ] as he got older. A ] supporter until the ], when he switched allegiance to the ],{{sfn|Thomas|1994|p=227}} he became a generous donor to ]'s ].{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=452}} Disney engaged in ] in response to organized labor actions against his company. In 1941, he paid for a full page ad in ''Variety'' claiming that "Communistic agitation" was responsible for a cartoonist strike against him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Perlstein |first=Rick |url=https://archive.org/details/invisiblebridgef0000perl |title=The invisible bridge : the fall of Nixon and the rise of Reagan |date=2014 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-4767-8241-6 |page=361}}</ref> In 1946, he was a founding member of the ], an organization who stated they "believ in, and like, the American Way of Life ... we find ourselves in sharp revolt against a rising tide of Communism, Fascism and kindred beliefs, that seek by subversive means to undermine and change this way of life".{{sfn|Watts|2013|p=240}} In 1947, during the ], Disney testified before the ] (HUAC), where he branded ], ] and ], former animators and ] organizers, as communist agitators; Disney stated that the 1941 strike led by them was part of an organized communist effort to gain influence in Hollywood.<ref name="CNN: HUAC" />{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=370}} | |||
Iwerks was growing tired of the temperamental Disney, especially as he was doing the majority of the work, and so was lured by Powers into opening his own studio with an exclusive contract. Disney desperately searched for someone who could replace Iwerks, as he was not able to draw as well or as quickly; Iwerks was reported to have drawn up to 700 drawings a day for the first Mickey shorts. | |||
''The New York Times'' reported in 1993 that Disney had been an FBI informant passing secret information to J. Edgar Hoover about communist activities in Hollywood.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/06/movies/disney-link-to-the-fbi-and-hoover-is-disclosed.html|title=Disney Link To the F.B.I. And Hoover Is Disclosed|last=Mitgang|first=Herbert|date=May 6, 1993|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 10, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> However, while Walt Disney was made a "Special Agent in Charge Contact" in 1954, FBI officials claim this was largely an honorary title regularly awarded to members of a community who might be of use to the bureau.<ref name="Korkis">{{cite web |url=https://www.mouseplanet.com/11885/Debunking_Myths_About_Walt_Disney |title=Debunking Myths About Walt Disney |last=Korkis |first=Jim |date=November 20, 2017 |website=mouseplanet.com |publisher= Mouseplanet |access-date=September 2, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Creative Explosion: Walt's Political Outlook |url=http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/collection/insidestory/inside_1933e.html |website=The Walt Disney Family Museum |access-date=1 November 2023|date=June 7, 2008|page=17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607073757/http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/collection/insidestory/inside_1933e.html |archive-date=June 7, 2008 }}</ref> The FBI declassified and released Walt Disney's file on their website, and revealed that much of Disney's correspondence with the bureau (via studio personnel) was in relation to the production of ]; such as a certain installment of the "Career Day" ] segments on ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' focusing on the bureau (which aired in January 1958), as well as an unmade 1961 educational short warning children about the dangers of ].<ref name="Korkis" /><ref>{{cite web |title=FBI Records: The Vault - Walter Elias Disney |url=https://vault.fbi.gov/walter-elias-disney |website=vault.fbi.gov |publisher=] |access-date=1 November 2023}}</ref> | |||
Meanwhile, Iwerks launched his successful '']'' series with the first sound cartoon in color, "Fiddlesticks," filmed in two-strip Technicolor. Iwerks also created two other series of cartoons, the '']'' and the '']'' cartoon series. Iwerks closed his ] in 1936 to work on various projects dealing with animation technology. Iwerks would return to Disney in 1940 and, in the studio's research and development department, would go on to pioneer a number of film processes and specialized animation technologies. | |||
Disney's public persona was very different from his actual personality.<ref name="PBS trailer 2" /> Playwright ] described him as "almost painfully shy ... diffident" and self-deprecating.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=204}} According to his biographer ], Disney hid his shy and insecure personality behind his public identity.{{sfn|Schickel|1986|p=341}} Kimball argues that Disney "played the role of a bashful tycoon who was embarrassed in public" and knew that he was doing so.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=205}} Disney acknowledged the façade and told a friend that "I'm not Walt Disney. I do a lot of things Walt Disney would not do. Walt Disney does not smoke. I smoke. Walt Disney does not drink. I drink."<ref name="PBS trailer 1" /> Critic ], in '']'', called the private Disney: "common and everyday, not inaccessible, not in a foreign language, not suppressed or sponsored or anything. Just Disney."{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=205}} Many of those with whom Disney worked commented that he gave his staff little encouragement due to his exceptionally high expectations. Norman recalls that when Disney said "That'll work", it was an indication of high praise.{{sfn|Norman|2013|p=64}} Instead of direct approval, Disney gave high-performing staff financial bonuses, or recommended certain individuals to others, expecting that his praise would be passed on.{{sfn|Krasniewicz|2010|p=77}} | |||
Eventually, Disney was able to find a number of people to replace Iwerks. By 1932, Mickey Mouse had become quite a popular cartoon character. The ] cartoon studio attempted to cash in on this success by creating a specific process, making these the first commercial films presented in this new process. The first color ''Symphony'' was '']'', which won the first ] in 1932. | |||
===First Academy Award=== | |||
In 1932, Disney received a special ] for the creation of Mickey Mouse, whose series was moved into color in 1935 and soon launched ] series for supporting characters such as ], ], and ]. | |||
==Reputation== | |||
===The family grows=== | |||
] | |||
As Mickey's co-creator and producer, Disney was almost as famous as his mouse cartoon character, but remained a largely private individual. His greatest hope was to be a father to many children. However, the Disneys' first attempts at pregnancy ended in miscarriage. This, coupled with pressures at the studio, led to Disney having "a hell of a breakdown", as he called it. His doctors said that he had to get away for a while, so he and his wife went on a ] cruise and then traveled to ] | |||
Views of Disney and his work have changed over the decades, and there have been polarized opinions.{{sfn|Watts|1995|p=84}} Mark Langer, in the ''American Dictionary of National Biography'', writes that "Earlier evaluations of Disney hailed him as a patriot, folk artist, and popularizer of culture. More recently, Disney has been regarded as a paradigm of ] and intolerance, as well as a debaser of culture."{{sfn|Langer|2000}} Steven Watts wrote that some denounce Disney "as a cynical manipulator of cultural and commercial formulas",{{sfn|Watts|1995|p=84}} while ] records that critics have censured his work because of its "smooth façade of sentimentality and stubborn optimism, its feel-good re-write of American history".<ref name="PBS: AmEx"/> | |||
Disney has been accused of ] for having given Nazi propagandist ] a tour of his studio a month after {{lang|de|]}}.<ref name="NYT: Dargis"/> Riefenstahl's invitation was solicited to Disney by painter and ballet dancer ], a close friend of Riefenstahl, and a former colleague of ] who at the time was collaborating with Disney on ''Fantasia''.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=499}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Graham |first1=Cooper C. |title='Olympia' in America, 1938: Leni Riefenstahl, Hollywood, and the Kristallnacht |url=http://www.coopercgraham.net/documents/OlympiaCCGraham.pdf |date=15 Sep 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104337/http://www.coopercgraham.net/documents/OlympiaCCGraham.pdf |access-date=9 April 2024|archive-date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref> A month later a spokesperson for Disney told the '']'': "Miss Riefenstahl got into the studio, but she crashed the gate. A Los Angeles man who is known to Disney obtained permission to take a party through the plant. Leni was in the party. If we had known it in advance she wouldn't have got in."<ref>{{cite news |title=Leni Isn't Kicking |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/421966336/ |access-date=8 April 2024 |agency=New York Daily News |publisher=Newspapers.com |date=January 6, 1939}}</ref> Animation historian Jim Korkis, theorizes that Disney may have also met with Riefenstahl for financial reasons: as an attempt by Disney to recover over 135,000 ] owed from his German film distributor and to get the ban on Disney films lifted in Germany.<ref name="Korkis" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Korkis |first1=Jim |title=Call Me Walt: Everything You Never Knew About Walt Disney |date=2017 |publisher=Theme Park Press |location=Dallas |isbn=978-1683901013 |page=178 }}</ref> Animator ], organizer behind the ] at the studio and who held a well-known grudge against Disney, claimed in his later years that he saw Disney and his lawyer attend meetings of the ], a pro-Nazi organization, during the late 1930s.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=448}} However, according to Disney biographer Neal Gabler: "...that was highly unlikely, not only because Walt had little enough time for his family, much less political meetings, but because he had no real political leanings at the time."{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=448, 457}} Disney's office appointment book makes no mention of him attending Bund rallies, and no other employee ever claimed he attended such meetings.<ref name="Korkis" /><ref name="Call Me Walt">{{cite book |last1=Korkis |first1=Jim |title=Call Me Walt: Everything You Never Knew About Walt Disney |date=2017 |publisher=Theme Park Press |location=Dallas |isbn=978-1683901013 |page=176}}</ref> According to Gabler, Disney was ] and "something of a political naïf" during the 1930s and he had previously told one reporter – as tensions in Europe were brewing – that America should "let 'em fight their own wars" claiming he had "learned my lesson" from ].{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=449}} Disney also demonstrated his political naivete in an October 1933 article for ''Overland Monthly'' claiming: "Of course there must be millions of people who have a downright feeling of animosity for our M. Mouse. Mr. A. Hitler, the Nazi old thing, says that Mickey's silly. Imagine that! Well, Mickey is going to save Mr. A Hitler from drowning or something some day. Just wait and see if he doesn't. Then won't Mr. A. Hitler be ashamed!"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Korkis |first1=Jim |title=Walt's Forgotten Essay |url=https://mouseplanet.com/walts-forgotten-essay/3107/ |website=MousePlanet |date=November 17, 2010 |access-date=10 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="Call Me Walt" /> In late 1939, when Disney was discussing plans to move his staff to a newly built studio in ], one employee asked him how the recently begun War in Europe would affect its construction - to which Disney responded by asking: "What war?"{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=348}} During ], Disney was actively involved in making propaganda films against the Nazis, both for the general public (such as '']'' and '']''), as well as educational and training films exclusively for the ]. As early as October 1940 (over a year before America's entry into the war), Disney began enlisting contracts from various branches of the ] to make training films,{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=382}} and in March 1941 he held a luncheon with Government representatives formally offering his services "...for national defence industries at cost and without profit. In making this offer, I am motivated solely by a desire to help as best I can in the present emergency."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barrier |first1=Michael |title=Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation In Its Golden Age |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-516729-0 |page=368 |edition=Revised}}</ref> These training films contained highly classified information and required the highest level of security clearance to be viewed. If Disney had any previous sympathies toward Nazism, the U.S. Government would have disqualified him from making these films.<ref name="Korkis" /><ref name="Call Me Walt" /> | |||
When Lilly Disney became pregnant again, Disney told his sister in a letter that he did not care what gender the child was, just as long as they were not disappointed again. Lilly finally gave birth to a daughter, ], on December 18, 1933. Disney was excited to finally have a child. A few years later the Disneys adopted a second daughter, ], born on December 21, 1936. | |||
] acknowledges that ethnic stereotypes common to films of the 1930s were included in some early cartoons{{efn|Examples include ''The Three Little Pigs'' (in which the Big Bad Wolf comes to the door dressed as a Jewish peddler) and '']'' (in which Mickey Mouse is dressed and dances as a ]).{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=456}}<ref name="Creative Explosion"/>}} but also points out that Disney donated regularly to Jewish charities and was named the 1955 "Man of the Year" by the ] chapter in Beverly Hills.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=456}}<ref name="Creative Explosion"/> The organization itself found no evidence of antisemitism on Disney's part. The plaque read: "For exemplifying the best tenets of American citizenship and inter-group understanding and interpreting into action the ideals of B'nai B'rith."<ref name="Korkis"/> Disney had numerous Jewish employees, many of whom were in influential positions.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=455}} None of Disney's employees – including animator ], who disliked Disney intensely – ever accused him of making antisemitic slurs or taunts.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=448, 457}} Jewish story man ], who worked closely with Disney throughout the 1930s and 1940s stated, "As far as I'm concerned, there was no evidence of antisemitism. I think the whole idea should be put to rest and buried deep. He was not antisemitic. Some of the most influential people at the studio were Jewish. It's much ado about nothing. I never once had a problem with him in that way."<ref name="Korkis"/>{{efn|Other Jewish employees production manager Harry Tytle, and head of merchandising ], who once quipped that Disney's New York office had "more Jews than The Book of Leviticus"{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=455}}}} In addition songwriter ] recalled that when one of Disney's lawyers made antisemitic remarks towards him and his brother ], Disney defended them and fired the attorney.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/debunking-disney-urban-myths/ |title=Debunking Disney Urban Myths |last=Korkis |first=Jim |date=November 20, 2017 |website=cartoonresearch.com |publisher=Cartoon Research|access-date=September 2, 2022}}</ref><ref name="Korkis"/> Gabler, the first writer to gain unrestricted access to the Disney archives, concludes that the available evidence does not support accusations of antisemitism and that Disney largely got that reputation due to his association with ] – an anti-Communist organization formed in 1944, that was rumored to have antisemitic undertones. Gabler concludes that "...though Walt himself, in my estimation, was not antisemitic, nevertheless, he willingly allied himself with people who were antisemitic, and that reputation stuck. He was never really able to expunge it throughout his life."<ref name="CBS: Gabler"/> Disney distanced himself from the Motion Picture Alliance, and had no involvement with the organization after 1947.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=611}} | |||
==1937-1941: The Golden Age of Animation== | |||
According to Disney's daughter ], her sister Sharon dated a Jewish boyfriend for a period of time, to which her father raised no objections and even reportedly said, "Sharon, I think it's wonderful how these Jewish families have accepted you."<ref name="Korkis"/> | |||
==="Disney's Folly": ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''=== | |||
Although his studio produced the two most successful cartoon series in the industry, the returns were still dissatisfying to Disney, and he began plans for a full-length feature in 1934. When the rest of the film industry learned of Disney's plans to produce an ''animated'' feature-length version of ], they dubbed the project "Disney's Folly" and were certain that the project would destroy the Disney studio. Both Lillian and Roy tried to talk Disney out of the project, but he continued plans for the feature. He employed ] professor Don Graham to start a training operation for the studio staff, and used the ''Silly Symphonies'' as a platform for experiments in realistic human animation, distinctive character animation, special effects, and the use of specialized processes and apparatus such as the ]. | |||
Disney has also been accused of other forms of racism because some of his productions released between the 1930s and 1950s contain racially insensitive material.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=433}}{{efn|Examples include '']'', in which Mickey Mouse dresses in ]; the black-colored bird in the short ''Who Killed Cock Robin''; the American Indians in ''Peter Pan''; and the crows in ''Dumbo'' (although the case has been made that the crows were sympathetic to Dumbo because they knew what it was like to be ostracized).{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=433}}}} Gabler argues that "Walt Disney was no racist. He never, either publicly or privately, made disparaging remarks about blacks or asserted white superiority. Like most white Americans of his generation, however, he was racially insensitive."{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=433}} | |||
All of this development and training was used to elevate the quality of the studio so that it would be able to give the feature the quality Disney desired. '']'', as the feature was named, was in full production from 1935 until mid-1937, when the studio ran out of money. To acquire the funding to complete ''Snow White'', Disney had to show a rough cut of the motion picture to loan officers at the ], who gave the studio the money to finish the picture. The finished film premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater on December 21, 1937; at the conclusion of the film the audience gave ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' a standing ovation. ''Snow White'', the first animated feature in English and Technicolor, was released in February 1938 under a new distribution deal with ]. The film became the most successful motion picture of 1938 and earned over $8 million (today $98 million) in its original theatrical release, all the more amazing because children were only charged a dime to see it. The success of ''Snow White'' allowed Disney to build a new campus for the ] in ], which opened for business on December 24, 1939. The feature animation staff, having just completed '']'', continued work on '']'' and '']'', while the shorts staff continued work on the Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto cartoon series, ending the ''Silly Symphonies'' at this time. | |||
The feature film '']'' was criticized by contemporary film critics, the ], and others for its perpetuation of ],{{sfn|Cohen|2004|p=60}} but during filming Disney became close friends with its star, ], describing him in a letter to his sister Ruth as "the best actor, I believe, to be discovered in years."{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=438}} Disney and Baskett stayed in contact long after the film's production, with Walt even sending him gifts. When Baskett was in failing health, Disney not only began financially supporting him and his family, but also campaigned successfully for an ] for his performance, making Baskett the first black actor so honored.{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=438}} Baskett died shortly afterward, and his widow wrote Disney a letter of gratitude for his support claiming he had been a "friend in deed and certainly have been in need."{{sfn|Gabler|2006|pp=438–39}}<ref name="Korkis"/> ], the studio's first black animator who worked closely with Disney during the 1950s and 1960s, said, "Not once did I observe a hint of the racist behavior Walt Disney was often accused of after his death. His treatment of people{{nsmdns}}and by this I mean all people{{nsmdns}}can only be called exemplary."{{sfn|Korkis|2012|p=xi}} | |||
Watts argues that many of Disney's post-World War II films "legislated a kind of cultural ]. They nourished a genial ] that magically overran the rest of the globe with the values, expectations, and goods of a prosperous middle-class United States."{{sfn|Watts|1995|p=107}} Film historian ] acknowledges that many see Disney's studio as an "agent of manipulation and repression", although he observes that it has "labored throughout its history to link its name with notions of fun, family, and fantasy".{{sfn|Telotte|2008|p=19}} John Tomlinson, in his study ''Cultural Imperialism'', examines the work of ] and ], whose 1971 book {{lang|es|Para leer al Pato Donald}} ({{trans}} '']'') identifies that there are "imperialist ... values 'concealed' behind the innocent, wholesome façade of the world of Walt Disney"; this, they argue, is a powerful tool as "it presents itself as harmless fun for consumption by children."{{sfn|Tomlinson|2001|p=41}} Tomlinson views their argument as flawed, as "they simply ''assume'' that reading American comics, seeing adverts, watching pictures of the affluent ... ]'] lifestyle has a direct pedagogic effect".{{sfn|Tomlinson|2001|p=44}} | |||
===Wartime Woes=== | |||
'']'' and '']'' followed '']'' into movie theatres in 1940, but both were financial disappointments. The inexpensive '']'' was planned as an income generator, but during production of the new film, most of the animation staff ], permanently straining the relationship between Disney and his artists. | |||
Disney has been portrayed numerous times in fictional works. ] references Disney in his 1938 novel '']'', in which World Dictator Rud fears that Donald Duck is meant to lampoon the dictator.{{sfn|Pierce|1987|p=100}} Disney was portrayed by ] in the 1995 made-for-TV film ''A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story'',<ref name="Variety: Dream Is a Wish" /> and by ] in the 2013 film '']''.<ref name="Saving Mr Banks" /> In 2001, the German author ] published {{lang|de|Der König von Amerika}} (trans: ''The King of America''), a fictional work of Disney's later years that re-imagines him as a power-hungry racist. The composer ] later adapted the book into the opera '']'' (2013).<ref name="DT: Perfect Am" /> | |||
Shortly after '']'' was released in October 1941 and became a successful moneymaker, the ] entered ]. The ] contracted for most of the Disney studio's facilities and had the staff create training and instructional films for the military, as well as home-front morale-boosting shorts such as '']'' and the feature film '']'' in 1943. The military films did not generate income, however, and the feature film ''Bambi'' underperformed when it was released in April 1942. Disney successfully re-issued ''Snow White'' in 1944, establishing a 7-year re-release tradition for Disney features. | |||
Several commentators have described Disney as a ].{{sfnm|1a1=Mannheim|1y=2016|1p=40|2a1=Krasniewicz|2y=2010|2p=xxii|3a1=Watts|3y=2013|3p=58| 4a1=Painter| 4y=2008|4p=25}} On Disney's death, journalism professor Ralph S. Izard comments that the values in Disney's films are those "considered valuable in American Christian society", which include "individualism, decency, ... love for our fellow man, fair play and toleration".<ref name="Izard: Master" /> Disney's obituary in '']'' calls the films "wholesome, warm-hearted and entertaining ... of incomparable artistry and of touching beauty".<ref name="Times: Obit" /> Journalist ] argues that Disney's "achievement as a creator of entertainment for an almost unlimited public and as a highly ingenious merchandiser of his wares can rightly be compared to the most successful industrialists in history."<ref name="EB: Crowther" /> Correspondent ] calls Disney a "folk-hero ... the Pied Piper of Hollywood",<ref name="Guard: Cooke" /> while Gabler considers Disney "reshaped the culture and the American consciousness".{{sfn|Gabler|2006|p=x}} In the ''American Dictionary of National Biography'', Langer writes: | |||
The Disney studios also created inexpensive package films, containing collections of cartoon shorts, and issued them to theaters during this period. The most notable and successful of these were '']'' (1942), its sequel '']'' (1945), '']'' (the first Disney film to feature dramatic actors) (1946), '']'' (1947), and '']'' (1949). The latter had only two sections: the first based on '']'' by ], and the second based on '']'' by ]. | |||
<blockquote>Disney remains the central figure in the history of animation. Through technological innovations and alliances with governments and corporations, he transformed a minor studio in a marginal form of communication into a multinational leisure industry giant. Despite his critics, his vision of a modern, corporate utopia as an extension of traditional American values has possibly gained greater currency in the years after his death.{{sfn|Langer|2000}}</blockquote> | |||
By the late 1940s, the studio had recovered enough to continue production on the full-length features '']'' and '']'', which had been shelved during the war years, and began work on '']''. The studio also began a series of live-action nature films, entitled ''True-Life Adventures'', in 1948 with ''On Seal Island''. | |||
In December 2021, the ] in New York opened a three-month special exhibit in honor of Disney titled "Inspiring Walt Disney".<ref>. By Zachary Kussin. December 18, 2021. '']''.</ref> | |||
===Testimony before Congress=== | |||
After the 1941 strike of Disney Studio employees, Walt Disney deeply distrusted organized labour. In 1947, during the early years of the ], he testified before the ], where he branded ], ] and ], former animators and ] organizers, as ] agitators. (All three men denied the allegations.) Disney implicated the ] as a Communist front, and charged that the 1941 strike was part of an organized Communist effort to gain influence in Hollywood. Documents obtained under the ] show that from 1941 until his death, he spied for the FBI on union activity in ], and illegally intimidated union activists.<ref name="Disney files">FBI Walt Disney Archive. http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/waltdisney.htm</ref> Since Jews were prominent in the labor movement, some employees felt that Disney's actions were motivated by ].<ref name=Eliot>Eliot, Marc. 'Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince' London: André Deutsch, 1994.</ref><ref name="Disney testimony">Disney, Walt. The Testimony of Walter Elias Disney Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 24 October 1947. http://filmtv.eserver.org/disney-huac-testimony.txt</ref> | |||
== |
==Awards and honors== | ||
{{See also|List of Academy Awards for Walt Disney}} | |||
<!-- Unsourced image removed: ] --> | |||
] in 1964 from President ].]] | |||
Disney received 59 Academy Award nominations, including 22 awards: both totals are records.<ref name="Nominee Facts" /> He was nominated for three ]s, but did not win, but he was presented with two Special Achievement Awards{{nsmdns}}for ''Bambi'' (1942) and '']'' (1953){{nsmdns}}and the ].<ref name="GG: WD" /> He also received four ] nominations, winning once, for Best Producer for the ''Disneyland'' television series.<ref name="Emmy: Awards" /> Several of his films are included in the United States ] by the ] as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant": ''Steamboat Willie'', ''The Three Little Pigs'', ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'', ''Fantasia'', ''Pinocchio'', ''Bambi'', ''Dumbo'' and ''Mary Poppins''.<ref name="LoC: Film Registry" /> In 1998, the ] published a list of the 100 greatest American films, according to industry experts; the list included ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (at number 49), and ''Fantasia'' (at 58).<ref name="AFI: 100" /> | |||
In February 1960, Disney was inducted to the ] with two stars, one for motion pictures and the other for his television work;<ref name="Hollywood WoF" /> Mickey Mouse was given his own star for motion pictures in 1978, and Disneyland received one in 2005.<ref name="Hollywood WoF: MM" /><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Fitzpatrick |first=Laura |date=April 12, 2010 |title=Top 10 Dubious Walk-of-Fame Stars: Disneyland |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1981000_1980999_1981006,00.html |magazine=Time |access-date=April 19, 2022}}</ref> Disney was also inducted into the ] in 1986,<ref name="Emmy: HoF" /> the ] in December 2006,<ref name="CHoF: WD" /> was the inaugural recipient of a star on the ] in 2014,<ref name="OC Walk of Stars" /> and was a member of the first ] class in 2023.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gonzalez |first1=David |title=Walt Disney, Kobe Bryant, Gwen Stefani among first OC Hall of Fame class |url=https://abc7.com/orange-county-hall-of-fame-walt-disney-gwen-stefani/14316911/ |access-date=January 26, 2024 |work=] |publisher=The Walt Disney Company |date=January 12, 2024}}</ref> | |||
===Carolwood Pacific Railroad=== | |||
{{main|Carolwood Pacific Railroad}} | |||
The Walt Disney Family Museum records that he "along with members of his staff, received more than 950 honors and citations from throughout the world".<ref name="D23: WD" /> He was made a {{lang|fr|Chevalier}} in the French {{lang|fr|]}} in 1935,<ref name="Guard: Legion" /> and in 1952 he was awarded the country's highest artistic decoration, the {{lang|fr|Officer d'Academie}}.<ref name="SMT: Academie" /> Other national awards include Thailand's ] (1960); Germany's ] (1956),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dp2JDAAAQBAJ&dq=Verdienstorden+der+Bundesrepublik+Deutschland+walt+disney&pg=PA215|title=West Germans Against The West: Anti-Americanism in Media and Public Opinion in the Federal Republic of Germany 1949–1968|first=C.|last=Müller|date=May 13, 2010|publisher=Springer|isbn=9780230251410 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Brazil's ] (1941),<ref></ref> and Mexico's ] (1943).<ref name=CalMuseum /> In the United States, he received the ] on September 14, 1964,<ref name="WP: Freedom" /> and on May 24, 1968, he was posthumously awarded the ].<ref name="VNN: CGM" /> He received the Showman of the World Award from the National Association of Theatre Owners,<ref name=CalMuseum /> and in 1955, the ] awarded Disney its highest honor, the Audubon Medal, for promoting the "appreciation and understanding of nature" through his ''True-Life Adventures'' nature films.<ref name="Audubon Medal" /> A ] discovered in 1980 by astronomer ], was named ],{{sfn|Schmadel|2003|p=342}} and he was also awarded honorary degrees from ], ], the ] and the ].<ref name="D23: WD" /> | |||
During 1949, Disney and his family moved to a new home on a large piece of property in the Holmby Hills district of ], ]. With the help of his friends ], owners of their own ], Disney developed the blueprints and immediately set to work creating a miniature ] railroad for his backyard. The name of the railroad, ], originated from the address of his home that was located on Carolwood Drive. The railroad's half-mile long layout included a 46-foot-long trestle, loops, overpasses, gradients, an elevated dirt berm, and a 90-foot tunnel underneath Mrs. Disney's flowerbed. He named the miniature working steam locomotive built by ] of the ] ''Lilly Belle'' in his wife's honor. He had his attorney draw up right-of-way papers giving the railroad a permanent, legal easement through the garden areas, which his wife dutifully signed; however, there is no evidence the documents were ever recorded as a restriction on the property's title. | |||
{{Clear}} | |||
==Notes and references== | |||
===Planning Disneyland=== | |||
===Notes=== | |||
] in Anaheim, featuring Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse.]] | |||
{{notelist}} | |||
On a business trip to ] in the late-1940s, Disney drew sketches of his ideas for an ] where he envisioned his employees spending time with their children. He got his idea for a children's theme park after visiting ] in Oakland, California. This plan was originally for a lot south of the Studio, just across the street. However, the city of ] declined building permission. The original ideas developed into a concept for a larger enterprise that was to become ]. Disney spent five years of his life developing Disneyland and created a new subsidiary of his company, called ], to carry out the planning and production of the park. A small group of Disney studio employees joined the Disneyland development project as engineers and planners, and were dubbed ]s. | |||
===References=== | |||
When describing one of his earliest plans to Herb Ryman (who created the first aerial drawing of Disneyland to present to the ] for funds), Disney said, "Herbie, I just want it to look like nothing else in the world. And it should be surrounded by a train." Entertaining his daughters and their friends in his backyard and taking them for rides on his ] had inspired Disney to include a railroad in the plans for Disneyland. | |||
{{Reflist|refs= | |||
<ref name="AFI: 100"> | |||
===Expanding into new areas=== | |||
{{cite web|title=AFI's 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time |url=http://www.afi.com/100years/movies.aspx |website=American Film Institute |access-date=May 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424004920/http://www.afi.com/100Years/movies.aspx |archive-date=April 24, 2016}}</ref> | |||
As Walt Disney Productions began work on Disneyland, it also began expanding its other entertainment operations. '']'' (1950) became the studio's first all-live-action feature, and was soon followed by such successes as '']'' (in ], ]), '']'' (1959), and '']'' (1961). The Walt Disney Studio was one of the first to take full advantage of the then-new medium of television, producing its first TV special, '']'', in 1950. Disney began hosting a ] on ] named ] after the park, where he showed clips of past Disney productions, gave tours of his studio, and familiarized the public with Disneyland as it was being constructed in ], ]. In 1955, he debuted the studio's first daily television show, the popular '']'', which would continue in many various incarnations into the 1990s. | |||
<ref name="WDC: About"> | |||
As the studio expanded and diversified into other media, Disney devoted less of his attention to the animation department, entrusting most of its operations to his key animators, whom he dubbed the ]. During Disney's lifetime, the animation department created the successful '']'' (in ], 1955), '']'' (1961), the financially disappointing '']'' (in ] ], 1959) and '']'' (1963). | |||
{{cite web|title=About the Walt Disney Company|url=https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/|website=The Walt Disney Company|access-date=May 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505063818/https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/|archive-date=May 5, 2016}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDS: History"> | |||
Production on the short cartoons had kept pace until 1956, when Disney shut down the shorts division. Special shorts projects would continue to be made for the rest of the studio's duration on an irregular basis. Disney's mind was set toward expansion, and he wanted to make longer films. | |||
{{cite web|title=History of The Walt Disney Studios |url=http://waltdisneystudios.com/static/The%20History%20of%20TWDS.pdf |website=The Walt Disney Company |access-date=May 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509015731/http://waltdisneystudios.com/static/The%20History%20of%20TWDS.pdf |archive-date=May 9, 2016 }}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDFM: Dreaming"> | |||
These productions were all distributed by Disney's new subsidiary, ], which had assumed all distribution duties for Disney films from RKO by 1955. ], one of the world's first ]s, finally opened on July 17, 1955, and was immediately successful. Visitors from around the world came to visit Disneyland, which contained attractions based upon a number of successful Disney properties and films. After 1955, the Disneyland TV show became known as ''Walt Disney Presents''. The show went from black-and-white to color in 1961 — changing its name to ''Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color'' — and eventually evolved into what is today known as ], which continues to air on ] as of 2005. | |||
{{cite web|title=Dreaming of Disneyland|url=http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/dreamingdisneyland/index.html|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|access-date=September 6, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060518072723/http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/dreamingdisneyland/index.html|archive-date=May 18, 2006}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="NYT: Topics"> | |||
].]] | |||
{{cite news|title=Topics of the Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/07/22/archives/topics-of-the-times.html|work=The New York Times|date=July 22, 1955|access-date=May 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507093724/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9402E6DB103AE53BBC4A51DFB166838E649EDE|archive-date=May 7, 2016}} {{subscription required}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Disney Myth 2"> | |||
During the mid-1950s, Disney produced a number of ]s on the space program in collaboration with ] rocket designer ]: ''Man in Space'' and ''Man and the Moon'' in 1955, and ''Mars and Beyond'' in 1957. The films attracted the attention of not only the general public, but also the ]. | |||
{{cite AV media |date= January 17, 2015 |title=Walt Disney: The Man Behind the Myth|medium=Television production|time= 1:10:00–1:13:00|publisher=The Walt Disney Family Foundation}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="NW: Wonderful"> | |||
The TV series and book ''Our Friend the Atom'' (1956, together with ]) were produced as part of an effort by the ] administration to enhance the image of nuclear energy. | |||
{{cite news|title=A Wonderful World: Growing Impact of Disney Art|work=Newsweek|date=April 18, 1955|page=62}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Disney Experience"> | |||
===Early 1960s successes=== | |||
{{cite AV media |date= September 14, 2015 |title=Walt Disney: An American Experience|medium=Television production|time= 1:06:44 – 1:07:24|publisher=PBS}}</ref> | |||
By the early 1960s, the Disney empire was a major success, and Walt Disney Productions had established itself as the world's leading producer of family entertainment. After decades of trying, Disney finally procured the rights to ]' books about a magical nanny. '']'', released in 1964, was the most successful Disney film of the 1960s and featured a memorable song score written by Disney favorites the ]. Many hailed the live-action/animation combination feature as Disney's greatest achievement. The same year, Disney debuted a number of exhibits at the ], including ]-] figures, all of which were later integrated into attractions at Disneyland and a new theme park project to be established on the east coast, which Disney had been planning ever since Disneyland opened. | |||
<ref name="Disney Myth"> | |||
===Ski resorts=== | |||
{{cite AV media |date= January 17, 2015 |title=Walt Disney: The Man Behind the Myth|medium=Television production|time= 38:33–39:00|publisher=The Walt Disney Family Foundation}}</ref> | |||
Walt Disney first showed interest in ] with his investment in ] in the 1930s. However, his interest was brought to a new level in the 1960s when he commissioned plans for ]. Official plans for the resort were announced just months before his death. The project was eventually canceled due to heavy protest from many ], most notably the ]. The 1970s saw yet another set of Disney plans for a ski resort, in ] near ]. Like the Mineral King plans, the Independence Lake project was scrapped for many of the same reasons. There are plans for two more new ski resorts to open in 2008. | |||
<ref name="WDFM: Fair"> | |||
==="Florida Project"=== | |||
{{cite web|last1=Carnaham |first1=Alyssa |title=Look Closer: 1964 New York World's Fair |url=http://www.waltdisney.org/blog/look-closer-1964-new-york-world%E2%80%99s-fair |website=The Walt Disney Family Museum |access-date=May 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413003545/http://www.waltdisney.org/blog/look-closer-1964-new-york-world%E2%80%99s-fair |archive-date=April 13, 2016 |date=June 26, 2012}}</ref> | |||
In 1964, Walt Disney Productions began quietly purchasing land in central ] west of ] in a largely rural area of marginal orange groves for Disney's "Florida Project." Disney did so under the mask of many fake companies, in order to keep the price of land as low as he could. As soon as the word got out that Disney was purchasing the land, however, the prices immediately rose. The company acquired over 27,000 acres (109 km²) of land, and arranged favorable state legislation which would provide unprecedented quasi-governmental control over the area to be developed in 1966, founding the ]. Disney and his brother Roy then announced plans for what they called "]." | |||
<ref name="Guard: Legion"> | |||
===Plans for Disney World and EPCOT=== | |||
{{cite news|title=Untitled|work=The Manchester Guardian|date=December 20, 1935|page=10}}</ref> | |||
Disney World was to include a larger, more elaborate version of Disneyland to be called the Magic Kingdom, and would also feature a number of golf courses and resort hotels. The heart of Disney World, however, was to be the Experimental Prototype City (or Community) of Tomorrow, or ] for short. EPCOT was designed to be an operational city where residents would live, work, and interact using advanced and experimental technology, while scientists would develop and test new technologies to improve human life and health. | |||
<ref name="Times: Obit"> | |||
===Death of Walt Disney=== | |||
{{cite news|title=Obituary: Mr Walt Disney|work=The Times|date=December 16, 1966|page=14}}</ref> | |||
] | |||
Disney's involvement in Disney World ended in late 1966; after many years of chain-smoking, he was diagnosed with cancer in his left lung. He was checked into the St. Joseph's ] across the street from the Disney Studio lot and his health began to deteriorate, causing him to suffer cardiac arrest. | |||
<ref name="Guard: Cooke"> | |||
Walter Elias Disney died on ], ], ten days after his 65th birthday. He was cremated on ], ] at the ] in ], ]. Roy Disney continued to carry out the Florida project, insisting that the name be changed to ] in honor of his brother. Roy O. Disney died just three months after the ] opened for business in 1971. | |||
{{cite news|last1=Cooke|first1=Alistair|author-link1=Alistair Cooke|title=Death of Walt Disney—folk-hero|work=The Manchester Guardian|date=December 16, 1966|page=1}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Izard: Master"> | |||
It is a widely-circulated urban myth that Walt Disney's head and/or body were ]. | |||
{{cite journal|last1=Izard|first1=Ralph S.|title=Walt Disney: Master of Laughter and Learning|journal=Peabody Journal of Education|date=July 1967|volume=45|issue=1|pages=36–41|jstor=1491447|doi=10.1080/01619566709537484 |issn=0161-956X}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="DT: Perfect Am"> | |||
==1967-present: Legacy== | |||
{{cite news|last1=Gritten |first1=David |title=Walt Disney: hero or villain? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10064623/Walt-Disney-hero-or-villain.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=May 17, 2013 |archive-date=April 26, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426053955/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10064623/Walt-Disney-hero-or-villain.html |access-date=April 25, 2016}}</ref> | |||
===Continuing the vision=== | |||
Roy O. Disney returned from retirement to take full control of Walt Disney Productions and WED Enterprises. He still refused to talk about his brother, and his grief, though rarely shown to other people, lasted until his death in 1971. In October of that year, their families met in front of Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom to officially open the Walt Disney World Resort. After an orchestra made up of over 66 countries performed a medley of Disney music, Roy stepped up to the podium. | |||
<ref name="PBS: AmEx"> | |||
After giving his dedication for Walt Disney World, he then asked Lillian Disney to join him. As the orchestra played "]", she stepped up to the podium accompanied by Mickey Mouse. He then said, "Lilly, you knew all of Walt's ideas and hopes as well as anybody; what would Walt think of it ?". "I think Walt would have approved," she replied. Roy died from a cerebral hemorrhage in December, the day he was due to open the Disneyland Christmas parade. | |||
{{cite web|title=American Experience: Walt Disney |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/walt-disney/ |website=PBS|access-date=April 22, 2016 |archive-date=April 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404133927/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/walt-disney/}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="DWR: WH"> | |||
When the second phase of the Walt Disney World ] was built, EPCOT was translated by Walt Disney's successors into EPCOT Center, which opened in 1982. As it currently exists, Epcot is essentially a living ], a far cry from the actual functional city that Disney had envisioned. In 1992 Walt Disney Imagineering took the step closer to Walt's vision and dedicated ], ], a town built by the Walt Disney Company adjacent to Walt Disney World, that harkens back to the spirit of EPCOT. EPCOT was also originally intended to be devoid of Disney characters which initially limited the appeal of the park to young children. The company later changed this policy. The sale of alcoholic beverages is also permitted at EPCOT, something never allowed in the Magic Kingdom. | |||
{{cite news|title=Walt Disney World Resort: World History|work=Targeted News Service|date=March 18, 2009}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Variety: Dream Is a Wish"> | |||
===The Disney entertainment empire=== | |||
{{cite web|last1=Scott |first1=Tony |title=Review: 'Cbs Sunday Movie a Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story' |url=https://variety.com/2001/tv/reviews/walt-the-man-behind-the-myth-1200469954/ |work=Variety |date=October 20, 1995 |access-date=April 21, 2016 |archive-date=May 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505084621/http://variety.com/2001/tv/reviews/walt-the-man-behind-the-myth-1200469954/}}</ref> | |||
Today, Walt Disney's animation/motion picture studios and theme park have developed into a multi-billion dollar television, motion picture, vacation destination and media corporation that carries his name. ] today owns, among other assets, five vacation resorts, eleven theme parks, two water parks, thirty-nine hotels, eight motion picture studios, six record labels, eleven cable television networks, and one terrestrial television network. | |||
<ref name="Saving Mr Banks"> | |||
===Disney Animation today=== | |||
{{cite news|last1=Gettell |first1=Oliver |title='Saving Mr. Banks' director: 'Such an advantage' shooting in L.A. |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-saving-mr-banks-tom-hanks-envelope-screening-series-20131218,0,1857959.story |access-date=June 27, 2014 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131219232202/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/moviesnow/la-et-mn-saving-mr-banks-tom-hanks-envelope-screening-series-20131218%2C0%2C1857959.story |archive-date=December 19, 2013}}</ref> | |||
], with which Walt Disney built the success of his company, no longer continues at the ] studio. After a stream of financially unsuccessful traditionally-animated features in the late-1990s and early 2000s, the two satellite studios in ] and ] were closed, and the main studio in ] was converted to a computer animation production facility. In 2004, Disney released their final traditionally animated feature film, '']''. The ] studio in ], which produced lower-budget traditionally animated films, at first appeared to survive the purge, but its closing was announced in July 2005. | |||
<ref name=CalMuseum> | |||
Only recently, with the Disney purchase of ] Animation, has there been talk of reviving the traditional style of animation for which Disney has been famous. New head of Disney animation ] commissioned veteran Disney animator ] to produce an animated test sequence for Disney chief ] in February of 2006. If approved, the film based on this test sequence, called Frog Princess, will be released in 2007.{{fact}} | |||
{{cite web|title=Walt Disney |url=http://www.californiamuseum.org/inductee/walt-disney |website=The California Museum |date=February 17, 2012 |access-date=April 20, 2016 |archive-date=April 6, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406123002/http://www.californiamuseum.org/inductee/walt-disney}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Audubon Medal"> | |||
===CalArts=== | |||
{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19551116&id=8r9OAAAAIBAJ&pg=3770,22870 |title=Disney Receives Audubon Medal |work=The Blade |location=Toledo, OH |date=November 16, 1955 |archive-date=May 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160519214319/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19551116&id=8r9OAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lwAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3770,22870 |access-date=April 25, 2016}}</ref> | |||
Disney devoted substantial time in his later years funding ] (CalArts), which was formed in 1961 through a merger of the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and the ], which had helped in the training of the animation staff during the 1930s. When he died, one fourth of his estate went towards CalArts, which greatly helped the building of its campus. He also donated 38 acres (154,000 m²) of the Golden Oaks ranch in ] for the school to be built on. CalArts moved onto the Valencia campus in 1971. | |||
<ref name="Emmy: Awards"> | |||
Lillian Disney devoted much of her time after her husband died to pursuing CalArts and organized hundreds of fund raising events for the university in her late husband's honor (as well as funding the Walt Disney Symphony Hall). After Lillian's passing, the legacy continued with daughter Diane and husband Ron continuing the tradition. CalArts is one of the largest independent universities in California today, mostly because of the contributions of the Disney's. | |||
{{cite web|title=Awards & Nominations: Walt Disney |url=http://www.emmys.com/bios/walt-disney |website=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |access-date=April 21, 2016 |archive-date=March 31, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331144805/http://www.emmys.com/bios/walt-disney}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Nominee Facts"> | |||
]]] | |||
{{cite web|url=http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/help/statistics/Gen-NomsFacts.pdf |title=Nominee Facts – Most Nominations and Awards |access-date=April 26, 2013 |website=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |archive-date=April 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402095027/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/help/statistics/Gen-NomsFacts.pdf}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="SMT: Academie"> | |||
== Academy Awards == | |||
{{cite news|title=Walt Disney Honored|work=San Mateo Times|date=February 5, 1952|location=San Mateo, CA|page=9}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WP: Freedom"> | |||
Among many awards, Walt Disney holds the record for having the most ]. 22 won, and 4 honorary. | |||
{{cite news|last1=Aarons|first1=Lerby F.|title=Arts, Science, Public Affairs Elite Honored With Freedom Medals|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 15, 1964|page=1}}</ref> | |||
*'''1969''' Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day | |||
*'''1959''' Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects for: Grand Canyon | |||
*'''1956''' Best Documentary, Short Subjects for: Men Against the Arctic | |||
*'''1955''' Best Documentary, Features for: The Vanishing Prairie (1954) | |||
*'''1954''' Best Documentary, Features for: The Living Desert (1953) | |||
*Best Documentary, Short Subjects for: The Alaskan Eskimo (1953) | |||
*Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom (1953) | |||
*Best Short Subject, Two-reel for: Bear Country (1953) | |||
*'''1953''' Best Short Subject, Two-reel for: Water Birds (1952) | |||
*'''1952''' Best Short Subject, Two-reel for: Nature's Half Acre (1951) | |||
*'''1951''' Best Short Subject, Two-reel for: Beaver Valley (1950) | |||
*'''1949''' Best Short Subject, Two-reel for: Seal Island (1948) | |||
*'''1943''' Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Der Fuehrer's Face (1942) | |||
*'''1942''' Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Lend a Paw (1941) | |||
*Honorary Award for: Fantasia (1940) | |||
Shared with: William E. Garity J.N.A. Hawkins | |||
For their outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion pictures through the production of Fantasia (certificate). | |||
*Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award | |||
*'''1940''' Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Ugly Duckling (1939) | |||
*'''1939''' Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Ferdinand the Bull (1938) | |||
*Honorary Award for: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) | |||
For Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field (one statuette - seven miniature statuettes). | |||
*'''1938''' Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: The Old Mill (1937) | |||
*'''1937''' Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: The Country Cousin (1936) | |||
*'''1936''' Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Three Orphan Kittens (1935) | |||
*'''1935''' Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: The Tortoise and the Hare (1934) | |||
*'''1934 '''Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Three Little Pigs (1933) | |||
*'''1932''' Best Short Subject, Cartoons for: Flowers and Trees (1932) | |||
*Honorary Award For the creation of ]. | |||
<ref name="VNN: CGM"> | |||
==References== | |||
{{cite news|last1=Marth|first1=Mike|title=Walt Disney Honored With Congressional Gold Medal|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/7258240/?terms=Walt%2BDisney%2BHonored%2BWith%2BCongressional%2BGold%2BMedal|work=The Van Nuys News|date=April 4, 1969|page=27}}</ref> | |||
<references /> | |||
<ref name="Hollywood WoF"> | |||
==See also== | |||
{{cite web|title=Walt Disney |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/walt-disney |website=] |access-date=June 27, 2014 |archive-date=March 19, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319193037/http://www.walkoffame.com/walt-disney}}</ref> | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
<ref name="Hollywood WoF: MM"> | |||
{{wikiquote}} | |||
{{cite web|title=Mickey Mouse |url=http://www.walkoffame.com/mickey-mouse |website=Hollywood Walk of Fame |access-date=May 3, 2016 |archive-date=April 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403111315/http://walkoffame.com/mickey-mouse}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="LoC: Film Registry"> | |||
==Resources== | |||
{{cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/ |website=Library of Congress |access-date=April 21, 2016 |archive-date=April 7, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407144839/https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing}}</ref> | |||
* Barrier, Michael (1999). ''Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516729-5. | |||
* ] (1997, 1998, 2005). ''Walt Disney's Railroad Story''. Virginia Beach, Virginia. Donning Publishers. ISBN 1-56342-009-0 | |||
<ref name="Emmy: HoF"> | |||
* ]. ''Disney's World: A Biography'' (1985, 2002). Chelsea, MI: Scarborough House. ISBN 0-8128-8514-7. | |||
{{cite web|title=Hall of Fame Honorees: Complete List |url=http://www.emmys.com/awards/hall-of-fame-honorees |website=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences|access-date=June 27, 2014 |archive-date=April 2, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402004406/https://www.emmys.com/awards/hall-of-fame-honorees}}</ref> | |||
* ], and ] (1967, 1985, 1997). ''The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney''. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher. ISBN 1-56663-158-0. | |||
* ] and ] (1998) "Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond" ISBN 09646059 {{invalid isbn|09646059}}. | |||
<ref name="CHoF: WD"> | |||
* ] (1991). ''Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast''. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 1-56282-899-1 | |||
{{cite web|title=John Muir Inducted in California Hall of Fame |url=http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/ca_hall_of_fame.aspx |website=The John Muir Exhibit |access-date=June 26, 2014 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304235823/http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/ca_hall_of_fame.aspx}}</ref> | |||
* ] (1976, 1994). ''Walt Disney: An American Original'' ISBN 0-7868-6027-8 | |||
<ref name="OC Walk of Stars"> | |||
{{cite web|title=Disney to be first honoree on O.C. Walk of Stars |url=http://www.ocregister.com/articles/walk-52629-first-orange.html |website=Orange County Register |access-date=June 26, 2014 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305204240/http://www.ocregister.com/articles/walk-52629-first-orange.html |date=November 8, 2006}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="GG: WD"> | |||
{{cite web|title=Winners & Nominees: Walt Disney |url=http://www.goldenglobes.com/person/walt-disney |website=Hollywood Foreign Press Association |access-date=April 21, 2016 |archive-date=April 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401004246/http://www.goldenglobes.com/person/walt-disney}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Creative Explosion"> | |||
{{cite web|title=Creative Explosion: Walt's Political Outlook|url=http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/collection/insidestory/inside_1933d.html|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|access-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607073752/http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/collection/insidestory/inside_1933d.html|archive-date=June 7, 2008|page=16}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDFM: About"> | |||
{{cite web|title=About Us|url=http://www.waltdisney.org/about-us|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|access-date=June 27, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330224647/http://www.waltdisney.org/about-us|archive-date=March 30, 2014}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDFM: Genesis"> | |||
{{cite web|last1=Mumford|first1=David|last2=Gordon|first2=Bruce|title=The Genesis of Disneyland|url=http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/disneylandgenesis/index.html|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|access-date=April 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081028031306/http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/disneylandgenesis/index.html|archive-date=October 28, 2008}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDFM: WED"> | |||
{{cite web|title=The Beginning of WED|url=http://www.waltdisney.org/content/beginning-wed|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|access-date=April 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002204510/http://www.waltdisney.org/content/beginning-wed|archive-date=October 2, 2015}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="CNN: HUAC"> | |||
{{cite news|title=Testimony of Walter E. Disney before HUAC|access-date=May 21, 2008|url=http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/06/documents/huac/disney.html| work=CNN|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514003423/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/06/documents/huac/disney.html|archive-date=May 14, 2008}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDFM: Fiscal Crisis"> | |||
{{cite web|title=The Disney Brothers Face a Fiscal Crisis|url=http://www.waltdisney.org/content/disney-brothers-face-fiscal-crisis|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|access-date=April 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140602200043/http://www.waltdisney.org/content/disney-brothers-face-fiscal-crisis|archive-date=June 2, 2014}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDFM: Golden Age"> | |||
{{cite web|title=The Golden Age of Animation|url=http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/goldenage/index.html|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|access-date=April 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414052339/http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/goldenage/index.html |archive-date=April 14, 2009}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="SoC: 3 Pigs"> | |||
{{cite web|last=Danks|first=Adrian|title=Huffing and Puffing about Three Little Pigs|url=http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/cteq/3_little_pigs/|website=Senses of Cinema|date=December 2003|access-date=April 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422180415/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/03/29/3_little_pigs.html|archive-date=April 22, 2008}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDFM: MM"> | |||
{{cite web|last=Solomon|first=Charles|title=The Golden Age of Mickey Mouse|url=http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/mickeymousegoldenage/index.html|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|access-date=April 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080710052034/http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/exhibits/articles/mickeymousegoldenage/index.html|archive-date=July 10, 2008}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDFM: Secret Talks"> | |||
{{cite web|title=Secret Talks|url=http://www.waltdisney.org/content/secret-talks|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|access-date=April 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429005131/http://www.waltdisney.org/content/secret-talks|archive-date=April 29, 2015}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDFM: Final Alice"> | |||
{{cite web|title=The Final Alice Comedy Is Released|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|url=http://www.waltdisney.org/content/final-alice-comedy-released|access-date=April 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714145210/http://www.waltdisney.org/content/final-alice-comedy-released|archive-date=July 14, 2014}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WDFM: Alice Skids"> | |||
{{cite web|title=Alice Hits the Skids|website=The Walt Disney Family Museum|url=http://www.waltdisney.org/content/alice-hits-skids|access-date=April 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714201543/http://www.waltdisney.org/content/alice-hits-skids|archive-date=July 14, 2014}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="ST: background"> | |||
{{cite news|last=Rackl |first=Lori |url=http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/1790811,disney-walt-museum-san-francisco-092709.article |title=Walt Disney, the Man Behind the Mouse |date=September 27, 2009 |access-date=October 21, 2010 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003001653/http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/1790811%2Cdisney-walt-museum-san-francisco-092709.article |archive-date=October 3, 2009}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="WFP: Frozen"> | |||
{{cite news|last1=Poyser|first1=John|title=Estate-planning lessons from the Magic Kingdom|work=]|date=July 15, 2009|page=B5|url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/finance/estate-planning-lessons-from-the-magic-kingdom-50836787.html}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Snopes: Frozen"> | |||
{{cite web|title=Was Walt Disney Frozen?|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/suspended-animation/|last=Mikkelson|first=David|website=]|date=October 19, 1995|access-date=June 15, 2020}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Time: Rodent"> | |||
{{cite news|title=Regulated Rodent|magazine=Time|date=February 16, 1931|page=21}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Ski: Schaeffler"> | |||
{{cite news|last1=Meyers|first1=Charlie|title=Ski Life|work=Ski|date=September 1988|page=26}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="Esquire: EPCOT"> | |||
{{cite web|last1=Patches |first1=Matt |title=Inside Walt Disney's Ambitious, Failed Plan to Build the City of Tomorrow |url=http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/news/a35104/walt-disney-epcot-history-city-of-tomorrow/ |website=Esquire |access-date=April 20, 2016 |date=May 20, 2015 |archive-date=March 25, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325041137/http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/news/a35104/walt-disney-epcot-history-city-of-tomorrow/}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="ATT: EPCOT"> | |||
{{cite web|title=News Update: EPCOT|url=http://techchannel.att.com/play-video.cfm/2012/2/3/AT&T-Archives-Epcot|website=AT&T Archives|access-date=April 20, 2016|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304202409/http://techchannel.att.com/play-video.cfm/2012/2/3/AT%26T-Archives-Epcot}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="USA Today"> | |||
{{cite news|first=Claudia |last=Puig |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2010-03-26-beauty26_ST_N.htm |title='Waking Sleeping Beauty' documentary takes animated look at Disney renaissance |work=USA Today |date=March 26, 2010 |access-date=April 20, 2016 |archive-date=April 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401082520/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2010-03-26-beauty26_ST_N.htm}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="NYT: Dargis"> | |||
{{cite news|last=Dargis |first=Manohla |title=And Now a Word From the Director |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/movies/conflicting-voices-in-lars-von-triers-words-and-works.html?scp=1&sq=And%20Now%20a%20Word%20from&st=Search |access-date=September 26, 2011 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 21, 2011 |archive-date=September 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130912232143/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/movies/conflicting-voices-in-lars-von-triers-words-and-works.html?scp=1&sq=And%20Now%20a%20Word%20from&st=Search&_r=0}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="CBS: Gabler"> | |||
{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/walt-disney-more-than-toons-theme-parks/ |work=CBS News |title=Walt Disney: More Than 'Toons, Theme Parks |date=November 1, 2006 |access-date=April 20, 2016 |archive-date=March 13, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313010654/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/walt-disney-more-than-toons-theme-parks/}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="NYT: WDFM"> | |||
{{cite news|title=Exploring the Man Behind the Animation |first=Edward |last=Rothstein |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/arts/design/01disney.html?pagewanted=1 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 30, 2009 |archive-date=June 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618074450/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/arts/design/01disney.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0 |access-date=April 25, 2016}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="NYDNOctober2015"> | |||
{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/13-disney-parks-article-1.2381618 | title=13 things to know about the Disney parks on 44th anniversary of Walt Disney World | work=New York Daily News|date=October 1, 2015|access-date=May 21, 2016 | first=Melanie | last=Dostis | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521150431/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/13-disney-parks-article-1.2381618|archive-date=May 21, 2016}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="PBS trailer 1"> | |||
{{cite AV media|date=September 10, 2015 |title=The Two Sides of Walt Disney |medium=Television trailer |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRu7ka4eD8k |access-date=April 20, 2016 |time=0:14–0:25 |publisher=PBS |archive-date=October 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024012444/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRu7ka4eD8k}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="PBS trailer 2"> | |||
{{cite AV media|date=September 10, 2015 |title=The Two Sides of Walt Disney |medium=Television trailer |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRu7ka4eD8k |access-date=April 20, 2016 |time=0:08–0:13 |publisher=PBS |archive-date=October 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024012444/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRu7ka4eD8k}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="DT: Travers dislike"> | |||
{{cite news|last1=Singh |first1=Anita |title=Story of how Mary Poppins author regretted selling rights to Disney to be turned into film |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/9195930/Story-of-how-Mary-Poppins-author-regretted-selling-rights-to-Disney-to-be-turned-into-film.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=April 10, 2012 |access-date=April 18, 2016 |archive-date=April 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414231355/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/9195930/Story-of-how-Mary-Poppins-author-regretted-selling-rights-to-Disney-to-be-turned-into-film.html}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="AA:1957"> | |||
{{cite web|title=The 29th Academy Awards 1957|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1957|website=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=March 26, 2015 |access-date=April 18, 2016|archive-date=May 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507092819/http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1957}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="EPSN: Oswald"> | |||
{{cite news|title=Stay 'tooned: Disney gets 'Oswald' for Al Michaels |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=2324417 |work=ESPN.com |access-date=April 16, 2016 |date=February 10, 2006 |archive-date=April 7, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407035338/http://espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2324417}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="AA: 1939"> | |||
{{cite web|title=The 11th Academy Awards 1939|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1939|website=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=October 3, 2014 |access-date=April 16, 2016|archive-date=May 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507092742/http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1939}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="AA: 1932"> | |||
{{cite web|title=The 5th Academy Awards 1933|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1933|website=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=October 9, 2014 |access-date=April 15, 2016|archive-date=May 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507092803/http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1933}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="BBC: Oswald"> | |||
{{cite news|last1=Soteriou |first1=Helen |title=Could Oswald the Lucky Rabbit have been bigger than Mickey? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19910825 |work=BBC News |date=December 3, 2012 |access-date=April 14, 2016 |archive-date=March 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308094315/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19910825}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="NYT: Obit"> | |||
{{cite news|title=Walt Disney, 65, Dies on Coast; Founded an Empire on a Mouse|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/12/16/archives/walt-disney-65-dies-on-coast-founded-an-empire-on-a-mouse-walt.html|work=The New York Times|date=December 16, 1966|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507092701/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C02E6D61130E03ABC4E52DFB467838D679EDE|archive-date=May 7, 2016|access-date=April 25, 2016}} {{subscription required}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="D23: WD"> | |||
{{cite web|title=About Walt Disney |url=https://d23.com/about-walt-disney/ |website=] |publisher=The Walt Disney Company |access-date=April 13, 2016 |archive-date=April 21, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421084237/https://d23.com/about-walt-disney/}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="EB: Crowther"> | |||
{{cite web|last=Crowther |first=Bosley |title=Walt Disney |website=Encyclopædia Britannica|author-link=Bosley Crowther |url=http://www.britannica.com/biography/Walt-Disney |date=April 27, 2015 |access-date=April 12, 2016 |archive-date=March 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160320210314/http://www.britannica.com/biography/Walt-Disney}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="KCL: WD"> | |||
{{cite web |url=http://kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/Biographies&CISOPTR=31&CISOBOX=1&REC=2 |title=Biography of Walt Disney (1901–1966), Film Producer |website=The Kansas City Public Library |access-date=April 12, 2016 |archive-date=March 9, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309120940/http://kchistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?cisobox=1&cisoptr=31&cisoroot=%2Fbiographies&rec=2}}</ref> | |||
<ref name="OD: pronunciation"> | |||
{{cite web|title=Definition of Disney, Walt in English |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Disney-Walt?q=disney |website=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=April 12, 2016 |archive-date=March 30, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330142206/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/disney-walt}}</ref> | |||
<ref name=Ancestors> | |||
{{cite news|last=Winter |first=Jon |title=Uncle Walt's Lost Ancestors |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uncle-walts-lost-ancestors-1266622.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=April 12, 1997 |location=London |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200929/http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uncle-walts-lost-ancestors-1266622.html |access-date=April 25, 2016}}</ref> | |||
}} | |||
===Sources=== | |||
{{refbegin|30em}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Barrier|first1=J. Michael|author-link=Michael Barrier|title=Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zDJXnzMh7bkC&pg=PP1|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-503759-3}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Barrier|first1=J. Michael|author-link=Michael Barrier|title=The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney|year=2007|publisher=University of California Press|location=Oakland, CA|isbn=978-0-520-24117-6|url=https://archive.org/details/animatedmanlifeo00barr|url-access=registration|quote=Buckaroo Bugs'.}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Beard|first=Richard R.|title=Walt Disney's EPCOT Center: Creating the New World of Tomorrow|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VpzpAAAAMAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8109-0821-5}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Broggie|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Broggie|title=Walt Disney's Railroad Story: The Small-Scale Fascination That Led to a Full-Scale Kingdom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BupsDEZOLYUC&pg=PP1|year=2006|publisher=Carolwood Pacific|location=Marceline, MO|isbn=978-0-9758584-2-4}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Canemaker|first=John|title=Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YxYRAQAAMAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Disney Editions|location=Burbank, CA|isbn=978-0-7868-6496-6}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Ceplair|first1=Larry|last2=Englund|first2=Steven|title=The Inquisition in Hollywood: Politics in the Film Community, 1930–1960|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_HvC3WaGZF3UC|year=1983|publisher=University of California Press|location=Oakland, CA|isbn=978-0-520-04886-7}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Cohen|first1=Karl F.|title=Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXhzAQAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=2004|publisher=McFarland|location= Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-1-4766-0725-2}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Dobson|first=Nichola|title=Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ONfIedLRIZMC&pg=PP1|year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Plymouth, Devon|isbn=978-0-8108-6323-1}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Eliot|first=Marc|title=Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fn_WAAAAMAAJ|year=1995|publisher=André Deutsch|location=London|isbn=978-0-233-98961-7}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Finch|first1=Christopher|title=The Art of Walt Disney from Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom|year=1999|publisher=Virgin Books|location=London|isbn=978-0-7535-0344-7}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Gabler|first=Neal|author-link=Neal Gabler|title=]|year=2006|publisher=Aurum|location=London|isbn=978-1-84513-277-4}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Hollis|first1=Tim|last2=Ehrbar|first2=Greg|title=Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records|year=2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGdpWCTdb-IC&pg=PP1|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|location=Jackson, MS|isbn=978-1-61703-433-6}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Korkis|first1=Jim|title=Who's Afraid of the Song of the South?|year=2012|publisher=Theme Park Press|location=Dallas, TX|isbn=978-0-9843415-5-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/whosafraidofsong0000kork}} | |||
* {{cite book |last1=Korkis |first1=Jim |title=Call Me Walt: Everything You Never Knew About Walt Disney |date=2017 |publisher=Theme Park Press |location=Dallas, TX |isbn=978-1683901013}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Krasniewicz|first=Louise|title=Walt Disney: A Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZ3vTgpHgFoC&pg=PP1|year=2010|publisher=Greenwood Publishing|location=Santa Barbara, CA|isbn=978-0-313-35830-2}} | |||
* {{cite journal|last=Langer|first=Mark|title=Disney, Walt|url=http://www.anb.org/articles/18/18-00309.html|journal=American National Biography|access-date=April 11, 2016|year=2000}} {{subscription required}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Lee|first1=Newton|author-link1=Newton Lee|last2=Madej|first2=Krystina|title=Disney Stories: Getting to Digital|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E9GVJJqNjGAC&pg=PR4|year=2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|location=Tujunga, CA|isbn=978-1-4614-2101-6}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Mannheim|first=Steve|title=Walt Disney and the Quest for Community|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfufCwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon, Oxon|isbn=978-1-317-00058-7}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Mosley|first=Leonard|author-link=Leonard Mosley|title=Disney's World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eaKoZtJqPc0C&pg=PP1|year=1990|publisher=Scarborough House|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=978-1-58979-656-0}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Nichols|first=Catherine|title=Alice's Wonderland: A Visual Journey Through Lewis Carroll's Mad, Mad World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vPPUBAAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|year=2014|publisher=Race Point Publishing|location=New York|isbn=978-1-937994-97-6}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Norman|first1=Floyd|author-link=Floyd Norman|title=Animated Life: A Lifetime of Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Stories from a Disney Legend|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRz1f96psuwC&pg=PP1|year=2013|publisher=Focal Press|location=Burlington, MA|isbn=978-0-240-81805-4}} | |||
* {{cite journal|last1=Painter|first1=Nell Irvin|title=Was Marie White? The Trajectory of a Question in the United States|journal=The Journal of Southern History|date=February 2008|volume=74|issue=1|pages=3–30}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Pierce|first=John J.|title=Foundations of Science Fiction: A Study in Imagination and Evolution|url=https://archive.org/details/foundationsofsci00pier|url-access=registration|year=1987|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, CT|isbn=978-0-313-25455-0}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Schickel|first1=Richard|author-link=Richard Schickel|title=The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3yY3AQAAIAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Pavilion Books|location=London|isbn=978-1-85145-007-7}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Schmadel|first=Lutz D.|title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names|year=2003|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|location=Heidelberg|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VoJ5nUyIzCsC&pg=PP1|isbn=978-3-540-00238-3}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Telotte|first=Jay P.|title=The Mouse Machine: Disney and Technology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6pA45zYWgYQC&pg=PP1|date=June 2, 2008|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Urbana, IL|isbn=978-0-252-09263-3}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|author-link=Bob Thomas (reporter)|title=Walt Disney: An American Original|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIElNyj_cJkC|publisher=Disney Editions|year=1994|orig-year=1976|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7868-6027-2}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=Frank|author1-link=Frank Thomas (animator)|last2=Johnston|first2=Ollie|author2-link=Ollie Johnston|title=The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation|year=1995|orig-year=1981|location=New York|publisher=Hyperion|isbn=978-0-7868-6070-8}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Tomlinson|first=John|title=Cultural Imperialism: A Critical Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0CFMS0z5-gcC&pg=PP1|year=2001|publisher=A&C Black|location=London|isbn=978-0-8264-5013-5}} | |||
* {{cite journal|last1=Watts|first1=Steven|title=Walt Disney: Art and Politics in the American Century|journal=The Journal of American History|date=June 1995|volume=82|issue=1|pages=84–110|jstor=2081916|doi=10.2307/2081916 |issn=0021-8723}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Watts|first1=Steven|title=The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I6q6PinOBcQC&pg=PP1|year=2013|publisher=University of Missouri Press|location=Columbia, MO|isbn=978-0-8262-7300-0}} | |||
* {{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Pat|last2=Denney|first2=James|last3=Denney|first3=Jim|title=How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life|url=https://archive.org/details/howtobelikewalt0000will|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Health Communications|location=Deerfield Beach, FL|isbn=978-0-7573-0231-2}} | |||
* {{cite book|last=Withrow|first=Steven|title=Secrets of Digital Animation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XojpGlFvAq0C&pg=PP1|year=2009|publisher=RotoVision|location=Mies, Switzerland|isbn=978-2-88893-014-3}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 11:36, 5 January 2025
American animator, producer and entrepreneur (1901–1966) For other uses, see Walt Disney (disambiguation).
Walt Disney | |
---|---|
Disney in 1946 | |
Born | (1901-12-05)December 5, 1901 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Died | December 15, 1966(1966-12-15) (aged 65) Burbank, California, U.S. |
Occupations |
|
Title | President of The Walt Disney Company |
Spouse |
Lillian Bounds (m. 1925) |
Children | 2, including Diane Disney Miller |
Relatives | Disney family |
Awards | |
Walt Disney's voice Disney explaining each of the seven dwarfs from the trailer of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) | |
Signature | |
Walter Elias Disney (/ˈdɪzni/ DIZ-nee; December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned (22) and nominations (59) by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and have also been named as some of the greatest films ever by the American Film Institute.
Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and took a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio (now The Walt Disney Company) with his brother Roy. With Ub Iwerks, he developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success; he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, he became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, feature-length cartoons and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen in features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio, Fantasia (both 1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942), furthered the development of animated film. New animated and live-action films followed after World War II, including the critically successful Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Mary Poppins (1964), the last of which received five Academy Awards.
In the 1950s, Disney expanded into the theme park industry, and in July 1955 he opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California. To fund the project he diversified into television programs, such as Walt Disney's Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club. He was also involved in planning the 1959 Moscow Fair, the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the 1964 New York World's Fair. In 1965, he began development of another theme park, Disney World, the heart of which was to be a new type of city, the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT). Disney was a heavy smoker throughout his life and died of lung cancer in 1966 before either the park or the EPCOT project were completed.
Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in private but adopted a warm and outgoing public persona. He had high standards and high expectations of those with whom he worked. Although there have been accusations that he was racist or antisemitic, they have been contradicted by many who knew him. Historiography of Disney has taken a variety of perspectives, ranging from views of him as a purveyor of homely patriotic values to being a representative of American cultural imperialism. Widely considered to be one of the most influential cultural figures of the 20th century, Disney remains an important presence in the history of animation and in the cultural history of the United States, where he is acknowledged as a national cultural icon. His film work continues to be shown and adapted, the Disney theme parks have grown in size and number around the world and his company has grown to become one of the world's largest mass media and entertainment conglomerates.
Early life
Disney was born on December 5, 1901, at 1249 Tripp Avenue, in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood. He was the fourth son of Elias Disney—born in the Province of Canada, to Irish parents—and Flora (née Call), an American of German and English descent. Aside from Walt, Elias and Flora's sons were Herbert, Raymond and Roy; and the couple had a fifth child, Ruth, in December 1903. In 1906, when Disney was four, the family moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri, where his uncle Robert had just purchased land. In Marceline, Disney developed his interest in drawing when he was paid to draw the horse of a retired neighborhood doctor. Elias was a subscriber to the Appeal to Reason newspaper, and Disney practiced drawing by copying the front-page cartoons of Ryan Walker. He also began to develop an ability to work with watercolors and crayons. He lived near the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line and became enamored with trains. He and his younger sister Ruth started school at the same time at the Park School in Marceline in late 1909. The Disney family were active members of a Congregational church.
In 1911, the Disneys moved to Kansas City, Missouri. There, Disney attended the Benton Grammar School, where he met fellow-student Walter Pfeiffer, who came from a family of theatre fans and introduced him to the world of vaudeville and motion pictures. Before long, Disney was spending more time at the Pfeiffers' house than at home. Elias had purchased a newspaper delivery route for The Kansas City Star and Kansas City Times. Disney and his brother Roy woke up at 4:30 every morning to deliver the Times before school and repeated the round for the evening Star after school. The schedule was exhausting, and Disney often received poor grades after falling asleep in class, but he continued his paper route for more than six years. He attended Saturday courses at the Kansas City Art Institute and also took a correspondence course in cartooning.
In 1917, Elias bought stock in a Chicago jelly producer, the O-Zell Company, and moved back to the city with his family. Disney enrolled at McKinley High School and became the cartoonist of the school newspaper, drawing patriotic pictures about World War I; he also took night courses at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In mid-1918, he attempted to join the United States Army to fight the Germans, but he was rejected as too young. After forging the date of birth on his birth certificate, he joined the Red Cross in September 1918 as an ambulance driver. He was shipped to France but arrived in November, after the armistice. He drew cartoons on the side of his ambulance for decoration and had some of his work published in the army newspaper Stars and Stripes. He returned to Kansas City in October 1919, where he worked as an apprentice artist at the Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio, where he drew commercial illustrations for advertising, theater programs and catalogs, and befriended fellow artist Ub Iwerks.
Career
Early career: 1920–1928
In January 1920, as Pesmen-Rubin's revenue declined after Christmas, Disney, aged 18, and Iwerks were laid off. They started their own business, the short-lived Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists. Failing to attract many customers, Disney and Iwerks agreed that Disney should leave temporarily to earn money at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, run by A. V. Cauger; the following month Iwerks, who was not able to run their business alone, also joined. The company produced commercials using the cutout animation technique. Disney became interested in animation, although he preferred drawn cartoons such as Mutt and Jeff and Max Fleischer's Out of the Inkwell. With the assistance of a borrowed book on animation and a camera, he began experimenting at home. He came to the conclusion that cel animation was more promising than the cutout method. Unable to persuade Cauger to try cel animation at the company, Disney opened a new business with a co-worker from the Film Ad Co, Fred Harman. Their main client was the local Newman Theater, and the short cartoons they produced were sold as "Newman's Laugh-O-Grams". Disney studied Paul Terry's Aesop's Fables as a model, and the first six "Laugh-O-Grams" were modernized fairy tales.
In May 1921, the success of the "Laugh-O-Grams" led to the establishment of Laugh-O-Gram Studio, for which he hired more animators, including Fred Harman's brother Hugh, Rudolf Ising and Iwerks. The Laugh-O-Grams cartoons did not provide enough income to keep the company solvent, so Disney started production of Alice's Wonderland—based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland—which combined live action with animation; he cast Virginia Davis in the title role. The result, a 12½-minute, one-reel film, was completed too late to save Laugh-O-Gram Studio, which went into bankruptcy in 1923.
See also: Walt Disney Animation StudiosDisney moved to Hollywood in July 1923 at 21 years old. Although New York was the center of the cartoon industry, he was attracted to Los Angeles because his brother Roy was convalescing from tuberculosis there, and he hoped to become a live-action film director. Disney's efforts to sell Alice's Wonderland were in vain until he heard from New York film distributor Margaret J. Winkler. She was losing the rights to both the Out of the Inkwell and Felix the Cat cartoons, and needed a new series. In October, they signed a contract for six Alice comedies, with an option for two further series of six episodes each. Disney and his brother Roy formed the Disney Brothers Studio—which later became The Walt Disney Company—to produce the films; they persuaded Davis and her family to relocate to Hollywood to continue production, with Davis on contract at $100 a month. In July 1924, Disney also hired Iwerks, persuading him to relocate to Hollywood from Kansas City. In 1926, the first official Walt Disney Studio was established at 2725 Hyperion Avenue; the building was demolished in 1940.
By 1926, Winkler's role in the distribution of the Alice series had been handed over to her husband, the film producer Charles Mintz, although the relationship between him and Disney was sometimes strained. The series ran until July 1927, by which time Disney had begun to tire of it and wanted to move away from the mixed format to all animation. After Mintz requested new material to distribute through Universal Pictures, Disney and Iwerks created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character Disney wanted to be "peppy, alert, saucy and venturesome, keeping him also neat and trim".
In February 1928, Disney hoped to negotiate a larger fee for producing the Oswald series, but found Mintz wanting to reduce the payments. Mintz had also persuaded many of the artists involved to work directly for him, including Harman, Ising, Carman Maxwell and Friz Freleng. Disney also found out that Universal owned the intellectual property rights to Oswald. Mintz threatened to start his own studio and produce the series himself if Disney refused to accept the reductions. Disney declined Mintz's ultimatum and lost most of his animation staff, except Iwerks, who chose to remain with him.
Creation of Mickey Mouse and following successes: 1928–1934
To replace Oswald, Disney and Iwerks developed Mickey Mouse, possibly inspired by a pet mouse that Disney had adopted while working in his Laugh-O-Gram studio, although the origins of the character are unclear. Disney's original choice of name was Mortimer Mouse, but his wife Lillian thought it too pompous, and suggested Mickey instead. Iwerks revised Disney's provisional sketches to make the character easier to animate. Disney, who had begun to distance himself from the animation process, provided Mickey's voice until 1947. In the words of one Disney employee, "Ub designed Mickey's physical appearance, but Walt gave him his soul."
Mickey Mouse first appeared in May 1928 as a single test screening of the short Plane Crazy, but it, and the second feature, The Gallopin' Gaucho, failed to find a distributor. Following the 1927 sensation The Jazz Singer, Disney used synchronized sound on the third short, Steamboat Willie, to create the first post-produced sound cartoon. After the animation was complete, Disney signed a contract with the former executive of Universal Pictures, Pat Powers, to use the "Powers Cinephone" recording system; Cinephone became the new distributor for Disney's early sound cartoons, which soon became popular.
To improve the quality of the music, Disney hired the professional composer and arranger Carl Stalling, on whose suggestion the Silly Symphony series was developed, providing stories through the use of music; the first in the series, The Skeleton Dance (1929), was drawn and animated entirely by Iwerks. Also hired at this time were several artists, both local and from New York. Both the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphonies series were successful, but Disney and his brother felt they were not receiving their rightful share of profits from Powers. In 1930, Disney tried to trim costs from the process by urging Iwerks to abandon the practice of drawing every frame individually in favor of the more efficient technique of drawing key poses and letting assistants sketch the inbetween poses. Disney asked Powers for an increase in payments for the cartoons. Powers refused and signed Iwerks to work for him; Stalling resigned shortly afterwards, thinking that without Iwerks, the Disney Studio would close. Disney had a nervous breakdown in October 1931—which he blamed on the machinations of Powers and his own overwork—so he and Lillian took an extended holiday to Cuba and a cruise to Panama to recover.
With the loss of Powers as distributor, Disney studios signed a contract with Columbia Pictures to distribute the Mickey Mouse cartoons, which became increasingly popular, including internationally. Disney and his crew also introduced new cartoon stars like Pluto in 1930, Goofy in 1932 and Donald Duck in 1934. Always keen to embrace new technology and encouraged by his new contract with United Artists, Disney filmed Flowers and Trees (1932) in full-color three-strip Technicolor; he was also able to negotiate a deal giving him the sole right to use the three-strip process until August 31, 1935. All subsequent Silly Symphony cartoons were in color. Flowers and Trees was popular with audiences and won the inaugural Academy Award for best Short Subject (Cartoon) at the 1932 ceremony. Disney had been nominated for another film in that category, Mickey's Orphans, and received an Honorary Award "for the creation of Mickey Mouse".
In 1933, Disney produced The Three Little Pigs, a film described by the media historian Adrian Danks as "the most successful short animation of all time". The film won Disney another Academy Award in the Short Subject (Cartoon) category. The film's success led to a further increase in the studio's staff, which numbered nearly 200 by the end of the year. Disney realized the importance of telling emotionally gripping stories that would interest the audience, and he invested in a "story department" separate from the animators, with storyboard artists who would detail the plots of Disney's films.
Golden age of animation: 1934–1941
By 1934, Disney had become dissatisfied with producing cartoon shorts, and believed a feature-length cartoon would be more profitable. The studio began the four-year production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, based on the fairy tale. When news leaked out about the project, many in the film industry predicted it would bankrupt the company; industry insiders nicknamed it "Disney's Folly". The film, which was the first animated feature made in full color and sound, cost $1.5 million to produce—three times over budget. To ensure the animation was as realistic as possible, Disney sent his animators on courses at the Chouinard Art Institute; he brought animals into the studio and hired actors so that the animators could study realistic movement. To portray the changing perspective of the background as a camera moved through a scene, Disney's animators developed a multiplane camera which allowed drawings on pieces of glass to be set at various distances from the camera, creating an illusion of depth. The glass could be moved to create the impression of a camera passing through the scene. The first work created on the camera—a Silly Symphony called The Old Mill (1937)—won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film because of its impressive visual power. Although Snow White had been largely finished by the time the multiplane camera had been completed, Disney ordered some scenes be re-drawn to use the new effects.
Snow White premiered in December 1937 to high praise from critics and audiences. The film became the most successful motion picture of 1938 and by May 1939 its total gross of $6.5 million made it the most successful sound film made to that date. Disney won another Honorary Academy Award, which consisted of one full-sized and seven miniature Oscar statuettes. The success of Snow White heralded one of the most productive eras for the studio; the Walt Disney Family Museum calls the following years "the 'Golden Age of Animation'". With work on Snow White finished, the studio began producing Pinocchio in early 1938 and Fantasia in November of the same year. Both films were released in 1940, and neither performed well at the box office—partly because revenues from Europe had dropped following the start of World War II in 1939. The studio incurred a loss on both pictures and was deeply in debt by the end of February 1941.
In response to the financial crisis, Disney and his brother Roy started the company's first public stock offering in 1940, and implemented heavy salary cuts. The latter measure, and Disney's sometimes high-handed and insensitive manner of dealing with staff, led to a 1941 animators' strike which lasted five weeks. While a federal mediator from the National Labor Relations Board negotiated with the two sides, Disney accepted an offer from the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to make a goodwill trip to South America, ensuring he was absent during a resolution he knew would be unfavorable to the studio. Due to the strike—and the financial state of the company—several animators left the studio, and Disney's relationship with other members of staff was permanently strained as a result. The strike temporarily interrupted the studio's next production, Dumbo (1941), which Disney produced in a simple and inexpensive manner; the film received a positive reaction from audiences and critics alike.
World War II and beyond: 1941–1950
Shortly after the release of Dumbo in October 1941, the U.S. entered World War II. Disney formed the Walt Disney Training Films Unit within the company to produce instruction films for the military such as Four Methods of Flush Riveting and Aircraft Production Methods. Disney also met with Henry Morgenthau Jr., the Secretary of the Treasury, and agreed to produce short Donald Duck cartoons to promote war bonds. Disney also produced several propaganda productions, including shorts such as Der Fuehrer's Face—which won an Academy Award—and the 1943 feature film Victory Through Air Power.
The military films generated only enough revenue to cover costs, and the feature film Bambi—which had been in production since 1937—underperformed on its release in August 1942, and lost $200,000 at the box office. On top of the low earnings from Pinocchio and Fantasia, the company had debts of $4 million with the Bank of America in 1944. At a meeting with Bank of America executives to discuss the future of the company, the bank's chairman and founder, Amadeo Giannini, told his executives, "I've been watching the Disneys' pictures quite closely because I knew we were lending them money far above the financial risk. ... They're good this year, they're good next year, and they're good the year after. ... You have to relax and give them time to market their product." Disney's production of short films decreased in the late 1940s, coinciding with increasing competition in the animation market from Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Roy Disney, for financial reasons, suggested more combined animation and live-action productions. In 1948, Disney initiated a series of popular live-action nature films, titled True-Life Adventures, with Seal Island the first; the film won the Academy Award in the Best Short Subject (Two-Reel) category.
Theme parks, television and other interests: 1950–1966
In early 1950, Disney produced Cinderella, his studio's first animated feature in eight years. It was popular with critics and theater audiences. Costing $2.2 million to produce, it earned nearly $8 million in its first year. Disney was less involved than he had been with previous pictures because of his involvement in his first entirely live-action feature, Treasure Island (1950), which was shot in Britain, as was The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952). Other all-live-action features followed, many of which had patriotic themes. He continued to produce full-length animated features too, including Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953). From the early to mid-1950s, Disney began to devote less attention to the animation department, entrusting most of its operations to his key animators, the Nine Old Men, although he was always present at story meetings. Instead, he started concentrating on other ventures. Around the same time, Disney established his own film distribution division Buena Vista, replacing his most recent distributor RKO Pictures.
For several years Disney had been considering building a theme park. When he visited Griffith Park in Los Angeles with his daughters, he wanted to be in a clean, unspoiled park, where both children and their parents could have fun. He visited the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was heavily influenced by the cleanliness and layout of the park. In March 1952, he received zoning permission to build a theme park in Burbank, near the Disney studios. This site proved too small, and a larger plot in Anaheim, 35 miles (56 km) south of the studio, was purchased. To distance the project from the studio—which might attract the criticism of shareholders—Disney formed WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering) and used his own money to fund a group of designers and animators to work on the plans; those involved became known as "Imagineers". After obtaining bank funding he invited other stockholders, American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres—part of American Broadcasting Company (ABC)—and Western Printing and Lithographing Company. In mid-1954, Disney sent his Imagineers to every amusement park in the U.S. to analyze what worked and what pitfalls or problems there were in the various locations and incorporated their findings into his design. Construction work started in July 1954, and Disneyland opened in July 1955; the opening ceremony was broadcast on ABC, which reached 70 million viewers. The park was designed as a series of themed lands, linked by the central Main Street, U.S.A.—a replica of the main street in his hometown of Marceline. The connected themed areas were Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. The park also contained the narrow gauge Disneyland Railroad that linked the lands; around the outside of the park was a high berm to separate the park from the outside world. An editorial in The New York Times considered that Disney had "tastefully combined some of the pleasant things of yesterday with fantasy and dreams of tomorrow". Although there were early minor problems with the park, it was a success, and after a month's operation, Disneyland was receiving over 20,000 visitors a day; by the end of its first year, it attracted 3.6 million guests.
The money from ABC was contingent on Disney television programs. The studio had been involved in a successful television special on Christmas Day 1950 about the making of Alice in Wonderland. Roy believed the program added millions to the box office takings. In a March 1951 letter to shareholders, he wrote that "television can be a most powerful selling aid for us, as well as a source of revenue. It will probably be on this premise that we enter television when we do". In 1954, after the Disneyland funding had been agreed, ABC broadcast Walt Disney's Disneyland, an anthology consisting of animated cartoons, live-action features and other material from the studio's library. The show was successful in terms of ratings and profits, earning an audience share of over 50%. In April 1955, Newsweek called the series an "American institution". ABC was pleased with the ratings, leading to Disney's first daily television program, The Mickey Mouse Club, a variety show catering specifically to children. The program was accompanied by merchandising through various companies (Western Printing, for example, had been producing coloring books and comics for over 20 years, and produced several items connected to the show). One of the segments of Disneyland consisted of the five-part miniseries Davy Crockett which, according to Disney biographer Neal Gabler, "became an overnight sensation". The show's theme song, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett", became internationally popular and ten million records were sold. As a result, Disney formed his own record production and distribution entity, Disneyland Records.
As well as the construction of Disneyland, Disney worked on other projects away from the studio. He was consultant to the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow; Disney Studios' contribution was America the Beautiful, a 19-minute film in the 360-degree Circarama theater that was one of the most popular attractions. The following year he acted as the chairman of the Pageantry Committee for the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, where he designed the opening, closing and medal ceremonies. He was one of twelve investors in the Celebrity Sports Center, which opened in 1960 in Glendale, Colorado; he and Roy bought out the others in 1962, making the Disney company the sole owner.
Despite the demands wrought by non-studio projects, Disney continued to work on film and television projects. In 1955, he was involved in "Man in Space", an episode of the Disneyland series, which was made in collaboration with NASA rocket designer Wernher von Braun. Disney also oversaw aspects of the full-length features Lady and the Tramp (the first animated film in CinemaScope) in 1955, Sleeping Beauty (the first animated film in Technirama 70 mm film) in 1959, One Hundred and One Dalmatians (the first animated feature film to use Xerox cels) in 1961, and The Sword in the Stone in 1963.
In 1964, Disney produced Mary Poppins, based on the book series by P. L. Travers; he had been trying to acquire the rights to the story since the 1940s. It became the most successful Disney film of the 1960s, although Travers disliked the film intensely and regretted having sold the rights. The same year he also became involved in plans to expand the California Institute of the Arts (colloquially called CalArts), and had an architect draw up blueprints for a new building.
Disney provided four exhibits for the 1964 New York World's Fair, for which he obtained funding from selected corporate sponsors. For PepsiCo, who planned a tribute to UNICEF, Disney developed It's a Small World, a boat ride with audio-animatronic dolls depicting children of the world; Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln contained an animatronic Abraham Lincoln giving excerpts from his speeches; Carousel of Progress promoted the importance of electricity; and Ford's Magic Skyway portrayed the progress of mankind. Elements of all four exhibits—principally concepts and technology—were re-installed in Disneyland, although It's a Small World is the ride that most closely resembles the original.
During the early to mid-1960s, Disney developed plans for a ski resort in Mineral King, a glacial valley in California's Sierra Nevada. He hired experts such as the Olympic ski coach and ski-area designer Willy Schaeffler. With income from Disneyland accounting for an increasing proportion of the studio's income, Disney continued to look for venues for other attractions. In 1963, he presented a project to create a theme park in downtown St. Louis, Missouri; he initially reached an agreement with the Civic Center Redevelopment Corp, which controlled the land, but the deal later collapsed over funding. In late 1965, he announced plans to develop another theme park to be called "Disney World" (now Walt Disney World), a few miles southwest of Orlando, Florida. Disney World was to include the "Magic Kingdom"—a larger and more elaborate version of Disneyland—plus golf courses and resort hotels. The heart of Disney World was to be the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT), which he described as:
an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise.
During 1966, Disney cultivated businesses willing to sponsor EPCOT. He received a story credit in the 1966 film Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. as Retlaw Yensid, his name spelt backwards. He increased his involvement in the studio's films, and was heavily involved in the story development of The Jungle Book, the live-action musical feature The Happiest Millionaire (both 1967) and the animated short Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968).
Illness, death and aftermath
Disney had been a heavy smoker since World War I. He did not use cigarettes with filters and had smoked a pipe as a young man. In early November 1966, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was treated with cobalt therapy. On November 30, he felt unwell and was taken by ambulance from his home to St. Joseph Hospital where, on December 15, at age 65, he died of circulatory collapse caused by the cancer. His remains were cremated two days later and his ashes interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
The release of The Jungle Book and The Happiest Millionaire in 1967 raised the total number of feature films that Disney had been involved in to 81. When Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was released in 1968, it earned Disney an Academy Award in the Short Subject (Cartoon) category, awarded posthumously. After Disney's death, his studios continued to produce live-action films prolifically while the quality of their animated films was allowed to languish. In the late 1980s, this trend was reversed in what The New York Times describes as the "Disney Renaissance" that began with The Little Mermaid (1989). Disney's studios continue to produce successful film, television and stage entertainment.
Disney's plans for the futuristic city of EPCOT did not come to fruition. After Disney's death, his brother Roy deferred his retirement to take full control of the Disney companies. He changed the focus of the project from a town to an attraction. At the inauguration in 1971, Roy dedicated Walt Disney World to his brother. Walt Disney World expanded with the opening of Epcot Center in 1982; Walt Disney's vision of a functional city was replaced by a park more akin to a permanent world's fair. In 2009, the Walt Disney Family Museum, designed by Disney's daughter Diane and her son Walter E. D. Miller, opened in the Presidio of San Francisco. Thousands of artifacts from Disney's life and career are on display, including numerous awards that he received. In 2014, the Disney theme parks around the world hosted approximately 134 million visitors.
Personal life and character
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Interview with Neal Gabler on Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, November 19, 2006, C-SPAN |
Early in 1925, Disney hired an ink artist, Lillian Bounds. They married in July of that year, at her brother's house in her home town of Lewiston, Idaho. The marriage was generally happy, according to Lillian, although according to Disney's biographer Neal Gabler she did not "accept Walt's decisions meekly or his status unquestionably, and she admitted that he was always telling people 'how henpecked he is'." Lillian had little interest in films or the Hollywood social scene and she was, in the words of the historian Steven Watts, "content with household management and providing support for her husband". Their marriage produced two daughters, Diane (born December 1933) and Sharon (adopted in December 1936, born six weeks previously). Within the family, neither Disney nor his wife hid the fact Sharon had been adopted, although they became annoyed if people outside the family raised the point. The Disneys were careful to keep their daughters out of the public eye as much as possible, particularly in the light of the Lindbergh kidnapping; Disney took steps to ensure his daughters were not photographed by the press.
In 1949, Disney and his family moved to a new home in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles. With the help of his friends Ward and Betty Kimball, who already had their own backyard railroad, Disney developed blueprints and immediately set to work on creating a miniature live steam railroad for his back yard. The name of the railroad, Carolwood Pacific Railroad, came from his home's location on Carolwood Drive. The miniature working steam locomotive was built by Disney Studios engineer Roger E. Broggie, and Disney named it Lilly Belle after his wife; after three years Disney ordered it into storage due to a series of accidents involving his guests.
Disney grew more politically conservative as he got older. A Democratic Party supporter until the 1940 presidential election, when he switched allegiance to the Republican Party, he became a generous donor to Thomas E. Dewey's 1944 bid for the presidency. Disney engaged in red-baiting in response to organized labor actions against his company. In 1941, he paid for a full page ad in Variety claiming that "Communistic agitation" was responsible for a cartoonist strike against him. In 1946, he was a founding member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, an organization who stated they "believ in, and like, the American Way of Life ... we find ourselves in sharp revolt against a rising tide of Communism, Fascism and kindred beliefs, that seek by subversive means to undermine and change this way of life". In 1947, during the Second Red Scare, Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), where he branded Herbert Sorrell, David Hilberman and William Pomerance, former animators and labor union organizers, as communist agitators; Disney stated that the 1941 strike led by them was part of an organized communist effort to gain influence in Hollywood.
The New York Times reported in 1993 that Disney had been an FBI informant passing secret information to J. Edgar Hoover about communist activities in Hollywood. However, while Walt Disney was made a "Special Agent in Charge Contact" in 1954, FBI officials claim this was largely an honorary title regularly awarded to members of a community who might be of use to the bureau. The FBI declassified and released Walt Disney's file on their website, and revealed that much of Disney's correspondence with the bureau (via studio personnel) was in relation to the production of educational films; such as a certain installment of the "Career Day" newsreel segments on The Mickey Mouse Club focusing on the bureau (which aired in January 1958), as well as an unmade 1961 educational short warning children about the dangers of child molestation.
Disney's public persona was very different from his actual personality. Playwright Robert E. Sherwood described him as "almost painfully shy ... diffident" and self-deprecating. According to his biographer Richard Schickel, Disney hid his shy and insecure personality behind his public identity. Kimball argues that Disney "played the role of a bashful tycoon who was embarrassed in public" and knew that he was doing so. Disney acknowledged the façade and told a friend that "I'm not Walt Disney. I do a lot of things Walt Disney would not do. Walt Disney does not smoke. I smoke. Walt Disney does not drink. I drink." Critic Otis Ferguson, in The New Republic, called the private Disney: "common and everyday, not inaccessible, not in a foreign language, not suppressed or sponsored or anything. Just Disney." Many of those with whom Disney worked commented that he gave his staff little encouragement due to his exceptionally high expectations. Norman recalls that when Disney said "That'll work", it was an indication of high praise. Instead of direct approval, Disney gave high-performing staff financial bonuses, or recommended certain individuals to others, expecting that his praise would be passed on.
Reputation
Views of Disney and his work have changed over the decades, and there have been polarized opinions. Mark Langer, in the American Dictionary of National Biography, writes that "Earlier evaluations of Disney hailed him as a patriot, folk artist, and popularizer of culture. More recently, Disney has been regarded as a paradigm of American imperialism and intolerance, as well as a debaser of culture." Steven Watts wrote that some denounce Disney "as a cynical manipulator of cultural and commercial formulas", while PBS records that critics have censured his work because of its "smooth façade of sentimentality and stubborn optimism, its feel-good re-write of American history".
Disney has been accused of antisemitism for having given Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl a tour of his studio a month after Kristallnacht. Riefenstahl's invitation was solicited to Disney by painter and ballet dancer Hurbert "Jay" Stowitts, a close friend of Riefenstahl, and a former colleague of Leopold Stokowski who at the time was collaborating with Disney on Fantasia. A month later a spokesperson for Disney told the New York Daily News: "Miss Riefenstahl got into the studio, but she crashed the gate. A Los Angeles man who is known to Disney obtained permission to take a party through the plant. Leni was in the party. If we had known it in advance she wouldn't have got in." Animation historian Jim Korkis, theorizes that Disney may have also met with Riefenstahl for financial reasons: as an attempt by Disney to recover over 135,000 Reichsmarks owed from his German film distributor and to get the ban on Disney films lifted in Germany. Animator Art Babbitt, organizer behind the 1941 strike at the studio and who held a well-known grudge against Disney, claimed in his later years that he saw Disney and his lawyer attend meetings of the German American Bund, a pro-Nazi organization, during the late 1930s. However, according to Disney biographer Neal Gabler: "...that was highly unlikely, not only because Walt had little enough time for his family, much less political meetings, but because he had no real political leanings at the time." Disney's office appointment book makes no mention of him attending Bund rallies, and no other employee ever claimed he attended such meetings. According to Gabler, Disney was apolitical and "something of a political naïf" during the 1930s and he had previously told one reporter – as tensions in Europe were brewing – that America should "let 'em fight their own wars" claiming he had "learned my lesson" from World War I. Disney also demonstrated his political naivete in an October 1933 article for Overland Monthly claiming: "Of course there must be millions of people who have a downright feeling of animosity for our M. Mouse. Mr. A. Hitler, the Nazi old thing, says that Mickey's silly. Imagine that! Well, Mickey is going to save Mr. A Hitler from drowning or something some day. Just wait and see if he doesn't. Then won't Mr. A. Hitler be ashamed!" In late 1939, when Disney was discussing plans to move his staff to a newly built studio in Burbank, one employee asked him how the recently begun War in Europe would affect its construction - to which Disney responded by asking: "What war?" During World War II, Disney was actively involved in making propaganda films against the Nazis, both for the general public (such as Der Fuehrer's Face and Education for Death), as well as educational and training films exclusively for the United States Government. As early as October 1940 (over a year before America's entry into the war), Disney began enlisting contracts from various branches of the United States Armed Forces to make training films, and in March 1941 he held a luncheon with Government representatives formally offering his services "...for national defence industries at cost and without profit. In making this offer, I am motivated solely by a desire to help as best I can in the present emergency." These training films contained highly classified information and required the highest level of security clearance to be viewed. If Disney had any previous sympathies toward Nazism, the U.S. Government would have disqualified him from making these films.
The Walt Disney Family Museum acknowledges that ethnic stereotypes common to films of the 1930s were included in some early cartoons but also points out that Disney donated regularly to Jewish charities and was named the 1955 "Man of the Year" by the B'nai B'rith chapter in Beverly Hills. The organization itself found no evidence of antisemitism on Disney's part. The plaque read: "For exemplifying the best tenets of American citizenship and inter-group understanding and interpreting into action the ideals of B'nai B'rith." Disney had numerous Jewish employees, many of whom were in influential positions. None of Disney's employees – including animator Art Babbitt, who disliked Disney intensely – ever accused him of making antisemitic slurs or taunts. Jewish story man Joe Grant, who worked closely with Disney throughout the 1930s and 1940s stated, "As far as I'm concerned, there was no evidence of antisemitism. I think the whole idea should be put to rest and buried deep. He was not antisemitic. Some of the most influential people at the studio were Jewish. It's much ado about nothing. I never once had a problem with him in that way." In addition songwriter Robert B. Sherman recalled that when one of Disney's lawyers made antisemitic remarks towards him and his brother Richard, Disney defended them and fired the attorney. Gabler, the first writer to gain unrestricted access to the Disney archives, concludes that the available evidence does not support accusations of antisemitism and that Disney largely got that reputation due to his association with Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals – an anti-Communist organization formed in 1944, that was rumored to have antisemitic undertones. Gabler concludes that "...though Walt himself, in my estimation, was not antisemitic, nevertheless, he willingly allied himself with people who were antisemitic, and that reputation stuck. He was never really able to expunge it throughout his life." Disney distanced himself from the Motion Picture Alliance, and had no involvement with the organization after 1947. According to Disney's daughter Diane Disney-Miller, her sister Sharon dated a Jewish boyfriend for a period of time, to which her father raised no objections and even reportedly said, "Sharon, I think it's wonderful how these Jewish families have accepted you."
Disney has also been accused of other forms of racism because some of his productions released between the 1930s and 1950s contain racially insensitive material. Gabler argues that "Walt Disney was no racist. He never, either publicly or privately, made disparaging remarks about blacks or asserted white superiority. Like most white Americans of his generation, however, he was racially insensitive." The feature film Song of the South was criticized by contemporary film critics, the NAACP, and others for its perpetuation of black stereotypes, but during filming Disney became close friends with its star, James Baskett, describing him in a letter to his sister Ruth as "the best actor, I believe, to be discovered in years." Disney and Baskett stayed in contact long after the film's production, with Walt even sending him gifts. When Baskett was in failing health, Disney not only began financially supporting him and his family, but also campaigned successfully for an Honorary Academy Award for his performance, making Baskett the first black actor so honored. Baskett died shortly afterward, and his widow wrote Disney a letter of gratitude for his support claiming he had been a "friend in deed and certainly have been in need." Floyd Norman, the studio's first black animator who worked closely with Disney during the 1950s and 1960s, said, "Not once did I observe a hint of the racist behavior Walt Disney was often accused of after his death. His treatment of people—and by this I mean all people—can only be called exemplary."
Watts argues that many of Disney's post-World War II films "legislated a kind of cultural Marshall Plan. They nourished a genial cultural imperialism that magically overran the rest of the globe with the values, expectations, and goods of a prosperous middle-class United States." Film historian Jay P. Telotte acknowledges that many see Disney's studio as an "agent of manipulation and repression", although he observes that it has "labored throughout its history to link its name with notions of fun, family, and fantasy". John Tomlinson, in his study Cultural Imperialism, examines the work of Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart, whose 1971 book Para leer al Pato Donald (transl. How to Read Donald Duck) identifies that there are "imperialist ... values 'concealed' behind the innocent, wholesome façade of the world of Walt Disney"; this, they argue, is a powerful tool as "it presents itself as harmless fun for consumption by children." Tomlinson views their argument as flawed, as "they simply assume that reading American comics, seeing adverts, watching pictures of the affluent ... lifestyle has a direct pedagogic effect".
Disney has been portrayed numerous times in fictional works. H. G. Wells references Disney in his 1938 novel The Holy Terror, in which World Dictator Rud fears that Donald Duck is meant to lampoon the dictator. Disney was portrayed by Len Cariou in the 1995 made-for-TV film A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello Story, and by Tom Hanks in the 2013 film Saving Mr. Banks. In 2001, the German author Peter Stephan Jungk published Der König von Amerika (trans: The King of America), a fictional work of Disney's later years that re-imagines him as a power-hungry racist. The composer Philip Glass later adapted the book into the opera The Perfect American (2013).
Several commentators have described Disney as a cultural icon. On Disney's death, journalism professor Ralph S. Izard comments that the values in Disney's films are those "considered valuable in American Christian society", which include "individualism, decency, ... love for our fellow man, fair play and toleration". Disney's obituary in The Times calls the films "wholesome, warm-hearted and entertaining ... of incomparable artistry and of touching beauty". Journalist Bosley Crowther argues that Disney's "achievement as a creator of entertainment for an almost unlimited public and as a highly ingenious merchandiser of his wares can rightly be compared to the most successful industrialists in history." Correspondent Alistair Cooke calls Disney a "folk-hero ... the Pied Piper of Hollywood", while Gabler considers Disney "reshaped the culture and the American consciousness". In the American Dictionary of National Biography, Langer writes:
Disney remains the central figure in the history of animation. Through technological innovations and alliances with governments and corporations, he transformed a minor studio in a marginal form of communication into a multinational leisure industry giant. Despite his critics, his vision of a modern, corporate utopia as an extension of traditional American values has possibly gained greater currency in the years after his death.
In December 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opened a three-month special exhibit in honor of Disney titled "Inspiring Walt Disney".
Awards and honors
See also: List of Academy Awards for Walt DisneyDisney received 59 Academy Award nominations, including 22 awards: both totals are records. He was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, but did not win, but he was presented with two Special Achievement Awards—for Bambi (1942) and The Living Desert (1953)—and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. He also received four Emmy Award nominations, winning once, for Best Producer for the Disneyland television series. Several of his films are included in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant": Steamboat Willie, The Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Pinocchio, Bambi, Dumbo and Mary Poppins. In 1998, the American Film Institute published a list of the 100 greatest American films, according to industry experts; the list included Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (at number 49), and Fantasia (at 58).
In February 1960, Disney was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame with two stars, one for motion pictures and the other for his television work; Mickey Mouse was given his own star for motion pictures in 1978, and Disneyland received one in 2005. Disney was also inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1986, the California Hall of Fame in December 2006, was the inaugural recipient of a star on the Anaheim walk of stars in 2014, and was a member of the first Orange County Hall of Fame class in 2023.
The Walt Disney Family Museum records that he "along with members of his staff, received more than 950 honors and citations from throughout the world". He was made a Chevalier in the French Légion d'honneur in 1935, and in 1952 he was awarded the country's highest artistic decoration, the Officer d'Academie. Other national awards include Thailand's Order of the Crown (1960); Germany's Order of Merit (1956), Brazil's Order of the Southern Cross (1941), and Mexico's Order of the Aztec Eagle (1943). In the United States, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on September 14, 1964, and on May 24, 1968, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. He received the Showman of the World Award from the National Association of Theatre Owners, and in 1955, the National Audubon Society awarded Disney its highest honor, the Audubon Medal, for promoting the "appreciation and understanding of nature" through his True-Life Adventures nature films. A minor planet discovered in 1980 by astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina, was named 4017 Disneya, and he was also awarded honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Notes and references
Notes
- 22 competitive, 4 honorary
- In 1909, in a renumbering exercise, the property's address changed to 2156 North Tripp Avenue.
- Disney was a descendant of Robert d'Isigny, a Frenchman who had traveled to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. The family anglicized the d'Isigny name to "Disney" and settled in the English village now known as Norton Disney in the East Midlands.
- The book, Edwin G. Lutz's Animated Cartoons: How They Are Made, Their Origin and Development (1920), was the only one in the local library on the subject; the camera he borrowed from Cauger.
- Cutout animation is the technique of producing cartoons by animating objects cut from paper, material or photographs and photographing them moving incrementally. Cel animation is the method of drawing or painting onto transparent celluloid sheets ("cels"), with each sheet an incremental movement on from the previous.
- In 2006, the Walt Disney Company finally re-acquired Oswald the Lucky Rabbit when its subsidiary ESPN purchased rights to the character, along with other properties from NBCUniversal.
- Several stories about the origins exist. Disney's biographer, Bob Thomas, observes that "The birth of Mickey Mouse is obscured in legend, much of it created by Walt Disney himself."
- The name Mortimer Mouse was used in the 1936 cartoon Mickey's Rival as a potential love-interest for Minnie Mouse. He was portrayed as a "humorous denigration of the smooth city slicker" with a smart car, but failed to win over Minnie from the more homespun Mickey.
- By 1931 he was called Michael Maus in Germany, Michel Souris in France, Ratón Mickey in Spain and Miki Kuchi in Japan.
- $1.5 million in 1937 equates to $25 million in 2023; $6.5 million in 1939 equates to $112 million in 2023, according to calculations based on the US GDP deflator measure of inflation.
- The citation for the award reads: "To Walt Disney for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon."
- The trip inspired two combined live-action and animation works Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1945).
- $4 million in 1944 equates to $69,232,514 in 2025, according to calculations based on the Consumer Price Index measure of inflation.
- These included Make Mine Music (1946), Song of the South (1946), Melody Time (1948) and So Dear to My Heart (1949).
- $2.2 million in 1950 equates to $27,860,581 in 2025; $8 million in 1950 equates to $101,311,203 in 2025, according to calculations based on the Consumer Price Index measure of inflation.
- The patriotic films include Johnny Tremain (1957), Old Yeller (1957), Tonka (1958), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Polyanna (1960).
- The Nine Old Men consisted of Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, Les Clark, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Marc Davis, Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas and John Lounsbery.
- Even repeats of the program proved more popular than all other television shows—aside from Lucille Ball's I Love Lucy; no ABC program had ever been in the top 25 before Disneyland.
- The program, which was produced by Ward Kimball, was nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the 1957 Awards.
- Disney's death in 1966, and opposition from conservationists, stopped the building of the resort.
- A long-standing urban legend maintains that Disney was cryonically frozen. Disney's daughter Diane later stated, "There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that my father, Walt Disney, wished to be frozen."
- Roy died two months later, in December 1971.
- One possible exception to the stable relationship was during the making Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), where the stresses and turmoil associated with the production led to the couple discussing divorce.
- Lillian had two miscarriages during the eight years between marriage and the birth of Diane; she suffered a further miscarriage shortly before the family adopted Sharon.
- Examples include The Three Little Pigs (in which the Big Bad Wolf comes to the door dressed as a Jewish peddler) and The Opry House (in which Mickey Mouse is dressed and dances as a Hasidic Jew).
- Other Jewish employees production manager Harry Tytle, and head of merchandising Kay Kamen, who once quipped that Disney's New York office had "more Jews than The Book of Leviticus"
- Examples include Mickey's Mellerdrammer, in which Mickey Mouse dresses in blackface; the black-colored bird in the short Who Killed Cock Robin; the American Indians in Peter Pan; and the crows in Dumbo (although the case has been made that the crows were sympathetic to Dumbo because they knew what it was like to be ostracized).
References
- "Disney to Quit Post at Studio". Los Angeles Times. September 11, 1945.
- "Definition of Disney, Walt in English". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- Gabler 2006, p. 8.
- Rackl, Lori (September 27, 2009). "Walt Disney, the Man Behind the Mouse". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on October 3, 2009. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
- ^ Crowther, Bosley (April 27, 2015). "Walt Disney". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on March 20, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- Mosley 1990, p. 22; Eliot 1995, p. 2.
- Winter, Jon (April 12, 1997). "Uncle Walt's Lost Ancestors". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
- Barrier 2007, pp. 9–10.
- Gabler 2006, pp. 9–10, 15.
- Barrier 2007, p. 13.
- Broggie 2006, pp. 33–35.
- Barrier 2007, p. 16.
- Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. Vintage Books. 2007. ISBN 9780679757474.
- Finch 1999, p. 10.
- Krasniewicz 2010, p. 13.
- Barrier 2007, pp. 18–19.
- "Biography of Walt Disney (1901–1966), Film Producer". The Kansas City Public Library. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved April 12, 2016.
- Gabler 2006, p. 30.
- ^ "About Walt Disney". D23. The Walt Disney Company. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
- Finch 1999, p. 12.
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External links
- Walt Disney at IMDb
- Walt Disney at the TCM Movie Database
- The Walt Disney Family Museum
- The Walt Disney Birthplace
- Talking About Walt Disney at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
- FBI Records: The Vault – Walter Elias Disney from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Preceded bynone | Voice of Mickey Mouse 1928–1947; 1955–1959 |
Succeeded byJames MacDonald |
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