The Origins of Disney

The Origins of Disney

Walt Disney was born on December 5th 1901 in Chicago, Illnois. He spent his childhood in Marceline Missouri after his parents moved there after his birth.
As a child, Walt would usually sell drawings that he had done to his neighbours to earn a bit of money. Walt went after his art career by studying art and photography at McKinley High School in Chicago. His father (Elias Disney) was quite strict and his household was quite poor. Walt was encouraged by his mother(Flora Call Disney), and older brother (Roy) to pursue his artistic talents. In 1918 Walt joined the Red Cross, as he was rejected from being in the army as he was only 16, and was sent overseas to France where he spent a year driving an ambulance. He also chauffeured for Red Cross officials. Instead of camouflage his ambulance was covered with Disney cartoons.



Laugh-O-Grams

Located on the second floor of the McConahay Building at 1127 East 31st in Kansas City, Missouri. Disney founded Laugh-O-Gram Films, in May 1922, with a budget of $15,000. Laugh-O-Grams is the industry that provided Walt Disney with the inspiration to create Mickey Mouse. The company got an $11,000 contract to produce six cartoons for Pictorial Clubs, Inc. which then went bankrupt. The company had problems making ends meet so by the end of 1922, Disney was living in the office, taking baths once a week at Union Station.
Thomas McCrum, a dentist who worked in Kansas City, rescued Disney from total failure when he commissioned Walt for $500 for Tommy Tucker's Tooth, a short subject showing the merits of brushing your teeth.
The studio declared bankruptcy in July 1923 after creating one last short live-action/animation called Alice Comedies. After Laugh-O-Grams was finished Disney moved to Hollywood, California. He was forced to sell his movie camera, which earned him enough money for a one-way train ticket. With him he brought along an unfinished reel of Alice's Wonderland.


After Walt made a success of his "Alice Comedies", he became a recognized Hollywood figure. On July 13, 1925, Walt married one of his first employees, Lillian Bounds, in Lewiston, Idaho. Walt was to have two daughters with Lillian, (Diane and Sharon).
  Mickey Mouse was created in 1928 by Walt Disney, who also voiced him, and Ub Iwerks.  The Walt Disney Company celebrates Mickey's birth in the 18th November, 1928 upon the release of "Steamboat Willie".  Mickey had appeared six months earlier in "Plane Crazy" but "Steamboat Willie" was the first Mickey Mouse Cartoon with sound.  The anthropomorphic mouse has been developed from simply being a character in animated cartoons and comic strips, to one of the most famous symbols in the world.

  In 1932 Walt won the first of his studio's Academy Awards with the production entitled "Flowers and Trees", which was the first colour cartoon. In 1937. He released The "Old Mill", the first short subject to utilize the multi-plane camera technique.

  The first full-length animated musical feature of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was premiered at the Carthay Theater in Los Angeles on the 21st December, 1927. The film was produced during the Depression at a cost of $1,499,000, which was unheard of at the time. It is still considered as one of the all time best treasures of Disney. Over the next five years Walt Disney Studios completed other full-length animated classics such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi.