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Walt DisneyThe Man Who Shaped Generations

“The way to get

started is to quit talking

and start doing.”

Walter Elias Disney

The Early years• Walter Elias Disney

was born on December 5, 1901 in the Hermosa section of Chicago, Illinois

• Walt was one of five children, four boys and one girl

• Parents, Flora and Elias, were both immigrants

The early years• The family moved to

Marceline, Missouri where Walt would spend most of his childhood

• Here he began drawing and painting

• He would sell his pictures to neighbors and family

• The town would eventually be the basis for Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland

The Early years• In 1911, the family moved

to Kansas City, Missouri • The home was close to

the Sante Fe railroad track where his Uncle Mike Martin worked the line from Marceline to Fort Madison, Iowa

• Walt would later work on the railroad selling newspapers and other products, thus beginning his love of the rails

The early years• Walt would later attend

school in Chicago, studying art at the Chicago Art Institute at night while attending high school during the day

• At age 16, he dropped out of school to join the Red Cross during World War I after being rejected for the army

• While in the Red Cross, Walt served in France driving ambulances

“That’s the real trouble with the

world, too many people

grow up.” Walter Elias Disney and his

Grandson

Early work• After the war, Walt

returned to Kansas City to become a newspaper artist. He would get fired from the job due to a lack of creativity.

• He would take a job at the Kansas City Film Ad Company creating commercials

• He began experimenting with cameras and animation

Early work• Walt would meet Ubbe

Iwerks while working at the Film Ad Compandy

• Eventually, Walt would start his own animation studio with Ub

• He would strike a deal with a local theatre to show his early cartoons

• Laugh-O-Grams cartoons were born.

Early work• The cartoons became

an instant hit• Allowed Walt to buy

his first studio and hire new staff

• Began producing the Alice in Cartoonland shorts

• The studio would close in 1923 due to excessive debt

“Just do your best

work – then try to trump

it.” Walt and Ubbe Iwerks

Alice and oswald• Walt would move to California to

join his brother, Roy, in 1923, hoping to become a director

• Walt would reach a distribution deal for his Alice comedies – opening the door to create a new Disney Brothers Studio in Hollywood

• The deal was struck with Winkler Pictures, run by Margaret Winkler and Charles Mintz (Up!)

• Iwerks would join the brothers in California with the success of the Alice cartoons in June 1924

Alice and Oswald• The Alice Comedies were

a combination of live action and animation

• The little girl, Alice, would be played by four different actresses between 1923 and 1927

• The success would allow Walt to step away as an animator and focus on direction; Ub would take over as animator

Alice and Oswald• In 1927, The duo

would create their first character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

• The cartoons would be distributed by Universal Pictures

• Oswald was a rabbit due to the proliferation of animated cats at the time (Felix the Cat, etc)

Alice and Oswald• Oswald was produced by

Charles Mintz • In 1928, Disney wanted to

renegotiate the contract for Oswald with Mintz and would travel to New York

• Mintz argued that Disney should only receive a 20% interest due to the increasing costs of production

• Disney quit and lost both Oswald and the talents of Ubbe Iwerks

Alice and Oswald• Oswald would continue to

be a success without Disney• Oswald would continue to

be drawn by many of the original animators of the Disney Brothers Studio

• Walter Lantz, who would later create Woody Woodpecker, would take over control in 1929 and give Oswald a new look

• Oswald’s rights would return to Disney in 2006 in a trade for sportscaster Al Michaels

“I only hope we

don’t lose sight of

one thing – that it was all started

by a mouse.”

Mickey mouse• Walt was upset after the

underhanded deal offered by Mintz

• On the train ride back from New York, Disney began exploring the ideas for a new cartoon character

• On the train, the basic ideas for Mortimer Mouse were created based on a mouse that used to hang around the Laugh-O-Gram studios

Mickey mouse• Walt presented the idea

to Ub who was still working on the Oswald cartoons

• Ub and Walt worked on the character in secrecy until Ub was out of his contract

• Mortimer’s name was changed by now to Mickey at the insistence of Walt’s wife, Lillian

Mickey mouse• Walt began a new

Disney Studio with Ub and an apprentice by the name of Les Clark

• Most of Walt’s original staff stayed with the Oswald cartoon

• From this day forward, Walt would only work on characters that he owned the rights to

Mickey mouse• Mickey’s body was

designed around circles which made him easier to animate

• This design would be changed later by Fred Moore, who made the body pear shaped

• Mickey only has three fingers and a thumb, a design which made drawing the character easier and cheaper

Mickey mouse• A form of Minnie

Mouse appears in even the first cartoons

• The test cartoon, Plane Crazy was the first Mickey cartoon but did not fair well in its test screening

• The Gallopin’ Gaucho was the second Mickey short

Steamboat Willie• Steamboat Willie was

the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to find a distributor

• It first premiered on November 18, 1928 in New York

• The film was a parody of a Buster Keaton film

• The film was the first to utilize a synchronized soundtrack

Mickey mouse• Walt was a fan of the

new sound films and insisted that sound be used in the Mickey cartoons

• Mickey’s first words would be heard in the film, The Karnival Kid in 1929

• Walt served as the voice for both Mickey and Minnie until 1946

"I am in no sense of the word a great

artist, not even a great

animator; I have always had men working for me

whose skills were greater

than my own. I am an idea

man.”

Silly Symphonies• A series of animated shorts

made between 1929 and 1939

• The shorts were based of musical scores and did not have a common character theme to them

• While not initially as popular as the Mickey cartoons, the Silly Symphonies grew in popularity and introduced some significant advancements in the Disney story

• 75 total shorts were made

Silly Symphonies• Disney became fascinated by

a new three-strip, full-color film process called Technicolor

• Disney would sign an exclusive contract to use the new technology through 1935

• The studio was over half done with a work entitled, Flowers and Trees which it would scrap and redo using the color process

• Flowers and Trees would be the first Technicolor film released

Silly Symphonies• The Technicolor symphonies

would pass Mickey Mouse in popularity

• Disney would extend the contract with Technicolor but exclusivity rights would eventually be lost, making way for The Wizard of Oz

• In 1933, The Three Little Pigs was released, becoming a box office success

• The song from this short would become the anthem of the Great Depression

Silly Symphonies• Disney would use the Silly

Symphonies to explore new ideas and introduce new characters

• Donald Duck would make his debut in 1934, appearing in The Wise Little Hen

• Pluto would make his first starring role in a Silly Symphony

• Initial movie ideas would also be explored in the series

Silly Symphonies• The success of the Silly

Symphonies would allow Disney to expand his studios

• The popularity would breed competition from other studios, spanning the Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoon series

• Despite the popularity of the shorts, Disney would stop making them to tackle a new challenge, a full length animated film

• The series would win seven Academy Awards

“The more you like yourself, the less you are

like anyone else, which makes you unique.”

Disney’s “Nine Old Men”

Moving Forward• Ub Iwerks left the

company in 1929 after growing tension over Ub’s freedom at the Disney’s Studios

• Ub was recruited away by Pat Powers, a businessman who featured sound technology to the movie industry

• Ub would start a his own studio which employed many famous animators

Nine old men• Disney had begun hiring

a new staff of animators prior to Iwerks leaving the company

• Most of the Mickey Mouse shorts and Silly Symphonies were being completed by the new staff

• A core group of the animators would remain with Disney the rest of their careers

Getting to know the Nine old men• You will be charged with

doing some research to find out a little more about the Nine Old Men through their work

• You will be creating a Facebook page for one of their creations

• You are to find a character from Mickey Mouse through the film Jungle Book, released in 1967

"Lips red as the

rose. Hair black as ebony. Skin

white as snow.”

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

• The movie would become Disney’s most ambitious project

• The idea for the film came to Walt when he was 15

• The Hollywood movie industry mockingly referred to Snow White as "Disney's Folly" while it was in production.


• It took almost two years to come up with the final renderings of the Seven Dwarfs

• Rejected names for the dwarf’s included: Jaunty, Blabby, Dirty, Gabby, Biggy-Wiggy, Gaspy, Gloomy, Awful, Deefy, Hoppy-Jumpy, Hotsy, Nifty, and Shifty.

• Six of the dwarfs have eyebrows modeled after Walt Disney’s. Happy was the exception, his eyebrows were white and bushy.


• Legendary voice actor Mel Blanc, best known as the voice of Bugs Bunny, was originally cast to be the voice of Dopey, but he was made mute instead

• The voices of Sleepy and Grumpy is that of Pinto Colvig, the voice of Goofy


• The film included 15 voice actors, 32 animators, 102 assistant animators, 167 “in-betweeners”, 20 layout artists, 25 artists doing watercolor backgrounds, 65 effects animators, and 158 female inkers and painters.

• The film took over three years to complete with over 250,000 drawings (2 million sketches were drawn)

• It features over 1500 different shades of paint


• Songwriters Frank Churchill and Larry Morey composed 25 songs for the movie, though only seven were used.

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would be the first film to ever release a motion-picture soundtrack


• The Prince was intended to be a prominent character, but the difficulty found in animating him forced Walt to reduce his part significantly.

• 19-year-old Adriana Caselotti voiced Snow White. Walt wanted to keep Snow White’s voice special, so he held Adriana to a very strict contract and she was never allowed to perform on stage or film again


• The film was originally budgeted at $250,000, It cost over $1.5 million to make – Walt was forced to mortgage his house

• The film was first released on December 21, 1937 in Los Angeles, California at the Carthay CircleTheatre

• Many thought the film would bomb


• Snow White was the highest grossing film ever for exactly one year

• It is still in the top 10 money-making films of all time

• The profits from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs allowed Walt to build Disney Studios in Burbank.


• A short film sequel, titled Snow White Returns was planned. It never left the preproduction stage.

• The film would influence numerous other films

• The film was nominated for Best Picture for 1938

• The film received a special academy award for technical achievement.

"Tomorrow will be

better as long as America

keeps alive the ideals of freedom

and a better life.”

Disney and the War Effort

• While Disney was doing well domestically, films were failing due to no international market

• Dumbo was released October 23, 1941 just short of the American entrance into World War II

• Bambi was in production at the start of the war


• During the war, Disney Studios would begin producing films for the war effort.

• All Disney characters would become part of the propaganda campaign

• Disney would produce over 68 hours worth of educational film for the effort

• 90% of Disney’s staff would be involved in making war films


• Disney would create a variety of films for different branches of the military

• Many of the films were intended for servicemen to educate them while entertaining

• Disney also became a popular source of insignias for different service organizations

• Over 1200 were produced• Donald Duck was the most

popular character amongst servicemen


• Disney also produced films for the Treasury Department to sell war bonds

• Films were made for Canada also

• One film, The Spirit of ’43, was credited by 37% of Americans as to the reason why they paid their income taxes the next year

• Disney also produced a book for children to get them to save and help the war effort


• Victory Through Air Power was released in 1943

• It was a full length feature film that focused on Major Alexander de Seversky’s theory of long range strategic bombing

• The film helped convince FDR or the plan