Walt Disney: The Animator

Walt Disney: The Animator

Walt Disney had a significant impact on the American industry of entertainment. His creative designs and animation helped shape the animated movie world that exists today. Walt Disney was one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century, especially for the ways in which his films, animation, comic strips, documentaries, songs, business and theme parks impacted American and other nations culture (Crowley).

On December 15, 1901 Elias and Flora Disney welcomed baby, Walter Elias Disney into their Chicago home. He was their fourth child and last boy. When Disney was four, his family moved to the small town of Marceline, Missouri. The Disneys’ lived there for four years. While there, Walt and his siblings grew up on a farm, which had an impact on the animations Disney would create when he was older. The home Walt grew up in was a strict Christian home. His father subbed as a preacher and raised the children to follow the Sabbath (Barrier). Disney’s faith stayed with him for the rest of his life and is clearly seen in his films and animations.

In 1910 the Disney family was forced to sell their farm in Marceline. At the same time of the sale, Walt’s two older brothers, Ray and Herbert, ran away from home. They were fed up with farm life and were tired of being poor and constantly working. The family moved to Kansas City in 1911. Disney and his younger sister, Ruth, attended the Benton Grammar School. There Disney met Walter Pfeiffer who introduced Disney to the world of vaudeville and motion pictures. Walt fell in love with films and soon spent more time there than at home. Disney also attended Saturday courses at the Kansas City Art Institute (“Walt Disney”).

While in Kansas Disney’s Father bought a newspaper delivery route for the Kansas City Times and Sunday Star. Disney and his brother delivered papers before school and after school until night. Disney would wake before 5 a.m. and deliver right until the school bell rang (“Walt Disney”). In 1917, Elias Disney acquired shares in the O-Zell jelly factory. He moved the family back to Chicago where Disney attended the McKinley High School and attended night classes at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts (“Walt Disney: Long Biography”).

Disney dropped out of high school at age 16 to join the army (“Walt Disney”). He was rejected from being in the army and instead tried to join the Red Cross Ambulance Corps. He needed a parent's signature, passport, and had to be 17 years or older. His father refused to sign because he already had three sons in the war, which he opposed. His mother knew Walt would run away if they refused so she forged Elias’s signature and Walt moved his birthday back a year on his passport. Walt was over in Europe for 10 months. He was never in physical danger during World War I. The armistice had been signed and the fighting had stopped before he left the U.S.(Watts). Disney came

back to the U.S. where his brother Roy helped Disney become an advertiser at the Pesman-Rubin Art Studio. There Disney met Ubbe Iwerks and the two decided to venture out and start their own commercial company. The company “Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists” did not survive very long. Disney ended up quitting and started work at the Kansas City Film Ad Company. There Disney had help from his employer who taught him to become an animator. Disney read different books and used the studios cameras to produce different shorts. Disney started his own studio based off of this. He and Fred Harmon created Laugh-O-Grams. These were modernized fairy tales that were a huge success. Disney hired many different artists to continue the shorts but the studio went bankrupt and failed (“Walt Disney”; Watts, Barrier).

Walt Disney Company

The start of the Walt Disney Company began in Hollywood, California. Walt and Roy Disney bought a studio and named it Disney Brothers’ Studio. His first animation from the studio were live action/animated shorts called Alice Comedies. The shorts were distributed nationwide in December of 1923 and were a big hit. The animation was done by Walt himself and he also directed the live action scenes. His brother worked as the cameraman for Walt. The series was successful and continued to run until 1927. In all there were 56 Alice Comedies released (“Walt Disney”).

The next show Disney’s studio created was Oswald-The Lucky Rabbit. The show became very popular. Disney wanted to expand the success but the producer, Charles Mintz, instead reduced Disney’s compensation. Disney ended up quitting and wanted the artists underneath him to quit also but they were legally bound to Mintz, not Disney. Disney lost the rights to Oswald and was scrambling to find a new character. He and Iwerks created Mickey Mouse who became the most popular animation character created at that time. Mickey’s voice was provided by Disney and his personality was based off of Disney’s (“Walt Disney”). Mickey’s first appearance was in the sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie, in 1928. At first Walt’s cartoons were like everyone else’s silent cartoons but he soon stepped out of the pack by making the very first sound cartoon in 1928 (Barrier). The short featured a Mark Twain-like riverboat setting and jokes associated with farm animals. This was a groundbreaking sound cartoon that made both Mickey and Walt famous(Watts).

The next sound cartoon made was Silly Symphonies. This cartoon was not as well known as Steamboat Willie but had an impact on American culture. The small town scenes involved in these two cartoons were very popular with the American public who were moving towards industrialization. Disney longed for deep roots in his community and studio, something he never experienced as a kid. His obsession with small town life emphasized his constant relocations as a child and teen. His audience, who also longed for stability and comfort, sympathized with Disney and supported his films (Watts). The Silly Symphonies were short cartoons focused on different stories or fairy tales (“Walt Disney”). Some of the cartoons were The Ugly Duckling, The Pied Piper, The Night Before Christmas and The Three Little Pigs. The most successful short cartoon was the Three Little Pigs. The cartoon feature the hit song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”

which became the anthem of the Great Depression. The cartoon was so successful because Disney realized that the success of films/cartoons depended greatly on the emotionally gripping stories that would capture the audience. This is what made Disney’s cartoons better than his competitors (Lesjack; “The Three Little Pigs”).

The next technological advance Disney used was Technicolor. This invention produced motion pictures in color. He was the first animator