The Man Behind The Legacy
Almost everyone in the world has heard of Disney, wears or has worn Disney branded clothes, owns or once owned a soft Winnie- the-Pooh teddy-bear and has watched at least one Disney movie. You only need to mention that one name, and there is not one person in the room who hasn’t subconsciously thought of Mickey Mouse and his club, the award winning song ‘Let It Go’, or the hit movie series’ High School Musical’. The name ‘Disney’ is as familiar to us as our nearest neighbour, and the basis for some of our fondest childhood memories. Behind the iconic name stands the greatest man in all of media heritage. In order to encompass the greatness of this man, let’s rewind back to December 5th 1901 – the start of the most tremendous journey in the entertainment industry.
The voyage to success and stardom originated on the edge of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois where Walter Elias Disney was born to parents, Flora and Elias Disney. When he was four, the family moved to Marceline, Missouri and it was here that his great love of drawing and art; a love that was to touch and brighten so many lives, was discovered. Furthering this love was made easier for young Walter, when, in 1909, the Disney family moved to Kansas City, and he was able to attend art classes at the weekends. He began to share his talent with others by trading his drawings for free haircuts. At about the time that Disney was entering high school, the family moved back to Chicago where Walter attended art classes at the Chicago Art Institute and drew cartoons for editions of the school newspaper. When America joined the war in 1917, Walt was desperate to help in the fight.
At sixteen, however, he was too young to sign up, so he decided to leave school and join the Red Cross, which resulted in him spending the next year driving ambulances in France until the war ended. After the War, his career as an artist was fast-forwarded, through his meeting artist Ubbe Irwerks who introduced him to animated art. This so inspired him that it led him to produce his own animated cartoons, setting up a business called ‘Laugh-O-Gram’ which involved hiring a few of his friends, including Ubbe Irwerks and creating short animated cartoons. Unfortunately, however, although popular, the business failed to make enough money for Disney who was forced to declare himself bankrupt. Disney was not one to give in to failure and so, in 1923, he moved to Hollywood, California and started another business – this time with his brother, Roy – called Disney Brothers’ Studio. Once again he hired Ubbe Irwerks along with some other animators and together they created the popular character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. This time the business was a success for Disney. Unfortunately, the Oswald trademark was taken control of by Universal Studios and all Disney’s animators, except Ubbe Irkerks, were also taken over.
Once more, back to square one’! Amazingly, Disney was to prove the saying “third time lucky!” to be correct! The next new character created by Walt Disney was to become Disney’s enduring trademark; known and loved by people from all walks of life and nation– Mickey Mouse! Using Mickey Mouse, Disney created the first ever animated film to have sound. This film was called Steamboat Willie and starred Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Disney performed the voices for all the characters in Steamboat Willie himself and this film was a great success. He continued to create new characters such as Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto and had further successes with the releases of the cartoon ‘Silly Symphonies’ and the first colour film, ‘Flowers and Trees’. Because of these successes, in 1932, Disney decided that he would try and produce a full length animated film, based on a well-known fairy tale called ‘Snow White’. Many people were critical of this ambitious decision considering it crazy to waste time producing a film that long, and called his film ‘Disney’s Folly’.
The film took five years to produce, being finally released in 1937. Disney’s ‘Snow White’ was an overwhelming success, silencing critics by being declared the top film of 1938! Using profits from ‘Snow White’, Disney built a movie studio and produced more animated films such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. With the coming of World War 2 the film industry slowed, and Disney’s company was used to produce training and propaganda films for the US. Government, with Mickey Mouse and friends dressed in khaki. When the war finished, Disney began to produce live films as well as animated films – his first big live film being ‘Treasure Island’, starring Bobby Driscoll as young ‘Jim Hawkins’. Not content with success in film, Disney released the first Disney Television shows during the 1950s, Disney’s ‘Wonderful World of Colour’, the ‘Davy Crockett’ series, and the’ Mickey Mouse Club’. Disney then had the idea of basing Theme park rides and entertainment on his movies and characters, so in 1955, Disneyland opened and has remained one of the most profitable places on earth for its entire 60 years, thrilling thousands of awestruck visitors yearly. On the first day, 35,000 visitors turned up to try the delights of the new venture, despite the fact that the hot weather had melted the tarmac, Fantasyland remained shut until the afternoon due to ‘teething problems’ and the drinking fountains were out of action due to a plumbers strike, causing it to be known forever as ‘Black Sunday’. Attendance proved steady, more rides and attractions were added, and Walt Disney started planning an even bigger park in Florida, called ‘Walt Disney World’. He was still working on the plans when he died on December 15th 1966.
The new Theme Park opened in 1971, becoming very popular and has remained so for the 47 years to date, welcoming 56,000 enthusiastic visitors daily during 2015!Walt Disney died from lung cancer, but his legacy lives on to this day – the fourth generation of children and their parents are enjoying Disney products and entertainment since 22 year old Walter first started ‘’Disney Brothers’’. I use the expression ‘and parents. . ’ because there is an interesting trivia fact to support the strong suspicion that half of the adults who buy a product, watch a film or visit a theme park, do so for their own enjoyment and use the children who accompany them as a very good excuse – three percent of the children who visited the Disneyland Theme Park on ‘Black Sunday’ alone, went on to work in the park – some of them for the whole of their working lives! And still the legacy lives on…. Fashions, fads and trends in food, clothing and names may come and go, along with numerous celebrities, but the young at heart can still enjoy the output of the Man who was ridiculed for his decision to produce the first long film and who’s incredibly successful business is now hailed as the entertainment industry’s market leader. Ps. Don’t forget to book a seat for the Nutcracker and the Four Realms which is being released November 2nd!
