Walt Disney Essay, Research Paper
Disney Productions is one of the leading entertainment
businesses, bringing tremendous profits not to mention the
joy it brings many people. It has not always been this easy
for Disney however. It took the mind of one man to bring it
to what it is today, and that?s mans name is Walt Disney.
Walt Disney?s life was devoted to the arts and
entertainment almost from birth. However, Walt?s fortunes
and fame didn?t take form until his creation of Mickey
Mouse.
Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 and was the
fourth child of Elias and Flora Disney. He was an extremely
talented child, exhibiting tremendous creativity at such a
young age. Walt began drawing pictures in the 1st grade
and continued until the day he died. Another of his
exceptional talents was acting. Walt relished each
opportunity to perform on stage or in class. While in
elementary school "on Lincoln?s Birthday every year until
he graduated, Walt was hauled from class to class by the
principal to give the Gettysburg Address." (Fisher, 18)
Walt got bored with school however and dropped out at
the age of 16. He immediately got a job as a waiter on a
train line and kept this job until the U.S. entered the war.
Walt had a great desire to join the army, but was rejected
because he was to young. Since he still desired to have
some role in the war he became a volunteer with the Red
Cross. Within a week he was sent to the front and didn?t
return for one to two years. When Walt returned from he
war he told his father that he wanted to become an
animator, but his father did not approve. Walt ignored his
father?s advice and enrolled in art school.
Walt attended art school for several months in both
Missouri and Kansas City and then later found a job at an
advertising firm in Kansas. There he met a talented artist
named Ubbe Iwerks. Ubbe was a great animator and he
and Walt became good friends. Walt and Ubbe worked all
day for the advertising company, but at night they studied
the art of animation and experimented with ways to make
animation smoother by using light and a camera. Walt soon
quit his job at the advertising firm because he was not
satisfied with the work he was doing. He found a job in
Kansas City at a Film Ad Company. Walt was quickly
fired from this job and having nowhere else to go, he
returned home.
Walt and his brother Roy decided to form their own
business available jobs didn?t allow them the creative
freedom they deserved. They found a little place to set up
their own studio on Hyperion Ave. in Hollywood. If their
business were successful, it would be the first studio in the
city strictly for producing animation. Walt and Roy got their
studio up and moving within a few weeks and hired several
animators. They first produced a mini-series called Alice
that played in the previews of movie theatres, but they
knew it wouldn?t compare to Felix the Cat. Walt felt
something was missing at their studio and realized a need
for a master animator. Walt quickly called upon his old
friend, Ubbe Iwerks. Ubbe was convinced and headed
straight to Hollywood. With Walt creating stories, Ubbe
producing spectacular animation and Roy taking care of
finances they had a perfect formula.
Walt often worked late at night. "Mice gathered in my
wastebasket when I worked late at night. I lifted them out
and kept them in little cages on my desk. One of them was
my particular friend." (Disney qtd. in Fanning, 53) Walt first
drew the mouse up late at night and named it "Mortimer,"
but Roy was not fond of this name. However Walt was too
stubborn to change it. Roy talked to Walt?s wife, Lillian,
and she eventually got him to change it after days of
pleading. In fact, it was Lillian who ultimately named the
mouse "Mickey."
They first put Mickey in the short animation called, Plane
Crazy, named after Lindbergh?s flight across the world.
Immediately after that short feature Walt got the idea to
combine sound with the animation. This was extremely
difficult to do and it took Walt several attempts to find the
perfect composer. Since they were extremely low on
money Roy told Walt to forget sound for awhile and try
later, but Walt sound now. Steamboat Willie was their first
success and with sound on its side the film attracted many
audiences and Disney Productions had caught its first
break.
In 1932 Walt thought the addition of sound was great, but
with color it would be even better. Walt called Technicolor
and asked to acquire the exclusive rights to put the
Technicolor process into all of his films. Surprisingly
Technicolor accepted, but wanted a large fee for exclusive
rights. Walt explained the opportunity to Roy in the
following way. "Why should we let a few dollars jeopardize
our chances? I think this is Old Man Opportunity wrapping
at our door. Let?s don?t let the jingle of a few pennies
drown out his knock." (Disney qtd. in Fanning, 57)
Walt and Roy decided to pay the fee then began producing
Mickey Mouse films in color. Disney Productions was the
only animation business to produce color films for two
years and during that time earned huge profits. From the
profits of the new colorful Mickey Mouse, Disney
Productions built a new studio designed by Walt. It was an
animators dream.
Walt?s new animated studio was the perfect setting to set
his latest idea, Snow White. It was the first animated movie
to actually be a
his animators down at a table and told them the story of
Snow White. His animators found the story fascinating, but
wondered how they were going to make an actual feature
length movie with cartoons. When Walt was about half way
done with the movie he realized that he did not have a
distributor to release his film.
Walt hired a man by the name of Pat Powers; he was the
best distributor they could afford at that time. Snow White
was finally released and the money was rolling in, but not all
of it. Walt and Roy noticed royalty money was not being
paid in accordance with their contract. They looked to Pat
Powers for the answer. When Walt confronted Pat Powers
about the lower royalties, Powers just shrugged jokingly as
if Walt didn?t know how to run a business. He then asked
Disney if he could buy out his company, but Walt was not
about to give up his business. Powers then overwhelmed
Walt with the news that he had offered Ubbe Iwerks his
own animation business and Ubbe accepted. Walt was
furious and immediately purchased Ubbe?s part of the
Disney Productions business in cash. Ubbe received 3,000
dollars at the time and today would be worth more than
500 million dollars. Walt eventually got his past dew royalty
payments and his total earnings from Snow White were
over 8 million dollars. The film earned Walt Disney an
academy award, the first animated feature to be honored in
such a way.
After Snow White?s lengthy, successful time in theatres
WWII started and Disney Productions entered a difficult
time. Walt had a 4.5 million-dollar debt in his hands and
didn?t know how to get rid of it. To make things even
worse, Pearl Harbor was bombed and Disney?s studio was
used as an anti-aircraft base. The anti-aircraft base was
removed in a month nonetheless, but Disney?s studio didn?t
stop in the war effort. Instead they were used to advertise
war bonds and other governmental positions. This slowed
Walt?s business drastically, but the government offered
Walt an opportunity to travel to S. America as a diplomat
and they would pay off all his debt. Walt accepted and
enjoyed the experience. There he found new ideas for
future films.
Walt returned home from S. America and trouble was
brewing in his studio. When war had broken out, Disney
Productions had stopped production on two films Bambi
and Fantasia. These movies were then released near the
end of the war, but they made no profit just more debt and
Disney animators were not provided bonuses as they were
promised. Walt was oblivious when he heard the news. He
had thought his new studio would have solved all these
problems, but unfortunately the animators didn?t find it to
be the paradise Walt did. Not seeing bonuses in their
paychecks, Disney animators went on strike. To solve this
problem, Walt elected to sell stock in his company and it
sold immediately. Walt was now out of debt, but he had a
new idea, an expensive idea.
Walt now had Disney Land on his mind and wouldn?t stop
thinking about it till it was created. " Disney Land really
began when my 2 daughters were very young. Saturday
was always ?Daddy?s Day? and I would take them to the
merry-go-round and sit on the bench eating peanuts while
they rode. And sitting there, alone, I felt that there should
be something built, some kind of family park where parents
and children could have fun together." (Disney qtd. in
Fanning, 98) Disney Production could not afford this idea
though and Walt had determined that making another
movie would not raise sufficient capital to finance the
project. Walt decided to approach the networks to
produce a weekly Disney show. The American
Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) jumped at the chance to
have a Disney show on weekly and in turn ABC would
fund the construction of Disneyland in its? entirety. Roy was
not thrilled with the idea of building a theme park, but loved
the idea of a TV show. "It seemed to him (Roy) that every
time the studio started to get a little bit ahead Walt found a
way to get them back in red." (Fanning, 70)
Now with ABC?s money and Roy?s support Walt needed
to find a place to build his park. He found 200-acre lot in
Anaheim, California and purchased it immediately.
Construction was completed and the park opened in 1955
and by that time Disney Productions was a financial
success. People were so anxious to be the first ones in
Disneyland that when only 15,000 tickets were sold for
opening day 33,000 people showed up, half of them had
counterfeit tickets.
Certainly, Walt Disney was a man of vision. A man who
had the creativity to develop ideas and then have the
patience and perseverance to carry them out. Walt Disney
showed courage and the desire you need to build a
successful life. Even when all odds were against him, he still
was able to find a way to conquer his dreams. He taught us
many things and I hope we remember this man not only for
his cartoons, but also for his work ethics and the
contributions he made to society.
Bibliography
Fanning, Jim. Walt Disney. New York, NY: Chelsea
House Publishers, 1994.
Fisher, Maxine P. Walt Disney. New York, NY: A First
Book, 1988.
Greene, Katherine, and Greene,
Richard. The Man Behind The
Magic. New York, NY: Penguin
Books, 1991
Schroeder, Russell. Ed. Walt
Disney, His Life In Pictures.
New York, NY: Disney Press,
1996.