Walt Disney

Walt drawing Mickey (http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/pictures/pictures.html)

“Heroes walk alone, but they become myths when they ennoble the lives and touch the hearts of all of us,” (Henry Kissinger).

A hero to me must be someone who is trying to do things for other, who wants good for other and is always working to achieve it. I believe that a hero must also be willing to keep on working even when others don’t think they can make it.

“Try to imagine a world without Walt Disney, a world without his magic, whimsy, and optimism. Walt Disney transformed the entertainment industry, into what we know today. He pioneered the fields of animation, and found new ways to teach, and educate. Walt's optimism came from his unique ability to see the entire picture,”(http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/biography/long_bio.html). Just try to think about what it would be like to not have a person who thought that “laughter is America's most important export” (http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/quotes/index.html).

Walt as a boy (http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/pictures/pictures.html)

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago Illinois. Soon after his birth, his family moved to Marceline Missouri where Walt spent most of his childhood. At a very young age Walt took an interest in art and drawing with stuck with him his whole life.

In 1918 Walt tried to enlist in the military but was rejected because he was only sixteen years old. Walt decided to join the red cross and he went over seas to France where he spent a year driving an ambulance and unlike the other ambulances that were covered camouflage his was covered in cartoons.

Walt drawing (http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/pictures/pictures.html)

After he returned from the war he wanted something more then his father life so he decided to put his talent to use though animation, Walt lived in his studio and ate cold beans out of a can, while trying to make his dream come true. When he moved to Los Angeles he got together with elder brother Roy, who over saw most of business for him. He really started to take off after that move and partnership. His first cartoon was, Oswald the Rabbit, but he was stolen from him. But this opened the way for that loveable mouse. “Cocky, and in his earliest incarnations sometimes cruelly mischievous but always an inventive problem solver, Mickey would become a symbol of the unconquerably chipper American spirit in the depths of the Depression” (Richard Schickel)

Walt was able to overcome obstacles of his own to create something for others. Walt’s first true success was On December 21, 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated musical feature. The film produced at the unheard $1,499,000 during the depths of the Depression.

Another thing that Walt wanted to create very much was a place where families could play together. Where parents and kids felt like equals. He did this through a theme park. In 1955 opened Disneyland Park.

Before Walt Disney died, he took in the making of California Institute of the Arts, a college-level professional school of all the creative and performing arts. CalArts, Walt said, “It's the principal thing I hope to leave when I move on to greener pastures. If I can help provide a place to develop the talent of the future, I think I will have accomplished something,”( http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/biography/long_bio02.html).

Walt with many Mickeys (http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/pictures/pictures.html)

Walt Disney gave us so many things. He wanted a fun way for kids to learn and think and he created his cartoons and TV programs. He wanted a place where families could be together and have fun on the same level and he created an amusement park. He wanted a place where people could continue to learn and love art and animation and he created a school. That is why Walt Disney is my hero.