Walt Disney

Walt Disney Walt Disney founded the Disney Company. It has become one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world. He was a pioneer of animated cartoons. He was the creator of Disneyland, and a famous American film and television producer.

Walt Disney was born on Dec 5, 1901 in Chicago. His real name was Walter Elias Disney, and he was the fourth son of Elias Disney. He moved to Missouri, and then to Kansas. Then in Kansas City Walt began to study cartooning. He went to McKinley High School, and he drew for the school paper. He took classes at the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design. His art was interrupted by World War 1. He came back to Kansas City in 1919 as a draftsman as an inker in commercial art studios. This where he met Ub Iwerks, who was also a young artist. Ub Iwerks helped him succeed.

Disney and Iwerks started a small studio of their own in 1922. They made one and two - minute animated advertisements and they showed them in local movie theatres. They made "Alice in Cartoonland," but they got by the cheated by the distributors. Disney was forced to file for bankruptcy. He moved to California and he and his brother Roy became lifelong business partners. They opened a new studio. Disney and Iwerks experimented with a new character called Mickey. Disney produced a Mickey Mouse cartoon calledto "Steamboat Willie." This was popular, and it led to other animal characters, such as Donald Duck and the dogs Pluto and Goofy. His operation began making money. He made Academy Award winning "Silly Symphonies!" Roy and Walt started selling merchandise and this created more wealth for the company.

In 1934 he began work on a version of the classic fairy tale "Snow White." It was released in 1937. He was coordinator and decision maker. Snow White was praised by critics and audiences of the time. Snow White proved animations could be successful and beautiful as a feature length story. Disney also continued to do short films. He to develop a different full-length entertainment films. They include Pinocchio (1940) Dumbo (1941) Fantasia (1940). In 1940 Disney moved his company into a new studio in Burbank. The Disney studio was one of the first to predict the potential importance of television. The Mickey Mouse Club house was a successful TV show, Mary Poppins was his biggest movie hit in 1964. Disneyland opened in 1955. It soon became a popular park for tourists from around the world. They were working on Disney World when he was dead in 1971.

Disney used his imagination and energy to create amusement for people from all over the world. He was the creator of one of the world's most successful entertainment businesses