Walt Disney—American Dream Achiever
Dream come true, profound influence, persistent efforts, and the success after the setback; those elements compose the definition of the American Dream. Walt Disney undoubtedly was a successful American Dream achiever. He and his brother co-founded Walt Disney Productions, which became one of the best-known motion-picture production companies in the world. He created Mickey Mouse who turned into one of the most famous cartoon characters in animation history(“Walt Elias Disney”). Walt Disney had not stopped yet, besides an innovative animator, he was also a dream creator. He founded theme parks Disneyland and Walt Disney World, bestowed lives to those lovely Disney characters, also a paradise to kids for
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He invented Laugh-O-Gram with his friend Ubbe Iwerks, who became a significant person in Walt’s life(Gabler). The cartoons were very popular and combined both live action and animation. This was an inconceivable idea at that time(Disney). However, the studio was burdened with debt, and enforced Disney to declare bankrupt. Walt, at age 21, moved to California with $40 in his pocket(Miller).
Walt arrived in California in 1923, and soon launched Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy and Iwerks. They made their first deal with New York distributor, Margaret Winkler to distribute their cartoons. That became an ambush in the future. Winkler and her husband stole the rights of those cartoon characters that Walt sold to them, and also all of Disney’s animators except his brother and Iwerks(“Walt Elias Disney”). Despite several business setbacks, Disney found his lifetime love, Lillian Bounds, and married her eventually(Miller). But during Walt’s persistent efforts, he created a new cartoon character called Mickey Mouse, which became a huge turning point in his life. After his first two Mickey Mouse silent movies, in the third one, Steamboat Willie, Walt synchronized his voice as Mickey’s, and acquired a sensational success(Gabler).
After a successful series of short films, Walt decided to make his first feature-length film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs(Miller). Walt and his crew spent four years to study live models and animals just for
“I’ve always been bored with just making money. I’ve wanted to do things, I wanted to build things, or get something going.” (LeeBron) Disney stated that when he realized that he wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. Disney never wanted to be boring or be known as the man who did not have a childhood and was always pushed around by his father. Disney wanted to be successful in life, he wanted the name ‘Walt Disney’ to be remembered, and it will be forever. Disney has achieved many important and exciting accomplishments within his life. He created “full length animated films, short films, live-action features, and television shows” (LeeBron) Disney also introduced theme parks. He created Disneyland in Anaheim, California. He also developed Epcot which stands for “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow”, and Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida. Walt Disney was an important figure in the 1920s American History because he made a change to the world with the idea of bringing inanimate objects to life with cartoons and created all new kinds of happiness.
The name was eventually changed to The Walt Disney Studios. By the end of 1927, the Disney brothers created a total of 56 Alice comedies, which proved Walt as a producer and built up his animation studio that rivaled others in the business. In 1928, their company took a hit when almost all of their animators jumped ship and went to work for Universal Pictures. It was projected that Walt Disney’s animation career was over, but he kept fighting and it taught him to never give up control of his creations. Though the tale of how he came about isn’t clear, Mickey Mouse debuted on November 18, 1928. From that day, the Walt Disney Studios took off with the creation of Snow White in 1937 and Pinocchio and Fantasia in 1940. However, the studio took a break from movies after Pearl Harbor in order to aid in the war effort by converting the studio into a wartime industrial plant. After the war, Disney reconquered the title of leader of animation and rest is history. With the opening of Disneyland and the premiere of The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955, the company has only flourished. In 1963, there was the first use of audio-animatronics at Disneyland and Walt began the foundation of a project that would lead to Disneyworld. However, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in November 1966 and passed in December; therefore, unable to see his plan play out. Walter Elias Disney was a small-town boy who turned into a
Walt Disney was a visionary and transformational leader that used Inspirational Motivation and Intellectual Stimulation and an easy to follow vision that inspired his people to achieve their shared dream of providing the best family entertainment possible. Walt Disney’s vision was clear, simple, and easy to follow. Dream, Believe, Dare, Do. (Capodagli & Jackson, 2007). He spoke so passionately about his dreams that others around him couldn’t help but
After that he then moved to California where he began his company with his brother Roy Disney. In the partnership Roy focused on the business aspects while Walt focused on the creative aspects. The business began when they took out a small loan,
On December 5, 1901, Elias Disney and Flora Call Disney gave birth to a man who would eventually change our world by the creation of a little mouse. Walter Elias Disney, who was also known as “Walt,” was born in a small town in Chicago, Illinois, by a father who was an Irish-Canadian descent, and his mother who was a German- English descent. Walt was one out of five children, four brothers and a sister. Their names were Herbert Arthur Disney, Raymond Arnold Disney, Roy Oliver Disney, and Ruth Flora Disney. Walt was the oldest one out of the five. While he attended school, he was introduced to Walter Pfeiffer, who decided to show Walt vaudeville and the art of making movies. Walt decided to drop out of high school, at the age of sixteen, to join the army. He was rejected to join because he was too young of age. He and a friend decided to join the Red Cross, where Walt was an ambulance driver during World War II. In 1919, Walt moved to Kansas City to begin a career in art, and worked for the newspaper, as a newspaper artist. He met Ubbe Iwerks, and he and Disney soon made their own commercial company called, “Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists.”
With his fellow artists in Kansas City Walt began his long endeavour into the art of production. Working with his brother Roy and a few others Walt worked his way to his dream, and in 1923 he was able to set up his studio in Hollywood where his first famous cartoons were produced. Walter and his partners had previously aired their cartoons dubbed Laugh-O-Grams which were wildly popular and after they created a series of seven-minute fairy tales that combined live action and animation. Out of their studio in Hollywood, also known as the “Disney Brothers’ Studio”, came incredible characters such as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit who was famously feuded over by the brothers and caused their famous split. Although the most beloved of all was the sensational Mickey Mouse. Up to this point in Walt’s career all of his work and other animations in the industry have one thing in common,
Walt Disney Films are known to be as an incredible and outstanding fantasy stories producer. It created more than a hundred of films. Majority of what has been produced rely on fictional stories. The films that were released used animation to capture children’s interest and musically performed as well. Walt Disney produced fantasy stories like The Little Mermaid 1989; Sleeping Beauty 1959; Beauty and the Beast 1991; Cinderella 1950 and more. The tales most often than not were always about the life of a princess in search of her prince charming.
Attention Getter: Walt Disney once said “all of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Walt persevered in order to become the icon he is today. He was a self-starter and had the dream of using his artistic talent to create wholesome entertainment the whole family can enjoy, and to bring happiness and imagination into peoples’ lives. He is living proof that if you don’t give up on your dreams you have the ability to make something happen.
Granted that his artists left him, there was one artists that stayed. Her name was Lillian Bounds and married Walt on July 13, 1925. They had one child named Diane Marie (December 8th,1933) and adopted another named Sharon Mae in 1937 (Stewart 43 & 61). Walt needed a new character that was better than Oswald, so with the help of Lillian they created Mickey Mouse. No one would buy Walt’s cartoons of Mickey, but Walt had an idea of adding sound to his cartoons to make them more exciting. Steamboat Willie was the first cartoon with combined with sound and it was a hit! “Steamboat Willie was by far the best sound cartoon of its time” (Stewart 48). Walt wanted to make a animated movie that would be as long as the cartoons that are played
In 1923, Walt headed to Hollywood to make it big. He started out making advertisements for publishing and merchandising. He then began creating characters, some of them named Minnie, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. Walt Disney decided to create his own animation studio which he called Laugh-O-Grams where he created his first animated film with the help of one of his brothers. They called this short film Steamboat Willie. Steamboat Willie was the first animated cartoon with sound to ever be created. Walt eventually married Lillian Bounds in 1925 and he bought his parent a home but the house he bought for them had a Carbon Monoxide leak and it killed his
Walt Disney was famous for creating stream bout willy or mickey mouse cause no one has ever seen a mouse be included in a film or merchandise,but by Walt disney making mickey mouse he won oscars for short Flower and Tree. Mickey mouse was an icon character who launched a big corer in Walt Disney company fame. Walt Disney also used mickey mouse to wowed the audience with sound. Before that walt disney company, was very low in animation. As Walt Disney knew that with Mickey mouse there would be no disneyland and no disney movies in the world.(The Disney Version Schickel 255) "I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing that it was all started by a
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.
After losing everything, Walt and Ubbe decided to create another cartoon character now known as Mickey. After creating a series of short cartoons Mickey became the world’s most popular cartoon character in the 1930s. Walt created his first full-length animated musical feature in the production of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” which exceeded over $1,400,000 in profit (IMDb, 2010). Throughout 1937-1947 he continued to create full-length movies such as “Pinocchio”, “Fantasia”, “Dumbo”, and “Bambi”. Following his cartoon success, Walt
“Try to imagine a world without Walt Disney. A world without his magic, whimsy, and optimism..”(Brad A.) Well all know Walt Disney as the creator of Mickey Mouse and the man who made the first Disney movies and cartoons famous. Walt Disney did so much more than just make Mickey Mouse. He touched hearts and made a positive impact on so many people’s lives. He also made Disney famous around the world. Today there is Disney themed parks in Hong Kong, Paris, and Tokyo. Along with the famous Disney Land in California and the famous Disney World in Florida.
At the age of 31, Walt Disney and his brother, Roy Disney, founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (currently known as the Walt Disney Company), which became the industry leaders in the creation of cartoons. Gradually, the company expanded to also produce motion pictures and provide entrainment services through cable services or its theme parks.