Walt Disney
The Man Who Shaped
Generations
“The way
to get
started is
to quit
talking and
start
doing.”
Walter Elias Disney
The Early years
• Walter Elias Disney
was born on
December 5, 1901 in
the Hermosa section
of Chicago, Illinois
• Walt was one of five
children, four boys
and one girl
• Parents, Flora and
Elias, were both
immigrants
The early years
• The family moved to
Marceline, Missouri
where Walt would
spend most of his
childhood
• Here he began
drawing and painting
• He would sell his
pictures to neighbors
and family
• The town would
eventually be the
basis for Main Street,
The Early years
• In 1911, the family
moved to Kansas
City, Missouri
• The home was close
to the Sante Fe
railroad track where
his Uncle Mike Martin
worked the line from
Marceline to Fort
Madison, Iowa
• Walt would later work
on the railroad selling
newspapers and
The early years
• Walt would later attend
school in Chicago,
studying art at the
Chicago Art Institute at
night while attending
high school during the
day
• At age 16, he dropped
out of school to join the
Red Cross during
World War I after being
rejected for the army
• While in the Red Cross,
Walt served in France
driving ambulances
“That’s the
real trouble
with the
world, too
many
people
grow up.”
Walter Elias Disney
and his Grandson
Early work
• After the war, Walt
returned to Kansas
City to become a
newspaper artist. He
would get fired from
the job due to a lack
of creativity.
• He would take a job
at the Kansas City
Film Ad Company
creating commercials
• He began
experimenting with
Early work
• Walt would meet Ubbe
Iwerks while working at
the Film Ad Compandy
• Eventually, Walt would
start his own animation
studio with Ub
• He would strike a deal
with a local theatre to
show his early cartoons
• Laugh-O-Grams
cartoons were born.
Early work
• The cartoons became
an instant hit
• Allowed Walt to buy
his first studio and
hire new staff
• Began producing the
Alice in Cartoonland
shorts
• The studio would
close in 1923 due to
excessive debt
“Just do
your best
work –
then try to
trump it.”
Walt and Ubbe Iwerks
Alice and oswald
• Walt would move to
California to join his
brother, Roy, in 1923,
hoping to become a
director
• Walt would reach a
distribution deal for his
Alice comedies – opening
the door to create a new
Disney Brothers Studio in
Hollywood
• The deal was struck with
Winkler Pictures, run by
Margaret Winkler and
Charles Mintz (Up!)
• Iwerks would join the
brothers in California with
Alice and Oswald
• The Alice Comedies
were a combination of
live action and
animation
• The little girl, Alice,
would be played by
four different
actresses between
1923 and 1927
• The success would
allow Walt to step
away as an animator
and focus on
Alice and Oswald
• In 1927, The duo
would create their first
character, Oswald the
Lucky Rabbit
• The cartoons would
be distributed by
Universal Pictures
• Oswald was a rabbit
due to the
proliferation of
animated cats at the
time (Felix the Cat,
Alice and Oswald
• Oswald was produced
by Charles Mintz
• In 1928, Disney wanted
to renegotiate the
contract for Oswald
with Mintz and would
travel to New York
• Mintz argued that
Disney should only
receive a 20% interest
due to the increasing
costs of production
• Disney quit and lost
both Oswald and the
talents of Ubbe Iwerks
Alice and Oswald
• Oswald would continue
to be a success without
Disney
• Oswald would continue
to be drawn by many of
the original animators
of the Disney Brothers
Studio
• Walter Lantz, who
would later create
Woody Woodpecker,
would take over control
in 1929 and give
Oswald a new look
• Oswald’s rights would
“I only
hope we
don’t lose
sight of
one thing –
that it was
all started
by a
mouse.”
Mickey mouse
• Walt was upset after
the underhanded deal
offered by Mintz
• On the train ride back
from New York, Disney
began exploring the
ideas for a new cartoon
character
• On the train, the basic
ideas for Mortimer
Mouse were created
based on a mouse that
used to hang around
the Laugh-O-Gram
Mickey mouse
• Walt presented the
idea to Ub who was
still working on the
Oswald cartoons
• Ub and Walt worked
on the character in
secrecy until Ub was
out of his contract
• Mortimer’s name was
changed by now to
Mickey at the
insistence of Walt’s
wife, Lillian
Mickey mouse
• Walt began a new
Disney Studio with Ub
and an apprentice by
the name of Les Clark
• Most of Walt’s original
staff stayed with the
Oswald cartoon
• From this day
forward, Walt would
only work on
characters that he
owned the rights to
Mickey mouse
• Mickey’s body was
designed around
circles which made
him easier to animate
• This design would be
changed later by Fred
Moore, who made the
body pear shaped
• Mickey only has three
fingers and a thumb,
a design which made
drawing the character
easier and cheaper
Mickey mouse
• A form of Minnie
Mouse appears in
even the first cartoons
• The test cartoon,
Plane Crazy was the
first Mickey cartoon
but did not fair well in
its test screening
• The Gallopin’ Gaucho
was the second
Mickey short
Steamboat Willie
• Steamboat Willie was
the first Mickey
Mouse cartoon to find
a distributor
• It first premiered on
November 18, 1928 in
New York
• The film was a parody
of a Buster Keaton
film
• The film was the first
to utilize a
synchronized
Mickey mouse
• Walt was a fan of the
new sound films and
insisted that sound be
used in the Mickey
cartoons
• Mickey’s first words
would be heard in the
film, The Karnival Kid
in 1929
• Walt served as the
voice for both Mickey
and Minnie until 1946
"I am in no
sense of the
word a great
artist, not even
a great
animator; I
have always
had men
working for me
whose skills
were greater
than my own. I
am an idea
man.”
Silly Symphonies
• A series of animated
shorts made between
1929 and 1939
• The shorts were based
of musical scores and
did not have a common
character theme to
them
• While not initially as
popular as the Mickey
cartoons, the Silly
Symphonies grew in
popularity and
introduced some
Silly Symphonies
• Disney became
fascinated by a new
three-strip, full-color
film process called
Technicolor
• Disney would sign an
exclusive contract to
use the new technology
through 1935
• The studio was over
half done with a work
entitled, Flowers and
Trees which it would
scrap and redo using
the color process
Silly Symphonies
• The Technicolor
symphonies would pass
Mickey Mouse in
popularity
• Disney would extend
the contract with
Technicolor but
exclusivity rights would
eventually be lost,
making way for The
Wizard of Oz
• In 1933, The Three
Little Pigs was
released, becoming a
box office success
Silly Symphonies
• Disney would use the
Silly Symphonies to
explore new ideas and
introduce new
characters
• Donald Duck would
make his debut in
1934, appearing in The
Wise Little Hen
• Pluto would make his
first starring role in a
Silly Symphony
• Initial movie ideas
would also be explored
Silly Symphonies
• The success of the Silly
Symphonies would
allow Disney to expand
his studios
• The popularity would
breed competition from
other studios, spanning
the Merrie Melodies
and Looney Tunes
cartoon series
• Despite the popularity
of the shorts, Disney
would stop making
them to tackle a new
challenge, a full length
animated film
“The more
you like
yourself, the
less you are
like anyone
else, which
makes you
unique.”
Disney’s “Nine Old
Men”
Moving Forward
• Ub Iwerks left the
company in 1929
after growing tension
over Ub’s freedom at
the Disney’s Studios
• Ub was recruited
away by Pat Powers,
a businessman who
featured sound
technology to the
movie industry
• Ub would start a his
own studio which
Nine old men
• Disney had begun
hiring a new staff of
animators prior to
Iwerks leaving the
company
• Most of the Mickey
Mouse shorts and
Silly Symphonies
were being completed
by the new staff
• A core group of the
animators would
remain with Disney
Getting to know the Nine old men
• You will be charged
with doing some
research to find out a
little more about the
Nine Old Men through
their work
• You will be creating a
Facebook page for
one of their creations
• You are to find a
character from Mickey
Mouse through the
film Jungle Book,
"Lips red
as the
rose. Hair
black as
ebony.
Skin white
as snow.”
Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs
• The movie would
become Disney’s
most ambitious
project
• The idea for the film
came to Walt when he
was 15
• The Hollywood movie
industry mockingly
referred to Snow
White as "Disney's
Folly" while it was in
Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs
• It took almost two years
to come up with the
final renderings of the
Seven Dwarfs
• Rejected names for the
dwarf’s included:
Jaunty, Blabby, Dirty,
Gabby, Biggy-Wiggy,
Gaspy, Gloomy, Awful,
Deefy, Hoppy-Jumpy,
Hotsy, Nifty, and Shifty.
• Six of the dwarfs have
eyebrows modeled
after Walt Disney’s.
Happy was the
exception, his
Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs
• Legendary voice actor
Mel Blanc, best
known as the voice of
Bugs Bunny, was
originally cast to be
the voice of Dopey,
but he was made
mute instead
• The voices of Sleepy
and Grumpy is that of
Pinto Colvig, the
voice of Goofy
Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs
• The film included 15
voice actors, 32
animators, 102
assistant animators,
167 “in-betweeners”, 20
layout artists, 25 artists
doing watercolor
backgrounds, 65 effects
animators, and 158
female inkers and
painters.
• The film took over three
years to complete with
over 250,000 drawings
(2 million sketches
were drawn)
Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs
• Songwriters Frank
Churchill and Larry
Morey composed 25
songs for the movie,
though only seven
were used.
• Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs would
be the first film to ever
release a motionpicture soundtrack
Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs
• The Prince was
intended to be a
prominent character,
but the difficulty found
in animating him forced
Walt to reduce his part
significantly.
• 19-year-old Adriana
Caselotti voiced Snow
White. Walt wanted to
keep Snow White’s
voice special, so he
held Adriana to a very
strict contract and she
Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs
• The film was originally
budgeted at
$250,000, It cost
over $1.5 million to
make – Walt was
forced to mortgage
his house
• The film was first
released on
December 21, 1937 in
Los Angeles,
California at the
Carthay CircleTheatre
Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs
• Snow White was the
highest grossing film
ever for exactly one
year
• It is still in the top 10
money-making films
of all time
• The profits
from Snow White and
the Seven
Dwarfs allowed Walt
to build Disney
Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs
• A short film sequel,
titled Snow White
Returns was planned. It
never left the
preproduction stage.
• The film would
influence numerous
other films
• The film was nominated
for Best Picture for
1938
• The film received a
special academy award
for technical
"Tomorrow
will be
better as
long as
America
keeps alive
the ideals
of freedom
and a
better life.”
Disney and the
War Effort
• While Disney was
doing well
domestically, films
were failing due to no
international market
• Dumbo was released
October 23, 1941 just
short of the American
entrance into World
War II
• Bambi was in
production at the start
Disney and the
War Effort
• During the war, Disney
Studios would begin
producing films for the
war effort.
• All Disney characters
would become part of
the propaganda
campaign
• Disney would produce
over 68 hours worth of
educational film for the
effort
• 90% of Disney’s staff
would be involved in
Disney and the
War Effort
• Disney would create a
variety of films for
different branches of the
military
• Many of the films were
intended for servicemen
to educate them while
entertaining
• Disney also became a
popular source of
insignias for different
service organizations
• Over 1200 were
produced
• Donald Duck was the
most popular character
Disney and the
War Effort
• Disney also produced
films for the Treasury
Department to sell war
bonds
• Films were made for
Canada also
• One film, The Spirit of
’43, was credited by
37% of Americans as to
the reason why they
paid their income taxes
the next year
• Disney also produced a
book for children to get
Disney and the
War Effort
• Victory Through Air
Power was released
in 1943
• It was a full length
feature film that
focused on Major
Alexander de
Seversky’s theory of
long range strategic
bombing
• The film helped