The True Story of Walt Disney

The man, the myth, the mouse. Disney may be the name of an empire now, but once upon a time, it was just the name of a man who wanted to deliver happiness, whether through cheerful characters, magical movies, or unprecedented parks. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re chronicling the True Story of Walt Disney, and tracing the origins of his ferocious work ethic and childhood-defining brilliance. It was clear from a very young age that Walter Elias Disney had a creative flair, particularly for drawing. Born in Chicago in 1901, Walt spent his childhood honing his art skills by replicating newspaper cartoons, colouring, and even experimenting with watercolors. He’d even eventually become a cartoonist for his high school newspaper. But success in his other studies didn’t come as easily; fatigued following his early morning and evening newspaper routes, Walt would regularly doze off in his classes. Always searching for new experiences, Walt even tried forging his way into the army, but ultimately ended up spreading joy to soldiers with patriotic sketches on the side of Red Cross ambulances. In fact, some of Walt’s sketches actually ended up being showcased in an army newspaper. When Walt was passionate about something, his drive and work ethic were clear - something he maintained for the rest of his life. As Walt kept trying to break into animation, he hit roadblock after roadblock, but did meet someone important along the way: Ub Iwerks. After a few failed ventures into animation as a mentee artist and starting their own company, Walt - and Iwerks eventually - ended up doing cutout commercial animations for the Kansas City Film Ad Company. As always, Walt was looking to put his own unique stamp on his work, so he tinkered with the method of cel animation in his spare time, and ultimately developed his own company to create Laugh-O-Gram cartoons for a local theatre. Lo and behold, Laugh-O-Gram Studio was born, but didn’t last long. In 1923, the Laugh-O-Gram Studio went bust and Walt left Missouri for Hollywood. But he wasn’t going there empty-handed; he - along with Ub Iwerks and others - had been working a 12-and-a-half-minute film called “Alice's Wonderland‍”, which he later sold as an episodic series. This effectively led to the creation of the Disney Brothers Studio‍ the same year, which he formed with his brother Roy. After a few years, Walt wanted to switch things up from the “Alice” series, and set his next creation and character: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. But ultimately, he’d have this new character snatched out from under him, along with most of his animation staff - except Ub Iwerks. Though the Disneys were left without a character to spearhead their studio, losing the Lucky Rabbit did seem lucky indeed. After putting their heads together, Disney and Iwerks created a new mascot, a little guy by the name of Mortimer Mouse, later renamed Mickey Mouse (Walt’s wife, Lillian’s, suggestion). The two worked on the sketch together, Walt added the voice and boom, a legend was born. Mickey’s first big outing - after test shorts like “Plane Crazy” - was “Steamboat Willie”, a short that used revolutionary synchronized sound; this style would give future Disney shorts like the “Silly Symphony” series a real edge. In a push to reduce production costs, Walt brought in a new initiative for lower-paid animators to come in to produce the sketches in between key poses of characters, which were done by the core team. At the same time, Walt was trying to bring more money in by asking Celebrity Pictures executive Pat Powers, who he was working with at the time, for a pay rise for the cartoons they were producing. Powers refused, and to add insult to injury, signed Ub Iwerks to work for him. Driven to his limit, Walt had a nervous breakdown in 1931, and took a break abroad with his wife to recuperate. And it seems some time away from the studio was just what Walt needed. When he returned, Disney Studios signed a contract with Columbia Pictures, who would distribute Mickey Mouse cartoons, and new-fangled Technicolor shorts of “Flowers and Trees” and “The Three Little Pigs”, both of which won Academy Awards. But, as always, Walt was looking for the next best thing, and he believed that to be full-length feature movies. Well, what was deemed “Disney’s Folly” turned out to be a little picture named “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” premiering in 1937 to universal praise. Walt had left no stone unturned to make this the most impressive film, using live-action reference for his animators, and developed the new multiplane camera. However, regardless of “Snow White’s” success, Disney’s next movies, “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia”, both released in 1940, didn’t perform well at the box office. Also ambitious undertakings, the loss of international audiences during the start of World War II proved an all but impossible hurdle to overcome. This slump left the studio in a lot of debt, causing Disney Studios to make huge cuts to wages. Ultimately, this resulted in tension amongst employees and the 1941 animators’ strike. With that, Disney’s next movie, “Dumbo,” was interrupted at several different stages, looking like the elephant might never fly. It wasn’t just wage disputes that rubbed Disney employees the wrong way, however; Walt was famous for his unrelenting demands in the studio, very rarely giving any praise to his staff - “that’ll work” would be considered a huge gesture of encouragement. He would also famously cough loudly before entering rooms to warn workers that they should be on their toes and ready for his arrival. As well as producing popular feature-length movies during the war, Disney also created award-winning propaganda films, one of which was “Der Fuehrer's Face‍.” These films helped put the company in better financial shape, especially after 1942’s “Bambi” also didn’t do well commercially, but have been taken to task for racial insensitivity. The ‘40s were a transitional period for the studio, diversifying into nature documentaries, package films, and hybrid movies of both animation and live-action. Though these films were all-important to fund the iconic films in the coming years, many have, like the propaganda pictures, not aged well. Case in point: “Song of the South,” released in 1946. To this day, the film - and the company - have been criticized for its perpetuation of black stereotypes. The mid-20th century meant a return to animation with “Cinderella,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Peter Pan” and others, but also much more live-action forays, such as “Treasure Island.” What could be created in real life turned out to be Walt’s next big passion project: the construction of a theme park. Walt’s imagination had ventured beyond movies - though he did still produce feature-length movies like 1964’s “Mary Poppins.” Opening in 1955, Disneyland had its growing pains and detractors, but quickly became a phenomenon, and a place where kids and adults could be young and young at heart, surrounded by top-notch theming. But it wasn’t expansive enough - literally or figuratively. Walt soon looked to extend his little park that could, and soon enough, an area in Orlando, Florida seemed like just the place to make magic happen again. Disney World was to be the site of Walt’s pet project EPCOT, the “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.” Much like Disney himself, this Center would change with the times, always being on the cutting edge of innovation. Sadly, Walt wouldn’t live to see Disney World or EPCOT’s opening. Walt had smoked for a long time, but hid it as it didn’t fit the persona he wanted to externalize. “I'm not Walt Disney. I do a lot of things Walt Disney would not do. Walt Disney does not smoke. I smoke. Walt Disney does not drink. I drink.” As someone whose face and name represented this idyllic escape from reality, it was all too sobering to lose such a visionary. Walt Disney died on November 30th, 1966 at age 65 from complications from lung cancer. Like many history-making entrepreneurs, Walt Disney had his flaws, but he also had drive, determination and a yearning to make dreams come true. Few before or since have managed to innovate and rally talented minds quite so effectively to create worlds of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.