Walt Disney
was one of the most prominent figures in American history and pop culture. The founder of the Walt Disney Company, Disney was the creator of hundreds of beloved characters and films. This innovative man revolutionized the animation, as well as theme park, industries, and was a prolific animator, cartoonist, filmmaker, producer, and businessman. Revered as a cultural icon throughout the world, Disney's impact on the entertainment industry and legacy survives today.
1920-1930: Start of Animation Career
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In January 1920, Disney and Ubbe Iwerks formed a company, "Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists". However, after a rough financial period, Disney left temporarily to earn money at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, soon joined by Iwerks. While working for the company, Disney decided to become an animator. After experimenting and reading a book on animation, Disney thought cel animation was more promising than the cutout animation used at the ad company. Eventually, he decided to open his own animation business, and recruited his co-worker, Fred Harman, as his first employee. Disney and Harman began making cartoons called Laugh-O-Grams, based on Aesop's fables. The first six Laugh-O-Grams were re-imagined fairy tales. The cartoons were shown at a local theater owned by Frank Newman, a popular "showman."
Laugh-o-Gram Studio
Disney's "Newman Laugh-O-Grams" soon became hugely popular in Kansas City. With their success, Disney got his own studio, Laugh-O-Gram, and hired a number of animators, including Iwerks. It opened on May 18, 1922. However, the studio didn't make enough profit to pay the employees high salaries. Disney's studio soon became deep in debt and went backkrupt. Disney then decided to set up a studio in Hollywood, California, the heart of the movie industry.
Career in Hollywood and Marriage
After arriving in Hollywood in 1923, Disney and his brother Roy pooled their money and set up a cartoon studio, which became the Disney Brothers' Studio. In 1925 Disney hired a young artist, Lillian Bounds, and the two soon married that year on c July 25, 1925.
Alice Comedies
While in Kansas City, Walt had started making "Alice Comedies," and now, Disney and Roy looked for a distributer. Margaret Winkler agreed to a distribution deal these shorts based upon Alice's Wonderland, which featured a mix of animation and live action. Walt animated and directed the live-action himself, while Roy was the cameraman. The new Alice Comedies series turned out to be rather successful; but by its end in 1927, the series had lost popularity.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
In 1926, producer Charles Mintz wanted a new, all-animated series to be made and for distribution through Universal Pictures, and signed Disney's studio for the task. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was an almost instant success, and its main character, Oswald—created and drawn by Ubbe Iwerks—became a highly popular character.
However, in February 1928 when Disney went to negotiate higher pay for the Oswald Series, he was shocked when Mintz proposed lowering his pay-- and as most of Disney's animaters were under contract to Mintz and Universal had taken the rights to Oswald, Mintz threatened to make the series himself if Disney did not accept the ultimatum. Disney refused, and lost most of his animation staff except Iwerks. It was a huge loss, and Disney found himself on his own.
MICKEY MOUSE!
After the loss of Oswald, Disney needed a new character to replace him, and created a character based on a pet mouse he had. Originally named "Mortimer", the mouse was renamed "Mickey" by Lillian Disney. The first Mickey Mouse animated short was "Plane Crazy", a silent film like Disney's previous works; however, Disney failed to find a distributor for Plane Crazy or his next short "The Gallopin'Gaucho." Then, Disney created a Mickey cartoon with sound, using the Cinephone process, called "Steamboat Willie." It was an instant hit, and was the first animated film to ever be made with sound (Disney provided Mickey's voice). After Steamboat Willie, Disney successfully used sound in all following cartoons, and Cinephone became the new distributor for Disney's early sound cartoons. Mickey Mouse soon became an extremely popular cartoon character.
Silly Symphonies
Following the Mickey Mouse series, a series of musical shorts titled "Silly Symphonies" were released in 1929, the basis of the cartoons being their musical novelty.
By 1932, although Mickey Mouse had become popular, Silly Symphonies had not. Disney also felt competition by Max Fleishcher's cartoon, Betty Boop. In late 1932, Herbert Kalmus, who had just worked on the first three-strip technicolor camera, approached Walt and convinced him to use this revolutionary coloring process on his short, "Flowers and Trees," which became a phenomenal success. After Flowers and Trees, all Silly Symphony cartoons were made in color. Disney got a deal with Technicolor, giving him the sole right to use their three-strip coloring process. Through Silly Symphonies, Disney also created his most successful cartoon short of all time, "The Three Little Pigs" (1933). One reason for why Three Little Pigs was so successful was Disney had realized the need for emotionally compelling stories. After, Disney invented a "story department," where storyboard artists would work on a "story development" phase of production, separate from animation.
First Academy Award + subsequent spin-offs
On November 18, 1932, Disney received a special Academy Award for the creation of "Mickey Mouse". The series, after switching to color in 1935, soon launched spin-offs for supporting characters such as Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. Donald Duck went on to become Disney's second most successful cartoon character of all time
