-
Walt Disney is born
Walter Elias Disney is born December 5th, 1901, in Hermosa, Illinois. His parents names are Elias Disney and Flora Disney, and Walt was one of 5 children. Here is a short biography on Walt Disney:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hXsLTcgmLQ -
Walt attends Highschool
Walt moved to Chicago, and went to the Mckinley High school there. He took photography and drawing classes there, and helps the newspaper by drawing comics for it. -
Disney goes to war
Disney drops out of high school at 16 to try and enter the army, but is rejected for being too young. He instead enters the Red Cross, and drives an ambulance in France. -
Disney meets Ub Iwerks
After coming back from work in he red cross, he moved to Kanas city to achieve a job as a newspaper artist. There he met Up Iwerks, who would later in time become his partner in animation. Disney worked at Pesmen Rubin- Art Studio and Kansas City Film Company. Here is a video on Ub Iwerks and how he helped create Mickey Mouse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsUV9lvIRu0 -
Disney creates his own company
Disney decided to open his own company after experimenting with animation, and hires Fred Harman. Harman is the first employee to work at Disney. This company fails after one month however, and they must declare bankruptcy. Here is a video on the history of the Disney company:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM7FtFWHQEE -
Walt creates Disney Brothers Studios
He creates this with his brother, Roy, and creats the "Alice Comedies" where a real girl interacts with cartoon characters. Here is one of the Alice Comedies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJkYjJA8JTE -
Walt and Roy rename the company
They changed the company name to what we know today, Walt Disney Studios. They also moved locations to Hyperion Avenue, which later became known as Hyperion Studio -
Mickey Mouse Creation
Mickey Mouse is first used in the animation "Steamboat Willie," and quickly the nation becomes enamored with the mouse. The animation synced sound and animation, and introduced Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. Here is the link to the animation:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4 -
Disney creates the Silly Symphonies
The Silly Symphonies focused mainly on Mickey Mouse, while also introducing some of his friends like Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. His most popular animation, Flowers and Trees, was the first to be released in color and won an Oscar. Here is one of the Silly Symphonies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UUrkVB-utw -
Snow White is released
Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs was Disney's first feature film, and it was a huge success. He pitched the idea to his animators in 1934, and it took them 3 years to complete. The film quickly became the highest grossing film of all time, and won an Oscar. Here is a trailer for the movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtWcPgDjPrM -
Fantasia and Pinnocchio are released
Unlike Snow White, neither of these films did extremely well in the box office. Their production was too expensive, and because of World War 2, most of Disney's foreign markets were lost. Pinocchio was released February 23 in 1940, while Fantasia was released on November 13th of the same year. Here is the trailer for Fantasia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMlIpQ5pbCk -
Cinderella and Treasure Island are created
Cinderella was the first very successful animated film since Snow White. Soon after that was created, Treasure island was a live action movie released, and was also extremely successful. Cinderella was released February 15th of 1950, and Treasure Island was released July 19th of the same year. Here is a trailer for Cinderella:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL-RjWKtZrM -
Disney buys land
Walt always wanted to make an amusement park that was fun for children and adults, so he decided to make one. After many years of planning and a $500,000 investment, Disney opens his park in Anaheim, CA. He said that that Disneyland would never be completed as long as there was still imagination in the world, and the park continues to be extremely popular to this day. Here is a video on Disneyland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBZe2kbkCGU -
Walt Disney dies
Disney died on December 15, 1966. He left behind many plants for the company that carried it for years. Before he died, he also bought land in Florida for another park. Here is a video on the before and after his death for Disney: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6VI-ks4vwQ
