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Walter Elias Disney was born.
He was born at 2156 N. Tripp Avenue in Chicago's Hermosa community area to Irish-Canadian father Elias Disney and German-American mother Flora Call Disney. -
Red Cross
Walt was highly affected by the World War II, so he applied for the military, but got placed in the Red Cross. This would soon effect his future films. -
Chicago
He studied at McKinley High School and took art classes at the Arts Institute of Chicago. He also worked at the O-Zell jelly company. -
Finding a Job
He found his love in film in Kansas City,where he was employed as a draftsman and inker in commercial art studios. Which is also where he met UB Iberks, whom would soon become important to his sucess. -
Animated advertisements with UB.
He started an off work company called Laugh-O-Grams with cartoons such as The Alice Commedies, but this soon went out of business. -
Opens cartoon studio
He hires many artist and comics to help him in his process. Ibwerks supplied Walt with the funds he needed to produce this company since Walt was very poor. The first company he opened was in Hollywood, CA. -
Lilian Bounds.
He married his long time coworker, Lilian Bounds.They got married in Lewiston, Idaho.
A few months later, they had their first kid, Diane.
And soon after they had another kid, Sharon. -
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Universal Pictures was looking for a new cartoon rabbit, so Walt and UB created one, but Universal Pictures took their idea and used it as their own. -
Mortimer Mouse ?!
Walt originally wanted to name the mouse Mortimer Mouse, but his wife convinced him that is was too boring, and gave the suggestion of Mickey Mouse. -
Steamboat Willie
Mickey made his big debut in the film Steamboat Willie. It orginally aired at the Colony Theater in New York. It was highly praised and started a revolution of a Mickey Mouse phase. -
Flowers and Trees
Flowers and Trees won walt his first Academy Award.This was Walts first major award and this film made Walt extremely more popular. It also helped him finacially. He was finally able to support himself and branch out his business. -
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
This film was his first full length movie and demonstrated a new way of showcasing animation during this time. His company earned $1,499,000.
He soon after created more movies such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi. -
Death of his mother.
Shortly after Walt's successful film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, aired, he and his brother bought their parents a new house close to their studio. Walt's mother, Flora, died because of fumes from a furnace in their house. Walt was never the same since. -
The Three Caballeros.
He combined live music with live acting and animation in his film. Walt used the same techniques in Mary Poppins and Song of the South. -
Disneyland opens its doors to the public.
It earned $17 million durilng its first week and was the biggest theme park of its time. Even today, the Disney Parks are the most successful amusement parks. -
MickeyMouse Club.
It featured young kids. It was a variety show for children, with regular features as a newsreel, a cartoon, and a serial, as well as music, talent and comedy segments. The newer version of the show had famous singers such as Christina Aguilera, N'SYNC, Backstreet Boys, Brittany Spears, and Justin Timberlake. -
Disney World.
Walt purchases land in Florida in hopes of creating a park over 4 times the size of Disneyland. Unfortunately, he passes away before the park was opened to the public. But people close to Walt worked on the park for many years using his plans for the park. -
Improving urban life in America.
He took a deep interest in this subject. For his upcoming amusement park, Walt designed the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). -
California Institute of the Arts.
He took a deep interest in the establishment of this school. He began the structure of the institute and encouraged young adults to study arts. -
Lung cancer.
It was a sudden death and was something Walt had been struggling with for years. Although, his legacy still lives on. As Walt once said, "Disneyland will continue to grow, as long as there's imagination left in the world".
