How can we overlook this 20th-century icon? Since the 1920s, Walt Disney has revolutionized the world of cinema and animation, becoming one of the most famous producers globally. Let's lift the veil together on the story of the man who led the Disney empire.
A turbulent childhood
Walter Elias Disney, known as Walt Disney, was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois. He was an American producer, director, screenwriter, and animator. He was the fourth son of Elias Disney and Flora Call, and the older brother of Ruth Flora Disney, the fifth and last child of the couple of Irish descent.
Raised in a modest family, Walt Disney's father worked in construction as a carpenter. In 1906, a crisis hit the construction sector, and Elias Disney lost his job. The family then moved to a farm in Missouri. Eight years old at the time, this was Walt Disney's first encounter with elementary school in 1909. His father fell ill and could no longer work on the farm. He decided to sell the property, and the family moved into a rented house in Kansas City in early 1910.
Near this new home, Walt discovered Fairmont Garden, an amusement park located a few streets from his house. He was fascinated by this park, and it's easy to imagine that he kept this childhood memory in the back of his mind throughout his life.
In 1917, Walt Disney met Walt Pfeiffer, a high school classmate with whom he formed a vaudeville duo and performed in the theater. The same year, the family moved again, returning to Chicago, and Walt was enrolled in William McKinley High School. In parallel, after multiple requests to his particularly strict father, Walt managed to enroll in a class at the Chicago Art Institute, where he took drawing lessons every Saturday morning. This is how he began to practice and develop his passion for art and drawing in the way we know it today.
World War I: a pivotal period
Walt Disney was horrified by the images he saw of World War I. He developed an obsession: to win the war. Indeed, his brother Roy joined the Navy, while Walt was not accepted due to his young age. He then found a job as a train salesman, which allowed him to discover the country and develop a growing passion for steam trains. In the autumn, Walt was transferred to Chicago and returned to his family. He entered McKinley High School and illustrated the student magazine named The Voices. At 16, he chose to leave school and wanted to join the army, even though he was not the required age of 18. It was then that he discovered it was possible to join the Red Cross at 17: feeling he had no more time to lose, Walt did not hesitate to falsify his passport with the help of a friend to add a year to his age!
Thus, he was accepted into the American Red Cross deployed in France on September 16, 1918. He disembarked in Le Havre the day after the armistice, on November 12, 1918. He was stationed near Saint-Cyr-l'École and then assigned to drive ambulances for Hospital No. 5 in Paris. After a few months of service, he was eventually assigned to a Red Cross camp in Neufchâteau, in the Vosges. An important anecdote is that during this period, his vehicle broke down on a road, and he was hosted a few kilometers from Paris... in the future city of Marne-la-Vallée!
Walt remained in France for another year, until the end of September 1919, then returned to the United States and Chicago, where he rejoined his brother Roy, who had been demobilized from the Navy. His father offered him a job in the family business, but Walt Disney had other plans: he wanted to work in advertising as a cartoonist. It was at this time that the first sketches of the famous mouse were drawn. Indeed, in a notebook he brought from Chicago, he humorously drew two types of trench rats…
The creation of Disney studios…
After working for various advertising companies for several years, Walt began to produce his own short films within the small company he had built. However, his first films were not very successful. In 1923, he made his last short film: Alice in Wonderland's, a live-action film, before filing for bankruptcy. His brother Roy then invited him to join him in Hollywood. Walt worked there as a freelance photographer with the goal of raising enough money to relaunch his company and his team.
Thus, Walt and Roy teamed up to create Disney Brothers Studios in their uncle Robert's garage. They managed to secure a distribution contract with Margaret J. Winker, owner of film studios and the first woman to produce and distribute animated cartoons, notably the Felix the Cat series, which was a great success with the public at the time. On October 12, 1925, the two parties signed a contract to make 12 films: this marked the official creation of Disney Studios.
During the filming of the movies, Walt met Lillian Bounds, who worked on his team as a secretary and in-between artist. He often drove the young woman home in the evening, and that's how a romance began between the two lovers. They married in 1925, officially making Lillian Walt Disney's wife.
In 1926, Disney Brothers Studio was renamed Walt Disney Studio.
…And the character of Mickey Mouse
Regarding the creation of the famous Mickey Mouse, legend has it that Walt was on a train traveling from New York to Los Angeles and began drawing a character during his journey with round ears and a simple tail that could be drawn with a single stroke. Mickey Mouse would therefore be a simpler, improved version of the character of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who was already known at the time. Later, he would have revisited his drawing to create a character resembling a mouse. Another version of Mickey Mouse's creation states that Walt simply inspired the idea of this character and that the graphic realization was entirely done or improved by Ub Iwerks, a partner and member of his team.
Originally, the character was named Mortimer Mouse. It was Lillian, Walt Disney's wife, who renamed him Mickey Mouse. He then first appeared in the short film Plane Crazy, a silent film like all of Disney's previous works. In 1927, Warner Bros released a revolutionary film: The Jazz Singer, a film with sound! Fascinated, Disney launched the creation of a Mickey cartoon with sound, titled Steamboat Willie.
In November 1928, the film was released in theaters. It was the very first animated film with synchronized sound. Thus, this date marks the birth of Mickey Mouse, as well as Minnie Mouse and Peg-Leg Pete. Steamboat Willie became a success and greatly contributed to making the work of Walt Disney Studios known. Until 1947, Walt Disney himself was the English voice of Mickey!
The great successes of Disney films
Now launched on the path to success, Disney studios entered an era of intensive production that would be filled with successes, especially the Disney Princesses, although some films did not achieve the expected impact. Among the most famous are:
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937
- Pinocchio, in 1940
- Fantasia, in 1940
- Dumbo, in 1941
- Bambi, in 1942
- Cinderella, in 1952
- Alice in Wonderland (animated), in 1951
- Peter Pan, in 1953
- Lady and the Tramp, in 1955
- Sleeping Beauty, in 1959
- And many others: 101 Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, etc.
The creation of the first amusement park: Disneyland
In parallel, and following the success of Disney films, the studios expanded. Thus, in the late 1940s, during a business trip to Chicago, Walt sketched out a leisure park at the foot of the studios. Originally, this park was intended for employees to spend time with their children. The concept initially included a garden, a Wild West town, and a fairground area. As the concept grew, the project took on a certain scale: the name Disneyland was born. Walt gave an interview to the press in which he said: "I want Disneyland to be the most wonderful place on earth, and for a train to go around it."
Disneyland thus became one of the first theme parks in the world and officially opened its doors on July 17, 1955. Visitors from all over the world flocked there to enjoy numerous attractions that paid tribute to Disney's successful films and franchises.
The expansion of Disney parks: Walt Disney World Resort
In 1964, the secret "Project Florida" was born. Walt Disney Productions quietly began acquiring land in central Florida, in a rural area. It wasn't until 1966 that the project and the initial plans for what would later be called "Walt Disney World" became known.
Following the Disneyland model, Disney World aimed to be a larger and more elaborate version. Thus, a "Magic Kingdom" area was integrated, and golf courses as well as hotels were established. This project was considered an experimental project for the cities of tomorrow: the heart of the park was designed as an operational city where residents could live, work, and interact with each other using advanced technologies that improved human life and health.
The passing of Walt Disney
In 1966, Walt Disney was working on another project: a ski resort. He revealed this project to the press on September 19 and appeared very ill during his address. Indeed, Walt Disney, an incorrigible smoker, was suffering from a terrible cancerous tumor located in his left lung. Monitored in the hospital for several months, he was finally declared dead on December 15, 1966, two weeks after his 65th birthday.
Roy, his brother, continued to advance the Florida project and insisted that the name "Walt Disney World" be used as a tribute. However, Roy died three months after the opening of the Magic Kingdom, on December 20, 1971.
Walt Disney, an indelible mark forever in the world of cinema
With an incredible life, Walt Disney established himself as a major icon of the 20th century. Producer, director, screenwriter, and animator, he knew how to use his experience to create projects, each more ambitious than the last. A true enthusiast, he invested greatly in realizing his dreams. To this day, Walt Disney is still the individual artist who has won the most Oscars, with 22 awards from 59 nominations. Walt Disney left an indelible mark on the world forever, and even though he is no longer with us, his alter ego, who is considered his romantic version and inspired by his personality, Mickey Mouse, always brings us back to him…
