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Who was Walt Disney afraid of? Biography of Walt Disney - the founder of The Walt Disney Company (success story, quotes, photos, statements)

Walt Disney- an outstanding American animator, director, actor, screenwriter and producer, creator of a series of full-length cartoons that have earned him worldwide fame. Father of Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Rabbit, Donald Duck and over 200 other characters loved by all the children of the world. He received 29 Oscars and the highest civilian government award in the United States, the Medal of Freedom. Founder of Walt Disney Productions and creator of the world's first huge children's amusement park, Disneyland

Success Story, Biography of Walt Disney

Biography of Walter Disney began back in 1901 on December 5, when the fourth of five children, Walter Elias, was born in the family of a carpenter and a teacher. Walt's father, Elias Disney, was Irish-Canadian, and his mother, Flora, was German-American. Chicago, where the family lived, by that time managed to become not only the largest industrial, but also the most criminal city in the States. Disney's patience was overwhelmed by the murder of a policeman that occurred on a nearby street. After this incident, the Disney family moved to the brother of the father of the family, in the small town of Marceline, Missouri. Disney bought a farm there. Walt was then only 4 years old. The family had no money for pencils and paper, and Walt wanted to paint. He found resin, a stick and drew a house...

Childhood and youth of Walt Disney

Many people in Marceline knew Walt. He had a cheerful disposition, so neighbors and just acquaintances loved him very much. One of the neighbors, an elderly veteran, Dr. Sherwood, paid Walt 25 cents for the boy to draw his horse on a piece of paper. Later, Disney believed that it was Dr. Sherwood's successful portrait of the mare that prompted him to become an artist.

Walt showed an interest in drawing from childhood, and began selling his first comics at the age of seven. Young Walt was involved in the creation school newspaper as an artist and photographer, and in the evenings attended the Academy of Fine Arts. Then he took a course in newspaper cartoonists, where they taught non-standard thinking, funny violations of the usual logic and a laconic manner.

When Walt was eight years old, his father began to load him with work. The boy delivered letters and advertisements for his father's company: in any weather, rain, snow, early morning or late night, Walt ran through the streets in his worn boots, rushing to deliver the mail on time. All the money Walt earned was taken by his father. But Walt did not grumble: he simply took work twice as much as his father demanded, secretly from his strict "boss", and kept everything earned in excess for pocket expenses.

When Disney was 10 years old, his father contracted typhus. Flora Disney sat next to her husband and pressed orange slices to his withered lips, trying to get at least a little juice into Elias's mouth. " These orange slices seemed so wonderful to my brother and me that we also dreamed of falling down from typhus, or even from some terrible disease, if only we could get a few drops of the desired juice.', recalls Walt's sister, Ruth.

Soon the father recovered, and they decided to move to Kansas City, like many poor families who migrated endlessly around America in search of work. This move played a significant role in Walt's life. In Kansas City there was a gigantic rich mansion, hidden behind a high fence and surrounded by a lush garden. The mansion belonged to a private owner and was the object of desire for local children. They all so wanted to crawl through some secret hole, play in the garden, and maybe even get into the mansion itself, run around its luxurious enfilades, stare at old portraits.

Walt tried many times to enter the territory of the property, and all his attempts ended in failure. Then he swore that when he grew up, he would definitely build a huge house with entertainment for children, with a huge garden for games. Thus, apparently, a dream was born, forty years later, embodied in Disneyland.

Disney's first best friend was Walt Pfeiffer. The boys spent all their pocket money on going to the movies. Their idol was Charlie Chaplin. Leaving the cinema, they wandered down the street, taking turns imitating Charlie's walk and trying to play his tricks for a couple. At that time, Walt's friends, teachers, and Walt himself believed that he should definitely go into acting.

In the autumn of 1918, the young man tried to enlist in military service. However, Walt was refused due to his youth, so he volunteered for the Red Cross, and was sent overseas, where he spent a year working as an ambulance driver. This car has become a local landmark, as Walt decorated it all with funny drawings.

Upon his return, Walt managed to enroll at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he discovered that his true talents lay in the realm of conceptualizing and coordinating projects. He wanted to get out of this building faster and start working on his own. He wanted to quickly complete this study, if only to give his whole soul to drawing.

Finally he finishes it. And immediately in front of the novice artist Disney stood up pretty complex issue Q: Where do you go to work? First, he got a job in one of the restaurant firms, which needed funny advertising drawings in the form of signs. Its director hardly hired Disney, and he paid not very high - only $ 50 a week!

Creation of the Walt Disney Company

Seriously interested in animation, Walt Disney decides to leave his native Kansas, and in August 1923, with nothing but a few drawings, one finished animated feature film and $ 40 in his pocket, he goes to Hollywood.

The idea of ​​creating cartoons became obsessive for him. " I moved from one studio to another, where I visited all the offices in a row, from the personnel department to the set. The only job I was able to get was as an extra. I had to ride a horse a few meters - in a crowd of other extras. However, it was raining heavily, the shooting was postponed to another day, and then our scene was simply thrown out of the script. It was the end of my acting career." writes Disney in his memoirs.

Desperate to get a job in Hollywood, Walt rents out his Uncle Robert's garage. Rent is a big word. He simply takes over the notorious garage, promising to pay for its use someday. In the garage, he stores the necessary equipment, bought with money borrowed from his brother Roy - paints, brushes, spotlights - everything for the production of cartoons. Roy becomes Walt's partner (Roy's share was $250 and another $500 was borrowed) and they set up a cartoon studio called Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.

Soon, Roy faces a gigantic problem: how and what to feed his brother, who has plunged headlong into work? Roy usually left the garage and went to the small room where the two of them huddled together to cook a modest dinner for two. But suddenly, Walt, who did not pay attention to any everyday difficulties, arranges a terrible scandal, during which he yells at the confused Roy that he will not eat that miserable gruel that his brother feeds. And then Roy decides to take a “desperate step”: he proposes to his beloved girlfriend, Edna Francis, who, having become the wife of the unlucky cook Roy, moves in with her brothers and becomes their cook for many months.

And Walt himself was already thinking about marriage. A wonderful girl, Lillian Bounds, got a job at the studio. She was mainly engaged in filling paints - that is, painting the characters created by Walt. Walt did not have to especially look after Lillian - she immediately fell in love with her "boss", and when he was broke, she easily refused her honestly earned $ 15 a week - for the good of the studio.

Walt got the idea for the first cartoon after being interested in the cartoons of Max Fleischer. I saw that Fleischer uses a very interesting technique: combining animation with real footage. Those. - the cartoon character, as it were, enters the real world. But Disney did not copy Fleischer's innovative solution. He did things a little differently - he introduced a REAL character into the cartoon world, which is actually much more complicated. First of all, it was necessary to choose a plot (to come up with a script). Walt loved the book "Alice in Wonderland" since childhood, so he decided to make a cartoon with the participation of this character - the little girl Alice.

Working on this cartoon required unbearable stress. Walt was already unable to stay up at night. for a long time, so he hired two aspiring artists. They were two friends who studied at the same art school as Disney - Rudolf Eising and Hugh Harman, future authors of the animated series "The Adventures of Bosco", "Barney Bear" and "Joyful Harmonies". Disney explained to the two guys his requirements for an animated film, and finally, the work began to boil for real.

After receiving little money for this cartoon, Walt and Roy decided to change the name of the studio. On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney signed a contract with Margaret Winkler, a distributor from New York. This date is considered the founding day of the current Walt Disney Company. This name turned out to be more fortunate for the brothers.

The studio produced Alice films for four years, and then Walt decided to switch to the production of fully animated cartoons. The star of the new series was a funny rabbit named Oswald, invented and drawn by Walt Disney. In just a year, the studio released 26 episodes about the adventures of a rabbit, but when it came time to start a new season, Walt was horrified to find that the practical Margaret Winkler managed to poach four studio artists and now plans to release cartoons about Oswald without the participation of the creator. Alas, the contract was drawn up in such a way that it was the distributor, and not the author, who owned the rights to the cartoon character. It was a bitter but useful lesson for Disney, which has since been careful to ensure that the rights to all of its creations belong only to him.

Beginning of the Mickey Mouse era

After the loss of Oswald, Disney had no choice but to come up with new star for their cartoons. So the famous mouse Mickey Mouse was born (" His first name was Mortimer Mouse, but my wife Lillian did not like this name, and she suggested calling him Mickey. I could not refuse her such a trifle - this is how Mickey Mouse was born, which brought worldwide fame to my company."- recalled Disney.), Suspiciously similar to his older brother the rabbit. Disney himself and the main artist of his studio, Ab Iwerks, took part in its creation.

However, the studio could not sell the first two cartoons with the participation of Mickey Mouse: they were silent, and sound had already come to cinemas. Cartoons were created quite quickly for the studios of the time, and besides, we must not forget that the Disney studio was somewhat artisanal. As soon as sound films appeared in 1927, Walt immediately adopted the experience of his fellow cinematographers and began to voice cartoons. The third film in the series (already with sound) was released on November 18, 1928, and this day marked the beginning of the Mickey Mouse era.

In parallel, Walt Disney launched a new series - Silly Symphonies. It was built on different principles: new characters appeared in each film, which was supposed to stimulate creative thinking studio animators. This series has become something of a training ground for Disney artists, where they practiced new animation techniques before using them on larger projects. Nevertheless, it was the cartoon from this series that won the first Oscar for the studio in 1932 as the best animated film. From that point until the end of the pre-war decade, Disney cartoons received an Oscar every year. He received 29 such awards for his work.

Very handy for the Disney company, it turned out that cartoon characters can be a good source of additional income. One day, a businessman from New York offered Disney $300 for permission to put an image of Mickey Mouse on fountain pens. Walt Disney just needed money, so he willingly agreed to replicate the image of a mouse.

After that, portraits of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters began to appear literally everywhere: on plates and toothbrushes, towels and school notebooks, candy wrappers and wallpaper for children's rooms. In 1930, the first series of Mickey Mouse comics was published. All this brought good money, and most importantly, contributed to the promotion of cartoon characters and ultimately led to the fact that many of them turned into national legends in America.

In 1927 Walt Disney and his wife Lillian move into their own, rather spacious apartment. As a Christmas present, Walt gives Lillian a dog. He began to play the role of Lillian's beloved child, who had no children. By the way, two attempts by the Disney couple to have a baby failed: both times Lillian had a miscarriage. And when she became pregnant for the third time, Disney, who seemed to want to get an heir, suddenly lost all interest in his wife. In one of his letters to his cousin, Walt wrote: "I am married and all I can boast of is a pretty little wife and a handsome chow chow."

So, in 1933, the daughter of Walt and Lillian, Diana, is born. On the eve of her birth, Walt sends a letter to his mother, where he complains: “ Lilly is expecting a daughter. Personally, I don't pay any attention to it. I don't want more disappointments. Our whole room has become a parody of a nursery, pink and blue diapers are everywhere ... But I don’t want to know anything about it. I believe that I will make the most disgusting father in the world ... " It's funny that it was at this time, at the end of 1933, that Walt was awarded by the magazine "Parents" ("Parents") for his contribution to the upbringing of the younger generation of Americans.

Also in 1933, Disney released his first color cartoon, The Three Little Pigs. The song “We are not afraid of the gray wolf” that sounded there became a national hit.

Meanwhile, the studio is growing. Several more cartoons are being shot. Mickey Mouse wins the hearts of millions - and not only Americans, but also Europeans. “Merry Melodies” is being filmed, quacking Donald Duck, howling dog Pluto and stupid Goofy, trying to scoop water from a pond into a colander, appear on the screens. Disney enters into an agreement with Columbia Pictures, then with United Artists.

In 1934, Walt Disney announced to his employees that he intended to make a feature-length animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. At first, many were skeptical about this idea: few believed that a picture in which there would be no live actors would be able to interest the audience in the same way as a big movie. However, gradually the idea of ​​Disney ceased to seem fantastic, and the work began to boil.

The shooting of the film lasted three years and cost a crazy amount at that time - $ 1.499 million. Only the Bank of America loan, whose head, Amadeo Giannini, was very fond of Mickey Mouse, saved Disney from ruin. But the result was worth the money, as Snow White was the highest-grossing film of all time for a long time (its record was broken only by Gone with the Wind). And in 1939, Walt Disney for this full-length cartoon was awarded the ninth Oscar in a row. It is worth noting that during the awards ceremony, in addition to one full-fledged figurine, Disney also received symbolically seven small "oscors" - according to the number of gnomes. Since then, the Disney studio began to consider full-length cartoons as the main and potentially most profitable production.

As the studio grows, so does the Disney family. Lillian, having again failed in the field of motherhood, decides to adopt. In 1937, Walt and Lillian take in a little girl and name her Sharon Mae Disney.

There is more and more money. The Great Depression had almost no effect on Disney's work. Well, unless there were just a couple of strikes at the studio - you see, the artists did not want to work under the direction of a person who draws worse than they do and who has such a meager education (one year of college), but who considers himself a director. The strike soon "dissolved": in fact, the conflict grew on the basis of Walt's quarrels with the producers who wanted to become official co-authors of Disney.

Having become rich, Walt buys his parents a mansion. However, upon closer examination, this mansion turns out to be somewhat flawed: it has a dangerously damaged gas heating system. One sunny November morning in 1938, gas begins to seep from a pipe straight into the living quarters, Flora Disney, the mother of our "hero", falls dead to the floor, Elias Disney tries to pick her up, and he himself receives a dangerous dose of gas. Elias survived, but Flora could not be saved. Walt suffers from guilt for a long time after the death of his mother, because he knew about the damage to the heating system, but he kept postponing the solution of this problem until later.

Filmed during the Second World War, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi, who had every chance to repeat the success of Snow White, did not bring the expected profits to Disney. During the war, the studio had to concentrate mainly on making propaganda and training films for the military commissioned by the US State Department.

But all bad things come to an end. By the early 1950s, the Disney Company was able to regain foreign markets taken from it by the war, and again began to make feature films, including those with live actors.

In 1954, the Disney Company also began producing television programs, becoming one of the pioneers of first black-and-white and then color television in the United States. First TV hit from

Disney became the Disneyland series, which, having changed its name several times, lasted on the screens of America for 29 years, and was shown exclusively in prime time. A year later, the famous program The Mickey Mouse Club debuted, in which many future stars of American show business took their first steps.

Disneyland - Dreamland for children of all ages

However, gradually the talent of Walt Disney became crowded within the film and television business. A new field for activity was suggested to him by his father's experience. Walking with his daughters, Walt often went to zoos, carnivals and other entertainment events. While the children rode on the carousel, the father sat patiently on the bench and waited for the daughters to get drunk. During these gatherings, he came to the conclusion that America really lacks a place where it would be interesting to spend time for both adults and children. And then Disney decided to create such a place himself.

The first Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955 in the city of Anaheim (California), south of Los Angeles .. $ 17 million was spent on its construction, but very soon all investments paid off tenfold. Over the first 25 years of its existence, the park was visited by more than 200 million people. In 1983, his "Disneyland" appeared in Tokyo, and in 1992 - in Paris.

28 thousand people came to the opening of the park. And another ninety million viewers were able to watch this grandiose holiday live. The opening ceremony of the first Disneyland was televised by future US President actor Ronald Reagan. It was a completely original and unlike anything park, founded on four basic principles.

« Everyone who came to this happy place - Welcome! Disneyland is your country. Here, the beautiful memories of the old are resurrected, and here the young can breathe in the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, dreams and real events that created America... with the hope that it will become a source of joy and inspiration for the whole world!» Walter Disney, July 17, 1955.

The next major Disney project was the California Institute of the Arts, which was founded in 1961, near Los Angeles. Music, painting, theater, sculpture, cinematography, fashion were studied here.

In 1963, Disney embarked on an even more ambitious idea - the so-called Project X. With the help of his people, he found a suitable piece of land in Florida and bought it piece by piece, hiding behind the names of fictitious companies (such precautions were taken to ensure that land owners did not raised land prices). In the end, the Walt Disney Company owned an allotment of land equal in area to two Manhattans. At this point, construction began on a new park, which was called The Walt Disney World. It opened in October 1971.

Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966 from lung cancer, leaving unfulfilled the ideas, no less, of the "city of the future" and "university for creative youth" - the name of Walt Disney. He was replaced by brother Roy, who ran the Walt Disney Company until 1971. After his death, the company was headed by three people - Card Walker, Donn Tatum and Ron Miller, whom the Disney brothers began to prepare for leadership in advance. Walt Disney left to his successors many projects and ideas that he did not have time to implement himself. Their gradual implementation allowed the company to maintain the leading position in the global entertainment industry won during the life of the founder without any problems for another two decades.

Personal qualities of Walt Disney and the secrets of his success

The roots of Walt Disney's success are in his willpower, reckless courage and perseverance. He did not give up, even when defeat seemed inevitable. He believed in his ideas and made sound decisions. Disney learned early on to distrust the judgment of others. Disney's power was inextricably linked to his immense self-respect, which allowed him to go against expert opinion. His works did not always bring success, but if success came, it was simply deafening.

Walt Disney willingly shared the secrets of the success of the Walt Disney Company:

1. Give every member of your organization the opportunity to dream and develop creatively to make their dreams come true.

2. Treat your customers like guests.

3. Hold fast to your beliefs and principles.

4. Support your employees, delegate authority and reward them.

5. Build long-term relationships with key suppliers and partners.

6. Use storyboarding to solve planning and communication problems.

7. Intensive continuous training strengthens the corporate culture.

8. Pay close attention to detail.

9. Have the courage to take calculated risks in order to achieve the implementation of new ideas.

10. Combine long-term vision with short-term execution.

Disney belonged to the Promethean personality type, suffering from megalomania. These qualities allowed him to use with inextinguishable zeal any opportunity that presented itself. For the sake of the future, Disney was inclined to lay down the present and simply loved to create everything new and special when the opportunity presented itself. At the same time, he rarely worried about where the money for his creations would come from. With these character traits, Disney created masterpieces of animation and some of the most valuable films of the era. But it also kept the studio on the brink of bankruptcy for years. During this period, not even a year and a half passed so that the company could not pay its bills. Disney was not interested in box office films, he was interested in the creative success of his films. Therefore, one of his tapes usually became a hit, while the other failed miserably.

Walt Disney's entire life was like a roller coaster - the most fruitful periods, as a rule, were followed by the most tragic recessions. During the bright periods of his life, Disney could work all day without a break and capture the night as well. When deadlines were pressed, Walt usually spent the night in the studio. But when his projects failed or neared completion, Disney became depressed or simply broke down. During his career, he experienced eight nervous breakdowns.

Walt Disney American legend and national hero. He brought joy and happiness to people, his language is understandable to all peoples of the world.

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On December 5, 1901, the talented animator and director Walt Disney was born in Chicago. He was destined to be great, his name - to remain forever in the history of world cinema. Disney was the first to raise animation to the level of art, who created a whole factory from children's dreams and breathed life into them. Walt Disney cartoons are the most famous and loved all over the world! And the famous Disneyland amusement park still excites the minds and is the desired dream of millions of children and adults.

During his creative career, Walt Disney collected a collection of 25 Oscars, but he received his first for the mouse Mortimer, who eventually changed his name. The character of Mickey Mouse is the most popular of all the heroes created by the brilliant animator. Signature ears symbolize the whole empire of The Walt Disney Company. His image in the Disneyland park is the most frequently seen. In addition, the Mickey Mouse hoop is the most popular souvenir that visitors want to take with them as a memory of this amazing place. Also, the eminent cartoon character was the first cartoon resident of the Walk of Fame.

Where did Mickey Mouse come from, a character that has become iconic in American culture? Some sources claim that Walt Disney was afraid of mice. The fact is that during his work at the Laugh-O-Gram studio, which was filled with mice (such a neighborhood did not bring pleasure), Disney tried to tame one. According to other sources, the cartoonist was inspired to create Mickey Mouse by a mouse that lived on his farm. It is impossible to know the truth now. One thing is known for certain: the golden collection of Walt Disney began with this little mouse. And the story of Walt Disney, namely his success, kept pace with the fame and adoration that Mickey Mouse won.

This love is ubiquitous. Mickey is a citizen of the world, only in Italy he is Topolino, Mickey Hirri in Finland, Michel Soris in France, Mickey Meausu in Japan, Mussa Pigg in Sweden, Mi Lao Shu in China.

11/18/2018 Mickey Mouse celebrated his 90th birthday! During this time, having appeared on the screen in 1928, he became a cult and truly golden. The first Mickey Mouse merchandise went on sale almost immediately. In 1930, the story of his adventures migrated to comics and books. In 1933, Roy Disney created a Mickey Mouse wristwatch. In 1950, The Walt Disney Company launched the TV show The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which ran until 1996! In 1981, Disney, together with Nintendo, released the famous electronic game. Today, video games are released under the Mickey Mouse brand, the cartoon story continues, new toys and clothes are being developed.

Every child knows about Mickey Mouse, so the world of children's toys is unthinkable without this hero. The Lego company has pleased little fans with a series of Lego Duplo sets. The birthday constructor with Mickey and Minnie offers to assemble a train, all the gifts are placed in it and you can take the heroes to the holiday party on it. Mickey's boat goes on a fun voyage. On a small boat you can cross to the shore and have a picnic. The beach house is the place where Mickey Mouse's friends Donald Duck and Goofy gather. The Play Doh play set invites you to mold the beautiful Minnie and work on her style. Tsum tsum toys have taken a mouse into their ranks along with his cheerful company, you can collect a whole collection of small figures. Those who appreciate creativity can create magnets with the characters of the Mickey Mouse Club from plaster.

In 2006, the little mouse Mickey Mouse entered the list of non-existent influential personalities. The online toy store site believes that it did not take a place on this honorary list in vain. Whether the mice actually scared Walt Disney or not, he came up with an amazing character - a worldwide favorite. I wonder how many birthdays are still ahead?

If you are looking for a word to describe the life of Walt Disney, then the term "tension" is probably best suited.

26 Oscars, phenomenal success, but beneath all that glamor are years of failure, failure, self-harm and constant stress.

Even as a boy, he loved to draw and he was good at it. As a teenager, Walter gets a job at a newspaper, but despite his talent, the guy was fired from the newspaper due to a lack of ideas. Imagine: Walt Disney, who painted entire worlds for generations of children and adults, has no ideas?

At the age of 19, Walt opens his own company, but a low number of orders forced him to close after a month.

The second enterprise lived a little longer, but the low cost of the work caused unsolvable financial problems, and the founder of the company was forced to leave the city, hiding from creditors.

To open a new business, Walt Disney goes to Hollywood, where, having borrowed a certain amount of money, he opens a joint studio with his brother Roy.

Upon arrival in California, he had formed the image of Mickey Mouse. At 27 years old, the young talent becomes famous thanks to the cartoon character in one night of the premiere.

After a rapid start, the brothers were in for a fiasco: the producer took away the prototype of the famous Mickey in the future, and the leading animators were lured by competitors.

What was to be the starting point of success led to a series of debts and the sale of most of the property. The combination of shocks greatly affected Walt, leading to a nervous breakdown and an unsuccessful suicide attempt.

Four years after the premiere of Mickey Mouse, the color film Flowers and Trees is released, for which Walt Disney was awarded two Oscars at once.

Such an encouraging return to life was followed by new debts and a second nervous breakdown. Creativity did not care about financial issues, so all funds were invested in new characters.

Bills of exchange, property and mortgages began to be used to save the company. This, in turn, led to debts to the staff, which was fraught with a new bankruptcy.

The situation was saved by a Christmas miracle. The most famous cartoon character appeared on souvenirs, toys and watches. Money flowed into the company.

Using new means, Walt creates a full-length picture - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but excessive passion for the process only led to a new financial abyss.

After a severe nervous breakdown and internal crisis, Disney took out a huge loan to finish the job. Having a tremendous success, the cartoon provided support for subsequent projects.

The other side: Disney was a staunch anti-communist and collaborated with the FBI for many years, wrote denunciations of colleagues in Hollywood, helped the Commission on Un-American Activities to identify hidden communists in the film world. It's funny, considering that just the communist realities would allow him to create less fear for the issue of funding.

At the age of 41, the cartoonist faced new problems. The failure of the cartoon Fantasia, the strike of studio workers and the death of his mother hit the artist with a new depression.

By the age of 50, Walt Disney had dealt with several more pre-bankruptcies, experienced unrequited love, and almost died in a plane crash.

They say that Disney was not an entrepreneur, he was a man of art. However, faith in his work, the ability to be reborn like a phoenix from the ashes - gave him the opportunity to turn talent into money. Nevertheless, he was an entrepreneur in the sense of the organizer of the business, the inspirer of the team, so we could not bypass him as part of the biographies on the site.

Presumably, a series of troubles led him to the idea of ​​​​creating a real, not a painted world of prosperity, constant joy and happiness. Paradise amusement park for children and adults. Backed by no one, Disney found the finances on its own and created Disneyland.

Disneyland had a stunning effect. It turned out that many people are eager to switch off from problems at least for a day and plunge into a world without creditors, debts, bad news, police, etc. And of course, there are also children who just like cartoons and rides. Business has found its audience.

The park forever solved all financial problems and allowed to carry out all the projects that Walt Disney still had a lot of.

"I really hope that we will never forget one thing - that it all started with a mouse."

Walter Elias Disney

Walt Disney- an outstanding American animator, director, actor, screenwriter and producer, creator of a series of full-length cartoons that have earned him worldwide fame. Father of Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Rabbit, Donald Duck and over 200 other characters loved by all the children of the world. He has won 29 Oscars and the highest civilian government award in the United States, the Medal of Freedom. Founder of Walt Disney Productions and creator of the world's first huge children's amusement park, Disneyland.

Success Story, Biography of Walt Disney

Biography of Walter Disney began back in 1901 on December 5, when the fourth of five children, Walter Elias, was born in the family of a carpenter and a teacher. Walt's father, Elias Disney, was Irish-Canadian, and his mother, Flora, was German-American.

Elias and Flora Disney - Walt Disney's parents

Walt's childhood cannot be called lucky, as the boy's father raised him in a not entirely democratic way. The father often beat the boy, referring to the fact that physical punishment is the best education. But in fact, Elias (that was the name of Disney's father) simply lashed out at his family members: the reason for this was his father's insolvency: any business he started to do always ended in failure, whether it was construction, or just growing fruits.

Very small Walt Disney

"No! Dad, no! I won't do it again!" - the future genius of animation screams heart-rendingly, pressed to a wooden bench by a powerful father's knee. A wide ox-skin belt swishes down over a scrawny boyish backside—Walt faces six years of regular vice.

Sometimes Walt doubted whether Elias was really his own father: after all, beatings and beatings happened every day. But not all family members were so cruel: the kid often turned to his older brother Roy for help, who could always calm and help the child.

The mother also never took the side of her father, and tried to take care of her son. Reading bedtime stories was a consolation. All this helped the child temporarily forget about the cruel real world and plunge into the fantasy world at least a little bit. This, most likely, helped the future legend to become the best in the field of animation.

W. Disney with his sister

Chicago, where the family lived, by that time managed to become not only the largest industrial, but also the most criminal city in the States. Disney's patience was overwhelmed by the murder of a policeman that occurred on a nearby street. After this incident, the Disney family moved to the brother of the father of the family, in the small town of Marceline, Missouri. Disney bought a farm there. Walt was then only 4 years old. The atmosphere of the family here was harsh: Elias Disney had his own idea of ​​​​what a happy childhood is. There is no place for any nonsense, like colored pencils that no one needs: Walt tearfully begs his daddy to buy at least one box, but Elias is adamant. The boy manages with branches and liquid resin - as a result, a pretty resin cow appears on the wall of the house ... This is followed by a particularly ruthless spanking, and the cow on the wall of the farm can still be seen.

Childhood and youth of Walt Disney

Many people in Marceline knew Walt. He had a cheerful disposition, so neighbors and just acquaintances loved him very much. One of the neighbors, an elderly veteran, Dr. Sherwood, paid Walt 25 cents for the boy to draw his horse on a piece of paper. Later, Disney believed that it was Dr. Sherwood's successful portrait of the mare that prompted him to become an artist.

Pencils moved from the category of “useless trinkets” to the category of “useful things” - Walt received two boxes at once and used up all the paper that was in the house. The boy’s life was brightened up by drawing and love for animals: a piglet, a dog, a turtle, a mouse saved from a cat were in his wards ... The law of psychological compensation probably worked here: Walt was afraid of his father at first, and then sincerely hated him and transferred his tenderness to animals. Not only will they remain Walt's friends for the rest of their lives, they will be known and loved by many generations of young viewers. For example, the Porker boar, on which the baby rode, became the prototype of the cartoon Silly in The Three Little Pigs. In Disney's memoirs, he was not ashamed to admit to deep nostalgia for friends in his childhood games.

Walt showed an interest in drawing from childhood, and began selling his first comics at the age of seven. Young Walt took part in the creation of the school newspaper as an artist and photographer, and in the evenings he attended the Academy of Fine Arts. Then he took a course in newspaper cartoonists, where they taught non-standard thinking, funny violations of the usual logic and a laconic manner.

As soon as the boy was 8 years old, the family moved again, now to Kansas. Walt's father still could not find a decent income so that they would not live in poverty. His father began to load him with work. The boy delivered letters and advertisements for his father's company: in any weather, rain, snow, early morning or late night, Walt ran through the streets in his worn boots, rushing to deliver the mail on time. All the money Walt earned was taken by his father. But Walt did not grumble: he simply took work twice as much as his father demanded, secretly from his strict "boss", and kept everything earned in excess for pocket expenses.

When Disney was 10 years old, his father contracted typhus. Flora Disney sat next to her husband and pressed orange slices to his withered lips, trying to get at least a little juice into Elias's mouth. " These orange slices seemed so wonderful to my brother and me that we also dreamed of falling down from typhus, or even from some terrible disease, if only we could get a few drops of the desired juice.’, recalls Walt’s sister, Ruth.

Soon the father recovered, and they decided to move to Kansas City, like many poor families who migrated endlessly around America in search of work. This move played a significant role in Walt's life. In Kansas City there was a gigantic rich mansion, hidden behind a high fence and surrounded by a lush garden. The mansion belonged to a private owner and was the object of desire for local children. They all so wanted to crawl through some secret hole, play in the garden, and maybe even get into the mansion itself, run around its luxurious enfilades, stare at old portraits.

Walt tried many times to enter the territory of the property, and all his attempts ended in failure. Then he swore that when he grew up, he would definitely build a huge house with entertainment for children, with a huge garden for games. Thus, apparently, a dream was born, forty years later, embodied in Disneyland.

Disney's first best friend was Walt Pfeiffer. The boys spent all their pocket money on going to the movies. Their idol was Charlie Chaplin. Leaving the cinema, they wandered down the street, taking turns imitating Charlie's walk and trying to play his tricks for a couple. At that time, Walt's friends, teachers, and Walt himself believed that he should definitely go into acting.

In the autumn of 1918, the young man tried to enlist in the military. However, Walt was refused due to his youth, so he volunteered for the Red Cross, and was sent overseas, where he spent a year working as an ambulance driver. This car has become a local landmark, as Walt decorated it all with funny drawings.

There, his talents as a draftsman, artist and businessman flourished: on the tunics of his colleagues, Walt painted orders for a moderate fee, on helmets - holes from bullets. His ambulance was painted from top to bottom. Returning home, Disney played his first performance. From the front, Walt brought a gift to his mother: having opened the box, Mrs. Disney groaned, clutched her heart and quietly slid to the floor. There lay a bloody human finger. In addition to everything, the stump moved. Disney was happy - he made a hole in the box ahead of time and stuck his own little finger into it. This was his signature style: with such jokes, the great humanist delighted his relatives and friends until his death.



Upon his return, Walt managed to enroll at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he discovered that his true talents lay in the realm of conceptualizing and coordinating projects. He wanted to get out of this building faster and start working on his own. He wanted to quickly complete this study, if only to give his whole soul to drawing.

Finally he finishes it. And right away, a rather difficult question arose before the aspiring artist Disney: where to go to work? First, he got a job in one of the restaurant firms, which needed funny advertising drawings in the form of signs. Its director hardly hired Disney, and he paid not very high - only $ 50 a week!

1920s. A young, unknown guy named Walter Elias Disney gets a job as an artist in an advertising studio in Kansas City. And, although this was the fourth attempt to settle in place, something made Walter not give up and look for work in the artistic field. By this point, Disney already had some experience as an artist: despite his first failure at the Star newspaper, he soon got a job at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio, a small advertising studio where Walt designed advertisements for newspapers and magazines. In this studio, Disney meets his future friend and partner Yub Iwerks. Soon, Disney and Iwerks are fired, but without thinking twice, the friends decide to found their own company: Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists. The company was engaged in the creation of items for decoration and sold these items to trading companies. Thus, Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists achieves some success. But, the year 1920 comes and we return to the beginning: an inner voice wakes up in Disney, calling to draw, and he, having left the company to a friend, gets a job as an artist in an advertising company. Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists did not last long on the shoulders of Yub Iwerks: soon the company went bankrupt and Iwerks settled in the same place as Disney.

Yub Iwerks and Walt Disney

Creation of the Walt Disney Company

Working in an advertising company is an episode that determined the rest of Walt Disney's life. It is here that he clearly understands that he wants to do animation and it is here that he learns this art. In addition, here Disney actively demonstrates his inherent creative and non-standard vision of the world: he offers an innovative idea to draw on sheets of celluloid and superimpose them on top of each other. This idea seemed revolutionary against the backdrop of the old technique of creating animation: montage footage of matches or paper figures moved in such a way that they folded into clumsy animals and into words. However, Disney, then still an unrespected young man, was not listened to. Walt, realizing that in this way he can’t do anything for the company, decides to take up his ideas himself. Therefore, he takes an old camera that the company does not need and, in his free time, makes his first (still advertising) experimental cartoons with it, a series of which he called "Laugh-O-Gram", translated as "Laughogram". Disney cartoons were notable for their quality of shooting (thanks to Walt's constant experimentation with lighting, staging and the drawings themselves) and liveliness, since Disney creations turned out to be witty and bright.

"Opening" "Newman Laugh-O-Grams". Drawn cartoonist - a self-portrait of Disney himself

Disney's main client was movie theater owner Frank Newman, for whom Disney created a series of cartoons called Newman Laugh-O-Grams. The Newman Laugh-O-Grams series is becoming very popular: orders are pouring into Disney, there is a lot of work, there is not enough time. Therefore, Walt leaves the advertising company and creates his own "Laugh-O-Gram Studio". At this studio, he hires workers - mostly his friends (including Iverks). During its existence, the studio managed to release seven cartoons that strongly influence all subsequent Disney work. They were all original interpretations of old fairy tales. The series was simply called "Laugh-O-Grams".

Seriously interested in animation, Walt Disney decides to leave his native Kansas, and in August 1923, with nothing but a few drawings, one finished animated feature film and $ 40 in his pocket, he goes to Hollywood.

The idea of ​​creating cartoons became obsessive for him. " I moved from one studio to another, where I visited all the offices in a row, from the personnel department to the set. The only job I was able to get was as an extra. I had to ride a horse a few meters - in a crowd of other extras. However, it was raining heavily, the shooting was postponed to another day, and then our scene was simply thrown out of the script. It was the end of my acting career." Disney writes in his memoirs.

Desperate to get a job in Hollywood, Walt rents out his Uncle Robert's garage. Rent is a big word. He simply takes over the notorious garage, promising to pay for its use someday. In the garage, he stores the necessary equipment, bought with money borrowed from his brother Roy - paints, brushes, spotlights - everything for the production of cartoons. Roy becomes Walt's partner (Roy's share was $250 and another $500 was borrowed) and they set up a cartoon studio called Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.

Soon, Roy faces a gigantic problem: how and what to feed his brother, who has plunged headlong into work? Roy usually left the garage and went to the small room where the two of them huddled together to cook a modest dinner for two. But suddenly, Walt, who did not pay attention to any everyday difficulties, arranges a terrible scandal, during which he yells at the confused Roy that he will not eat that miserable gruel that his brother feeds. And then Roy decides to take a “desperate step”: he proposes to his beloved girlfriend, Edna Francis, who, having become the wife of the unlucky cook Roy, moves in with her brothers and becomes their cook for many months.

Roy Disney and his wife Edna Francis

And Walt himself was already thinking about marriage. A wonderful girl, Lillian Bounds, got a job at the studio. She was mainly engaged in filling paints - that is, painting characters created by Walt. Walt did not have to especially look after Lillian - she immediately fell in love with her "boss", and when he was broke, she easily refused her honestly earned $ 15 a week - for the benefit of the studio.

Walt Disney with his wife Lillian

Walt got the idea for the first cartoon after being interested in the cartoons of Max Fleischer. I saw that Fleischer uses a very interesting technique: combining animation with real footage. Those. - the cartoon character, as it were, enters the real world. But Disney did not copy Fleischer's innovative solution. He did things a little differently - he introduced a REAL character into the cartoon world, which, in fact, is much more complicated. First of all, it was necessary to choose a plot (to come up with a script). Walt loved the book "Alice in Wonderland" since childhood, so he decided to make a cartoon with the participation of this character - the little girl Alice.

Alice's model real life was the girl Katherine Beaumont, who also did her voice acting.

Working on this cartoon required unbearable stress. Walt was already unable to stay up at night for a long time, so he hired two aspiring artists. They were two friends who studied at the same art school as Disney - Rudolf Eising and Hugh Harman, future authors of the animated series "The Adventures of Bosco", "Barney Bear" and "Joyful Harmonies". Disney explained to the two guys his requirements for an animated film, and finally, the work began to boil for real.

Early line-up of Walt Disney Productions

After receiving little money for this cartoon, Walt and Roy decided to change the name of the studio. On October 16, 1923, Walt Disney signed a contract with Margaret Winkler, a distributor from New York. This date is considered the founding day of the current Walt Disney Company. This name turned out to be more fortunate for the brothers.

Vice President of The Walt Disney Company Roy Disney Company

The studio produced Alice films for four years, and then Walt decided to switch to the production of fully animated cartoons. The star of the new series was a funny rabbit named Oswald, invented and drawn by Walt Disney. In just a year, the studio released 26 episodes about the adventures of a rabbit, but when it came time to start a new season, Walt was horrified to find that the practical Margaret Winkler managed to poach four studio artists and now plans to release cartoons about Oswald without the participation of the creator. Alas, the contract was drawn up in such a way that it was the distributor, and not the author, who owned the rights to the cartoon character. It was a bitter but useful lesson for Disney, which has since been careful to ensure that the rights to all of its creations belong only to him.

Margaret Winkler

The Walt Disney Studio team. Here you can see Yuba Iwerks and Walt Disney holding Louis Hardwick, the fourth and final girl to play Alice. Middle bottom - Roy Disney.

Beginning of the Mickey Mouse era

After the loss of Oswald, Disney had no choice but to come up with a new star for their cartoons. So the famous mouse Mickey Mouse was born (" His first name was Mortimer Mouse, but my wife Lillian did not like this name, and she suggested calling him Mickey. I could not refuse her such a trifle - this is how Mickey Mouse was born, which brought worldwide fame to my company."- recalled Disney.), Suspiciously similar to his older brother the rabbit. Disney himself and the main artist of his studio, Ab Iwerks, took part in its creation.

However, the studio could not sell the first two cartoons with the participation of Mickey Mouse: they were silent, and sound had already come to cinemas. Cartoons were created quite quickly for the studios of the time, and besides, we must not forget that the Disney studio was somewhat artisanal. As soon as sound films appeared in 1927, Walt immediately adopted the experience of his fellow cinematographers and began to voice cartoons. The third film in the series (already with sound) was released on November 18, 1928, and this day marked the beginning of the Mickey Mouse era.

In parallel, Walt Disney launched a new series - Silly Symphonies. It was built on different principles: new characters appeared in each film, which was supposed to stimulate the creative thinking of the studio's animators. This series has become something of a training ground for Disney artists, where they practiced new animation techniques before using them on larger projects. Nevertheless, it was the cartoon from this series that won the first Oscar for the studio in 1932 as the best animated film. From that point until the end of the pre-war decade, Disney cartoons received an Oscar every year. He received 29 such awards for his work.


Very handy for the Disney company, it turned out that cartoon characters can be a good source of additional income. One day, a businessman from New York offered Disney $300 for permission to put an image of Mickey Mouse on fountain pens. Walt Disney just needed money, so he willingly agreed to replicate the image of a mouse.

Yub Iwerks draws Mickey Mouse

After that, portraits of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters began to appear literally everywhere: on plates and toothbrushes, towels and school notebooks, candy wrappers and wallpaper for children's rooms. In 1930, the first series of Mickey Mouse comics was published. All this brought good money, and most importantly, contributed to the promotion of cartoon characters and ultimately led to the fact that many of them turned into national legends in America.

In 1927 Walt Disney and his wife Lillian move into their own, rather spacious apartment. As a Christmas present, Walt gives Lillian a dog. He began to play the role of Lillian's beloved child, who had no children. By the way, two attempts by the Disney couple to have a baby failed: both times Lillian had a miscarriage. And when she became pregnant for the third time, Disney, who seemed to want to get an heir, suddenly lost all interest in his wife. In one of his letters to his cousin, Walt wrote: "I am married and all I can boast of is a pretty little wife and a handsome chow chow."

So, in 1933, the daughter of Walt and Lillian, Diana, is born. On the eve of her birth, Walt sends a letter to his mother, where he complains: “ Lilly is expecting a daughter. Personally, I don't pay any attention to it. I don't want more disappointments. Our whole room has become a parody of a nursery, pink and blue diapers are everywhere ... But I don’t want to know anything about it. I believe that I will make the most disgusting father in the world ... " It's funny that it was at this time, at the end of 1933, that Walt was awarded by the magazine "Parents" ("Parents") for his contribution to the upbringing of the younger generation of Americans.

Also in 1933, Disney released his first color cartoon, The Three Little Pigs. The song “We are not afraid of the gray wolf” that sounded there became a national hit.

Meanwhile, the studio is growing. Several more cartoons are being shot. Mickey Mouse wins the hearts of millions - and not only Americans, but also Europeans. “Merry Melodies” is being filmed, quacking Donald Duck, howling dog Pluto and stupid Goofy, trying to scoop water from a pond into a colander, appear on the screens. Disney enters into an agreement with Columbia Pictures, then with United Artists.

In 1934, Walt Disney announced to his employees that he intended to make a feature-length animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. At first, many were skeptical about this idea: few believed that a picture in which there would be no live actors would be able to interest the audience in the same way as a big movie. However, gradually the idea of ​​Disney ceased to seem fantastic, and the work began to boil.

The shooting of the film lasted three years and cost a crazy amount for those times - $ 1.499 million. Only the Bank of America loan, whose head, Amadeo Giannini, was very fond of Mickey Mouse, saved Disney from ruin. But the result was worth the money, as Snow White was the highest-grossing film of all time for a long time (its record was broken only by Gone with the Wind). And in 1939, Walt Disney for this full-length cartoon was awarded the ninth Oscar in a row. It is worth noting that during the awards ceremony, in addition to one full-fledged figurine, Disney also received symbolically seven small "oscors" - according to the number of gnomes. Since then, the Disney studio began to consider full-length cartoons as the main and potentially most profitable production.

As the studio grows, so does the Disney family. Lillian, having again failed in the field of motherhood, decides to adopt. In 1937, Walt and Lillian take in a little girl and name her Sharon Mae Disney.

There is more and more money. The Great Depression had almost no effect on Disney's work. Well, except there were just a couple of strikes at the studio - you see, the artists did not want to work under the direction of a person who draws worse than them and who has such a meager education (one year of college), but who considers himself a director. The strike soon "dissolved": in fact, the conflict grew on the basis of Walt's quarrels with the producers who wanted to become official co-authors of Disney.

Having become rich, Walt buys his parents a mansion. However, upon closer examination, this mansion turns out to be somewhat flawed: it has a dangerously damaged gas heating system. One sunny November morning in 1938, gas begins to seep from a pipe straight into the living quarters, Flora Disney, the mother of our "hero", falls dead to the floor, Elias Disney tries to pick her up, and he himself receives a dangerous dose of gas. Elias survived, but Flora could not be saved. Walt suffers from guilt for a long time after the death of his mother, because he knew about the damage to the heating system, but he kept postponing the solution of this problem until later.

Filmed during the Second World War, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi, who had every chance to repeat the success of Snow White, did not bring the expected profits to Disney. During the war, the studio had to concentrate mainly on making propaganda and training films for the military commissioned by the US State Department.

Walt Disney with the gold medal for Bambi

and Joan Bennet, who voiced Bambi

But all bad things come to an end. By the early 1950s, the Disney Company was able to regain foreign markets taken from it by the war, and again began to make feature films, including those with live actors.

In 1954, the Disney Company also began producing television programs, becoming one of the pioneers of first black-and-white and then color television in the United States. The first television hit from Disney was the Disneyland series, which, having changed its name several times, lasted on the screens of America for 29 years, and was shown exclusively in prime time. A year later, the famous program The Mickey Mouse Club debuted, in which many future stars of American show business took their first steps.

Disney is already a mature, accomplished person, who has lost the opportunity to develop creatively due to the fact that much has already been achieved, but no less full of enthusiasm for this. It is thanks to him that Disney partially finds a way out of his creative stagnation: the love for animals, which was the quality of Walt from childhood and manifested itself when working on early full-length cartoons, made itself felt again and came to Disney's mind, this time, in the form of the idea to create a series nature documentaries. So, from 1953 to 1959, the Disney team made 7 documentaries, united in the True Life Adventures series.

Of course, these films turned out to be wonderful and influenced not only the company's further projects, but also ordinary documentary programs about nature, however, in this way, Disney could only take his soul away, but in no way repeat his success as an innovator in the world of cinema. But, as is usually the case, Disney needed a little rest and stability before committing to his last and most ambitious and romantically filled experimental project of a lifetime: to create a country where all his characters will live and roam among fairy-tale locations, and any whoever wants to can come and walk with them completely immersed in a fairy tale. So, in Anaheim, California, in 1955, the first Disneyland opens.

Disneyland - Dream Land for kids of all ages

However, gradually the talent of Walt Disney became crowded within the film and television business. A new field for activity was suggested to him by his father's experience. Walking with his daughters, Walt often went to zoos, carnivals and other entertainment events. While the children rode on the carousel, the father sat patiently on the bench and waited for the daughters to get drunk. During these gatherings, he came to the conclusion that America really lacks a place where it would be interesting to spend time for both adults and children. And then Disney decided to create such a place himself.

Wald Disney with his wife and daughters. 1954

In the first project, Disney invested several hundred thousand dollars of personal money and several million in loans. Few believed in luck: even the faithful Roy believed that his brother was weird. A large plot of worthless land was bought - soon a toy appeared on it. Railway, a river stuffed with electronic crocodiles, Snow White's castle, countless Mickey Mouse and other wonders. The still unfinished park began to make a profit; the second project, Disney World, was even more successful. The company created by Disney worked at full speed, and the sudden death of the founding father did not stop the machine he debugged. Even the subsequent power struggle did not affect the profits: Roy Jr. and Diana's husband, former football player Ron Miller, fought over the inheritance for about ten years.

Fairy tales can begin in different ways, but they must end the same way - happily. The childhood of our today's hero did not fall into the category of "fairy tale", and, rather, resembled such genres as "detective", "crime drama" or "tragedy".

However Walt Disney, the legendary American artist, producer and director, managed to change his fate and make his life, if not fabulous, then very, very successful.

The creator of the first musical and full-length cartoons in the history of cinema, has achieved a lot. Judge for yourselves creative life fruitful Disney released about 700 cartoons, was the owner of 29 Oscars and 4 Emmys, was awarded honorary degrees from Yale and Harvard Universities, was awarded the highest civilian government award in the United States - the Medal of Freedom. On the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two stars are dedicated to Disney, one for the development of television, the other for his contribution to the cinema.

Walt Disney founded The Walt Disney Company, which is now the largest entertainment company and is ranked 13th in the list of "Most Influential Brands" according to Forbes.

But more than all the countable material awards, the people's recognition, which was awarded to Disney by enthusiastic viewers, is valued.

Walter Elias Disney was born (namely, this is the full name of the legend of America) on December 5, 1901 in Chicago in large family Disney had 3 more brothers and a sister.

The Disney couple barely made ends meet. But, as they say, the wealth of a family is determined not by capital at all, but by the warmth and support that family members provide to each other.

With this, little Walt was not too lucky either - the despotic father Elias often beat the child. Justifying himself by the fact that nothing educates better than physical punishment, Elias simply took out his anger from insolvency on his family - no matter what business he took on, be it the construction business, the cultivation of orange groves or the sale of newspapers, everywhere he failed.

Disney's father beat him so badly that poor Walt thought he couldn't possibly be his real dad! After his “lessons”, little Walt turned to Roy, his older brother, for comfort, who treated his wounds, physical and mental.

In this situation, the mother also tried to console her son - she read fairy tales to him. However, these fictional stories allowed Walt to hide for a while in an imaginary world and get away from the frightening reality. It was in such conditions that the fantasy of the future leader of the animation developed.

In 1906, Disney moved from troubled Chicago, where a policeman was murdered on the street next to their home, to a farm in Marceline, Kansas.

The new place turned out to be better than the old one - on the farm, five-year-old Walt meets domestic animals, and they respond to the boy's kindness with warm affection. In the future, Walt will transfer some images from his childhood to the big screen - the Porker boar, on which he loved to ride as a baby, will serve as the prototype of the Stupid from The Three Little Pigs. According to Disney, at the end of the sketch of Silly, he "practically sobbed with nostalgia."

However, the family continues to suffer on the farm. Disney, who loved to draw, does not buy either pencils or paper, and stick and resin become tools for drawing, and the resourceful Walt used walls, fences or toilet paper as canvases.

The father constantly punished his son for drawing, and perhaps Disney would not have taken his hobby seriously if not for a lucky break.

Walt had a cheerful disposition since childhood, which is why many of the neighbors in Marceline knew and loved him. One such neighbor, the elderly Dr. Sherwood, gave Disney 25 cents for having a child draw his horse. Profitable sale of a portrait of a mare and pushed Walt to the idea of ​​becoming an artist. Soon, with his drawings, Walt was already paying for a haircut with a local hairdresser.

In 1909, the family moves again, and eight-year-old Walt runs away from home. He is quickly found and returned to his family. For the next six years, he works for the benefit of "daddy" - he gets up at dawn and delivers advertising booklets and letters from his father's company.

Whatever the weather, even when the kind owner won't turn the dog out, Walt has to deliver the mail. All honestly earned money was taken away by the father for the development of a common cause, but the resilient Walt came up with a way out here too. He, in secret from the evil "boss", simply took twice as much work, gave it to his father, and set aside the remaining dollars for pocket expenses.

So, think about how the same circumstances can lead to different consequences. This reminds me of this parable:

“Once upon a time there were two twin brothers.

One brother became very successful person who was famous for his good deeds. The second brother became a murderer and was about to be tried. Before the trial began, journalists surrounded the second brother, and one asked:

How did it happen that you became a criminal?

– I had a difficult childhood. My father drank, beat my mother and me. Who else could I be? he replied.

At the same time, another group of journalists was interviewing the first brother who came to the trial. One of the reporters asked him: - How did it happen that you became famous and successful?

– I had a difficult childhood. My father drank, beat my mother and me. What else could I be?"

Walt Disney is a worthy example of a man who can squeeze first-class lemonade out of a lemon! Sometimes it’s worth saying “thank you” to the troubles that come our way - they make us stronger.

Disney's parents return to Chicago, and with the new move, Disney in 1917 again finds himself in the city where he was born. There he is engaged in high school McKinley, and in the evenings he goes to the Academy of Fine Arts.

Walt receives money for his education and living by working part-time at his father's jelly factory. Disney is also graduating from a newspaper cartoonist course, where he learns that thinking outside the box is good and gains the skills to express his thoughts in a concise manner.

When did the first World War, Walt crosses the ocean and for a year in France works as an International Red Cross ambulance van driver. His car becomes a local landmark, since Disney did not give up his hobby here, decorating it with drawings.

After the war, Walt returns to Kansas City and gets a position as a cartoonist at the local newspaper.

But only a month passes, and he is fired due to "outstanding inability to draw"!

Employers would be surprised if someone told them that, years later, Walt Disney would become the most prominent cartoon creator in the history of the United States!

In 1919, Disney was hired by a film advertising studio as an artist, at which time he had the idea to experiment with animation. However, the animation studio that Disney opened in Kansas City is soon going bankrupt. But is this a reason to give up?

"If you can dream, then you can make your dreams come true" Walt thought so.

He teams up with Ub Iwerks, his former job mate, and begins work on "Mushrooms," Disney's first viable cartoon product.

The studio where Smeshinki was created was in a garage and had only primitive equipment. And again the garage. When studying the biographies of prominent personalities, I sometimes have the idea that starting your own business in a garage is an indispensable attribute of any successful business. It even seems to me that the Americans have their own signs on this subject. Like, “if you create a business NOT in a garage, then there will be no luck.”

Improving their skills in drawing, the companions worked day and night. However, their next creation - a cartoon version of "Little Red Riding Hood" - fails, and, fleeing from creditors, the debtors flee the city.

In 1923, Disney came to Los Angeles to visit his older brother Roy. He still dreams of making animated films and is not going to deviate from the path to his dream, because "it's kind of fun to do the impossible."

Roy believes in his brother's ideas and becomes his companion and co-founder of a small animation studio. So, with a rented garage, a couple of hundred dollars and handicraft production, the history of The Walt Disney Company began. The roles in the created company were distributed as follows - Walt was a creative genius, and Roy was in charge of the financial part.

In March 1924, Alice's Day at Sea premiered, becoming Disney's first commercial cartoon.

In 1925, Walt Disney married Lillian Bounds, who in their studio was engaged in “filling” - painting characters drawn by Walt. In 1933, after several unsuccessful attempts to have children, the couple's daughter Diana Mary is born.

In 1937, the couple adopt a girl, Sharon May. Much to Disney's chagrin, the couple never had a chance to have their child again. By the way, in the life of Disney and his wife there was a period when they could not give birth to a child for 8 years. Walt's wife had two miscarriages and all this caused them both great suffering.

According to Diane's own daughter Mary, Walt was an exemplary family man and all his free time spent with my daughters.

In 1927, a series of cartoons with the lucky rabbit Oswald, invented by Disney, gained great fame. This character was created "to order", and brought fame to its creator.

However, he also taught Walt to carefully read business papers, because this story ended ugly. The people who paid for the creation of Oswald turned out to be unscrupulous businessmen who managed to draw up a contract in such a way that they, and not Walt at all, had the rights to the cartoon character.

Upon learning of this, Disney, in a rage, threw away all of Oswald's drawings and informed his "partners" that "where he came from, there are many more characters"!

And it was absolutely true. Following Oswald, other beloved characters are born - Mickey Mouse, Pluto the dog, Goofy the dog, Donald Duck the duck.

In the year that Disney invents his famous mouse, all the newspapers were discussing Mr. Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic, and the enterprising Disney decided to "seat" his new hero at the helm. The first silent cartoon with Mouse, Airplane Crazy (1928), was a success!

The mouse was drawn by the company's lead artist Ab Iwerks, the name "Mickey" was suggested by Disney's wife, and the voice was given by Walt himself, who personally voiced the mouse in the studio's first sound cartoon, "Steamboat Willie".

Once a little boy approached the great master and asked: “So you are drawing Mickey Mouse?” Disney said no. “So you come up with his jokes and fun?” the kid insisted, but even here Disney answered “no”. “Mr. Disney, what are you doing?” asked the young viewer in bewilderment.

Disney would then formulate his vision of his activities as follows: “I imagine myself like a bee that flies from place to place, collecting pollen. I walk around the studio and direct everyone's work. I guess that's what I'm doing!" Here is such a hardworking "bee-Disney"!

Because of "Steamboat Willie", the company is on the verge of bankruptcy, because the cost of a sound cartoon far exceeded the creation of a silent one. In the future, Disney will often have to balance on the brink of ruin, because the priority for him was creativity, not earnings: “I don't make films just to make money. I make money to make films." Walt emphasized.

The Disney quote echoes many famous people such as ("There's only one way to do great work, and that's to love it"), ("Enjoy what you do and you'll never work in your life") and others. This love of outstanding people for their work largely determines the success of their undertakings.

This is followed by cartoons from the cycle "Naive Symphonies" (1929), one of the series of which brings the studio the first "Oscar"

The cartoon The Three Little Pigs (1933) becomes an international sensation. In 1935, at the Soviet Film Festival in Moscow (now called the Moscow International Film Festival), Disney's films ("The Three Little Pigs", "Mickey the Conductor" and "Unusual Penguins") receive the 3rd prize for "animated feature films that are a high standard of craftsmanship". ".

And the song of stupid pigs, familiar to us from childhood ( “We are not afraid of the gray wolf, gray wolf, gray wolf. Where do you roam, stupid wolf, dire wolf) is actually a translation of a song from Disney's The Three Little Pigs!

In 1934, Walt Disney began making the first animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. At that time, viewers were used to watching cartoons 7 times shorter, and by releasing a "long format" tape, Disney took a big risk.

This cartoon practically ruined the studio. “I spent almost two million dollars on this film. Isn't it for you fairy tale? - so ironically about his tape Disney.

But Snow White turned out to be a profitable investment - it was accepted by everyone with a bang and brought its creator one real Oscar and seven small Oscars - for each dwarf.

The studio creates new masterpieces. " We strive forward, open up new paths, take on new things, because we are curious ... Only forward ”, is another quote from Disney.

In 1940, Disney released "Pinocchio" and "Fantasy", on next year a story about Dumbo appears on the screens, in the 42nd "Bambi" is published. In 1945, a film about a naive and touching deer also hits the Soviet screens - Disney gives this film to the allies; 4 years later, before cold war, American cartoons are banned in the USSR.

But Disney didn't just make cartoons. In the second half of the 40s, Walt Disney was captivated by the idea of ​​​​creating an amusement park. Walking with his daughters gave him the idea, when he was forced to spend hours in boredom watching Diane and Sharon having fun at the zoo or on the children's rides. “We believed in our idea of ​​a family park where parents and children can have fun together,” he says.

In 1955, the first Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California.

The man, whose talents seemed to know no bounds, did not limit his new project either: "Disneyland will never be completed, it will continue to grow as long as the imagination of the world."

Disney, who did not have a single normal toy as a child, managed to create a real fairyland, and not only on the screen, but in reality! (click on picture to enlarge)

Walt Disney continued to expand the scope of his company - in addition to making feature films, he directed the production of entertainment programs on television, and in 1961 founded the California Institute of the Arts.

Unfortunately, Disney was not destined to see the implementation of some of his grandiose plans. He passed away on December 15, 1966.

“When Walt Disney was just starting out, all his capital was a very modest talent as a draftsman, a vivid imagination and an inhuman determination to succeed,” the press will write about him.

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After Walt's death, his brother Roy was able to make some of his dreams come true. In 1971, he completed the construction of Disney World, the largest in area (100 sq. km!) And the most visited entertainment center in the world. To immortalize his brother's name, Roy named the park Walt Disney World.

The man who made a significant contribution to the development of modern American culture did not consider himself a genius, he stated that "geniuses are strictly forbidden to enter my studio." And yet, he really was a brilliant innovator, whose contribution not only to culture, but also to creating a good mood among millions of people can hardly be overestimated.

P.S. What is your favorite cartoon or Walt Disney movie?