Walt Disney is significant to US history because he was dedicated to being successful since he was a child, he altered the way Americans viewed animated films, he created one of the most famous amusement parks, and won numerous awards, recognitions, and dedications for all of his hard work.
Walt Disney was born the fourth of five siblings on December 5, 1901 to Elias Disney and Flora Call Disney, in Chicago, Illinois but his family moved to Marceline, Missouri: where he grew up. As a child, Disney had a dream of working in the arts and making money. Walt Disney and his family then moved to Kansas City where he began working for his dad by delivering newspapers. Although delivering newspapers was not exactly a dream job or helped him in the arts, Disney enjoyed every second of it and did not regret doing it at all.
Disney’s love for drawing cartoons began when he was a child, he drew cartoons for his high school newspaper. He also put on plays at his school and made skits for the amateur nights at the local theaters.“Disney had clearly inherited his father’s entrepreneurial temperament, but he had entered business for himself for the first time, he enjoyed a great advantage: he was free of his father’s rigid, debilitating beliefs” (Barrier 25). Due to his skills in the arts, Disney received a temporary job at Pesmin-Rubin Art Studio. At the art studio, he met Ub Iwerks, a cartoonist, and they found work at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, and that began Disney’s admiration for animation. Disney later began making his own cartoons called “Laugh-O-Grams” and started a studio off of them, however, due to financial problems, the studio was forced to close. After the close of “Laugh-O-Grams” Disney moved to California with very little money to pursue his dream of animating, where he and his brother, Roy Disney, opened their own Hollywood cartoon studio, Disney Brothers Studio which was later named the Walt Disney Animation Studio. Walt Disney Animation Studios is where Walt Disney created the character of Mickey Mouse. Disney made Mickey Mouse based off of a pet mouse he had in the Laugh-O-Gram studio. With the help of Iwerks, Mickey Mouse was transformed into the cartoon mouse that everyone knows, loves and associates with Walt Disney.
Disney began only as an animator, but started moving away from animating as his company grew. He became more of an overseer and coordinator of the projects at Disney Studios. His employees admired his entrepreneurship but were also intimidated by it because he had an expectation for his employees to be just as passionate about animation as he was. As the number of productions increased and Disney became more absorbed in the productions, he began speaking of the characters like they were real people. Disney became so dedicated to the movies that there was very little delegation of work between him and his employees, and very little distinction between Walt Disney and Disney Studios.
The first Disney film premiered was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 and it was the first animated musical feature. This film, making $8 million, stopped Walt Disney from falling into extreme debt. Following Snow White, Disney Studios produced many more animated musical features and in total, they produced 100 movies. Walt Disney became most known for his films but, in 1954, he began making television shows like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Wonderful World of Color.
Walt Disney’s animation skills is one of the most remembered things about him. Americans today would not have a great appreciation for animated films without Walt Disney. His journey to being such a famous animator was a very long and hard process, but it is a key reason to remember that hard work does pay off. Disney was so focussed on his dream of working in the arts that he refused to give up, no matter how hard the process was. It was observed that Disney had “an ambitious vision that he wouldn’t give up regardless of the difficulties he faced” (Cain 2) about his work.
Making animated movies and television shows was not the only activity occupying Walt Disney’s life during this time. He was in the midst of creating his own amusement park. In order to get ideas for his amusement parks, Walt Disney visited amusement parks and carnivals with the hope to make an amusement park for all families so they could feel as though they were in the Disney movies rather than just watching the movies on television. When he finally decided what exactly he wanted his park to be, Walt Disney chose artists and designers from his own staff to help transform Disneyland from his dream into a reality.
On July 17, 1955, Walt Disney opened Disneyland, his version of a utopian world, through an invitation-only opening gala. The first Disneyland was built in Anaheim, California, featuring four main themes: Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Fantasyland. Disney later opened the park to the public and it became extremely popular from the moment it was opened. At Disneyland’s grand opening, Disney exclaimed “Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America” (Bemis 4).
When Disneyland had such great success, Walt Disney decided he wanted to build more parks. Once Disneyland was completely up and running, Disney bought more land and began building his second park, Walt Disney World, in central Florida in 1971. Although Walt Disney World has become the more popular of the parks and some people believe that Walt Disney World was created first, Disneyland was the first Disney theme park to ever be created.
Due to being such a great animator and innovator, Walt Disney became very decorated in Academy Awards and many other awards. Walt Disney knew exactly what the public wanted to see and how to incorporate the events occuring in America at any time; this knowledge reflected into his work and did not go unrecognized. Walt Disney currently holds 23 well deserved Academy Awards for his perseverance in the arts industry. Along with his Academy Awards, Disney was presented with the George Washington Award in 1963 by the Freedom Foundation for “promoting the American way of life” (Jolley 23). Disney was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Walt Disney and his brother, Roy Disney, were a prominent reason for the establishment of the California Institution of the Arts. Finally, in his hometown of Marceline, Missouri, Walt and Roy Disney attended the dedication of the Walt Disney Municipal Park and Pool (Jolley 24). Disney later returned for the dedication of the Walt Disney Elementary School. No matter how famous Walt Disney became, he never forgot about his hometown where his entire dream began.
Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966 of lung cancer. The effect Disney left on America will never be forgotten. People are reminded everyday of his hard work when they see animated movies, television shows or when they go to either Disneyland or Walt Disney World. Disney fulfilled and exceeded his childhood dream of working in the arts and making money.
Since the very beginning of Walt Disney Animation Studios, the animation of the movies and television shows has been very sophisticated and has only increased in composure over the years. This is all thanks to the extreme hard work and dedication from Walt Disney through his hard working childhood, animation skills, creation of an amazing amusement park, and countless awards for his achievements.