Walt Disney

By: Sierra Pontius

 
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Table of Contents
Early Life 3

Getting Started 4-5

Mickey Mouse and Friends 6-9

Disneyland and Dying 10-11

Walt’s Legacy 12-13

Walt’s Timeline 14

 
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Early Life: Walter Elias Disney, or Walt for
short, was born on December 5th, 1901 in
Chicago, Illinois. He was one of five children,
four boys and one girl. Growing up, Walt
loved to draw, paint, and sell his pictures to
his neighbors, family, and friends. During
high school, Walt took several drawing and
painting classes. He was also a cartoonist for
the school paper.

After returning from France where he served

in the army as an ambulance driver, Walt
began to work for many different design, art,
and ad companies.
 
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Getting Started: During his time at these
studios, Walt met Fred Harman who became
his first employee. The two created Laugh-O-
Grams, which were wildly popular. The
success of the show even earned Walt enough
money to allow him to open his own studio.
Over time however, the series began to
decline in popularity and Disney was forced
to declare bankruptcy. Walt Disney, his
brother Roy Disney, and his friend Ub Iwerks
pooled their money together and moved to
Hollywood in 1923 to pursue their dreams.

 
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 For years, Walt had been working on a new
animated character called Oswald the Lucky
Rabbit. This new series was gaining attention
and was beginning to become very
successful. However, in late 1928, Disney
discovered that his good friend M.J. Winkler
and her husband had stolen the rights to the
character and he could no longer take claim
for Oswald. They had even taken all of
Walt’s employees. All animators, except Ub
Iwerks had left Walt.

Upset about the recent news, Disney rode the

train home, doodling on the piece of paper
the entire way. The result of these doodles
was a mouse who he names, Mickey.
 
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Mickey Mouse and Friends: Now left
with only Ub to help animate the character,
and Walt’s wife Lillian, and sister-in-law Edna
to add ink to the illustrations, they worked
hard to produce three Mickey Mouse
cartoons. The first two cartoons didn’t sell
very well, so Disney decided to add some
sound to the final cartoon short. This last
animation was called Steamboat Willie, and it
was all Walt Disney needed to finally break
into the industry!

 
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Walt Disney was now running in the big
leagues. He had his own studio now, which
he named Walt Disney Studios. He created
several more cartoon series, Silly Symphonies,
Flowers and Trees, and Three Little Pigs. Flowers
and Trees was the first cartoon to ever be
produced in color and it was the first cartoon
to win an Oscar award. Walt also began work
on Mickey and Friends, creating characters
Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto,
and plenty more to accompany Mickey on all
of his adventures.
 
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Walt Disney struck gold in 1937, when he
released the first ever full-length animated
film in Los Angeles called, Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs. This movie produces $1.499
million dollars and won a total of eight Oscar
awards. During the next five years, Walt
Disney Studios would complete four other
full-length animated films, Pinocchio, Fantasia,
Dumbo, and Bambi.

 
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 After a brief
period of internal
complications at
Walt Disney
Studios, the
company released
Cinderella in 1950.
Shortly following,
the releases of
Treasure Island,
Alice in
Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp,
Sleeping Beauty, and 101 Dalmatians occurred.

 
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 Disney’s last major success that he produced
himself was the film Mary Poppins, which
mixed live action and animation. Mary
Poppins was wildly successful and brought in
a ton of revenue.

 
10  
 Disneyland and Dying: During his
prime time of movie success, Walt Disney
decided to open a theme park, which he
would call Disneyland. This $17 million dollar
theme park opened July of 1955 in Anaheim,
California. In no time at all, Disneyland was
earning way more than what investors had
originally predicted and began to attract
tourists from all over the world. Disneyland
became known as a place for children and
adults to meet characters, ride attractions,
and explore the world of Disney.
 
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Just a few short
years after
Disneyland was
opened, Walt
was diagnosed
with lung cancer.
Just one year
later, Disney
passed away on
December 15,
1966.
Determined to
carry out his
brother’s legacy, Roy Disney continued the
plans to finish the Florida theme park Walt
had been working on shortly before his death,
and opened the new park in 1971 under the
name Walt Disney World.

 
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Walt’s Legacy: To this day, Walt Disney
Studios is still in operation, often partnering
with sister studios to produce new animated
and live actions films each year. Some of the
company’s most recent and successful films
include Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Up,
Enchanted, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled,
Frozen, The Good Dinosaur, and Inside Out.

The company even has its own television

channel, Disney Channel, which features both
animated and live action television series for
children and pre-teens. Some of the most
successful series include: Hannah Montana,
Phineas and Ferb, Suite Life of Zach and Cody,
Jessie, and Austin and Ally.
 
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Today, Walt Disney is most remembered for
his beloved characters, brilliant animated
feature films, and beautiful theme parks. His
legacy continues to carry on throughout all
the movies and television shows produced
through his very own studio. Walt Disney
broke barriers in the film industry and truly
left his mark in the world of all things
animation. Without him, we would not know
a lot of the characters we’ve grown up loving.

And to think, it all started with a mouse.

 
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 Walt’s Timeline

1901- Walt was born

1919- Walt returns from France and begins job with
Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio
1923- Laugh-O-Grams published
1925- Walt and Lillian get married
1928- The rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit are stolen
1929- Mickey Mouse is created and quickly becomes a
huge hit
1937- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiers as the
first full-length animated film
1940-1964- More animated films are released by Walt
Disney Studios
1955- Disneyland opens its doors to the public
1966- Walt is diagnosed with lung cancer and passes away
1971- Walt Disney World opens

 
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 Works Referenced

“Walt Disney” by Wikipedia available under a Creative Commons

Attribution-ShareAlike License.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)” by Wikipedia

available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
License.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_(19
37_film)

“Walt Disney” by Biography.com.

http://www.biography.com/people/walt-disney-9275533#death

“Walt Disney Biography” by IMDB.com

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000370/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

https://d23.com/about-walt-disney/

www.forbes.com

http://thisdayindisneyhistory.homestead.com/dec16.html

http://abc7ny.com/entertainment/see-what-disneyland-looked-like-
on-opening-day-in-1955/856867/

http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2013/12/21/history/post-
perspective/the-trouble-with-the-real-mary-poppins.html

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Fairy_tale-based_Laugh-O-Grams

http://www.pgecurrents.com/2013/11/20/san-francisco-pge-hosts-
 
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free-day-at-walt-disney-family-museum/

http://theretroset.com/oh-mickey-hes-so-fine-85-years-of-mickey-
mouse-and-steamboat-willie/

http://antikewl.com/daily/category/disney/page/3/

 
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 Common Core State
Standards
CCSS.RI.1.1- Ask and answer questions about key
details in a text.

CCSS.RI.1.3- Describe the connection between two

individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information
in a text.

 
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