100 years of Disney: How a Kansas cartoonist created one of the biggest media empires of the world

Early life of Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago on December 5, 1901, to Elias Disney, a Canadian-American construction worker and entrepreneur, and his wife, Flora Call, a school teacher. He was raised on a farm near Marceline in Missouri, and Kansas City.

One of five siblings, Walt was interested in drawing even as a child and sold his first sketches to neighbours when he was only seven. Studying cartooning through correspondence, and later taking classes at the McKinley High School in Chicago, he also pursued photography.

When he was 16, Walt decided to join military service during World War I. Rejected because he was too young, he joined the American Red Cross and was sent overseas, where he spent a year driving an ambulance across France and Germany.

After the war, on his return to Kansas City, Walt began his career as an advertising cartoonist. He created a series of animated cartoon sketches called “Laugh-O-grams” and a pilot film for a series of short fairy tales that combined live action and animation, called Alice in Cartoonland.

Hollywood and Mickey Mouse

Though his cartoons became popular, a New York film distributor reportedly duped Walt, forcing him to file for bankruptcy in 1923. This was when he moved to California to pursue a career as a cinematographer.

The success of his short films prompted him to reopen a studio in Hollywood, leading to the establishment of Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio with his brother Ray as his business partner. Artist Ubbe Iwerks, his former associate in Kansas, also joined him and the two developed the character of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, followed by the iconic and mischievous Mickey Mouse, who also starred in his first animated film to have sound, Steamboat Willie, which was an instant hit.

Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse, Donald Ducky, and many other memorable characters. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Walt himself was the voice of Mickey till 1947, by when he also developed several other animal characters, including Donald Duck and the dogs Pluto and Goofy. Following his first full-length animated musical called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, he also completed other full-length animated classics such as Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi. While their television programmes, including Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, were massive hits, the 1964 motion picture fantasy Mary Poppins hugely elevated the popularity of the studio.

When Disney made war films

Holding the record of most individual Oscar wins (22), while Walt aspired to keep Disney non-political, during World War II, the studio actively participated, with its employees creating military training films, insignia for different military units, and educational short films aimed at instilling patriotism.

By 1943, 90 per cent of Disney’s work was related to the war effort and several of its lovable characters had been dressed in khaki uniforms. Commissioned by the US Treasury Department, its 1942 animated short The New Spirit encouraged people to pay their income tax to support war efforts, and the 1943 Der Fuehrer’s Face mocked the Nazis.

Launch of Disneyland as the magic kingdom

Walt conceived the idea of Disneyland in the mid 1940s, during a visit to the Griffith Park in Los Angeles with his daughters Diane and Sharon. Visiting amusement parks and carnivals, he envisioned a theme-based park meant for kids and adults, and in 1948 began discussing a “Mickey Mouse Park” as a small play park with boat rides and other themed areas.

Sleeping Beauty’s caste at Disneyland. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

In 1952, a small group of artists and designers were assigned the task of making his dream a reality. Funding was generated through the ABC network in exchange for creating and hosting an hour-long weekly television show, resulting in Disneyland TV.

Covering an area of 160 acres, the park opened in California in 1955. The invitation-only opening gala saw thousands arriving with counterfeit tickets. Filled with chaos, the event broadcast live on ABC witnessed several goof-ups, including guests tripping over cable wires and long traffic jams.

But despite the bad press, the park attracted millions in the coming weeks. Modeled on Walt’s hometown of Marceline, the ride attractions included ‘Snow White’s Scary Adventures’ and ‘Jungle Cruise’, and railroad tracks circling the campus, reflecting the founder’s love for trains.

In its early years, the park was visited by several international dignitaries, including the King and Queen of Nepal and the Shah of Iran, and in 1961, then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

A report in The New York Times, published in November 1961, stated: “Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India arrived at Los Angeles today and almost immediately began a three-hour tour of Disneyland. Mr. Nehru, who flew here from New York for a two-day visit, was greeted by Mayor Samuel W. Yorty, who said with a smile, that he understood Mr. Nehru was making his first visit to Southern California so that he could see Disneyland.”