Walt Disney and the Development of the Enchanted Kingdom
Walter
Elias Disney became a household name in the early 1900s, and his legacy spans
multiple generations. Disney's illustrious career would create new markets and
begin a trademark with substantial capital behind it. Disney's journey was not
easy, and it began with substantial financial risk that resulted in many
failures in the early years of his career. In 1923 he moved to California to
join his older brother, Roy, and opened the first Disney studio producing Alice animated
shorts and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He would soon develop the early character,
Mortimer the Mouse, who would soon be renamed Mickey. In 1928, Walt developed
the first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie. This cartoon launched
Disney into a new category of innovation and developed new standards for
merchandising. Amid the great depression, Disney would soon develop Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, using many of the frameworks
established by the early cartoons like Steamboat Willie. Snow White would
provide the capital to secure a new building to add to the studio, which would
later create the staple Disney movies that cement Disney's legacy.[1]
By 1923,
Walt left Missouri for California having just filed his first bankruptcy after
his first animation company failed and left him near destitution.[2] The art of the motion
picture was becoming increasingly lucrative, and by the early 1900s, the
technology to shoot motion pictures was developing rapidly.[3] The Wonderful Wizard of
Oz , released in 1910, would be an example of the possibilities in the
movie making industry for Disney.[4] After a troubling venture
in Missouri left Walt discouraged, California offered him an opportunity to
start over and the Disney Brother’s Studio was founded off of $200 from Roy
Disney’s pension, $500 from their uncle, and a $2,500 loan from Disney’s parents.[5] After some time, the
production of the Alice cartoons was becoming a challenge with
the producers so Disney chose to upgrade their situation. The brothers
rebranded to “Walt Disney Studios” and moved into a larger studio space to
continue producing animations.[6]
Walt’s work under his previous producers resulted in the loss of Oswald the
Lucky Rabbit, which was a painful lesson leading to Disney’s trademarking of
Mickey Mouse in 1928.[7]
This would secure all rights to the character and his legacy.
Disney’s biggest contribution to the motion picture industry was the incorporation of sound in the Steamboat Willie cartoon, which had never been done before 1928.[8] In 1929, The Skeleton Dance was released in theaters and quickly became as popular as Steamboat Willie. An advertisement from Columbia Pictures headlines The Skeleton Dance as, “The greatest talking picture novelty ever screened!”[9] By 1930, Mickey Mouse became a household name, and Walt was well on his way to producing full length motion pictures.
Walt would be given an Academy Award in
1932 and the League of Nations gave Disney their highest award for creating
Mickey in 1935.[10]
With the collapse of the economy in 1929, Walt found many ways to continue to
turn profits as well as save many people’s businesses along the way through
mutual benefit. Charlotte Clark, a local Californian, asked for Disney’s
permission to create Mickey Mouse dolls and was granted access and materials to
manufacture them. George Borgfeldt & Co., a toy company, made an assortment
of Mickey and Minnie Mouse toys to sell in 1930.[11]
Disney exerted control over every aspect of the brand, and his characters. Historian
Steven Watts states, “All told, by the mid-1930s, the Disney Studio was pulling
in around $660,000 a year in profits, the great majority of which it plowed
back into various projects.”[12]
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 became another landmark for
Disney, and his business continued to grow and compete with other large motion picture
makers. The success of this film would start Disney’s company on a new path of
producing full-length feature films that would join the Disney vault and
produce a spectacular foundation to which the modern Disney company was built.
Films like Pinocchio, Fantasia and Dumbo built off the early
successful format of Snow White.[13]
Through the decades, failures, and successes, Walt Disney struck gold in his eyes and fortified his choices over the years with strong determination. As an entrepreneur in the early 1900s, Disney was as inventive as men like Henry Ford and equally as determined as Carnegie and Rockafeller. He was from humble beginnings and determined to pursue his art and dreams despite the many financial setbacks he experienced in the first years of his career. Through the collective financial capital of his family, Disney’s successful studio that created classics in American film, Walt became the definition of self-starter. The animated shorts and cartoons of his early years and the successful full-length films at the juncture of his success are deeply engrained in American culture. Disney's strength as a creator and as an entrepreneur makes him a key figure in American history.
[1]
Krasniewicz, Walt Disney: A Briography, xi.
[2]
Ibid., 27.
[3]
Ibid., 28.
[4]
Ibid., 29.
[5]
Ibid., 32.
[6]
Ibid., 35.
[7]
Ibid., 42.
[8]
Ibid., 44.
[9] The
Skeleton Dance, Posters and Promotional Material, 1993. https://inducks.org/story.php?c=PMS+1929-003A.
[10]
Ibid., 51.
[11]
Ibid., 52.
[12]
Watts, 66.
Krasniewicz, Louise, and Walt Disney. Walt Disney: a Biography. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood, 2010.
Photograph of Walt Disney, "Walt Disney Biography", by Biography.com Editors, A&E Television Networks, April 13, 2014, https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/walt-disney.
Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2001.
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