Should Have Been Born in a Spotlight!

When Walt Disney was 12 he drew pictures for the workers at the local barbershop. The illustrations were so good, that local citizens started making trips to the barbershop, just to see his drawings. Luckily for Walt, these drawings earned him free haircuts. Another time, Walt performed a skit for his class and it was so good that his teacher asked him to perform it for the whole school! Walt said yes. He was known for trying to claim every little bit of fame he got a chance at. Young Walt wasn’t able to sweep the audience every time he performed. For example, once when Walt was living in Chicago, Walt and Russell Maas, a good friend, worked out a comedy act together. Their final product must have been pretty bad. When the two friends performed their skit at a nearby theater, they ended up getting kicked off the stage I wonder how they felt about that?! Another time he was in his school production of “Peter Pan”, his brother, Roy, hooked wires up to Walt so he could fly. If you were in the audience it would looked exactly like he was really flying! Walt was getting higher and higher up in the air, all of a sudden the wire broke! The most mortifying part about this for Walt was the landing part. Walt landed in the audience. I wonder what Walt thought was more embarrassing, getting kicked off stage, or landing in the audience? Better yet, how did his parents react? It is pretty amazing that the Disney house was not turned upside down most of the time due to opposing ideas between Walt’s parents. Walt’s mother and father were almost opposites. Flora was a woman with a great sense of humor and a well used smile. Elias was a man of strict religion, a belt whipping arm, and a lot of ambition. Walt’s father was almost always serious. The couple of times he did see his father smile and have a good time were on occasional Sundays when he was with his friends playing the fiddle. Walt’s father didn’t believe in toys. This is why a 10 cent toy was a big deal for young Walt. Elias Disney wasn’t too big on carnivals either. To Elias they were both thought of as waste of time and money. Lucky for us, Walt didn’t turn out to be strict like his father. Thankfully Walt was able to survive all those years with his father and turned out pretty successfully in the world of jobs. Walt’s experiences may well have influenced his later career in children’s entertainment. Walt’s first job was working in the postal business and his second as an ambulance driver in France during World War I. His third was as an artist in Kansas City working with a man named UB. They worked well together. They had everything they needed; the talent, the tools, and the ideas. They were only missing one thing… the customers. It only took a month before they had to close down. Fortunately, the two found jobs together at the Kansas City Slide Company. Working there literally changed Walt’s life. While working at this company, he discovered how everything works in animation. Learning about animation was like going to fun school. Walt didn’t know it, but having learned about animation helped him as he became older. A little while later, while Walt was still working for the Kansas Slide Company, he decided to set up a studio in his shed. Walt created a series of tales called Laugh-O-Grams. These were short and funny. In the end, he only completed one. Creating a person waving could take up to nineteen drawings! Walt tried his very hardest not to let difficult work stop him. Walt sold his Laugh-O-Grams to the “The Newman Theater Company”. The first production Walt created has become a classic. He named it,” Little Red Riding Hood”. Walt’s dream of becoming a famous animator was becoming closer to reach! Walt’s Laugh-O-Grams company failed, but Walt later said, “I think it’s important to have a good hard failure while you’re still young”. Walt felt very positive about his future, himself, and about finding a job to support himself. Walt and his courage moved in with his uncle, Robert Disney. Walt needed a job to pay his Uncle Robert rent for staying in his house. In Hollywood, all he did was search for an open job as an actor or as a director. Every time Walt tried out, he was turned down just like the millions of other teens yearning to be movie stars. Finally, Walt and one of his older brothers, agreed to start a small animation business. They settled on making a series about a girl named Alice and her adventures. Walt thought that they would make plenty of episodes. But a month later, Walt and his brother quit, only having completed one episode called “Alice Hunting in Africa.”. One very special day, Walt and a much bigger company produced movies that had color and sound. The Walt Disney Company also opened two of their very own amusement parks. Children, adults, teenagers, and even grandparents were excited all across the U.S for the grand opening of the new Disney Theme parks. For Walt, all this chatter about his new parks was nothing but the aroma of complete success! “Hollywood stars and entertainers of that time had received special invitations. Thousands of fake invitations added to the crowds. Other people scrambled over the fences, entering the park illegally.” Not everything about the opening day was a success. ”Disneyland Park’s first visitors soon discovered that the planners and workers had run out of time. Only twenty-three of the park’s attractions were ready. Due to a summer heat wave, the newly poured asphalt softened, and women’s high heels sank into the walkways. There were not enough trash cans, drinking fountains, or completed restrooms, which were allimportant features to Walt. The power went out in Fantasyland, and restaurants ran out of food.” ~ Judith, Josephson, “Walt Disney: Genius of Entertainment”, 2006. Even though the beginning was disastrous, the big parade at the end of the day going down Main St. was a huge hit! Over the course of the next couple of years, Walt worked extremely hard creating new characters and cartoons. On December 21st of 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made its way to the big screen inside the Carthay Theater located in Los Angeles. Many people showed, including famous actors! The audience was in tears to see Snow White had passed away in the last scene from the witch’s poisonous apple. Finally Prince Charming kissed Snow White on the lips and her eyes fluttered open. At that very second the crowd stood up and started roaring with applause. For the first time in history, there was now such thing as a full length cartoon touching people’s hearts. This is Walt Disney’s story, a story about a young man and his journey to becoming one of the most famous creators in the world.