Vanesa Jimenez
Mr. Blaisdell
Honors English 1B
17 April 2014
The History behind Walt Disney Walt Disney once said, “All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me…You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” Walt Disney was one of the most successful businessmen who was truly dedicated to his dreams. His achievements gained him many awards and led him to fame. He’s inspirational to many people around the world and changed the lives of many by giving others a helping hand. Walt Disney grew up in a simple life, but worked hard to start his brilliant business, became famous for his breathtaking works, and let his success positively impact people’s lives. Walt Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, but lived most of his childhood in Marceline, Missouri with his three older brothers and younger sister (bio, 2014). Disney was the fourth son of five children, born from Elias Disney and Flora Call Disney. Since Disney’s parents came from farming backgrounds, he and his siblings were raised on a farm throughout their childhoods. On his free time, Disney began sketching the farm animals at the age of seven and then would sell his drawings to neighbors and family. A while later, “Elias sold the farm and purchased an established newspaper route in Kansas City where he moved his remaining family” (About.com 20th Century History, 2014). Disney’s family approached a financial collapse so the whole family had to help out and sell newspapers. Waking up early in the morning, Disney and his older brother Roy delivered newspapers seven days per week. In Kansas City, Disney developed a passion for trains and an amusement park called Electric Park. When Disney was sixteen years old, he “attended McKinley High School where he became the school newspaper’s junior art editor” (About.com 20th Century History, 2014). Disney took drawing and photography classes and at night he would go to his courses at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. Disney excelled in reading during his time in school and some of his favorite authors were Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. He would surprise his art teacher with drawings of flowers to sketches of human faces. He continued to go to his evening classes so he could pursue his education as a cartoonist. Disney dropped out of high school when he was sixteen years old to enlist in the military. He wanted to follow his brother, Roy, into the Navy, but was “rejected for being underage” (bio, 2014). Instead he got accepted as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross and got sent to France for a year. When the war was over, Disney moved back to Kansas and started his career as a cartoonist where he started his animated cartoons. For Walt Disney, growing up was all about achieving great things. He had a strong feeling of wanting to become something successful in life, in this case, a cartoonist. In 1919, after returning from France, “he moved back to Kansas City to pursue a career as a commercial artist at the Pressman-Rubin Studio” (bio, 2014). Disney met and became friends with cartoonist Ub Iwerks at the studio. Disney and Iwerks were furloughed because they didn’t have the resources to keep them any longer. In January 1920, Disney and Iwerks formed their own little company called Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists. However, since they did not have enough clients, their company only lasted for about a month. Around this time, both Iwerks and Disney got jobs at the Kansas City Film Ad Company as cartoonists, where Disney began experimenting with a camera and decided to open his very own animation business where they made commercials for movie theaters. In 1922, Laugh-O-Gram Films was formed after “the two quit the Kansas City Film Ad Company. He hired a couple of employees, including Iwerks and sold series of fairytale cartoons to Pictorial Films in Tennessee, which they called Alice in
