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Walt Disney

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Walt Disney biography

"The most significant figure in graphic arts since Leonardo DaVinci", as David Low, the late British political cartoonist called him, was many men in the size of one: not only his mind was gifted by a powerful creativity, but he could also put it to work to innovate the animated motion pictures in ways beyond his time, build an economic empire, a fantasy world for children, and a legacy of art and imagination.

The father of Mickey Mouse, founder of ®Disneyland and of the theme parks of ®Walt Disney World, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5 of 1901. He found himself far away from the cities, being raised in a farm near Marceline, Missouri, and yet he soon got interested not in cows and crops but in the art of drawing. Actually, he sold his very first sketches to his farm neighbors when he was only seven years old.

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walt disney

walt disney

Mickey Mouse & Walt Disney

In the McKinley High School of Chicago, Walt Disney split his attention between drawing and photography, one of his very first passions; during the evening, he attended the Academy of Fine Arts.

He took his first big step in August 1923, when he decided to leave Kansas City towards Hollywood with nothing more than some sketches, $40 dollars, and a completed animated and live-action film. His brother Roy O. Disney was waiting for him with some extra money ($250), which was not enough, so they borrowed another $500, and with this less than $800 managed to build their own camera stand inside an uncle's garage. His first job was for the Alice Comedy featurette.

Later on, Walt Disney married one of his employees in July 1925; her name, Lillian Bounds, who gave him two daughters: Diana Disney Miller and Sharon Disney Lund.

 

Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse was originally a "rabbit" named "Oswald". Walt was traveling from New York to Los Angeles by train, and there Mickey was first sketched in his mind after a business meeting where Walt had asked for more money for his "Oswald the Rabbit" character. He did not get the money, and the rights of Oswald belonged to the company he worked for, so he decided to have something of his own. Thus, "Mortimer the Mouse" was born, name that her wife suggested him to change because it sounded so "long and pompous". And Walt did change, as we all know.

So Mickey Mouse was born in 1928, and he was first used in a silent cartoon known as "Plane Crazy", but that was not the debut of our little friend; at that time, sound was introduced to the motion picture screen, so Mickey finally arrives in his "Steamboat Willie", which was the first animated cartoon completly synchronized with sound.
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Walt Disney en 1941
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Pinocchio
Walt Disney took advantage of the ®Technicolor technology for the making of "Silly Symphonies" in his personal race for perfection and innovation. In 1932 his cartoon "Flowers and Tress" won the first of 32 Academy Awards. In 1937 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" motion picture was born, the first full-length animated musical feature (the cost of the production was $1.499.00, which was way too expensive for the time of the Depression). In the next five years, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo y Bambi followed.

In 1940, Disney's staff counted with more than 1000 employees, from drawing and story developers to technicians.

En el dibujo animado "Los Tres Caballeros", año 1945, Disney combinó acción real con animaciones por primera vez, un proceso que continuó utilizando exitosamente en películas como "Canción del Sur" y la super aclamada "Mary Poppins".

 

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