The Persistence of a Dream: A History of the Walt Disney Company
By Martha Chapman, 3rd Year History
“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”
Walt Disney said these humbling words years after The Walt Disney Company had exploded into the multi-million global corporation we know today. A sprawling enterprise of motion pictures, theme parks, and merchandise. Characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck have become enduring icons of popular culture. But it was not a cartoon mouse who started it all, but two brothers with a big dream: Walt and Roy Disney. With their creative genius and business flair respectively, they developed the most recognisable media brand of modern day.
The story begins in 1906, when the Disney family moved to a small farm in Missouri. It was here Walt developed his fascination with cartoons, spending hours drawing animals from his father’s farm. During their childhood, Walt and Roy delivered newspapers, and as young men both took part in the war effort. Roy enlisted in the navy in 1917, while Walt, too young to serve, falsified his age to join the Red Cross volunteers. While serving in France, Walt spent much of his time drawing cartoons that he would send to humour magazines, only to receive rejection slips.
Walt then moved to Kansas City and met Ubbe Iwerks. The pair soon went into business together as freelance illustrators. Walt took a job as a cartoonist at the Kansas City Film Ad Company. Here, he learned about animation, experimenting with different techniques including celluloid animation. He created a reel he named ‘Newman’s Laugh-O-Gram' and sold it to a theatre. He continued to make new ‘Laugh-O-Gram' films each week, and began working on his Alice Comedies, which combined live-action with cartoon interactions. However, Walt was a terrible businessman and ‘Laugh-O-Gram' quickly moved towards bankruptcy. Roy wrote to him from Los Angeles, California imploring him to: ‘Call it quits, Kid’. Walt followed his advice and in 1923 bought a ticket to join his brother in Los Angeles.
It was here Walt received word from film distributor M. J. Winkler in search of a new series, and in 1923 they signed a contract for six of Walt’s Alice Comedies. Through this success, Walt and Roy, with Roy’s financial backing, formed the Disney Brothers Studio, which became The Walt Disney Company in 1926.
Charles Mintz, Winkler’s husband, took control over the distribution of Walt’s Alice Comedies and the series ended in 1927. Mintz requested new material from Walt to distribute through Universal Pictures, so, along with former colleague Ubbe Iwerks, Walt created a new character: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. By 1928, the Oswald series had grown in popularity. However, Mintz was scheming behind Walt’s back and had persuaded many of Walt’s artists to work instead for himself. When Walt discovered that he did not actually own the rights to Oswald, but Universal did as part of their payment for the films, he and Iwerks left.
Undeterred, Walt began sketching ideas for a new character, one he would fully own. This character was a mouse. The first film Mickey Mouse appeared in was an animated short called Steamboat Willie. It was the first animated film with synchronised sound and opened at the Colony Theatre in New York in 1928. The success of Mickey Mouse saved the Disney Company from going bankrupt.
The Disney Company became a pioneer within the American animation industry. Writing in the 1940s, filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein declared that Disney’s work offered: “the greatest contribution of the American people to art.”
The story of the Walt Disney Company is one of persistence and of overcoming adversity. Walt’s individualism and determination stands as a testament for never giving up your dream. Who would we be without the iconic characters of our childhood?