It all started with a mouse, as the famous line goes but one man brought the idea to the drawing table, namely Walt Disney.
Walt was born on the 5th of December 1901 in Chicago and grew up on a farm in Missouri. At the age of nine his father's illness forced them all to move to Kansas City. He started drawing as a young child and by the age of seven was selling his pictures of farm animals to neighbors.
After some shaky starts to his career and tough challenges, Walt was able to debut Mickey Mouse in 1928 in New York City.
The now famous cartoon 'Steam Boat Willie' showcased the first synchronized sound track. That was the start of what was to grow with animation and Mickey Mouse, into the Disney we see today.
More detail on Walt's early years and beginnings can be found in the wonderful book "The Art of Disney from Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom", written by Christopher Finch, I highly recommend this book for your collection and if you have not already read it, it will give you a great insight into the history of how Walt went through the early years in the 1920's, having some success and some problems until he put out Steam Boat Willie in 1928.
The books ISBN is 0-7535-0344-1
For me, growing up as a small child in the early 1960's, we would watch the Disney cartoons on television. They were not on air as often as they are today, so it was a 'big event' when a Mickey Mouse cartoon was on and I wold try to never miss it. I loved watching those cartoons and for a few minutes would be transformed into a world of imagination and wonder.
This was also true of the Disney animated movies that were released in the late 1960's and early 1970's, I thought they were wonderful to show a story in animation and how they developed some very strong characters within the story line.
More on Disney in a few days......
1 comments:
We obviously grew up in the same era Steve. I, too, can remember the excitement generated by knowing that there was going to be a Disney cartoon on the TV. I remember my Dad would always tell us when he was reading the paper; and all four of us children would be there waiting for it to come on at least half an hour early.
There was certainly some magic in the earlier work, that I'm not sure is quite the same today. Perhaps it's because the world was so much more innocent, or naive, then. Or perhaps it's just that I'm getting old.
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