
He focused on government contracts that required him to make training and patriotic films such as Victory Through Air Power in 1943. During this time, Disney did not have a lot of money to do feature films. Army moved onto the Disney lot and stayed for eight months. The strike ended in the fall of that year, but some employees remained unhappy, and Disney felt personally betrayed by his staff’s actions.Īlso in 1941, the U.S. Strikers demanded fair wages and job security. A labor strike in 1941 impacted the success of the studio. In the early 1940s, Disney favorites such as Fantasia, Pinocchio, Dumbo, and Bambiwere released. Also in 1932, the Disney Art School was established, and “the Disney style” of animation was taught to new artists.īy 1939 the studio needed a larger facility, so Disney built the Burbank Studio. In 1932 he won his first Academy Award for Flowers and Treesand another one in 1937 for Snow White, the first full-length animated feature film. Disney continued to experiment with animation, color, and sound, buying exclusive rights to use Technicolor, a new three-color process, in his films. The Great Depression did not prevent the Disney Studio from growing. They included Ub Iwerks, Rudolf Ising, Hugh Harman, and Friz Freleng.
#Walt disney success story professional#
The talented animators who got their start in Kansas City eventually followed Disney to California, making up the core of professional cartoonists in the early days of the Hollywood animation scene. The building where Disney created his first films and operated his first professional film studio still stands and is being renovated. Disney declared bankruptcy and left Kansas City in July of 1923 to try his luck in Hollywood. Eventually his staff left because they were not getting paid. He had good ideas, but he was not a good businessman.
#Walt disney success story series#
He went on to make a series of these films, which are referred to as the Alice Comedies.ĭisney operated his new company for a year and a half. Disney put an ad in the newspaper requesting artists who wanted to learn animation to come work for him.ĭisney’s first popular film, Alice’s Wonderland, was created here and featured a girl, Virginia Davis, entering a cartoon world. He left the Film Ad Company in May of 1922 to start Laugh-O-Gram Films in the McConahy building at 31st Street and Forest Avenue. Disney learned about animation at this job and eventually felt confident enough to start his own business. When his tour was over, Walt returned to Chicago briefly, but rather than going back to school and getting a high school diploma, he headed back to Kansas City in 1919.įrom there, the two got jobs with the Kansas City Slide Company, later renamed the Kansas City Film Ad Company, making one-minute advertisements to appear before movies and live action films. Walt headed to France in 1918, and for nine months, he drove supply trucks and ambulances and chauffeured officers. His biggest adventure at this time, however, was lying about his age (with the help of his mother) in order to join the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in Europe after World War I. Walt started McKinley High School in 1917 and he began to draw for the student newspaper. Walt graduated from the Benton School, and soon the family moved back to Chicago. He attended the Kansas City Art Institute on Saturday mornings, and performed skits and vaudeville routines with friends at local theaters. Walt’s work responsibilities did not keep him from drawing and having fun. Walt was only nine years old when he had to get up at 3:30 a.m., seven days a week, to fold and deliver papers for two hours before attending the Benton Grammar School.

In 1911 the family moved to Kansas City where Roy and Walt helped their father deliver newspapers. After four years, the farm was not profitable, and Walt’s father became ill.
