Early Life
Teenage Years
Beginning of his Career
Movie Making Years
The Last of Disney
100
When and where was Walter Elias Disney born
December 5, 1901
100
At what age did Walt graduate school?
15
100
How did Walt meet his wife?
She was hired by him and his brother to do inking and painting in their new one-story studio they were building.
100
What was Walt's first 90-minute cartoon film?
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He began the making of this movie in early 1934. The cost of the movie was going to be $500,00. People criticized Walt calling it Disney's Folly. the 7 dwarfs began as Shifty, Nifty, Woeful, souldful, Flabby, Crabby, Asful, and Snoopy before they were Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, and Bashful. Dopey began as Seven. The movie was finally ready December 21, 1937.
100
What was Walt's first live action film?
Song of the South. It was released in 1946. the story was based off of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear. Walt hired mainly African_American actors for this film. There were mixed reviews of it: some said it was a warm family tale while others were upset that African Americans were casted as servants. The song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" won an Oscar in 1947.
200
Where did Walk move to when he was 4 years old?
Marceline, Missouri.
200
Why did Walt lie and say he was 17?
He always wanted to be a part of the war like his brother Roy, but wasn't old enough. The Red Cross Ambulance Corps was accepting 17 year olds since it was the closest thing to enlisting.
200
What was Walt's first all-cartoon film?
Poor Papa which was about Oswald the Lucky Rabbit who was a mischievous.
200
Why did the Disneys adopt?
Lilly had another miscarriage after Diane's birth. In January 1937 they adopted Sharon Mae. they also hired a nurse to help take care of the children.
200
Where did Walt plan to build Disneyland Park?
Anaheim California. He purchases 180 acres. People didn't think it was a good idea for Walt to get involved in something he didn't know much about, but he created a new company called WED Enterprises. This became the research and development organization for Disneyland Park with only 3 stockholders: himself and his 2 daughters. Designers, architects, engineers, writers, and artists from his studio came together to plan out the park. They became known as the Imagineers combining engineering with imagination for the rides. The park opens in 1955.
300
What happened to Walt when he played the part of Peter in Peter Pan at his school?
The wires broke and he went flying into the crowd.
300
Who did Walt meet when he was sent to Connecticut with Red Cross volunteers?
Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's hamburger chain.
300
What was the name of Walt's first film with the three-color process.
Flowers and Trees. the three-color process produced all of the colors of the rainbow. The film won an Academy Award in 1932 under the new category for Short Subject: Cartoon.
300
Why did the overseas movie market slow down?
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. the studio's profits were cut in half and was $4.5-million in debt.
300
Why did Walt get into television?
He wanted to use it as financial support and advertisement to make Disneyland Park a success. His first show was in December 1950 showing clips from his up and coming movie Alice in Wonderland. October 27, 1954 was he first weekly show that included fantasy, adventure, education, and drama. Even though a majority of televisions were only in black and white, Walt filmed in color because he believed that sometime soon all tv's would be in color.
400
What was Walt's first job (without pay) and why did he have to do it?
He was a paper boy because his father ran the route for the City Times and his father needed Walt to pitch in.
400
Describe Walt's first ad for Louis Pesmen and Bill Rubin.
The sketch showed hens sittin gon nests overflowing with eggs. Dollar signs were floating over their heads.
400
What happened when Walt was offered less money per cartoon than what he was getting in the beginning?
Universal Studios kept the rights to the Oswald movies and produce them without Walt. He also lost his main animators because they agreed to work for Universal Studios.
400
Why did most of the worker's go on strike?
Many were joining labor unions because they offered more benefits than Disney was. Walt tried to negotiate with his workers and begged for them to stay to help with financial difficulties. The strike lasted for weeks with picketers holding signs and shouting outside of the studio. People thought that Walt was living so greatly off of his profits, but the fact of the matter was that most of his money was actually in his corporation.
400
How did Walt die?
In the mid-60's Walt had backaches, colds, and sinus attacks and looked gray. When x-rays were taken in 1966, they said he had lung cancer due to smoking cigarettes for so many years. They removed his left lung, but he only had a few months to live. He spent time with family and checked on movies during this time and passed away on December 15 1966 at the age of 65.
500
Describe Walt's first moving picture show.
When his little sister Ruth was in bed with the measles, he drew pictures of the same people in different poses on different pages. He would flip through them quickly to make it look like the figures were moving.
500
What were Walt's first short cartoon skits called?
laugh-O-grams
500
How did Mickey Mouse come about?
After hearing he had lost his rights to his cartoon along with his animators, he began brainstorming new cartoon characters. His first one was a playful, mischievous mouse. Lillian, his wife did not like that name so he became Mickey Mouse. His personality was based off of Walt himself.
500
In 1941, why did Walt's staff have to share offices.
December 7 the U.S. Naval base at Pear Harbor was bombed and the government was afraid that the west coast was next to be attacked. The military decided to make its headquarters in Walt Disney Studios because it was close to the weapons plant. Walt created cartoons and live photography for the war effort that starred Donald Duck, Goofy, Jiminy Cricket, and the 2 Dwarfs.
500
What were the exhibits Walt had at the New York World's Fair?
It's a Small World, The Carousel of Progress, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and the dinosaur diorama along the train route. All of these shows became part of Disneyland. The reason Disney did the World's fair was because he needed more money to create Disneyland Park. He also was able to see if his entertainment was accepted on the East Coast and if he could compete with world designers. This was going to lead to the creation of Epcot in Florida.
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