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The Man Behind The Mouse: Walt Disney Is Born

Article Overview: “The era we are living in today is a dream of coming true,” Walt Disney once said. Indeed, Disney’s life was of the stuff dreams are made.

The Man Behind The Mouse: Walt Disney Is Born

“The era we are living in today is a dream of coming true,” Walt Disney once said. Indeed, Disney’s life was of the stuff dreams are made.

The man who had one of the most fertile imaginations in history, who managed to turn his musings into a billion dollar company and whose legacy would continue to live on for decades after his death, was born Walter Elias Disney on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. The family quickly moved from the increasingly dangerous city of Chicago to Marceline, Missouri, where they purchased a farm. Because he was too young to work, Disney spent most of his time on the farm playing with his four siblings and the animals. He would later reflect on this period as the best years of his life.

It was on the farm where Disney first discovered his passion for drawing when a retired doctor who lived next door to the family paid Disney to draw pictures of his horse. But, his idyllic farm days would not last long. In 1909, his father developed typhoid fever and, unable to work, was forced to sell the farm. The family moved to Kansas City, much to the dismay of Disney, where his father made him wake up at 3am to work on a local newspaper route delivering the Kansas City Star.

In school, Disney was an average student, with a penchant for doodling rather than listening to his teachers. When he was 15, he got a summer job working for the Santa Fe Railroad, selling items to passengers as trains rolled in. But, Disney found himself more fascinated with the trains than sales and did not last long on the job. During high school, he also occupied his time drawing patriotic cartoons for the school newspaper. And, when he could find enough time, he would attend night classes at the Chicago Art Institute.

At 16, Disney finally dropped out of school to join the Army, only to be rejected for being too young. He then decided to forge his birth certificate and join the American Red Cross Ambulance Corps, but by the time he finished his training, the war had ended. Disney decided to stay in France and worked as an ambulance driver, all the while continuing to spend his spare time drawing, completely covering his ambulance with his own cartoon creations. After two years, Disney grew lonely in Europe and returned to America, where he decided to finally pursue his passion seriously.

Upon returning, Disney immediately went to see his family; he wanted to share with them his newfound dreams of becoming an artist. But, his father did not support his career choice and so Disney returned to Kansas City on his own. With the help of his older brother, Roy, Disney found work making print ads at the Pesemen-Rubin Art Studio and continued experimenting with animation. He soon found himself fascinated with the possibilities of animation and knew he had finally found his niche.

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Article Tags: 3am, ambulance corps, american red cross, best years of his life, birth certificate, chicago art institute, city of chicago, cross ambulance, dangerous city, dollar company, doodling, fertile imaginations, kansas city star, marceline missouri, penchant, santa fe railroad, summer job, typhoid fever, walt disney, walter elias disney



Related Forum Posts
Re: 2 New famous entrepreneur features - Thanks Evan These are truly inspirational, I really enjoyed them. Have Twittered the Walt Disney and will do the Hines one as well. It's true that to succeed in something you need to have a passion for it. MichelleJ
Re: My Favourite 7 Boldest Entrepreneur Moves of All Time - Lots of very bold moves in that list. I will vote for Walt Disney as the best. I'm not sure what I would add to the list. Too many of them to pick just one.
Re: 2 New famous entrepreneur features - John M. Rowley's "Believe it is Possible" speech is a great addition to the Walt Disney story as well. Very inspirational. Thanks for sharing Evan. I've seen the first one, but I'll have to check out the second one as well. It's good to view things like this every once in a while. Keeps you motivated when you don't feel like you can keep going.
Re: Disney to refund Baby Einstein DVDs for Marketing Blunder - Hi Kevin, I have found television and especially DVDs to be excellent sources of stimulation and education for my daughter. The opinion that exposing kids to tv is always harmful is a corruption of the sensible opinion that tv and DVDs should be used with discretion. If I remember rightly, my daughter had gone through a whole library of the Japanese Anpan Man DVDs, Winnie the Pooh and - this was my choice! - Tom and Jerry to name a few. She was also keen on the Pink Panther cartoon, but I was less keen on it because of the lack of dialogue (Okay, Tom and Jerry doesn't have much, but a lot more than the Pink Panther...). Watching stuff on tv did a lot to help my develop her English as well as Japanese language skills at exactly the age when you want that to start happening (er, "before they are two"). When I read the comments on the report, I realized that the fuss may have been about children not turning into geniuses because they were being left in front of the tv to watch the DVDs without any adult supervision. I doubt that was what Disney intended. I trust all those who receive refunds from Disney will feel ashamed enough to donate the cash to children's charities, and while they are at it, they might as well donate the DVDs to a charity shop.
Away on Vacation - As of today I’m officially on vacation! I’m heading to Europe for a family cruise with Disney and spending some extra time in London before the cruise and Madrid after the cruise. I won’t be posting while I’m gone and will be back in action on August 17th. Have a great couple of weeks!


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