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How did he get the name? It was the result of a little deal between Walt’s father and the family minister. As Walt recalled, “The minister’s name was Walter Parr. The minister had a baby coming. And my Dad had a baby coming. . . . When they were breaking bread somewhere they said, ‘Well, if you name your son after me, I’ll name my son after you.”
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Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, which is considered the first cartoon, was released.
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“It was probably one of my first big feature pictures I’d ever seen,” Walt recalled. “But anyways, to me, I thought it was a perfect story.”
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Wanting to join the War, Roy Disney enlists in the Navy. By fall, he is stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station.
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Hearing of Walt's plan to go away to war his father, Elias, refused to sign the enlistment documents, exclaiming “I might be signing your death warrant!” Surprisingly, Flora, Walt's mom took his side, saying, “Three of my sons have left this family in the middle of the night. Walter’s determined to go, Elias, even if he has to sneak out like his brothers. I’d rather sign this paper and know where he is.” Angry, Elias concluded, “Forge my name if you want, but I won’t sign,” storming out.
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Walt sails to France aboard the Vauban as part of the Red Cross Ambulance Corps, just as World War I ends.
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Disney returns from France
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“I went up with these samples, and they were all about these corny things I’d done in France about the fellows finding cooties and everything, you know. Well, by gosh they hired me. I mean, right on the spot.” Walt didn’t ask about pay. Nor did his new bosses say anything. But that wasn’t the point. Walt had a start in the glamorous world of art.
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January 1920, 18-year-old Walt took matters into his own hands and decided to start his own commercial art business with Ubbe Iwwerks, an industrious artist he had met at Pesmen and Rubin. This seemed like a silly idea to Ubbe, but nobody could turn Walt down easily, and so there was soon a new company in the world called Iwwerks-Disney.
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When Walt brought his drawing samples to the Kansas City Slide Company, boss Vern Cauger hired him for $40 a week. Ubbe Iwwerks continued to run Iwwerks-Disney for another couple of months, but without much success. In March 1920, Walt convinced his new boss to hire Ubbe as well.
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In February 1920, Walt went to work for the Kansas City Film Ad Company. By then, drawings no longer just stayed on a page, they ran and jumped. The studio was experimenting with a new form of art: animation. however, they worked with little paper figures with moveable joints, the result was herky-jerky motion. At first, Walt couldn’t convince the studio to change their methods, but as Roy once told a biographer, his little brother had a way of talking people into just about anything.
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Dinsey has the paperwork officially drawn up for Laugh-O-gram Films. His goal is to create short animated films for movie theaters. Five days later, the State of Missouri issues a certificate of incorporation for the company.
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Having given up his Kansas City dreams, it seemed to Walt that there was only one way to go - west. Months before the official Laugh-O-grams bankruptcy proceedings took place, Walt was ready for the next stage of his life. It was time to move to Hollywood.
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With the popularity dying down, Disney's second company is forced to declare bankruptcy
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Two months after arriving in California, Walt made a deal with New York distributor M.J. Winkler for the Alice series of cartoons about a real little girl in a cartoon world.
The first of the new Alice Comedies, Alice’s Day at Sea, was delivered on December 26, 1923, and the Disney Brothers studio received their first earnings of $1,500. -
Walt Disney and Roy Disney put a deposit down for a vacant lot at 2719 Hyperion Avenue where they plan to build their movie studio.
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The wedding, on July 13, 1925, was held at the home of Lilly’s uncle in Lewiston, Idaho, where most of Lillian’s family lived. He was the town fire chief.
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after several years, the Alice concept was getting tired. Increasingly, Walt felt that his future lay in animation, not in a series that still relied heavily on live action. Walt decided that he would finish up his obligations for the Alice series and move onto something different.
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What would Walt do to follow up on the Alice Comedies? The answer dropped into his lap. Universal Pictures had turned to Charles Mintz to inquire about the creation of a new cartoon series starring a rabbit. In January 1927, Walt and his team sent Mintz a bunch of rabbit sketches for approval. On January 31, 1927, Mintz wrote Walt requesting sketches, which Walt and his team quickly submitted. Universal liked them and a new series was launched.
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The final Alice comedy, Alice the Whaler, opens in theaters
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Charlie Mintz had offered Walt’s staff more money and freedom if they came to work for him instead of Walt. Also, Disney didn't own the legal rights to his Oswald character. The rights were the property of Mintz. All this gave Mintz the opportunity to betray Walt. And so In February 1928 Walt traveled to New York to speak with Mintz. To Walt's surprise, Mintz wanted to cut his pay by 20%. In addition, he learned that Mintz controlled the rights to Oswald, and he lost the rights to his character.
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Lillian remembered the train ride: “He was taking about different things, kittens and cats and this and that. Well, a mouse is awful cute, and he just kept talking about a mouse. So that’s where he originated Mickey Mouse.“ Walt had originally thought about calling his mouse Mortimer, but Lilly said, ‘I don’t think that would be good for a mouse Let’s call it Mickey.'
When they arrived back in California, Walt, Ubbe, and the Disney's worked in secret to refine the design of the star-to-be. -
Why would a distributor want to buy the rights to sell a cartoon after it had already been running someplace for two weeks? Reichenbach answered that question: “These guys don’t know it’s good until the public finds out.” Walt was persuaded and got the incredible sum of $1,000, the lagest sum paid for a cartoon to run in one Broadway theater. What followed was a great success. Everyone loved it, and Colony Theater was filled. People had to see the Disney cartoon everyone was talking about.
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Walt said, “Once you hit with a thing like [Mickey], then everybody wants everything to be the same. More of this. More of this. You know? I wanted a different pattern to give me latitude. And playing music and doing things with music was intriguing and everything, so I started the Silly Symphonies.” Walt was eager to interest Pat Powers in this new series of similar cartoons. But it was a tough sell. Unlike the cartoons of the day, the Silly Symphonies would each have a different theme.
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On October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed in America, sending the people into panic.
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The Great Depression (1929-39) was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment dropped, causing steep declines in industrial output and rising levels of unemployment
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The first Mickey Mouse comic strip debuts in newspapers
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Accepting a job offer from Pat Powers, Ub Iwerks tells the Disney's he is leaving the studio.
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Walt Disney had broken ground in 1928 when he made the first animated cartoon with sound. In 1932 when Herbert Kalmus approached him with the offer to use Technicolor, Disney jumped on the idea. He already had a film in production, Flowers and Trees, a Silly Symphony cartoon. Others at the studio, including his brother Roy, thought that Walt was insane to trash the partially completed film and restart with the new process. Disney's vision proved to be correct. Flow
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Flowers and Trees becomes the first cartoon to win an Oscar®. Walt also receives a special Oscar® for the creation of Mickey Mouse.
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“First asked to create a humorous logo for a Naval Reserve Squadron stationed at Floyd Bennett Field in New York, the Disney Studios quickly found itself inundated with requests to draw emblems for other military units as well.” Before the war had ended, Disney had created some 1,200 cartoon insignias for all of the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, as well as for many Allied troops. The most requested character was Donald Duck, beloved by troops for his quick temper and fighting spirit.
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Three Little Pigs premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with its theme song concitered to be an allagory and theme song for the Great Deppression.
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The birth fell on the most coincidental of days. On December 18, 1933, Walt was getting an award from Parents magazine. Midway through the ceremony, he was given a note and then left the room without any explanation. Walt had been informed that his new baby was on her way and he got to the hospital just in time. Lilly recalled that just before she fell asleep -- thanks to anesthetics, which were typically used in childbirth at the time -- she heard Walt’s nervous cough.
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Three Little Pigs wins the Academy Award® for Best Short Subject, Cartoon
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On June 3, 1934, the New York Times announced that Disney was working on a full-length film based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The project was estimated to cost about $250,000, roughly ten times the cost of a Silly Symphony, according to animation historian Michael Barrier. Although Walt had convinced his staff that the film was a brilliant idea, others in Hollywood were skeptical about the project, calling the film “Disney’s Folly.” The idea of making full length cartoon was crazy.
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The Band Concert opens in theaters
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The Old Mill, the first Silly Symphonies to utilize the Multiplane camera, opens in theaters.
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The multiplane camera was first used in a Silly Symphony called The Old Mill, which was released on November 5, 1937. Walt was wildly enthusiastic about this innovation. When visitors came to the studio, the multiplane camera was always one of the important stops on the tour, and the creators of the multiplane camera were recognized for this achievement. On March 10, 1938, they received an Academy Award® in a scientific and technical category for their creation.
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Walt gambled everything on Snow White. Despite the great success of Mickey Mouse and the Silly Symphonies, if Snow White had failed, it could easily have ment the end of the Disney studio. Of course, that sad future never came true. As Disney master animator Ward Kimball recalled, “The highlight was at the climax of the film, when Snow White is presumed to be dead and she’s laid out on the slab. Here was a cartoon, and here was the audience crying. The biggest stars were all wiping their eyes.”
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The Old Mill is awarded an Academy Award® for Best Short Subject, Cartoon and that same evening the Academy awards a special Science and Technology Oscar® for the multiplane camera.
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On November 26, 1938, Walt's mother, Flora Disney, dies.
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Walt is awarded a special Academy Award® - a full-sized Oscar® accompanied by seven little ones-for his animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He also takes home a Best Short Subject Oscar® for Ferdinand the Bull.
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World war II started on September 1, 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland, and ended on September 2, 1945 when Japan officially surrendered.
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Pinocchio, the second animated feature from Walt Disney Studios, has its world premiere in New York City.
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The birth of Fantasia began with Walt’s vision of a remarkable, one-of-a-kind cartoon based on the famous musical piece The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, starring Mickey Mouse in the title role. What would make it different? As he explained to the staff, this would be a “musical fantasy offering an opportunity for a new type of entertainment. The picture will be made without dialogue and without sound effects, depending solely on pantomime and the descriptive movement.”
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Amid salary cuts, layoffs and aborted attempts to unionize, many of the artists at Walt Disney Studios walk out and a strike begins.
Working with mediators, artists and management reach a tentative agreement about five weeks after the start of the strike. Hostilities, however, continue through the summer as crucial details are hammered out. -
Walt gathered a group of loyal and talented cartoonists, story men, musicians, and others and set off for South America on August 17, 1941. The group didn’t return until October. “We were always met by high state officials,” recalled Walt’s associate, Bill Cottrell, who came on the trip “We were looking for materials -- stories and legends typical of each country. These resulted in two films: Saludos Amigos [released on February 6, 1943] and The Three Caballeros [released on February 3, 1945].
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On September 13, 1941, while Walt and his artists are amid the good-will tour in South America, Elias Disney, Walt's father, dies.
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Dumbo, the story of an elephant who can fly, opens in theaters on October 23, 1941
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At the 14th annual Academy Awards® ceremony, Walt is honored with the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg award. It is given to producers "whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production". In addition, he receives an Oscar® for Lend a Paw (Best Short Subject, Cartoon). He also shares a Special award with William Garity, John N. A. Hawkins and the RCA Manufacturing Company for "their outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound (Fantasound)
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Making the film: the beauty of the forest, and the natural movement of the animals became paramount. Throughout 1938, a photographer worked in the Maine woods to capture life in the different seasons. In June, two fawns were sent to the studios to provide the artists with live models. A virtual zoo was imported to the studio so that artists could closely study forest animals. A special teacher was brought in to teach animators the anatomy of the deer and of the other woodland creatures.
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On August 24, 1942, Saludos Amigos has its world premiere in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
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Walt wins an Oscar® for Der Fuehrer's Face. This brings his total to fifteen Academy Awards (including honorary ones) in eleven years.
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Victory Through Air Power opens in New York City on July 17, 1943, about the war and "Air Power"
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The Disney's were now worried about the $4 million they still owed to the Bank of America(BA). Would it continue to give the studio that much? They were rescued by the founder of BA, Giannini. In a tense meeting that occurred in 1945, he heard argues that the Disney loan was shaky and that the bank should reconsider extending credit to the studio. Giannini finally cut in “I’ve been watching the Disneys’ pictures quite Giannini finally cut in and saved Disney Studios from the financial crisis.
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The world premiere of Three Callaberos takes place in Mexico City on December 21, 1944.
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On August 15, 1946 Make Mine Music, featuring the music of Nelson Eddy, Dinah Shore, the Andrews Sisters and Benny Goodman premieres in New York City.
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On November 12, 1946, Song of the South, a blend of live-action drama and animation, premieres in Atlanta, Georgia. The film is directed by Wilfred Jackson.
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On September 27, 1947, Fun and Fancy Free, featuring Dinah Shore and Edgar Bergen, opens in theaters.
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Song of the South wins two Oscars®. One is for Best Song-Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and the other one is a special award to actor James Baskett for his performance of Uncle Remus.
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in 1947, Walt instructed them to focus their work on seals. Nobody had any idea what he was up to. Reams and reams of film footage came back to the studio. “You never saw anything so dull in your life,” said one of Walt’s most respected artists, John Hench. “Seals scratching their sides and their fannies and sniffing and looking at each other.” But Walt saw the opportunity that eluded others. He had the footage on seals edited to fit a story, accompanied by humorous narration and strong music.
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On, March 24, 1949, the first True-Life Adventure, Seal Island, receives an Oscar® in the Best Short Subject, Two-Reeler category.
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March 4, 1950, After premiering in London, the animated feature, Cinderella, opens in theaters.
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Walt begins work on the Carolwood Pacific, his backyard train
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Following its world premiere in London on June 22, the studio's first full live-action film, Treasure Island, starring Bobby Driscoll as young Jack Hawkins and Robert Newton as Long John Silver, opens in U.S. theaters.
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Walt was carefully watching the newly developing world of television. Other moviemakers regarded the little glowing boxes as the enemy -- the monster that was set on devouring their customers. Walt, as he often did, saw something different.
“Instead of considering TV a rival, when I saw it, I said, ‘I can use that,’ you know?” he recalled. “I want to be a part of it. And I think I’ve done a good job using it. People listen to me when I talk with them on the screen if I want them to.” -
On July 26, 1951, Alice in Wonderland premieres in London. Background artist Mary Blair created the bold color schemes used in the film.
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June 26, 1952 The Story of Robin Hood, starring Richard Todd and directed by Ken Annakin, opens in theaters.
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On February 5, 1953, Peter Pan, featuring the voices of Bobby Driscoll and Kathryn Beaumont, opens in theaters.
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As work on Disneyland progressed, Roy pulled back on his opposition to the new venture and agreed to raise funds. In September 1953, he took a trip to New York to visit potential funders, including television networks. Both he and Walt felt that there was a potential for a deal to get the park financed. But he needed more than just ideas to share. He needed to demonstrate what the park would look like. So, on Saturday, September 23, 1953, Walt called on Herb Ryman, and made a drawing of the park
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At the Academy Awards® ceremony held at the Pantages Theater, Walt is the big winner of the evening taking home Oscars® for The Living Desert (Best Documentary Feature), The Alaskan Eskimo (Best Documentary Short Subject), Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (Best Short Subject, Cartoon) and Bear Country (Best Short Subject, Two-Reel).
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On June 23, 1954, Lady and the Tramp premieres in New York City.
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Bill Evans, the landscape artist for the park, had a firsthand view of Walt’s vision for Disneyland. “Walt was a stickler for authenticity, good taste, quality, and design. Walt wasn't trying to educate people on landscape, architecture or anything else, but he believed the audience knew the difference between good and bad. To him, Disneyland was a gigantic laboratory and an adventure in public entertainment, he kept emphasizing to us that the people were the guests. He wanted the guests onstage
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The Disneyland television show, hosted by Walt, premieres on ABC, on October 27, 1954
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On December 23, 1954, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea opens in theaters
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Disneyland opened on July 17, 1955. Walt arranged for the star-studded premiere to be televised in a program hosted by television celebrity Art Linkletter, actor (and future president) Ronald Reagan and television star Bob Cummings. At a time when three cameras for a show was the max, 22 cameras were used. At Fantasyland, Walt read the famous dedication “Fantasyland is dedicated to the young and the young in heart, to those who believe when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.”
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Walt once said, “I don’t present a lot of nonsense to the children. I try to present sense in an entertaining way." That philosophy was at the heart of his TV show. As usual, his plans were ambitious, a variety show that would showcase the talents of youngsters and bring young viewers interesting material from around the world. At the same time, the series provided an opportunity to bring 1950s children the animated shorts that had been produced by the Disney studio in the previous two decades.
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Walt is honored by the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences as Best Producer for the Disneyland tv show.
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Johnny Tremain, a Revolutionary War story starring Hal Stalmaster and directed by Robert Stevenson, opens in theaters. Walt's younger daughter, Sharon, has a small role.
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On December 25, 1957, Old Yeller, starring Tommy Kirk and directed by Robert Stevenson, opens in theaters.
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In 1938, Walt began thinking about an animated Sleeping Beauty. Some 21 years later, the film was finally released. In fact, though work began in 1950, there were interruptions and slowdowns, and it was resumed in earnest only in 1956. By its release on January 29, 1959, the cost of the 75-minute film had mounted to $6 million, making it the most expensive animated cartoon up to that point.
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On April 6, 1959, closing out another amazing decade, Walt is honored with three more Oscars® for White Wilderness (Best Documentary Feature), Ama Girls (Best Documentary, Short Subject) and The Grand Canyon (Best Short Subject, Live Action).
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he had learned a great deal. How to make people laugh or cry. He had learned how to educate, how to use technology, how to deal with large crowds of people.
He was ready to start using all this information for something far better than his prior efforts -- a city of tomorrow.
He began talking with colleagues about the possibilities of designing a real future city. In 1960, a smal group of people began to participate in the planning of The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, or EPCOT -
Disney executive Don Tatum explained, the fair “put Walt and his company on a new platform. It did a lot to dispel that fact that still lingered in many important quarters, that this was some little outfit that made cartoons. It set the stage for us being able to move ahead in Florida and have the confidence and backing of not only the world of potential exhibitors but the financial world.”
Also, the fair gave him an opportunity to experiment with new ideas while using other people's money. -
Walt is honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One star is for his work in motion pictures (located at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.) and the other for his work in television (located at 6747 Hollywood Blvd.).
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On January 25, 1961, 101 Dalmatians opens in theaters
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On June 12, 1961, The Parent Trap, with Hayley Mills in a dual role, opens in theaters.
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the birth of the California Institute of the Arts incorporated in September 1961. Recalled Alice Davis, a costume designer, “He wanted to have closed television in the school so the students that were studying fine arts or illustration could watch the students dancing and could draw the students dancing. He had great plans of having people like Picasso come and spend the summer at the school and give classes for the students. And he, himself, wanted to come over and teach story.”
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After leaving ABC, Walt Disney begins hosting an anthology show, filmed in color, on Sunday nights on NBC.
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Walt begins quietly buying parcels of land in Florida
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Two days after its premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, Mary Poppins, with music by Richard and Robert Sherman, opens to critical acclaim.
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Mary Poppins wins five Oscars®, including Best Actress for Julie Andrews and Best Song for Richard and Robert Sherman.
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In July 1966, Walt took his entire family on a memorable trip up from Vancouver through the inland channel and past a number of little islands.
Recalled Diane, “It was so wonderful because it was all my children from Chris down to two-year-old Ronnie, Sharon, Bob -- my sister and brother-in-law -- and their little baby Victoria, who was about six months old, and Mother and Dad. All on this boat.”
During the trip, the family celebrated one birthday, and one anniversay (Walt and Lilly's) -
For some time, Walt’s neck had been bothering him, and had been getting frequent treatments from the studio nurse, Hazel George. But in late 1966, he finally decided that he would have surgery and fix the problem. The doctors had removed Walt’s left lung. “Well, it was just as I suspected,” the surgeon told the family. “The tumor had metastasized; I give him six months to two years.” Clearly, years and years of smoking had taken their toll.
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“He was an original,” CBS television commentator Eric Sevareid said about Walt Disney on the December 15, 1966, evening news. “Not an American original, but an original, period. He was a happy accident, one of the happiest this century has experienced, and judging by the way it’s been behaving in spite of all Disney tried to tell it about laughter, love, children, puppies, and sunrises, the century hardly deserved him. People are saying we’ll never see his like again.”
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Walt was cremated, and the funeral, held on December 16, was just the way Walt had wanted: a small affair with only the immediate family.
