Walt Disney Company. History of the Walt Disney Company
Story companiesWaltDisneyCompany(Walt Disney) began as a small animation studio founded by the Disney brothers - Walter and Roy Disney. This happened in the fall of 1923.
Today, the Walt Disney Company is a conglomerate company that is engaged not only in filming and producing cartoons and family films. Walt Disney's assets include a large list of areas from the entertainment industry (Entertainment):
- a network of its own theme parks (in the USA, France, China),
- water parks,
- television and radio broadcasting companies,
- own cable networks.
Despite the company's fameWaltDisney, as a producer of cartoons and films as part of its own and acquired studios, the largest part of its net profit (more than 40%) at the end of 2015 came from cable television networks.
Start
The Disney brothers were people different directions: Walt had a creative nature, and Roy Oliver managed to make their joint venture financially stable.
October 16, 1923 the brothers create their own company, Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, in Hollywood. Later the company was renamed “The Walt Disney Studio” and then “The Walt Disney Company”. The last name remains with the company to this day.
First film
Disney's first film was released in early March 1924. "Alice's Day at Sea". The character is based on the heroine of Lewis Carroll's story, Alice. In total, Walt Disney made 56 films featuring Alice.
New characters
Until 1927, the Walt Disney Company primarily produced Alice films. In 1927, “Oswald the Rabbit” gained popularity among viewers and critics.
Birth of Mickey Mouse
Famous mouse Mickey Mouse was created by a partner and senior animator of the company Ab Iwerks. It was first shown to viewers in 1928 in the film “The Crazy Airplane.” This film was still silent (no sound).
Initially, the Disney mouse was named Mortimer and only a little later received the name Mickey Mouse
Also in 1928, synchronized sound appeared in Walt Disney animated films. Walt himself voiced Mickey Mouse in several films.
Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck
During the 10-year period of successful growth, several more famous characters were born at the Walt Disney Company: funny dogs Pluto and Goofy, as well as Donald Duck duckling in his vest.
- Pluto appeared before audiences in 1930.
- Goofy became famous in 1932.
- Donald Duck first appeared on screens in 1934 and is still one of Disney's most famous characters.
Snow White
It is believed that the fastest pace of growth in Walt Disney's popularity began after the release of his full-length film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name.
This film, released in December 1937, was liked not only by the public, but also by critics. Also, laudatory articles were written about him in all newspapers.
Pinocchio
Walt Disney Company's second most successful feature film after Snow White "Pinocchio", published in 1940.
The composers of this film were awarded an Oscar for best musical accompaniment.
Famous films from The Walt Disney Company
In 1950, at the Berlin Film Festival, the painting "Cinderella" received the Golden Bear award. The prize was awarded for excellent technical skill.
In 1953, a new famous picture was released - “Peter Pan”.
In 1955 - "Lady and the Tramp".
In 1959 - “Sleeping Beauty”.
In 1961 - “101 Dalmatians”.
All these pictures have become classic in the history of not only The Walt Disney Company, but the entire animated world.
Youth films
Shortly before Walt Disney's death in 1966, Disney began filming youth films. These were pictures full of adventure. Among the most famous are: “Treasure Island”, “Robin Hood”, “Mary Poppins”.
"Disneyland"
In the 50s the company decided to expand the scope of its activities. The first project appeared "Disneyland"- a theme park featuring some of the company's most famous characters.
The first Disneyland Park opened in 1955 in Anaheim (near Los Angeles).
Today, a network of Disney parks exists in different parts of our planet: America, Europe, China.
New stage in the company
After his brother's death, Roy Oliver Disney took over the company in 1966. During this period, it was decided to start winning over adult viewers. For this purpose, a new division was created - « TouchstonePictures".
The first picture of this studio, released in 1984, was “Splash”.
In 1983, the company's first cable channel began operating - TheDisneyChannel.
Rental leaders
In 1988, Disney became the first box office leader among Hollywood studios. This happened thanks to the profits from the rental of such films as “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, “Good Morning, Vietnam”, and later: “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”, “Dick Tracy”.
Miramax
Another division of Disney was the film company MiramaxFilms, purchased in 1993 for $80 million. In 2010, management sold it for 600 million.
Large fees
In 2003, two films by The Walt Disney Company brought in box office receipts over 300 million dollars: the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and the Pixar co-production Finding Nemo.
In 2006, the Pixar studio was bought by Disney completely with all its equipment. This purchase quickly justified itself: during 2006-07, two cartoons were released that brought Disney big profits: “Cars” and “Ratatouille.”
Purchase of the creator of "Star Wars"
In 2012, the creator of the famous Star Wars franchise Lucasfilm was purchased by the company for $4 billion along with the rights to continue filming this serial.
The triumph of Frozen
An animated film was released in the fall of 2013 "Cold heart", which became a real sensation, turning out to be the highest-grossing animated film in Disney history, as well as the highest-grossing animated film in cinema history and only the second animated film to exceed a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.
In 2014, the film "Frozen" received 2 Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (“Let It Go”), 5 Annie Awards, award Golden Globe for best animated film, and Saturn Award, also for best animated film.
What do Desperate Housewives, Wes Anderson's The Keeping Up With Tenenbaums, and ESPN have in common? Surprisingly, they all belong to The Walt Disney Company, the largest media conglomerate in the world. There are only six such media giants in the world - Comcast, Time Warner, News Corp, Sony and Viacom - and their business structure is largely similar. Each of them has its own film studios, television channels, recording studios, publishing houses, stores and theme parks. The degree of concentration of media resources is further enhanced by the fact that all companies belonging to the “Big Six” also constantly interact with each other. Disney could make a movie that would be distributed by Comcast, with Time Warner owning the rights to some of the characters in the movie.
It would be a mistake to believe that conglomerates are buying up their mini-competitors solely in order to make their clones out of them. Quite the opposite is true; modern mergers and acquisitions in the entertainment industry often do not lead to fundamental changes in the internal policies of the “eaten” companies. They usually continue to do what they were doing only with more resources on hand. This maintains the illusion of wide choice in the market, and conglomerates benefit from the diversity of their holdings.
The era of Bob Iger
The Disney Company is considered the most aggressive buyer in this industry in recent years. Since 2006, the conglomerate has bought several companies that were famous for their unique individual style - Pixar, Marvel Comics and Lucasfilm. Millions of fans watched in horror, expecting Disney to ruin everything it had bought and take away the humor, violence and true romance from their favorite works. In reality, everything turned out to be not so bad.
Disney's total profits in 2014 were $7.5 billion. The company owes much of its current success to the fact that in 2005, the then little-known Bob Iger took over as CEO. The management genius began his career as a weather forecaster on the ABC channel, then became the head of this channel, and after the ABC takeover, he received the post of vice president of Disney. The company at that moment was experiencing the second crisis in its history (the first occurred after the death of Walt Disney). Under the direction of Michael Eisner, she released one failed film after another - “Pearl Harbor”, “Hercules”, “Atlantis: The Lost World”. Even the successful Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy came out against Eisner's will. As a result, the board of directors decided to replace the head of the company. Iger, who replaced him, explained his strategy this way: if Disney has a problem with creativity and creating new profitable characters, then it needs to buy them from other companies.
Walt Disney
Bob Iger
Despite the failures in cartoon production, the company he entrusted was still very rich - it made a profit through its television channels, stores and theme parks, which welcomed more than 120 million guests annually. The foundation of this structure, which tirelessly supports the company in difficult times, was laid by Walt Disney. It is believed that Walt was the first Hollywood producer to understand that television was the future. The production of full-length cartoons required a lot of money. Even a successful theatrical release did not allow his studio to truly get on its feet. Disney looked for other sources of income - and in 1937 he came up with Disneyland. To find money to build a huge park, Disney entered into an ingenious agreement with the ABC channel. They had to invest in the construction of the park, and he had to host a weekly program on the channel, showing his cartoons to children. The program that children loved was called Disneyland; it naturally advertised the park under construction and made the Disney company synonymous with American animation.
Even now, amusement parks generate 20% of the company's profits. The problem is that when children come to the park, they want to see not only Disney princesses and Mickey Mouse, but also Nemo the fish and Iron Man. Disney's creative monopoly on beloved characters ended in the era of computer animation. But, having money, Bob Iger quickly turned this minus into a giant plus.
How Disney tamed Pixar
It's funny, but the future founder of Pixar, Ed Catmull, showed his first 3D animation program to Disney employees back in 1973, where he interned. He was then told that there was nothing in common between computers and animation and that until his program could draw believable bubbles, they were absolutely not interested in it. With these words they expressed the opinion of the entire film industry, which remained so until May 25, 1977. On this day, the first Star Wars was released. Unlike others, George Lucas was very keen on new tools in the field of visual and sound effects, as a result of which he opened a computer division in his company and hired Catmull to manage it. After some time, they were joined by animator John Lasseter, who was fired from Disney for being too bold in his views on the future of animation. The people at Lucasfilm's computer division didn't get along well with Lucas.
Some might think that Disney they made a mistake by paying a whole lot
7.5 billion for Pixar, but the numbers they say the opposite
They wanted to create cartoons, and he was interested in their developments only to the extent that they could improve the picture of an ordinary film. When Lucas divorced his wife in 1983 and lost most of his fortune in divorce proceedings, he needed to somehow streamline his business and decided to get rid of the computer division. For several years he looked for a buyer, who eventually became Steve Jobs, who had recently been fired from Apple. He invested $54 million in the new company. This is how Pixar was born.
In its early years, Pixar produced a few short animated films, one of which won an Oscar, and a couple of commercials, but it made no money. Three times Steve Jobs tried to resell the company to someone else, such as Microsoft and Alias, but each time he abandoned the deal at the last moment. Things weren't going well until Disney came on the scene. They offered to invest in the creation of a full-length Pixar cartoon, and in return receive distribution rights. Disney also wanted to get the rights to Pixar technology, but Jobs rejected this offer, saying that he was not going to reveal production secrets. After the resounding success of Pixar's first feature-length animated film, Toy Story, Disney CEO Michael Eisner realized with horror that he had created a great competitor for himself with his own hands. The relationship between Eisner and Jobs became very strained.
"History of toys"
"Monsters university"
"Cars"
Frozen
Everything changed when Eisner was replaced by Iger, who began to actively establish relations with Jobs. Unlike Eisner, he did not intend to fight their company, he wanted to help them and convinced the creators of Pixar that after the takeover he promised to preserve the spirit and values of their company. This resulted in a deal worth $7.4 billion. But Microsoft once offered Jobs only $90 million for Pixar. The agreement with Disney stipulated Pixar's right to maintain the creative principles of its work, which Jobs considered the basis of their success. Once fired from the Disney studio, John Lasseter returned to the studio as its director.
One can have different assessments of what happened next. Pixar began making cartoons faster, and they all brought in greater profits. Thus, “Monsters University” cannot be called a failure, because it collected $800 million at the box office, but everyone understands that according to the Hamburg score it turned out to be quite weak. Pixar plans to release sequels to Cars, Toy Story, and The Incredibles in the near future, and this emphasis on sequels is a little concerning. At the same time, Disney's native studio grew before our eyes, becoming on par with modern studios. Frozen became the most profitable cartoon in the history of cinema, and the recently released City of Heroes was clearly very successful.
Some might think that Disney made a mistake by paying as much as 7.5 billion for Pixar, but the numbers say otherwise. According to the results for 2013, they received 7 billion thanks to the merchandising of goods based on Toy Story alone. This does not include revenue from rentals of the third series, sales of discs, books and games for Wii, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS, which brought in another 2 billion. This figure can be multiplied by 10 - the number of cartoons created by Pixar (excluding sequels).
Superheroes wholesale
The first Marvel comics appeared back in 1937. Since then, the company has been resold several times - and always fell into the hands of some strange people. In 1968, the founder sold it to Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation, which had a mail-order drug division and a print division that published Ladies' Home Journal along with Marvel comics. In 1986, they came into the possession of New World Entertainment, which produced B-grade television films. Three years later, they were resold to the MacAndrews & Forbes holding company, which also included the cosmetics company Revlon. In 1996, Marvel declared bankruptcy. The owners of the toy production company Toy Biz, Avi Arad and Ike Perlmutter, decided to save the drowning brand. The two turned Marvel's business around so successfully that ten years later Disney paid $4.6 billion for it.
Disney and its princesses have always been considered more "company for girls", and characters you might like boys, they have traditionally there was very little
What did Avi and Ike come up with then? First, they started selling licenses to use popular Marvel characters. They were bought by television and film studios, manufacturers of clothing, goods for schoolchildren and toys. In total, several thousand licenses were sold. The entrepreneurs decided to place a special emphasis on films and games. The idea was for the Marvel superheroes to go beyond their typical teenage audience and become household names. This is how films about Spider-Man, X-Men and Captain America were born.
At the same time, Marvel began publishing comics again, found new distribution channels for them, and re-wrote their old stories for a young audience. By 2010, they had increased their share of the comic book market to 50%. In 2005, Marvel, having collected 500 million investments, began producing its own films. Since the rights to use the most popular heroes belonged to other studios, they focused on lesser-known heroes - Iron Man, Thor, Hulk. Films made in collaboration with other studios heated up the market, the public was waiting for new adventures of Marvel heroes, so the new films were a success.
"Spider-Man"
"X-Men"
"Captain America"
Bob Iger was attracted to Marvel not only by the number of potentially profitable heroes, but also by the fact that the most devoted fans of the company's work were teenage boys. Disney, with its princesses, has always been considered more of a “girls' company,” and they traditionally had very few heroes that boys could like. The owners of Marvel agreed to the deal relatively easily, since both were more businessmen than creators. Each of them had several successfully sold companies under their belts, and Marvel was just one of them. That the acquisition was worth its $4 billion was proven by the incredible success of The Avengers, which grossed more than $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office and became one of the top three highest-grossing films in cinema history.
How George Lucas Sold Star Wars
In 2011, George Lucas helped develop a Star Wars attraction at Disneyland. At the opening ceremony, Paul Iger asked him if he was thinking about selling the company, and he hit the nail on the head. Lucas was 67 years old at that time, and he began to think about retirement. After the cold reception of the second Star Wars trilogy, he completely stopped wanting to make new films. The question of who should leave the company came to a head. Lucas told Iger that since his grave would have "Star Wars creator" written on it, it was less a question of money for him and more a question of preserving his legacy. He was scared to imagine that someone could take away the Universe he created and start doing whatever they wanted with it. In principle, he trusted Iger, because he saw how delicately he behaved in relation to another “his former company” - Pixar.
Lucas decided to sell the company on the condition that they would make another trilogy based on his script and retain his chosen CEO and some of the employees. He also wanted to have a say in how his brand was used. Iger insisted that while Lucas' opinions would be taken into account, Disney would have the final say. Negotiations went on for six months, Lucas doubted and was nervous, and when the agreement was eventually signed, Iger, in his words, felt like Darth Vader. He bought Lucas's company for $4 billion. On the day the deal was announced, someone tweeted: “I felt a disturbance in the Force, like millions of geeks screaming in horror at once.”
When Iger was first thinking about buying Lucasfilm, he reviewed all six series and wrote down characters for which his company could acquire the rights. Only later did he learn about the existence of the Holocron, a database of the Star Wars Universe, which contains information about 17 thousand characters. Each one is now owned by Disney.
The Walt Disney Company operates in 172 countries. In Russia, the company is based in Moscow and occupies three offices: the main one is in Lotte Plaza, the Disney Channel office is in Varshavka, and the office of the rental company Walt Disney Studios Sony Pictures Releasing is in Taganka. Regional representatives work in the largest cities of Russia, including St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar and Novosibirsk. They are also available in Kazakhstan.
The company moved to the Lotte Plaza business center seven years ago. At that time, the office occupied only the 12th floor. And when the 11th floor of the building became vacant the year before last, the company expanded the office area by another 1,500 square meters. Now the departments of media distribution and interactive projects, duplication, retail sales, television and film production, marketing, finance and strategy, legal, administrative and IT departments, as well as the personnel department are located on two floors. The entire top management of the company also works here, including General Director Marina Zhigalova-Ozkan.
The Walt Disney Company
Entertainment industry
Date of foundation: 1923
Number of employees at the head office: 200 people
Office area: 3 thousand sq. m
Recruitment
When getting a job at Disney, the applicant need not be afraid of tricky questions - they are not asked when applying for a job, but are more interested in personal qualities and previous work experience. Although sometimes an HR specialist may ask about your favorite Disney character or find out why you chose this particular company. Often, in order to test the competence of an applicant, he is asked to complete a test task. But HR specialists call the main feature of the interview a detailed story about the company’s business, which takes up a significant part of the interview. It is important to convey to them that Disney is not only animation, so that future employees, when they come to work, understand what the company does.
The adaptation process for new employees is quite lengthy - about a year. During this time, the specialist immerses himself in his field and learns about the peculiarities of the company’s work as a whole.
Each newcomer, regardless of position, is given a list of representatives from all departments with whom they need to schedule an acquaintance meeting. This way, a person immediately develops a more complete picture of the company and an understanding of who to contact if questions arise during the work process. After the meeting, instead of a tick next to the colleague’s name, you need to paint over Mickey Mouse.
On the employee’s first day of work, the HR specialist sends out to all departments a photo of the newcomer and information about him: his short biography and a description of his new responsibilities, and also creates his profile on the corporate intranet.
Work organization
Most employees appear in the office from 09:00 to 11:00. It all depends on the needs: if counterparties begin their activities closer to lunch, then the employee does not have to come in the morning. Another feature is that Disney's Russian office is part of a global team headquartered in Los Angeles. And due to the large 11 o'clock difference, all video conferences and phone calls take place mainly in the evening from 20:00. The office is open 24 hours a day, and if someone wants to quietly sort out papers on the weekend, they can always do so. This doesn’t always happen, but employees periodically use it if they didn’t have time to finish something or left early on one of the working days.
Behind the scenes, it is common practice in the company to always be in touch, even on weekends or vacations. Employees explain this by saying that they love their work and do not want to be out of the work process even for a minute.
At an internal conference, which takes place at the end of the year, the company sums up its results. Representatives from each of the ten business areas talk about what has been done and what results have been achieved. The event was initially conceived in a standard presentation format, but three years ago the Department of Finance and Strategy produced an informative and funny reporting video. My colleagues liked the idea so much that it became a tradition. Now all departments shoot creative videos for the conference, and their plot is always kept a big secret.
“There are no bad ideas,” they say at the company. Therefore, any considerations can always be voiced, even if they are not directly related to the employee’s activities. And for those who are hesitant to discuss them with colleagues, there is a special box for suggestions and wishes. However, according to employees, it is often empty - there are few shy people at Disney.
Each team member can ask a colleague for help from any Disney office around the world. To do this, just go to the electronic directory, where all the company’s contacts are stored. There is also an international corporate social network, but email is still more popular. Often company-wide creative brainstorming sessions take place in the office: one of the employees sends everyone an email asking them to come up with, for example, a translation of the title for a book, and everyone shares their ideas.
If one of the Disney specialists wants to try himself in another area of the company’s business, he can always apply for a vacant position.
According to employees, the office has a creative and friendly atmosphere. There is no strict dress code; almost everyone communicates with each other on a first-name basis. And recently, the company introduced a new initiative - a lunch with CEO Marina Zhigalova-Ozkan, which takes place once a month. Anyone can take part, regardless of position or experience. You just need to submit a request for an appointment and wait your turn. In an informal setting, you can discuss your ideas or just chat.
Every Disney specialist watches the company's films and TV series and knows all the main characters from Disney, Marvel, and, more recently, the Star Wars film saga. This is considered a rule of good manners. The marketing department has a movie library and anyone can take DVDs home.
Every two years, Disney conducts a global internal employee engagement survey: each team member receives a link to an anonymous survey. The results are analyzed and, based on them, an action plan is drawn up to improve working conditions in the company.
Interior
The office design is inspired by Lewis Carroll's book "Alice in Wonderland" and the Disney animated film of the same name. The fairy tale theme was proposed by the architectural bureau UNK project, which was involved in the design.
Walking along the twelfth floor, you can see images of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Goofy, Bambi and other heroes. The workspace on the eleventh floor resembles a labyrinth, in which a blue stripe on the floor helps a newcomer not to get lost; it indicates the direction to the exit.
All walls in the office are transparent. The team is housed in an open space, divided into departments. You can communicate with colleagues from other departments or talk on the phone in special booths, the soft walls of which block the sound. Employees who are tired of sitting at their desks can change their surroundings and move to the sofas located throughout the office.
The office has a Digital Zoo - a room equipped with several large screens and game consoles. In this room, the Media Distribution and Interactive Projects Department tests Disney content. Anyone can play the console.
A large showroom with glass display cases is designed for meetings with potential or current licensees. Here they can see all the company's licensed products. This same room can easily be transformed into a cinema hall for thirty people if you remove the tables and put chairs in their place.
Food in the office
You can have lunch in the “Tea Room” - that’s what the company calls the kitchen, the interior of which is inspired by the mad tea party scene from the animated film about Alice.
Six types of coffee and different types of tea are always available in the kitchen. The company compensates part of the food costs with payments along with the salary. Each employee is also issued a special SilverPass, which entitles them to free admission to Disneyland parks around the world along with up to three guests.
Entertainment and relaxation
Every morning, reception staff check which colleague has a birthday today and send out a letter with congratulations and an image of a character whose appearance or character may resemble the birthday person or his occupation. For example, on the birthday of a corporate vehicle manager, the congratulation will most likely be illustrated with characters from the animated film “Cars.”
The company recalls how a couple of years ago the male part of the team congratulated the girls on March 8th. The men recorded a song in the studio, each line of which was dedicated to one of their colleagues, and then shot a comic video for it.
Employees often meet after work. There is a club for lovers of photography, running, football, and sailing. This year, employees took part in the Moscow Marathon. You could recognize Disney athletes from the crowd by the image of Mickey Mouse on their T-shirt.
Employees who excel are rewarded with tickets to Disney movie premieres, and the company sometimes hosts family-friendly special screenings on weekends. They take place in the cinema hall located in the office of the joint film distribution company.
Samples of products and toys that licensees send to the office are distributed to employees or donated to charities. On New Year's Day, the company traditionally organizes a family event for employees with children, to which they invite animators and give gifts.
Photos: Ivan Anisimov
TheWaltDisneyCompany is an American transnational media corporation, the world's second broadcasting and cable company in terms of revenue after Comcast Corporation. The headquarters is located in Burbank, California, USA. Disney Studios was founded by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney on October 16, 1923. Having become a leader in the American animation industry, the company diversified its production and began to develop such areas as feature films, television and amusement parks. The studio operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions until 1986, when the holding company included theatrical divisions, radio, recording studios, publishing houses and online media. In addition to the main directions, Disney is beginning to develop divisions that are not associated with its flagship brands - for example, it is opening a business unit for selling content for the older generation.
Since 1986, the corporation has been known as The Walt Disney Company. Currently, The Walt Disney Company includes five key segments: The Walt Disney Studios - film labels, recording and theatrical divisions; Parks and Resorts - amusement parks, cruise lines and other travel-related assets; Disney Consumer Products - production of toys, clothing and other branded goods; Media Networks - television production of the company; Disney Interactive - Internet projects, mobile projects, social media, virtual worlds and computer games. The corporation also includes brands such as The Muppets Studio, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm.
Since May 6, 1991, the company's shares have been included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and are traded on the NYSE New York Stock Exchange and the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange. Ticker: DIS.
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Fairy tales may begin in different ways, but they must end the same way - happily. The childhood of our today's hero did not fall into the category of “fairy tales”, and, rather, resembled genres such as “detective”, “crime drama” or “tragedy”.
However Walt Disney, the legendary American artist, producer and director, managed to change his destiny and make his life, if not fabulous, then very, very successful.
The creator of the first musical and feature-length cartoons in the history of cinema, he achieved a lot. Judge for yourself - during his creative life, the fruitful Disney released about 700 cartoons, won 29 Oscars and 4 Emmys, received honorary degrees from Yale and Harvard universities, and was awarded the highest civilian government award in the United States - the Medal of Freedom. On the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two stars are dedicated to Disney, one for the development of television, the other for his contribution to the art of cinema.
Walt Disney founded The Walt Disney Company", which is now the largest company in the entertainment industry and ranks 13th on the list of "Most Powerful Brands" according to Forbes.
But more valuable than all the quantifiable material awards is the popular recognition that Disney was awarded by enthusiastic spectators.
Walter Elias Disney was born (and this is the full name of the American legend) on December 5, 1901 in Chicago in a large family; Disney had 3 more brothers and a sister.
The Disney couple was barely making ends meet. But, as they say, the wealth of a family is determined not by capital, but by the warmth and support that family members provide each other.
Little Walt was not too lucky with this either - his oppressive father Elias often beat the child. Justifying himself by the fact that nothing educates better than physical punishment, Elias simply took out his anger from insolvency on his family - no matter what business he took on, be it the construction business, cultivating orange groves or selling newspapers, he failed everywhere.
Disney's father beat him so cruelly that poor Walt believed that he simply could not be his real dad! After his “lessons,” little Walt turned for comfort to Roy, his older brother, who tended to his wounds, physical and mental.
In this situation, the mother also tried to console her son - she read him fairy tales. However, these fictional stories allowed Walt to hide for a while in an imaginary world and escape from the frightening reality. It was under these conditions that the fantasy of the future leader of animation developed.
In 1906, the Disneys moved from troubled Chicago, where a policeman was killed on the street next to their home, to a farm in Marceline, Kansas.
The new place turned out to be better than the previous one - on the farm, five-year-old Walt meets the farm animals, and they respond to the boy’s kindness with warm affection. In the future, Walt will transfer some images from his childhood to the big screen - Porker the hog, which he loved to ride as a kid, will serve as the prototype for Silly from The Three Little Pigs. Disney admitted that upon finishing the sketch of Silly, he was “practically crying from nostalgia.”
However, the family continues to be poor on the farm. Disney, who loved to draw, was not bought any pencils or paper, and the tools for drawing became a stick and resin, and the resourceful Walt used walls, fences or toilet paper as canvases.
The father constantly punished his son for drawing, and perhaps Disney would never have taken his hobby seriously if not for a happy accident
Walt had a cheerful personality since childhood, and therefore many neighbors in Marceline knew and loved him. One of these neighbors, the elderly Dr. Sherwood, gave Disney 25 cents for a child's drawing of his horse. The profitable sale of a portrait of a mare pushed Walt to the idea of becoming an artist. Soon, with his drawings, Walt was already paying for a haircut and a local barber.
In 1909, the family moves again, and eight-year-old Walt runs away from home. He is quickly found and returned to his family. For the next six years, he works for the benefit of “daddy” - he gets up at the crack of dawn and delivers advertising brochures and letters from his father’s company.
In any weather, even in such weather when a kind owner would not kick a dog out into the street, Walt has to deliver mail. The father took all the honestly earned money for the development of the common business, but the resilient Walt came up with a way out here too. He, in secret from the evil “boss,” simply took twice as much work, gave what was due to his father, and saved the remaining dollars for pocket money.
So, think about how the same circumstances can lead to different consequences. On this occasion I remember the following parable:
“Once upon a time there were two twin brothers.
One brother became a very successful man, famous for his good deeds. The second brother became a murderer and was about to be tried. Before the trial began, journalists surrounded the second brother, and one asked:
– How did it happen that you became a criminal?
– I had a difficult childhood. My father drank and beat my mother and me. Who else could I become? - he answered.
At the same time, another group of journalists interviewed the first brother who came to the trial. One of the reporters asked him: “How did it happen that you became famous and successful?”
– I had a difficult childhood. My father drank and beat my mother and me. Who else could I become?
Walt Disney is a worthy example of a man who knows how to squeeze first-class lemonade out of a lemon! Sometimes it’s worth saying “thank you” to the troubles that come our way - they make us stronger.
Disney's parents returned to Chicago, and with a new move, Disney in 1917 again found himself in the city where he was born. There he attends McKinley High School and attends the Academy of Fine Arts in the evenings.
Walt receives money for his education and living expenses by working part-time at his father's jelly factory. Disney also completes a newspaper cartooning course, where he learns that thinking outside the box is a good thing and gains the skills to express his thoughts in a concise manner.
When World War I begins, Walt crosses the ocean and works for a year in France as a driver of an ambulance van for the International Red Cross. His car becomes a local landmark, since Disney did not give up his hobby, decorating it with drawings.
After the war, Walt returns to Kansas City and takes a position as a cartoonist at a local newspaper.
But only a month passes and he is fired due to his “prominent inability to draw”!
Employers would be surprised if someone told them that years later Walt Disney would become the most outstanding cartoon creator in US history!
In 1919, Disney was hired as an artist at a film advertising studio, at which time the idea of experimenting in animation was ripening. However, the animation studio that Disney opened in Kansas City is about to go bankrupt. But is this a reason to give up?
“If you can dream, you can make your dreams come true.”, Walt thought.
He teams up with Ub Iwerks, his former workmate, and begins work on Two-Bit, Disney's first viable animated feature.
The studio where “Smeshinki” was created was located in a garage and had only primitive equipment. And again the garage. When studying the biographies of prominent personalities, I sometimes get the idea that creating your own business in a garage is an indispensable attribute of any successful business. It even seems to me that Americans have their own signs on this topic. Like, “if you create a business NOT in a garage, then there will be no luck.”
Improving their drawing skills, the companions worked day and night. However, their next creation - a hand-drawn version of "Little Red Riding Hood" - fails, and, fleeing from creditors, debtors flee the city.
In 1923, Disney comes to Los Angeles to visit his older brother Roy. He still dreams of creating animated films and is not going to give up on the path to his dream, because “it’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
Roy believes in his brother's ideas and becomes his companion and co-founder of a small animation studio. So, with a rented garage, a couple of hundred dollars and handicraft production, the history of The Walt Disney Company began. The roles in the created company were distributed as follows - Walt was the creative genius, and Roy was the financial chief.
In March 1924, Alice's Day at Sea premiered, becoming Disney's first commercial cartoon.
In 1925, Walt Disney married Lillian Bounds, who in their studio was engaged in “filling” - painting the characters drawn by Walt. In 1933, after several unsuccessful attempts to have children, the couple had a daughter, Diana Mary.
In 1937, the couple adopted a girl, Sharon May. Much to Disney's chagrin, the couple no longer had the opportunity to have their own child. By the way, there was a period in the life of Disney and his wife when they could not give birth to a child for 8 years. Walt's wife had two miscarriages and all this caused them both great suffering.
According to his own daughter Diane Mary, Walt was an exemplary family man and spent all his free time with his daughters.
In 1927, a series of cartoons with the lucky rabbit Oswald, invented by Disney, gained great popularity. This character was created “to order” and brought fame to its creator.
However, he also taught Walt to carefully read business papers, because this story ended ugly. The people who paid for the creation of Oswald turned out to be unscrupulous businessmen who managed to draw up a contract in such a way that they, and not Walt, had the rights to the cartoon character.
Upon learning of this, Disney furiously threw out all of Oswald's drawings and informed his "partners" that “there are still many characters living where he came from”!
And it was absolutely true. Following Oswald, other beloved characters are born - Mickey Mouse, Pluto the dog, Goofy the dog, Donald Duck the duckling.
In the year when Disney invented his famous mouse, all the newspapers were discussing Mr. Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic, and the enterprising Disney decided to “put” his new hero at the helm. The first silent cartoon with Mouse, Airplane Crazy (1928), was a success!
Mouse was drawn by the company's leading artist Ab Iwerks, the name "Mickey" was suggested by Disney's wife, and the voice was provided by Walt himself, who personally voiced the mouse in the studio's first sound cartoon, "Steamboat Willie."
One day a little boy approached the great master and asked: “So you draw Mickey Mouse?” Disney said no. “So you come up with his jokes and amusements?” the boy insisted, but even then Disney answered “no.” “Mr. Disney, what are you doing?” the young spectator asked in bewilderment.
Disney will then formulate the vision of his activities as follows: “I imagine myself as a kind of bee that flies from place to place, collecting pollen. I walk around the studio and direct everyone's work. I guess that’s what I’m doing!” Here is such a hardworking “Disney Bee”!
Because of “Steamboat Willie,” the company finds itself on the verge of bankruptcy, because the cost of a sound cartoon far exceeded the creation of a silent one. In the future, Disney will often have to balance on the brink of ruin, because the first priority for him was creativity, not earnings: “I don't make films just to make money. I make money to make films." Walt emphasized.
Disney's quote echoes the sentiments of many famous people, such as ("The only way to do great work is to love it"), ("Enjoy what you do and you will never work in your life") and others. This love of outstanding people for their work largely determines the success of their endeavors.
This is followed by cartoons from the series “Naive Symphonies” (1929), one of the episodes of which brought the studio its first Oscar.
The cartoon "The Three Little Pigs" (1933) becomes an international sensation. In 1935, at the Soviet Film Festival in Moscow (now called the Moscow International Film Festival), Disney's works (The Three Little Pigs, Mickey the Conductor and Fancy Penguins) received the 3rd Prize for "animated feature films that are a high example of excellence" "
And the song of stupid pigs, familiar to us from childhood ( “We are not afraid of the gray wolf, gray wolf, gray wolf. Where Do You Wander, Silly Wolf, Dire Old Wolf) is actually a translation of a song from the Disney cartoon "The Three Little Pigs"!
In 1934, Walt Disney began creating his first full-length hand-drawn film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. At that time, viewers were accustomed to watching cartoons that were 7 times shorter, and by releasing the “extended format” film, Disney took a big risk.
This cartoon practically bankrupted the studio. “I spent almost two million dollars on this film. Isn’t this a fairy tale for you?” - this is how Disney sneered about his film.
But “Snow White” turned out to be a profitable investment - it was received with a bang by everyone and brought its creator one real Oscar and seven small Oscars for each dwarf.
More masterpieces are being created at the studio. " We strive forward, open new paths, take on new things because we are curious... Just forward.”, - here is another quote from Disney.
In 1940, Disney released “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia”, the next year a story about Dumbo appeared on the screens, and in 1942 “Bambi” was released. In 1945, a film about a naive and touching fawn also appeared on Soviet screens - Disney gave this film to the allies; 4 years later, on the eve of the Cold War, American cartoons were banned in the USSR.
But Disney didn't just create cartoons. In the second half of the 40s, Walt Disney was captivated by the idea of creating an amusement park. The idea came from his walks with his daughters, when he was forced to spend hours in boredom watching Diana and Sharon having fun at the zoo or on children's rides. “We believed in our idea - a family park where parents and children can have fun together,” he will say.
In 1955, the first Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California.
The man whose talents seemed to know no bounds also did not limit his new project: “Disneyland will never be completed, it will continue to grow as long as there is enough imagination in the world.”
Disney, who did not have a single normal toy as a child, managed to create a real fairyland, not only on the screen, but also in reality! (click on the picture to enlarge)
