In 1920, Walt Disney began animating when he joined the Kansas City Film Ad Company. Disney decided to open with a couple of other animators, Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, and Isadore Freleng, to open the Disney company. Within the first few weeks of the company, Disney had to file for bankruptcy and go to Los Angeles. Disney’s first films were called Alice in Cartoonland and became an immediate success. For the next few years, Disney held status as the most popular animation company in the entertainment industry. 1927, Disney introduced its new show, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Disney was forced to change Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for legal reasons, and changed his name to Mortimer Mouse, later to be known as Mickey Mouse. The first cartoon containing Mickey Mouse was called Steamboat Willie. In Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse would steer a steamboat down a river while creating songs for Minnie Mouse. When visiting an Amusement Park with his children, Walt Disney came up with the concept of creating an Amusement Park where you could meet the characters from Disney TV shows. In 1955, the first Disneyland Park in Anaheim opened. New Disneylands have opened across the globe in Orlando, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Aulani, Hawaii. Disney has partnered with companies such as ABC, Pixar, and Marvel Entertainment to expand its reach in the entertainment industry. Disney played a major role during our childhoods and are expanding their reach to become one of the largest companies for the future.
This post was very interesting because I didn’t know the history of Mickey Mouse. It was surprising to find out he was originally a rabbit. I researched some other characters and found out that Walt Disney created Donald Duck after hearing Clarence Nash do his duck voice. He also wanted a more negative and pessimistic character to balance out Mickey’s optimism, so Donald Duck was born.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/disney/10885903/Donald-Duck-10-surprising-facts-about-Walt-Disneys-character.html