I find his life to be so fascinating. What amazes me is how many movies he thought up himself...every single really awesome animated movie was made by 1 person (yeah he had a team of people)...but it came from his brain. He died at age 65-but look at what 1 person can accomplish in their life time. That blows my mind.
If you read about him...it all started because he killed an owl when he was a kid, and he never got over the guilt of killing a living animal, so he vowed never to kill another living thing and devoted his life to using animals in his movies.
If you look at the list of his movies, it is amazing. I think if you can create just one awesome movie in your lifetime then that's something awesome, but he made movie after movie, and they were brilliant. I wish they would put his movies back in the theaters. I know everyone can see them on DVD, but they would be awesome for a matinee to take a kid to for the first time. I would go watch them all. How can you ever get sick of any of them.
I remember when I was a kid and I saw them all for the first time at the movies.
Posted by Stitch Groover (Member # 2895) on :
I read recently that until 2000, Disney amusement parks had a rule stating that employees could not have mustaches! Apparantly when he began Disneyworld, amusements had a fairly bad and sleazy reputation and he wanted naturally for his parks to have a squeaky clean image!
Posted by pettyfan (Member # 2260) on :
Did you know that he built Disneyland because he realized there was nothing for parents and kids to actually do together? He would take his kids to the park on weekends, and he and the other daddies would stand around and talk because there was only stuff for the kids to do. So with Disneyland there would be stuff for the whole family to do.
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
That's funny about the moustache thing, because he had one.
I read that he did not like Alfred Hitchc0ck , he thought the movie "Psycho" was horrible stuff.
Posted by Mr. Jack Burton (Member # 4673) on :
I love the bit in Family Guy when Peter tells his son to be an artist you gotta be ruthless like Walt Disney, flash to Walt screaming at Minnie Mouse to get em off...
Brilliant!!
Posted by EleanorJune (Member # 7024) on :
Walt Disney never finished high school right? I thought I had read somewhere he dropped out when he was 16.
Posted by Chris the CandyFanMan (Member # 3197) on :
I think I heard that before; not sure if it's accurate or not. I can say with certainty I've never heard of the owl killing story before. But it is certainly true that he had a deep respect for animals (certainly anyone having to deal with money-grubbing financiers every single day would appreciate beings that don't try and impose their will on you).
How good of a storyteller was he? Roy Disney will often tell you today about how his uncle told him the story of Pinocchio (before or after Walt shut down production to revamp the whole script--which up to that point simply wasn't working--I'm not sure) while he was in bed with measles, and that he was then disappointed by the actual finished film since it wasn't quite as good as Walt told it. While he didn't want to be shackled as the innocuous, family entertainment source (It's been noted that he mused, "I wish we could do something like that." after seeing To Kill a Mockingbird), he certainly didn't complain as long as he found new ways to do it successfully. And that's probably a good basis for his lastability, that he wanted to do something different each time and never settled for formula like others did almost pathologically. That and that he respected the audience's intelligence and believed they could get something positive out of a motion picture. And so, he changed the world for the better, which has to count for something.
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
The owl killing story is in his biography/trivia on imdb. I honestly think it says about him not finishing high school too. I know he started working at 16.
Posted by Mr. Jack Burton (Member # 4673) on :
Just on old Walt, what say you guys on your favourite of his companies animated gold mine??
I'd go with 3: Aladdin 2: The Lion King 1: The Jungle Book... Dooby Doo, I wanna be like you...
Posted by Chris the CandyFanMan (Member # 3197) on :
Last month marked Mickey's 80th birthday; November 18th officially, marking the release of Steamboat Willie in 1928 (Mickey had been used twice prior to that, in Plane Crazy and Galloping Gaucho, but SW, aided by its status as the first cartoon with synchronized sound, made him a superstar and is thus used as the official milestone). There were more than a few people, actually, who predicted sound would kill animated cartoons off for good (there had been a brisk business with silents, most notably Felix the Cat). Walt, of course, proved everyone wonderfully wrong and paved the way for the other greats of the Golden Age.
Posted by Mr. Jack Burton (Member # 4673) on :
quote:Originally posted by Chris the CandyFanMan: Last month marked Mickey's 80th birthday; November 18th officially, marking the release of Steamboat Willie in 1928 (Mickey had been used twice prior to that, in Plane Crazy and Galloping Gaucho, but SW, aided by its status as the first cartoon with synchronized sound, made him a superstar and is thus used as the official milestone). There were more than a few people, actually, who predicted sound would kill animated cartoons off for good (there had been a brisk business with silents, most notably Felix the Cat). Walt, of course, proved everyone wonderfully wrong and paved the way for the other greats of the Golden Age.
Nice paragraph Chris.. I don't know anyone who doesn't love Mickey Mouse..
Posted by Chris the CandyFanMan (Member # 3197) on :
Brave Little Tailor probably being my favorite featuring him. ("Say, did you ever kill a giant?" "I killed seven (flies) with one blow!" "SEVEN!!!???")
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)