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Walt Disney is a world famous name. It is well known as a result of animated cartoons and films that have been released over a period in excess of a hundred years. However, it is easy to forget that the name of Walt Disney was actually the name of a creative and innovative entrepreneur. Walt Disney the man is hardly forgotten but his entrepreneurial achievements tend to fall by the wayside when the success of the company is examined. As a result, let us take a look at the man himself.

The Early Years Of The Man

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois but spent little of his childhood there. His parents financially struggled and so took the opportunity to move to Marceline, Missouri when it presented itself. His father’s brother had bought farmland and needed help to tend it. As the young entrepreneur was left to his own devices and had little interaction with children of his own age in the rural setting, he began to find ways and means to entertain himself and drawing was undoubtedly his favorite pastime. When Disney was 10 years old when his family moved again to Kansas City. There he attended school and met a friend named Walter Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer’s family introduced the young entrepreneur to the theater and movies, which captured his attention and set him on the path to becoming a worldwide legend.

The Early Years Of Disney

Walt Disney embarked on his drawing career in 1919. He would draw for newspapers and movie theaters to create advertisements before joining the Kansas City Film Ad Company. It was there where he was introduced to animation, although he did not stay long before opening his own animations company. Although his animation career started off slowly with short cartoons at the local movie theater, his work soon became popular. This encouraged him to open his own studio. Although the entrepreneur’s first attempt at business failed due to his poor money management skills, he headed to Hollywood to try again.

Disney’s second attempt really took off, with cartoons like the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit taking off in a big way. These animated features made the entrepreneur’s work extremely popular. However, Disney suffered another setback in 1928 when he lost the rights to the latter and his animation team when a deal went horribly wrong. He found that a contract he had signed with an ad company to promote the character actually handed the rights to the rabbit directly to them. Although he left the company because he did not like the way it was operated, he could not take his character with him. That did not stop the entrepreneur though, determined as he was to see his dreams come to fruition. He started again and this time came up with the idea that would make him a legend.

Mickey Mouse really put Disney on the map. The mouse had universal appeal and undoubtedly made Disney a star. In fact, the animation was that popular that the entrepreneur was awarded a special Academy Award for Mickey’s creation. Having created a supporting cast for the mouse, Disney had options and his own animation studio began to gather momentum. With his dreams coming true, like any successful entrepreneur, Disney capitalized on it and gave rise to the animation golden era of 1937 to 1941.

During the golden era, the entrepreneur released several animated movies, the first of which was Snow White. It was greeted with extremely good reviews and quickly became a phenomenon. After its release more followed, as did Disney’s plan for business expansion. Although he did not live to see the opening of Florida’s Walt Disney World, the entrepreneur had laid the foundations for the company to dominate the movie world for some time to come. In fact, the legacy of Disney is as popular today as it has ever been and all thanks to one man. Walt Disney died in 1966 but his legend lives on.