Elizabeth Hernandez
Professor Williams
ENC 1101
19 April 2012
The Magic of The Walt Disney Company In the family entertainment industry, how well a company thrives is based upon creativity, innovation, and the appeal it has with a mass market. There are currently several companies which offer great forms of entertainment through various types of media platforms. However, no other company has had the popularity or success that The Walt Disney Company has had. The Walt Disney Company has managed to become one of the most successful and diversified companies (“Walt Disney”) in the entertainment industry. The company has built a reputation of delivering a seamless “magical” experience to its guest in all of its operations: theme parks, hotels, restaurants, retail stores, animation, etc. (“Walt Disney Mission”). What began as small family business has forever transformed the entertainment industry (Mark) and transcended all its competitors. The magic, the mouse, and the splendor of which we all know as The Walt Disney Company did not come from a story book or television program, but from the unique and creative mind (Kehoe) of Walter Elias Disney. Founder Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois (Brad). He was fourth of five children, (Kehoe) born of Elias and Flora Disney (Brad). Walter Disney grew up on a farm near Marceline, Missouri (Kehoe) in a stern household (Mark) fostered on the ideas of the Congregational Church, socialism, and the favor of laboring work (Mirabile 172). From a young age, Walter Disney showed a great taste and aptitude for drawing (Mark) and painting with crayons and watercolors. Art, particularly drawing, quickly became one of his favored hobbies, inspiring him to someday become a cartoonist. As a teenager in 1917, Walter and his family moved back to Chicago and Walt enrolled into McKinley High School and began writing and drawing for the school paper, while also taking evening classes at the Art Institute of Chicago (“Waltdisneytimeline”). At the age of 16, in the midst of WWI, Walter put his art on hold and joined the Red Cross only to return a year later to employment as a commercial artist (Mirabile 172). While working as a commercial artist, Walt met another young artist by the name of UB Iwerks, with whom he would start his first animated cartoon company, Laugh-O-Gram Films (Bosely). In the year of 1923, Walt’s newly formed company quickly went bankrupt, influencing him to head west to Hollywood, California, to join his older brother Roy O. Disney (Mirabile 172). Determined and driven by his passion for animation, Walter, along with his brother Roy, established a production company called the Disney Brothers Studio, later to be called Walt Disney Studio. With Roy as an equal partner, (“Company History”) accompanied by a small staff, the studio went on to produce many small cartoon animations. It was not until, 1928 that the lovable mouse we all know as “Mickey” would be introduced to the world. The first Mickey Mouse cartoon, (“Waltdisnettimeline”) which was also the first animated film with sound, (Kehoe) quickly became a huge success (“Waltdisnettimeline”). The Disney brothers and associates went on to make several other cartoon animations, including the introduction of other characters such as Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy (Bosely). The success of Mickey Mouse, other characters, and animations what helped to build the Disney name into the empire it is today. Walter Disney was considered a creative genius in his time. He forever changed the family entertainment industry, (Johnson) while leading the way in animation and entertainment. He took what visions and dreams he had, and built a company based on a name that faithfully provides wholesome family entertainment. The Walt Disney Company not only strives to maintain their family oriented name, but also to provide great entertainment. The company’s primary mission is to, “Be one of the world's leading