Constructing his own crude animation studio in his garage, he created small films which always played on the sympathies of his fellow Kansas City residents. A common problem in theatres at the time was the irritating tendency for some theatre goers to read aloud the captions over the silent films. Walt's cartoons showed such people being flattened with a mallet, or vanishing through trap doors and being chuted into the street. He named the films Newman Laugh-O-Grams, and surviving copies show a surprising grasp of animation for one so new to the concept

One, appropriate to the scandal-ridden Kansas of the time, shows a series of policemen filing into headquarters. Signs of a struggle come form within, then bodies fly out. A man exits the building to hang a sign saying "Cops Wanted". No doubt his attunement to the sentiment of the time assisted his popularity, which mad a minor celebrity of the 21 year old Walt Disney. But animation is expensive: half way through the ingenious Alice in Wonderland concept (live film of a little girl mixed with cartoon characters), his company folded, at which time Disney left for California with $40 in his pocket. But, he bought a first class ticket.

Teaming up with his brother Roy, Disney began work on his Alice films. Naturally, the initial quality was erratic, but they managed to gain investments from relatives and other businessmen who expected a profit out of the deal. In 1924, Charles Mintz offered the Disneys a contract for eighteen more Alice films at $1,800 per picture. But Mintz was a tough bargainer, and drove to Disney to complete more pictures for less money, claiming he was losing money on the deal. When the Alice pictures had run their course, Disney and Iwerkes created Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit. The character started unpromisingly, but gained momentum after vast amounts of time had been spent incorporating appeal and characterisation. The series was a hit: so much so that the distributor made a secret deal with Walt?s animators to hire them away from him. He proposed that Disney take a cut in the per-film amount, or else he would take his entire business away from him. Disney was appalled. At that moment, he declared to his wife, "Never again will I work for someone else."

At this moment, Disney showed great faith. Faced with losing all of his hand-trained animators (except Iwerks), his central character, his film distributor, and years of hard work, he declared to his brother Roy, "I really believe that everything will turn out all right. I believe that whatever happens is for the best." Without rancour, Walt signed over all rights to his business to Charles Mintz. And on the slow journey home to Kansas City, came up with a new idea: Mortimer Mouse. His wife objected to the name, so it was Mickey Mouse who was born that day: while completing the final films for Mintz, among the animators who had sold out, Ub secretly laboured at the new film idea, called Plane Crazy. Here, a landmark event in the history of animation took place: inspired, and labouring for something he loved, Iwerks secretly cranked out 700 pictures a day..an unbelievable rate which has never been bettered since.

Encouraged by mild enthusiasm for the new product, Disney was soon to make an important breakthrough: the revolution of sound had commenced, and Walt immediately recognised t to be an invaluable addition to the art of animation. The resulting film, Steamboat Willie, was the first animated cartoon to feature a soundtrack of music and character voices. Disney had the additional insight to realise that the sound, now played on separate equipment, had to be recorded onto the film itself if any kind of convincing result was to be guaranteed. This was a remarkable jump in concept.





Disney worked hard to raise the money and generate the technology required to make the film a success. Several times, the sheer expense and difficulty depressed his brother Roy, and his co-workers, to the point where Walt had to generate enthusiasm by talking about the final result as if it had already been achieved: this was an ability which was crucial to his success. Throughout his entire career he described things that had yet to happen with technology which had yet to be dreamed up: always it was this vision which pushed the company forward, and created a constant round of surprising products, which justified the increasingly vast investment he was forced to raise.

Mickey Mouse led to the Silly Symphonies, which in turn led to the feature films. The films were an immensely ambitious undertaking. Nobody had thought animation worthy of a 90 minute feature; it was Disney who proved that, given enough creativity and talent, the possibility would become reality. By the end of the war, Disney?s debt with the Bank of America had grown to $4,300,000. The financial success of Snow White was eaten up by the costs of Pinocchio, Fantasia and Bambi.

By 1940, Roy, alarmed at the trend, called an urgent meeting with Walt: he explained the company had a thousand employees, that the war in Europe had caused a sharp decline in theatre audiences, and that the company now had a brand new studio built at a cost of $3,000,000. Added to that, their overdraft had reached four and a half million dollars! But Walt only laughed. His brother demanded to know what was so funny. "Do you remember," asked Walt, "when we couldn?t borrow a thousand dollars?"

Disney constantly worked on the brink of bankcruptcy. In 1950, partly by virtue of the success of Cinderella, his debt to the Bank of America was reduced to $1,700,000. In 1957, Bambi was re-released and took $2m. Disney commented at the time, "You know, I think back to 1942 when we released that picture and there was a war on, and nobody cared much about the love life of a deer. It's pretty gratifying to know that Bambi finally made it."

Old Yeller was a Disney film in which things did not end happily: the book had its origins in 1869 and became a best seller: it describes the life of a young boy whose dog is bitten by a rabid wolf. In the end, the dog must be shot. Disney resisted attempts by the production staff to sweeten the picture or create a happy ending. "This is a Texas farm in 1869 and the dog has rabies; there's no way he can be saved. You gotta shoot him. The kids'll cry, but it's important for them to know that life isn't all happy endings." Old Yeller provided a bigger profit than any previous live-action Disney film.

Walt Disney passed away on December 6th, 1966; one day after his 65th birthday; he did not survive to see the opening of the fantastic Walt Disney World. His friend Dwight D. Eisenhower commented: "His appeal and influence were universal. Not restricted to this land alone, for he touched a common chord in all humanity. We shall not soon see his like again."