There once was a boy full of creativity and imagination. He loved drawing and art. He was fascinated by the idea that colors and pictures could create characters and scenes across a blank canvas. 

He wanted to create something unimaginable and magical. He just didn’t know what yet. This little boy’s name was Walt Disney.

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Walt Disney grew up moving between Chicago to Missouri and back to Chicago. He loved movies and was captivated by the creation of them.

When he was in high school he carefully drew pictures and cartoons for his high school’s newspaper. He also took art classes at a Fine Arts Academy in the evening to help improve his art and drawing skills. 

Most of his time was spent drawing things all around him. He drew on the way to school. He drew before church. He drew after dinner. He even drew while spending time with his brother Roy. He was always drawing. 

He would even sell simple drawings and paintings he had made to friends, neighbors, and family.

When Walt Disney was just 16 years old he dropped out of school to join the army and served in France at the end of World War 1. Even though he was one year too young, he was determined to help serve his country. Sneakily, he used his art skills and changed his birthdate on his birth certificate from “1901” to “1900”. He was as sly as a fox.  

BIRTH DATE:

1900

Even during the war, he didn’t stop drawing. He would decorate vehicles with little cartoons here and there, and illustrate posters for the Red Cross. If you saw one of his cartoons on a napkin or a spare piece of cloth, you knew that Walt had been there. 

After the great world war, Walt moved to another small town in Missouri, called Kansas City. Here he got a job at a commercial art studio and helped produce cartoons for movie and newspaper ads. 

He met Ubbe Iwerks, who became one of his closest friends. This is also where he was first inspired to maybe, one day, open his own animation studio. Everyone thought he was crazy, how could a young man, a nobody, ever be successful in such a difficult business? Walt didn’t listen to any of them. 

Later, Walt bought a small film studio and named it Laugh-o-gram Studios. He had the help of his brother Roy, Ubbe, and several other workers he hired.

LAUGH - O -GRAM STUDIOS

They were able to successfully produce a couple of short animated cartoon films. Walt Disney actually moved into the studio space after investing all his money into his work.

Each night as Walt was sleeping in his studio, mice would come out to scavenge for leftover crumbs. He said that one particular mouse, grey like stone, was braver than the others. 

This mouse would work by him day and night on his drawing board in a small cage Walt had bought for it. This little mouse would later inspire Mr.Disney to bring the iconic Mickey Mouse to life.

One of the most successful and last films Disney and his crew produced at Laugh-o-gram Studios was called “Alice’s Cartoonland.” It combined the extraordinary world of cartoons with live-action characters.

Laugh - o- gram

Studios

Presents...

The cartoon was magical and new. However, he unfairly didn’t receive payment for his cartoon.

Walt wasn’t able to catch up on his bills, and in 1923 the amazing Laugh-o-gram Studios, his only home at the time, had gone bankrupt. He was so distraught and disappointed. He felt worthless. Maybe they were right, maybe someone like him couldn’t do it…

Walt Disney didn’t give up. He gathered together the last of his hope and pennies to buy himself a one-way ticket to Los Angeles, California, a land of new opportunity. Upon arriving, Walt, Roy, and Ubbe didn’t give up on their dream.