"When you are curious, you find a lot of interesting things to do"
"If you can dream it, you can do it"
Hello Friends... we would be learning from the cradle of a wise man called Walt Disney; though dead but his legacy still speaks volumes. "Walt Disney", the name that would be forever associated with childhood images, amusement parks, cartoon characters, etc. The name birthed the world most sought vacation center Disneyland. Born in December 5 1901 and exited the world December 15, 1966.
The growing years of Walt Disney was very fascinating. Asides the popular story about his dropout from school at the age of 16, he was very ambitious even though he did not know how to manage his academic life and personal life. He and his siblings worked in their uncle's paper factory while in school. Walt and his brother, Roy Disney delivered newspaper to about 700 customers. Walt would wake up at 4:30 AM and worked delivering newspapers until the school bell rang. He resumed working the paper trail at 4PM and continued to supper time. The work was exhausting and made him receive poor grades from dozing off in class. He continued his paper routine for more than six years.
In 1919, he went on to work with Kansas Film Ad Company. Walt began making commercials using cutout animations for the company; he became fascinated with animation and became an animator. Disney read the Edwin G. Lutz book Animated Cartoons: How They Are Made, Their Origin and Development, then considered CEL animation to be much more promising than the cutout animation that he was doing at the moment. Disney studied Aesop's Fables as a model. After setting his new company, he hired Lillian Bounds an ink-and-paint artist who he later married in 1925.
During this time Disney created his first popular character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, whose personality was inspired by the popular silent movie star, Douglas Fairbanks. Oswald was the first Disney character to be merchandised, with a chocolate-covered marshmallow candy bar, a stencil set, and a wearable button. Sadly, due to unfortunate business deals, the Disney Brothers Studio lost the rights to Oswald in 1928, along with all of their employees but Ub Iwerks. After losing Oswald, Walt Disney took a train back home. It was on this journey that the empire of Disney was birthed through an idea of the iconic character of Mickey Mouse. Disney later said, "Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner."
This character birthed other successful characters in the books of Disney. Characters such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Pinocchio, Bambi, Mary Poppins, etc. At a point, his penchant for trains came to life when he built the Carolwood Pacific Railroad train, featuring Lilly Belle the steam engine (it was built with caboose's wood), on the grounds of the family's new home in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles around 1951. Disney and his wife had a daughter, Diane, in 1933, then adopted a second daughter, Sharon, in 1936. He ensured his children childhood memories were magical. He often read to them. "There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island" Disney once said. One year, for Christmas, he had a Snow White playhouse built overnight for his daughters, in their Los Feliz, California, backyard. Disney said, "A man should never neglect his family for business."
He lived by this philosophy, "If you can dream it, you can do it." While in his barn, enjoying his train, Disney came up with the concept of imagineering - imagination plus engineering - and dreamed about developing an amusement park. He said, "I just want it to look like nothing else in the world. And it should be surrounded by a train." Disneyland was commissioned in California in 1955, with Ronald Reagan serving as emcee of the opening festivities. Disney once said "Disneyland will never be completed, it will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world." Talk about a man of dreams! Upon his death in 1966, his brother Roy was left to oversee construction of Walt Disney World.
Things I learned from this man;
-Walt Disney was an ambitious man
-Walt Disney was a man of dreams
-Walt Disney failed in business
-Walt Disney read books
-Walt Disney loved and cared for his family
-Walt Disney was not only a philanthropist but a patriotic citizen (he was very instrumental during and after the World War II
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
