Happy Birthday, Walt Disney [Archive] - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

musicradio77

12-05-2005, 07:43 PM

On December 5, 1901, Walter Elias Disney was born to Elias and Flora Disney. He grew to show a great love for cartoons and animation. He also had a fondness for trains. His first success came with a girl named Virginia Davis, who became Disney's first big star. Following the Alice comedies, he found some luck in his second great hit, Oswald the lucky rabbit. In 1928, after losing the rights to Oswald, Walt met a third great character on the train ride home. This time, his life would change forever. On November 18, Mickey Mouse made his screen debut to critical acclaim in "Steamboat Willie". Mickey was a success.

Walt turned toward a new challenge. He wanted to make a feature length cartoon. He began work on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". Some of Walt's critics called the project "Disney's folly". But Walt had the last laugh as audiences called for more of the long cartoons. In the film, Walt used the multiplane camera, a device which he invented, which added depth to the drawings. Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi followed. But then came the war.

As the country was plagued by war, the military took over the Walt Disney Studios as a strategic base. Animation for entertainment halted and the company began animation for training troops. Donald Duck even enlisted and went to war. When the fighting ceased, Disney once again turned his attention to the feature cartoons.

When the war ended, Disney found he had no money to support production of a full length cartoon. He took projects that had been started prior to the war, and put them together as "package features". Following the release of "Ichabod and Mr. Toad", Walt was once again ready to begin production of his next full length cartoon, "Cinderella". But Walt, like Cinderella, had been dreaming of something bigger and better.

Walt was tired of going to amusement parks with his girls where he would sit on the bench and wave as they passed by on the carousel. He felt that "there should be something built where the parents and the children could have fun together." But he found that acquiring the funds for such a project was next to impossible. Then, in 1955, he had an idea. He would advertise on television. This advertisement would be an hour long show on Sunday evenings where he would entertain the public and tell them the progress at Disneyland. The show would take the name of the place it was promoting, Disneyland. That same year, the Mickey Mouse Club premiered. On July 17, 1955, Disneyland opened with hosts Bob Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Art Linkletter, and Walt Disney. The public fell in love with this vacation spot. But this dreamer still had a few more tricks up his sleeve.

In 1964, Walt opened his bag of tricks and unleashed a masterpiece. Using every trick of the trade, Walt brought P. L. Travers' fantasy of "Mary Poppins" to the big screen with Julie Andrews as the practically perfect nanny. This film earned Julie Andrews the Best Actress of 1964 and made Walt ever more popular. Walt turned his attentions to the Sunshine State.

Plans began for Disney World in Florida. Walt began secretly buying land in the Florida swamp of Kissimmee. He planned to build a park similar to the one in California. In 1965, Walt discussed his plans for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, a city of the future. But his plans would never be realized.

Walt's smoking habits caught up with him. At the start of 1966, he went to the hospital and they took out one of his lungs. On December 15, 1966, Walt lost his battle with lung cancer. He was 65.

Throughout his career, Walt brought to the world the multiplane camera, full length animated features, Disneyland, and Mickey Mouse. These creations earned him a total of 36 Academy Awards. This also earned him another award--the honor of a place in the Guiness Book of World Records for the most individual Academy Awards. Walt was primarily concerned with bringing joy and happiness to the world. He believed that if you wish and dream hard enough, anything is possible.

Happy Birthday, Walt. Thanks for the dreams.

musicradio77

12-05-2005, 09:43 PM

Happy Birthday Walt! You have certainly put a lot of happy faces on the planet!

Put on a Happy Face
(C. Strouse - L. Adams)

Gray skies are gonna clear up,
Put on a happy face;
Brush off the clouds and cheer up,
Put on a happy face.
Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy,
It's not your style;
You'll look so good that you'll be glad
Ya' decide to smile!
Pick out a pleasant outlook,
Stick out that noble chin;
Wipe off that "full of doubt" look,
Slap on a happy grin!
And spread sunshine all over the place,
Just put on a happy face!
Put on a happy face
Put on a happy face
And if you're feeling cross and bitterish
Don't sit and whine
Think of banana split and licorice
And you'll feel fine
I knew a girl so glooming
She'd never laugh or sing
She wouldn't listen to me
Now she's a mean old thing
So spread sunshine all over the place
Just put on a happy face
So, put on a happy face