Disney!

    Who doesn't kmow something about Disney? The industry that influenced our lives forever (think of all the Disney characters that appear in the media, on clothes, in books... everywhere!) But has anybody ever wanted to know a few more things about Disney and it's creator? If you are amongst them, then please read on...

    Walt Disney was born on the 5th December, 1901, in Chicago, Illinois; did you know that his family is of French origin? Just think-d'Isigny became Disney (which might explain why there's a Disneyland in Paris...)

    Walt Disney must have had a knack for animation, because he was the school newspaper's cartoonist; he also ditched high school in the hopes of being able to sign up for the army, but he was rejected, because he was underage.

    In 1921, Walt founded his own animation company, the Laugh-O-Gram Studios (which, it is said, is the place where he got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse...) Disney's signature character, Mickey Mouse, first featured in an animated short in 1928 (and he's gone a long way since then...)

    Amongst other cartoons Disney created, there were the Alice Comedies (stopped in 1927) and Silly Symphonies (produced during the early 1930's, but weren't that popular because of other cartoons like Betty Boop...)

    In the mid 1930's, Walt decided to produce an animated feature film. After 3 years of production, Snow White was released (it was known as "Disney's Folly" because it was really expensive- it cost more than a million dollars to produce, nearly bankrupting Walt Disney Pictures, who had hoped to get the film done with a quarter of a million dollars...)

    In the 1940's, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi were produced. During the war, Disney stopped doing so many animated films and made more shorts (like Education for Death, which was about WW2...)

    The 1950's represented Disney's best (and busiest) decade; in the '50s, the first Disneyland opened in California, and the films Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp (which was really succesful at the box office) and Sleeping Beauty were released.

    In the "swinging 60's", Walt Disney died. He was 65 years old. Nevertheless, 101 Dalmatians, Mary Poppins and the Jungle Book were all produced during this period.                                        

    After Walt's death, in the 1970's, Walt Disney Pictures (who now had Roy Disney, Walt's brother, in charge) released the Aristocats (which was the last film Walt Disney oversaw production to), The Fox and the Hound and The Rescuers (people have also said that the way these movies were animated was too rough and not good enough-what do you think?)

    During the 1980's and '90s, a phenomenon called "The Disney Renaissance" took place; it was called so because Disney started producing more films based on fairy tales (like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, to name a few...)

    The early 2000's was a time when Disney produced a lot of sequels (Lady and the Tramp 2, Cinderella 2, the Little Mermaid 2...), which many peple thought weren't as good as the original films...

    Right now, Disney uses more computer animation in movies (think of Tangled and Brave), and they aren't producing as many succesful films as they used to...

    Walt Disney won four honorary Academy Awards and 22 other Oscars (including a record 5 in one year!). He was an animation genius, and his works of art are still being seen and appreciated today....

PS: What's your favourite Disney film?

PPS: For more information, visit http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/The_DisneyWiki.