Will Sheffler

Ms. Tucci
Public Speaking Pd. 7
10-18-15
Walt Disney: From Broke to a Legend
Who would have thought that one man could make nearly 1000 films and still be able to
build two of the best amusement parks in America? One man could and that was Walt Disney.
He was able to accomplish such achievements even from poor upbringing, and by taking
chances.
Walt Disney was born in December of 1901 in Chicago. He had a rather hard childhood
and his family had little money. Before long, his dad moved the family to Missouri where he
bought a farm. The Disney brothers, Walt and Roy had a very hard farm life but Walt liked it.
Their two older brother had already moved out. One reason Walt loved the farm is that he gave
all the animals personalities. It was in this stage of his life that he found out that he LOVED to
draw. In 1910, Walts dad was forced to move again due to his failing farm. The Disney family
moved to Kansas City where Walt and Roy delivered newspapers. Walt loved to draw, but his
dad thought that art was a waste of time. He would draw on toilet paper because his family was
too poor to have paper. His aunt saw some of his drawings and eventually convinced his dad to
let him get an art kit and enroll him into the Kansas City Art Institute.
In 1917, at the young age of 15, Walts brother Roy was drafted into World War I. Walt
wanted to go to the army but he was too young. He found out that the Red Cross only had an age
limit of 17 to drive an ambulance so Walt changed his age on his birth certificate and went to the
war to become an ambulance driver. He was well known for always having cartoons drawn on
his ambulance. In 1919, Walt returned home to Kansas City. His job was illustrating catalogs.
This is where he met his life-long friend Ub Iwerks. They soon wanted to start their own cartoon
business. They needed money so they started to work for the Kansas City Film Ad Company.
They drew cartoons and adds for the company. As they worked for the film company, they drew
their own cartoons at night.
Soon after, they made their own company Laugh-O-Grams. Their first comic was
Alice. Disney wanted the best quality possible for his film which made its production very
expensive. In order to sell this film, Disney moved his company to Hollywood. In 1923, he
arrived in Los Angeles where he sold Alice. He started the Disney Brothers Studio. It is a
well-known fact that he started his company in his garage. His film Alice was hugely successful
so he went to New York to sell it. Roy became his financial adviser. Against his Brothers advice,
Walt reinvested almost all the money back into his company. He soon created Oswald the rabbit
which wasnt as successful as Alice but still made him money. Due to copyright complications,
Walt lost the rights to Oswald. Walts most famous work was Mickey Mouse which he created
soon after the creation of Oswald. He had Iwerks draw it and this time, Walt secured the
copyright to his character. His first film featuring Mickey Mouse was Steam Boat Willy. It was

so revolutionary because it as one of the first film shorts with sound. It premiered in 1928, and
was VERY popular which made the company HUGE money.
After a largely successful comic company, Disney wanted to make three dimensional
models of his works. He planned to make Disneyland which was to be build it in Anaheim,
California. Construction started in the 1950s. Construction went quickly and the park was able
to open in July of 1955. Within the first year, there were more than 4 million visitors. Disney was
always expanding his park in order to keep attendance up. His next park, Disney World, was
planned to be built in Orlando, Florida. Construction was started in 1965. Disney wanted a
HUGE castle and wanted this park to be Bigger and Better. Disney also wanted many hotels
around his park so guests could stay close to the park. Disney specially designed EPCOT which
was his idea of a perfect town. Unlike Disneyland, this park progressed slowly. In 1966, Disney
fell into bad health and died in December of 1966. His last wishes were to have Roy finish
building EPCOT. Roy eventually was able to finish the construction of Disney World.
Walt Disney was one of the most successful men to live and had a huge effect on the life
of most people today. He will always be remembered as one of the most impactful men in
American history.