Happy Birthday Walt Disney - 2010

[Charles]

Born on this day, December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois.

[EAllen]

Happy birthday, Mr. Disney!

It's funny, I struggled to remember if any pictures of him survived. Now my suspicions have been confirmed--some have indeed survived.

[Charles]

Like the vast majority of people in animated entertainment, and millions around the world, I hold enduring affection for this great man.

On the occasion of his birthday, what better way to celebrate the life of Walt Disney than to let him tell the story of his life in his own words.

Thanks to the technology of the Internet and video content shared on YouTube, we can in this day and age enjoy experiences that even a futurist like Walt couldn't have imagined in his time, yet I'm sure would marvel at had he been alive in our present day.

Here's the story of Walt Disney's life narrated by the man himself.

The Walt Disney Story

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

[paburrows]

I was at a union party a few years ago and Tom Sito was telling stories from Animation History and one of them was about how near the end of his life he was at the hospital and the nurses freaked out because they couldn't find him. Eventualy they found out that he had snuck off to the studio to work. (I probably butchered that since its been a few year since I heard it) but it just goes to show how passionate he was about the artform.

[Charles]

I heard the same story when I first got into the industry. At Filmation, the fellow I was working with was at the Disney Studio when Walt came in while he was sick. He left the hospital, St. Joe's across the street from the studio lot, and came over to supervise and see what was happening with Jungle Book. The nurses and hospital people found him and escorted Walt back to his room. That was the last time he was at the studio. He passed away a short while later. That's what I was told by someone who was there at the time.

[Charles]

Something I noticed that I feel should be mentioned. This is the only commemoration of Walt Disney's birthday I've seen so far on the Web among the industry centric sites.

[EAllen]

Right on, Charles! The birthday of Walt Disney is beginning to be treated like Labor Day or even Veterans Day--kinda arbitrary, like it's there if you wanna celebrate it, or commemorate it in any way--but you'll likely be alone in doing so. Heh heh.

[Charles]

That's really too bad EAllen. I guess there's more important issues to focus on in animation other than remembering Walt Disney on his birthday.

In any case, one of the things I find really intriguing is at the end of the third part of Walt's narration about his life, he talks about a brother of his who became a mailman. Walt saw him as successful, in that he had a good, happy life and could take time off to be with his family and do enjoyable things. As opposed to the pressures of running a major studio and maintaining payroll and all the things that would go along with an endeavor as huge as his.

[Charles]

I dunno, but I tend to think there's something wrong with an animation community that neglects to honor the memory of Walt Disney on the occasion of his birthday.

So I looked around a bit and found a few sites that actually remembered!

One of them is The Disney Blog, there's also DisneyDreaming.com and disneyparks.disney.go.com and dawnschickflicks.blogspot.com and k-rated.com and charactercentral.net and even the Smithsonian Institute.

Thank goodness for fans. When it comes to Walt, they seem to have a greater appreciation for him.