Walt disney success story movie#

If George Eastman had not pioneered popular photography at Kodak, it would have nevertheless come along sooner or later. If Jim Casey had not developed accessible national package delivery at UPS, someone else would have. If Henry Ford had not invented the affordable automobile, someone else would have. Walt’s DNA lives on today in the Walt Disney Company, by far the largest company in the media content-creation industry.Īs we survey the great American entrepreneurs, Walt Disney stands out in interesting ways. The astounding results speak for themselves. No one was ever forced to watch what Walt produced, yet millions did and continue to do so.

Walt disney success story movie#

Walt Disney competed for the public’s approval with giant movie studios and, later, the powerful television networks. He was clear that he created entertainment, not art. Walt Disney from the outset only had one goal in mind: to entertain and engage the public, occasionally with a dose of education. In contrast, few worry so deeply about the impact on society of Steven Spielberg or Warner Brothers. Had Disney and his productions not been so successful, most of those studies and books would never have been written. Many of those writers have a political viewpoint to express or a distrust of the tastes of the public. Walt Disney’s impact on American and world culture is another aspect that has motivated a great deal of “scholarly” studies and debate among critics. Roy served Walt well, even beyond Walt’s death. We believe that Walt’s childhood challenges led him to a breadth of youthful experiences that many would treasure and that served the man well throughout his life.įrom this complex family, Walt also received what may have been his “secret sauce”-an element that differentiated him from so many other great people-his loving, protective older brother Roy.

One author even wrote a book about the lives of great people, concluding that abusive or absent fathers were more the norm than the exception. Yet we see this as a common pattern among great men one hundred years ago. Other writers give great emphasis to his father, a strict disciplinarian and tough taskmaster who was quick to whip his four sons, of which Walt was the youngest. Our research into his life and perusal of dozens of those books and articles is here joined with whatever wisdom and insight we’ve gained from our previous studies of great men and women.

Was he one of the greatest geniuses our nation has ever created, or a soul warped by his abusive father, troubled by alcohol and other evils? Did he raise the standards of American media or did he damage our culture, promoting an unrealistic ideal of singing animals and happy families? Thousands of authors, scholars, and critics have waded into these waters. Those books and articles each attempt to provide a different take on the man-from idolization to vilification. Libraries can be filled with the thousands of books and many biographies about him, which continue to be published over forty years after his death. We estimate that several times as many books and articles have been written about Walt Disney as about any other American businessperson or entrepreneur. Over the last two years, we at the Archbridge Institute have written the life stories of more than twenty “American Originals.” These men and women overcame great obstacles, including impoverished and troubled beginnings, to rise to “success.” They changed the world of their times and shaped the world that we live in today. Telling this story brings special challenges. In this story, we address the life and work of Walter Elias Disney, one of the most famous men in the world. This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series.