Walter Elias DisneyEarly years and backgroundWalter Elias Disney, known as Walt Disney, was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago. His father Elias Disney, was an Irish-Canadian and his mother Flora, called Disney, of English and German descent. In 1909 Walt and his younger sister Ruth attended the new school in Marceline Park. The Disneys lived in Marceline for four years before moving to Kansas in 1911. While in Kansas Walt and Ruth attended Benton Grammar School. During his time at school Walt met Walter Pfeiffer. Walter Pfeiffer came from a family of theater lovers who introduced Walt to the cinema which he grew to love. Walt, while taking classes at the Kansas Art Institute, spent more time at the Pfeiffer house than at his own. In 1917 the Disney family returned to Chicago where Walt attended McKinley High School and also took courses at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. During his time at school he drew cartoons relating to the First World War in the school newspaper before leaving school to join the army. Disney was rejected by the Army for being underage (he was 16), so he joined the Red Cross where he drove an ambulance in France for a year in 1918. In 1919 Walt returned to Chicago to begin his artistic career. When no one would hire him as an artist or ambulance driver, one of his brothers, Roy, found him a job at a local bank where Disney designed advertisements. While doing this work he met Ubbe Lwerks who, once his time at the studio was up, started their own business together. After that the business suffered a rocky start and eventually went bankrupt. Advances in Motion Pictures During the early 1900s motion pictures became a rapidly expanding and very popular film industry. Large companies dedicated to f...... middle of paper ......//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_DisneyAdvances in film http://ths1.ttsd.k12.or.us/cs/studentwork08 /rebe_hubbweb/1900.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AnimationGenre of Disney animations http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Alice_Comedies http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/quotes/index .htmlOswald the Lucky Rabbit http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Alice_Comedies Mickey Mouse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse_film_series Themes from Disney's workClass discussionHow Disney was receivedEvents during Disney's life http:/ /history1900s .about.com/od/timelines/tp/1900timeline.htm To what extent did these events influence Disney productions? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney's_World_War_II_propaganda_production How He Is Viewed TodayWalt Disney Controversy: Was He a Nazi? http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onliesays/JC40folder/LionKing.html