VOICE ONE:
I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Ray Freeman with the VOA Special English program, PEOPLEIN AMERICA. Every week we tell about a person who was important inthe history of the United States.
Today, we tell about Walt Disneyand the movie company he created.
((MUSIC: WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR))
VOICE ONE:
That was the song “When You Wish Upon a Star.” It is from WaltDisney’s animated movie “Pinocchio.” For many people, it is the songmost often linked with Walt Disney and his work. The song is aboutdreams … and making dreams come true. That is what the Walt DisneyCompany tries to do. It produces movies that capture the imaginationof children and adults all over the world.
VOICE TWO:
Millions of people have seen Disney films and televisionprograms. They have made friends with all the Disney heroes: MickeyMouse, Donald Duck, Snow White, Pinocchio, Peter Pan. Millions morehave visited the company’s major entertainment parks. There isDisneyland in California. Disney World in Florida. Tokyo Disneylandin Japan. Euro-Disney in France.
Probably no other company haspleased so many children. It is not surprising that it has beencalled a dream factory.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE ONE:
Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois, inNineteen-Oh-One. His family moved to the state of Missouri. He grewup on a farm there. At the age of sixteen, Disney began to study artin Chicago. Four years later, he joined the Kansas City Film AdCompany. He helped make cartoon advertisements to be shown in movietheaters. Advertisements help sell products.
In Nineteen-Twenty-Three, Walt Disney moved to Hollywood,California to join his brother Roy. He wanted to be a movie produceror director. But he failed to find a job. So he decided to makeanimated movies. In them, drawings are made to move in a lifelikeway. We call them cartoons. Disney the artist wanted to bring hispictures to life.
VOICE TWO:
A cartoon is a series of pictures on film. Each picture is alittle different from the one before. Each shows a tiny change inmovement. When we see the movie, the pictures seem to be alive. Thecartoon people and animals move. They speak with voices recorded byreal actors.
Disney opened his first movie company in the back of an office.For several years, he struggled to earn enough money to pay hisexpenses. He believed that cartoon movies could be as popular asmovies made with actors. To do this, he decided he needed a cartoonhero. Help for his idea came from an unexpected place.
VOICE ONE:
Disney worked with Ub Iwerks, another young artist. They oftensaw mice running in and out of the old building where they worked.So they drew a cartoon mouse. It was not exactly like a real mouse.For one thing, it stood on two legs like a human. It had big eyesand ears. And it wore white gloves on its hands. The artists calledhim “Mickey.” Earlier filmmakers had found that animals were easierto use in cartoons than people. Mickey Mouse was drawn with a seriesof circles. He was perfect for animation.
The public first saw Mickey Mouse in a movie called “SteamboatWillie.” Walt Disney himself provided the voice for Mickey Mouse.The film was produced in Nineteen-Twenty-Eight. It was a hugesuccess.
VOICE TWO:
Mickey Mouse appeared in hundredsof cartoons during the years that followed. He became known all overthe world. In Japan, he was called “Miki Kuchi.” In Italy, he was”Topolino.” In Latin America, he was “Raton Miquelito.” Mickey soonwas joined by several other cartoon creatures. One was the femalemouse called “Minnie.” Another was the duck named “Donald,” with hissailor clothes and funny voice. And there was the dog called Pluto.
VOICE ONE:
Mickey Mouse cartoons were extremely popular. But Walt Disneywanted to make other kinds of animated movies, too. In the middleNineteen-Thirties, he was working on his first long movie. It wasabout a lovely young girl, her cruel stepmother, and the handsomeprince who saves her. It was “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.””Snow White” was completed in Nineteen-Thirty-Seven after threeyears of work. It was the first full-length animated movie to beproduced by a studio. It became one of Hollywood’s most successfulmovies.
VOICE TWO:
Movie experts say Walt Disney was responsible for the developmentof the art of animation. Disney’s artists tried to put life intoevery drawing. That meant they had to feel all the emotions of thecartoon creatures. Happiness. Sadness. Anger. Fear. The artistslooked in a mirror and expressed each emotion. A smile. Tears. A redface. Wide eyes. Then they drew that look on the face of eachcartoon creature.
VOICE ONE:
Many movie experts say Disney’s art of animation reached itshighest point in Nineteen-Forty with the movie “Pinocchio.” Thestory is about a wooden toy that comes to life as a little boy.Disney ‘s artists drew two-and-one-half-million pictures to make”Pinocchio.” The artists drew flat pictures. Yet they created a lookof space and solid objects. “Pinocchio” was an imaginary world. Yetit looked very real. Disney made other extremely popular animatedmovies in the Nineteen-Forties and Nineteen-Fifties. They include”Fantasia,” “Dumbo,” “Bambi,” “Cinderella,” “Alice in Wonderland,””Peter Pan,” “Lady and the Tramp,” and “Sleeping Beauty.” Thesemovies are still popular today.
VOICE TWO:
In addition to cartoons, Walt Disney produced many movies andtelevision programs with real actors. He also produced movies aboutwild animals in their natural surroundings. Real or imaginary, allhis programs had similar ideas. In most of them, innocence, loyaltyand family love were threatened by evil forces. Sad things sometimeshappened. But there were always funny incidents and creatures. Inthe end, good always won over evil. Disney won thirty-two AcademyAwards for his movies and for scientific and technical inventions infilmmaking.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE ONE:
In Nineteen-Fifty-Five, Walt Disney opened an entertainment parknot far from Hollywood, California. He called it “Disneyland.” Hewanted it to be the happiest place on Earth. Disneyland recreatedimaginary places from Disney movies. It also recreated realplaces…as Disney imagined them. For example, one area looked likea nineteenth-century town in the American West. Another looked likethe world of the future.
Disneyland also had exciting rides. Children could fly on anelephant. Or spin in a teacup. Or climb a mountain. Or float on ajungle river. And — best of all — children got to meet MickeyMouse himself. Actors dressed as Mickey and all the Disney cartooncreatures walked around the park shaking hands.
VOICE TWO:
Some critics said Disneyland was just a huge money machine. Theysaid it cost so much money that many families could not go. And theysaid it did not represent the best of American culture. But mostvisitors loved it. They came from near and far to see it. Presidentsof the United States. Leaders of other countries. And families fromaround the world.
Disneyland was so successful that Disney developed plans for asecond entertainment and educational park to be built in Florida.The project, Walt Disney World, opened in Florida inNineteen-Seventy-One, after Disney’s death.
The man who started it all, Walt Disney, died inNineteen-Sixty-Six. But the company he began continues to helppeople escape the problems of life through its movies andentertainment parks.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by Carolyn Weaver andShelley Gollust. I’m Shirley Griffith. VOICE TWO:
And I’m Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another PEOPLEIN AMERICA program in Special English on the Voice of America.