Walt Disney

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney spent his formative adolescence + early adulthood (1911-1923) in Kansas City, where he developed his first animation skills, founded his first animation company, and shaped the artistic + business sensibilities that would later define the Walt Disney Company. His Kansas City years included delivery boy work, the McConahy Building (Laugh-O-Gram Studio), his first business failure, and the cross-country move to California in 1923 that began the global Disney enterprise.

Biography

Early life (1901-1911)

Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. His family moved frequently during his early childhood — first to Marceline, Missouri (a small rural town where Disney spent some of his happiest childhood years + that he later cited as the inspiration for Main Street USA at Disneyland), then to Kansas City in 1911.¹

Kansas City years (1911-1923)

The Disney family settled in Kansas City when Walt was age 9. He attended Benton Grammar School + later Westport High School (now westport) — though he did not graduate. His father owned + operated a newspaper-distribution route for the Kansas City Star + Kansas City Times; Walt delivered newspapers daily through KC neighborhoods.

Art training

Disney took night-class drawing lessons at the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) as a teenager — his formal art education.

Early animation career

After serving briefly with the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in France at the end of WWI (1918-1919), Disney returned to Kansas City + entered commercial animation:

• Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio (1919) — Disney’s first art-industry job
• Kansas City Film Ad Company (kc-film-ad-company) (1919-1922) — Disney worked here producing animated short advertisements for movie theaters. He met Ub Iwerks here — the animator who would later co-create Mickey Mouse.

Laugh-O-Gram Studio (1921-1923)

In 1921, Disney + Iwerks + several colleagues founded Laugh-O-Gram Studio in the McConahy Building at 31st + Forest in midtown KC.² The studio produced short animated films — “Newman Laugh-O-Grams” — that were shown in KC’s Newman Theater.

Laugh-O-Gram Studio produced:

• Multiple animated short films — modernized fairy tale interpretations
• Alice’s Wonderland (1923) — a partial-live-action/partial-animation hybrid; technical breakthrough

The studio went bankrupt in 1923. Disney famously left KC for California with $40 in cash + his suitcase.

California + Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio (1923-1928)

Disney arrived in Los Angeles in July 1923. He + his brother Roy O. Disney founded what became the Walt Disney Studio. Ub Iwerks joined them shortly after.

The studio’s first major success was the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit character (1927). When Disney lost the Oswald rights to Universal Studios, he created Mickey Mouse in 1928 — sealing his + the studio’s eventual global success.

Disney Empire (1928-1966)

Disney’s later career — including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio, Fantasia, multiple feature animation classics; the founding of Disneyland (1955); his television empire; and his vision for EPCOT (which opened posthumously) — is well-documented elsewhere.

Death (1966)

Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966 in Burbank, California at age 65 from lung cancer. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Kansas City sites associated with Walt Disney

• The McConahy Building at 31st + Forest — site of Laugh-O-Gram Studio
• Benton Grammar School + Westport High School
• The Kansas City Art Institute — where he took night-class drawing lessons
• Kansas City Film Ad Company offices (location)
• Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio (location)

Defining contributions to Kansas City

Disney’s KC years (1911-1923) were formative for him as an artist + businessman:

1. Trained as an animator in KC. The Kansas City Film Ad Company experience shaped his animation craft.
2. Met Ub Iwerks in KC. The animator who would co-create Mickey Mouse was Disney’s KC colleague.
3. Founded his first business in KC. Laugh-O-Gram Studio’s bankruptcy was his first hard business lesson.
4. Left KC for California with $40. This narrative — the failed-KC-startup-to-California-success arc — is central to Disney mythology.

Contested commemoration

Disney’s KC legacy is less prominently commemorated in KC than might be expected. There is no major Disney museum in KC; the McConahy Building (where Laugh-O-Gram Studio operated) was at risk of demolition in the 2010s before preservation efforts saved it.

Sources

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Walt Disney” biography. ↩

2. Thank You, Walt Disney organization — McConahy Building preservation. ↩