Everything Everywhere Daily

Disney Animation

Jan 28, 2026
A brisk retelling of Walt Disney's rise from small studios to animation empire. Hear the creation of Mickey and Steamboat Willie and the leap to color and storyboarding. Follow the studio's big gambles from Snow White to Sleeping Beauty and the postwar struggles that led to a revival. Learn about labor conflicts, early tech experiments, and the shift toward CGI and partnerships that reshaped animation.
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ANECDOTE

Humble Artistic Beginnings

  • Walt Disney grew up drawing on a Missouri farm and later served in the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in WWI where he continued sketching for soldiers.
  • He founded Laugh-O Studio and later moved to California to form the Disney Brothers Studio with Roy, working first from their uncle's garage.
ANECDOTE

From Oswald To A Mouse

  • Disney's early series, the Alice Comedies, mixed live action and animation and led to the fully animated Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series.
  • After a contract dispute that cost him Oswald and many staff, Disney secretly developed a replacement character: a mouse later known as Mickey.
INSIGHT

Sound Turned Mickey Into A Phenomenon

  • Steamboat Willie, Disney's third Mickey cartoon, succeeded because it synchronized sound with animation and became a cultural phenomenon.
  • Mastering new technology (sound) turned an already promising character into a national hit.
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