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Introduction

The Walt Disney Company is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that is headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; it also operated under the names Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions before changing its name to The Walt Disney Company in 1986. In 1928, Disney established itself as a leader in the animation industry with the short film Steamboat Willie. The film used synchronized sound to become the first post-produced sound cartoon, and popularized Mickey Mouse, who became Disney's mascot and corporate icon.

After becoming a major success by the early 1940s, Disney diversified into live-action films, television, and theme parks in the 1950s. However, following Walt Disney's death in 1966, the company's profits, especially in the animation division, began to decline. In 1984, Disney's shareholders voted Michael Eisner as CEO, who led a reversal of the company's decline through a combination of international theme park expansion and the highly successful Disney Renaissance period of animation in the 1990s. In 2005, under new CEO Bob Iger, the company continued to expand into a major entertainment conglomerate with the acquisitions of Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios. In 2020, Bob Chapek became the head of Disney after Iger's retirement. However, Chapek was ousted in 2022 and Iger was reinstated as CEO.

The company is known for its film studio division Walt Disney Studios, which includes Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, 20th Century Animation, and Searchlight Pictures. Disney's other main business units include divisions in television, broadcasting, streaming media, theme park resorts, consumer products, publishing, and international operations. Through these divisions, Disney owns and operates the ABC television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic; publishing, merchandising, music, and theater divisions; direct-to-consumer streaming services such as Disney+, Star+, ESPN+, Hulu, and Hotstar; and Disney Experiences, which includes several theme parks, resort hotels, and cruise lines around the world. (Full article...)

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Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an anthropomorphic rabbit animated cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney for films distributed by Universal Pictures in the 1920s and 1930s. Oswald was introduced in 1927 after Disney’s series of Alice Comedies had run its course. Disney signed a new contract with Universal Studios head Carl Laemmle where he would produce a series of cartoons for Charles B. Mintz and George Winkler. The first Oswald cartoon, Poor Papa, was rejected by the Universal studio heads due to poor production quality and the sloppiness and age of Oswald. After this, Disney, together with Ub Iwerks, created a second cartoon called Trolley Troubles featuring a much younger, neater Oswald. The short officially launched the series and proved to be Disney’s greatest success yet.

A few of Oswald’s adventures dealt with humor related to the procreative abilities of his species, as illustrated in the episode description of Poor Papa: “Oswald gets a visit from the stork... again and again and again. He has to resort to a variety of strategies to stop the continual flow of babies.” Trolley Troubles also showed Oswald surrounded by numerous baby rabbits, this time heckling him while on the job. Other cartoons, however, generally placed Oswald in more human-type conditions and situations.

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Ollie Johnston in his home workshop in 1989.

Credit: Janke

Oliver Martin Johnston, Jr. (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008) was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last surviving at the time of his death. He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989. His work was recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005.

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These are images of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, The Walt Disney Company, and Walt Disney in their respective articles.

Image 1The "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" celebrated the 50th anniversary of the theme park. Sleeping Beauty Castle was altered for the occasion. (from Disneyland)
Image 2Grave of Walt Disney at Forest Lawn, Glendale (from Walt Disney)
Image 3Disney bought The Muppets from the Jim Henson Company in 2004. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 4Mickey's Toontown
(pictured in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 5One of four arches welcoming guests to the resort (from Walt Disney World)
Image 6Team Disney – The Michael D. Eisner Building, the main building at the Walt Disney Studios, which houses the offices of Disney's CEO and several other senior corporate officials. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 7Excerpt of Steamboat Willie (1928), the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 8Disney family at Schiphol Airport (1951) (from Walt Disney)
Image 9A Disney Cruise Line bus which takes guest to and from Terminal 8 from Orlando International Airport; as well as around Walt Disney World. (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 10Main Street, U.S.A.
(2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 11Jeffrey Katzenberg was chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1984 to 1995. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 12Roy O. Disney inspecting design plans on-site in Florida (from Walt Disney World)
Image 13The original animation building at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, which they fully moved into in 1940 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 14Frontierland
(Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in 2008) (from Disneyland)
Image 15The Sherman Brothers, who composed many of the Disney songs throughout the 1960s (pictured in 2002) (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 16Critter Country
(Splash Mountain; 1989–2023) (from Disneyland)
Image 17Disney shows the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 18Disney security vehicle, picture taken July 2, 2009 in front of Epcot (from Walt Disney World)
Image 19Disney's promotional logo for its centennial. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 20Walt (center) showing the plans of Disneyland to officials from Orange County in December 1954 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 21Disney in 1954 (from Walt Disney)
Image 22Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney's son, was head of the animation department until 2003. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 23Disney's video streaming subscription service Disney+ was launched in 2019, which has a total of over 135 million subscriptions as of June 2022. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 24Main Street at Disneyland, as seen from a horseless carriage (from Disneyland)
Image 25Disney's childhood home (from Walt Disney)
Image 26An aerial shot of Walt Disney World in 1982 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 27Disney Magic at Port of Venice (from Disney Cruise Line)
Image 28Walt Disney (center) showing Orange County officials plans for Disneyland's layout, December 1954 (from Disneyland)
Image 29Alice and characters from her movie host "Disneyland Musical Chairs" at Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner, accompanied by a ragtime pianist. (from Disneyland)
Image 30Michael Eisner replaced Ron Miller as CEO. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 31Monorail Red travels over the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage in Tomorrowland. (from Disneyland)
Image 32The original logo of Walt Disney World from 1971 to the mid-1990s (from Walt Disney World)
Image 33Fantasyland
(Peter Pan's Flight in the foreground and the Matterhorn Bobsleds in the background) (from Disneyland)
Image 34Walt Disney's business envelope featured a self-portrait, c. 1921 (from Walt Disney)
Image 35Wedding Pavilion at the Seven Seas Lagoon (from Walt Disney World)
Image 36Disneyland fireworks from Sleeping Beauty Castle (from Disneyland)
Image 37Overlay of Walt Disney's original 1966 plans for Disney World and the proposed EPCOT city (orange) and contemporary situation (blue) (from Walt Disney World)
Image 38Disneyland aerial view, 1963, which includes the new Melody Land Theater at the top of the photo (from Disneyland)
Image 39Adventureland entrance
(2006) (from Disneyland)
Image 40Disneyland Railroad Engine 2 at the New Orleans Square station. (from Disneyland)
Image 41Walt (right) dressed as a gaucho next to Donald Duck in Argentina while on the company's South American goodwill trip in 1941. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 42Hollywood Studios' park icon, the Chinese Theatre (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 43Tomorrowland
(Space Mountain in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 44Walt, Florida Governor W. Haydon Burns, and Roy announcing the plans for Disney World in November 1965 (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 45Disney drawing Goofy for a group of girls in Argentina, 1941 (from Walt Disney)
Image 46Walt Disney introduces each of the seven dwarfs in a scene from the original 1937 Snow White theatrical trailer (from Walt Disney)
Image 47The 2018 version of The Walt Disney World logo. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 48The 1996 version of The Walt Disney World logo. (from Walt Disney World)
Image 49Walt Disney (left) with his brother Roy O. Disney (right) and then Governor of Florida W. Haydon Burns (center) on November 15, 1965, publicly announcing the creation of Disney World (from Walt Disney World)
Image 50View of Disney Springs (from Walt Disney World)
Image 51A portrait of Disney with cartoon representations of different nationalities on a 6-cent U.S. postage stamp, 1968 (from Walt Disney)
Image 52One of Disney's first animated characters Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which Disney lost the rights to until 2006. (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 53The Walt Disney World Monorail System provides free transport across the resort.
Image 54Bob Iger became CEO of Disney in 2005, expanding the company's properties (from The Walt Disney Company)
Image 55Fantasmic! finale on July 4, 2010 (from Disneyland)
Image 56New Orleans Square
(the Haunted Mansion in the background and Fantasmic! viewing area in the foreground in 2010) (from Disneyland)
Image 57Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
(Star Wars: Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run in 2019) (from Disneyland)
Image 58Map of the resort as of May 2015 (from Walt Disney World)
Image 59An aerial view of Disneyland in 2004 (from Disneyland)

Selected biography

Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (born December 9, 1960) is an American television director, writer, producer, storyboard artist, and actor associated with several animated television series. Marsh was born in Santa Monica, California, where he grew up with a heavily blended family dynamic. Marsh has been and continues to be a driving force behind several animation projects, working for over six seasons on the animated television series The Simpsons. Marsh continued to work on other animated television series, including King of the Hill and Rocko's Modern Life, before moving to England in 1996. While in England, Marsh worked on several animated programs, including Postman Pat and Bounty Hamster, and worked for BKN New Media Ltd. to produce several feature films. After six years living in England, Marsh was asked by his longtime partner Dan Povenmire to help produce Phineas and Ferb in 2007, a concept the two had while working together on Rocko's Modern Life. Marsh accepted and moved back to the United States; the series has since garnered Marsh two Emmy Awards nominations for songwriting.

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that the ferry General Joe Potter at Walt Disney World is named in honor of Major General William Everett Potter?
... that John Oliver dared Disney to sue him over his version of Mickey Mouse?
... that a revival of the comedy series Lizzie McGuire was ordered in 2019, but canceled mid-production after Disney deemed it not family-friendly enough?
... that in response to Disney's stance on Florida's House Bill 1557, also known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, Pixar employees stated that Disney removes LGBT references from the studio's films?
... that vaccine coverage at schools around the Disneyland Resort was too low for herd immunity when measles broke out in 2014?
... that Encanto's Mirabel is the first Disney heroine to wear glasses?

Selected quote

Come on, Pidge. the place is ours.

— Tramp, Lady and the Tramp

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More Did you know...

...that Harriet Burns designed the original prototype models of Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle, Pirates of the Caribbean and New Orleans Square?

...that the 1935 Disney cartoon Three Orphan Kittens was later censored for having negative portrayals of African Americans?

...that Walt Disney started sketching Disney Characters in 1908?
...that the structure of the Epcot's Mexico pavilion was designed by architect and structural engineer Arturo Dulzaides in 1984.
... that the most valuable cartoon movie poster was a poster for the Walt Disney short, Alice's Day at the Sea (USA 1924), was sold in London England at $36534.00 in 1994.

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