制造快樂的夢想家——華特.迪士尼

Try to imagine a world without Walt Disney. A world without his magic， whimsy， and optimism. Walt Disney transformed the entertainment industry into what we know today. He pioneered the fields of animation and found new ways to teach and educate. He was a creator; an imaginative， and aesthetic person. Even 45 years after his death， we still continue to grasp his ideas， and his creations， remembering him for everything he’s done for us.

Early Life

Walter Disney was born on December 5， 1901 in Chicago Illinois. He was raised on a farm in Marceline， Missouri and lived for most of his childhood here. He had a very early interest in drawing and art， and when he was seven years old he sold small sketches and drawings to nearby neighbors. His knack1 for creating enduring art forms took shape when he convinced his sister， Ruth， into helping him paint the side of the family’s house with tar.

Close to the Disney family farm， there were Santa Fe Railroad tracks that crossed the countryside. Often Walt would put his ear against the tracks， to listen for approaching trains. Walt later worked a summer job with the railroad， selling newspapers， popcorn， and sodas to travelers. During his life Walt would often try to recapture the freedom he felt when aboard those trains by building his own miniature train sets.

During these“carefree years” of country living young Walt began to love and appreciate nature and wildlife; family and community， which were a large part of agrarian2 living. Though his father could be quite stern， and often there was little money， Walt was encouraged by his mother and older brother， Roy.

Walt attended McKinley High School in Chicago where he divided his attention between drawing and photography， and contributing to the school paper. At night he attended the Academy of Fine Arts， to better his drawing abilities.

Even after the Disney family moved to Kansas City， Walt continued to develop and flourish in his talent for artistic drawing. Besides drawing， Walt had picked up a knack for acting and performing. At school， he began to entertain his friends by imitating his silent screen hero， Charlie Chaplin. At his teacher’s invitation， Walt would tell his classmates stories while illustrating on the chalk board.

Walt dropped out of high school at 17 to serve in World War I. Rejected because he was under age， Walt joined the Red Cross and was sent overseas to France， where he spent a year driving an ambulance and chauffeuring3 Red Cross officials. His ambulance was covered from stem to stern4， not with stock camouflage5， but with Disney cartoons.

Experiments in Animation

Once Walt returned from France， he wanted to pursue a career in commercial art， which soon lead to his experiments in animation. By 1922， he had set up his own shop in association with Ub Iwerks， whose drawing ability and technical inventiveness were prime factors in Disney’s eventual success. He began producing short animated films for local businesses， in Kansas City. By the time Walt had started to create The Alice Comedies， which was about a real girl and her adventures in an animated world， Walt ran out of money and his company， Laugh-O-Grams， went bankrupt. Instead of giving up， in August of 1923 Walt left Kansas City for Hollywood with nothing but a few drawing materials， $40 in his pocket and a completed animated and live-action film. He was not yet twenty-two. Walt’s brother， Roy， who was already in California， provided support and $250. Pooling their resources， they borrowed an additional $500 and constructed a camera stand6 in their uncle’s garage. Soon， they received an order from New York for the first Alice in Cartoonland (The Alice Comedies) featurette7， and the brothers began their production operation in the rear of a Hollywood real estate office two blocks away.

The Golden Age of Disney Cartoons

On July 3， 1925， Walt married one of his first employees， Lillian Bounds， in Lewiston， Idaho. Later on they would be blessed with two daughters， Diane and Sharon. Three years after Walt and Lilly wed， Walt created a new animated character， Mickey Mouse. His talents were first used in a silent cartoon entitled Plane Crazy. However， before the cartoon could be released， sound was introduced upon the motion picture industry. Thus， Mickey Mouse made his screen debut in Steamboat Willie， the world’s first synchronized sound cartoon featuring Disney as the voice of the Mouse. Living frugally， Walt reinvested profits to make better pictures. His insistence on technical perfection and his unsurpassed gifts as story editor quickly pushed his firm ahead. Technicolor8 was introduced to animation during the production of his Silly Symphonies cartoon features. Walt Disney held the patent for Technicolor for two years， allowing him to make the only color cartoons. In 1932， the production entitled Flowers and Trees won Walt the first of his studio’s Academy Awards. In 1937， he released The Old Mill， the first short subject to utilize the multi-plane camera technique.

The invention of cartoon characters as Mickey Mouse， Donald Duck， Minnie， and Goofy combined with the daring and innovative use of music， sound， and folk material made the Disney shorts of the 1930s a phenomenon of worldwide success. This success led to the establishment of immensely profitable， Disney-controlled sidelines9 in advertising， publishing， and franchised goods.

Disney rapidly expanded his studio facilities to include a training school where a whole new generation of animators developed and made possible the production of the first feature-length cartoon， Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).

In 1940， construction was completed on the Burbank Studio， and Disney’s staff swelled to more than 1，000 artists， animators， story men， and technicians. But because of World War II， 94 percent of the Disney facilities were engaged in special government work， including the production of training and propaganda films for the armed services.

Disney’s 1945 feature， the musical The Three Caballeros， combined live action10 with the cartoon animation， a process he used successfully in such other features as Song of the South and the highly acclaimed Mary Poppins. Other costly animated features followed， including Pinocchio， Bambi， and the celebrated musical experiment Fantasia. With Seal Island (1948)， wildlife films became an additional source of income， and in 1950 his use of blocked funds in England to make pictures like Treasure Island led to what became the studio’s major product—live-action films. In 1954， Disney successfully invaded television.

Foundation of Disneyland， EPCOT and a University

The idea for the Disneyland Park came to Walt after he took his children to other amusement parks and watched them have fun on amusement rides. He decided to build a park where the entire family could have fun together. Disney and his brother Roy mortgaged11 everything they owned to raise $17 million to build Disneyland， but fell short of what they needed. ABC-TV stepped in， guaranteeing a $6 million loan in exchange for part ownership and Disney’s commitment to produce a weekly television show for them.

Disney engaged12 Stanford Research Institute， who identified Anaheim as the center of Southern California’s future growth. Disney bought 160 acres of Anaheim orange groves， and on May 1， 1954， construction began. Walt Disney’s dream of a clean， and organized amusement parkcame true as Disneyland Park opened in 1955 in Anaheim， California. As a fabulous $17-million magic kingdom， it soon increased its investment tenfold， and by the beginning of its second quarter-century had entertained more than 200 million people， including presidents， kings and queens， and royalty from all over the globe. Since then， Disney theme parks have opened in Orlando， Tokyo， Hong Kong and Paris.

In 1965， Walt Disney turned his attention toward the problem of improving the quality of urban life in America. He personally directed the design of an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT). EPCOT， which cost an initial $900 million， was conceived of as a real-life community of the future with the very latest in high technology. The two principle areas of EPCOT are Future World and World Showcase， both of which were designed to appeal to adults rather than children.

In addition to his theme parks， Disney created and endowed a new university， the California Institute of the Arts， known as Cal Arts. He thought of this as the ultimate in education for the arts， where people in many different disciplines could work together， dream and develop， and create the mixture of arts needed for the future.

Happily married for 41 years， this moody， deliberately “ordinary” man was moving ahead with his plans for gigantic new outdoor recreational facilities when he died of circulatory problems on December 15， 1966， at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Los Angeles. At the time of his death， his enterprises had garnered13 him respect， admiration， and a business empire.

Walt Disney is a legend; a folk hero of the 20th century. His worldwide popularity was based upon the ideals which his name represents: imagination， optimism， creation， and self-made success in the American tradition. Through his work he brought joy， happiness， and a universal means of communication to the people of every nation. He brought us closer to the future， while telling us of the past. It is certainthat there will never be such a great man as Walt Disney.

試想一下，如果沒有華特·迪士尼，沒有他的神來之作、奇思妙想和樂觀豁達，這個世界將是怎樣的一個世界。華特·迪士尼一手將娛樂產業改造成了我們今天所熟知的模樣。他開辟了動畫領域的發展道路，找到了教導和培養(孩子)的新方法。他是一個創造者，一個富于想象力且頗具審美眼光的人。即便在他故去45年之后，我們仍然在不斷領悟其思想和作品的實質，并因他為我們所做的一切而將他銘記于心。

早年生活

1901年12月5日，華特·迪士尼出生于美國伊利諾伊州芝加哥市。他在密蘇里州馬瑟林的一個農場長大，在那里度過了童年的大部分時光。華特很早就對繪畫和藝術萌生了興趣。七歲那年，他開始向附近的鄰居出售小幅速寫和素描畫。在他說服姐姐露絲幫他給自家房屋外墻刷上柏油時，他已經初步掌握了創作經久不衰的藝術形式的技巧。

在離迪士尼家農場不遠的地方，有一條橫穿鄉村的圣菲鐵路，華特常常把耳朵貼在鐵軌上，聆聽火車駛來的聲音。后來，夏天的時候，華特就到鐵路上打工，向游客出售報紙、爆米花和蘇打水。在華特的一生中，他總是希望能夠重新體驗當年在火車上感到的那種自由，為此，他建造了屬于自己的微型鐵路模型。

在鄉下生活的那段“無憂無慮的歲月”里，年幼的華特愛上了大自然與野生動植物、家庭與社區這些田園生活的主要構成部分，對它們欣賞不已。雖然華特的父親管教很嚴，而且家里的經濟狀況也常常捉襟見肘，但他卻得到了母親和哥哥羅伊的支持和鼓勵。

上了芝加哥麥金利高中后，華特把精力用在繪畫、攝影和給校報投稿上。晚上，他還到美術學院上課，以提高自己的繪畫技能。

就算后來迪士尼一家遷往了堪薩斯城，華特在繪畫才能方面的發展和豐富也從未因此中斷。除了繪畫以外，華特還學會了表演技巧。上學期間，他開始通過模仿心目中無聲電影的銀幕英雄——查理·卓別林來為朋友們帶去歡樂。在老師的邀請下，華特還會一邊給同學們講故事，一邊在黑板上畫故事插圖。

17歲那年，華特從高中輟學，入伍參加第一次世界大戰。由于年齡達不到應征標準，華特轉而加入紅十字會，后來漂洋過海，被派往法國。在那里，他開了一年的救護車，還負責運送紅十字會的官員。他的救護車并沒有使用常用的偽裝色，而是從頭到尾都畫滿了迪士尼漫畫。

試水動畫

從法國回來后，華特想要在商業藝術領域干出一番事業，在這一想法的推動下，他開始試著制作動畫。到1922年時，他已經聯手烏布·伊沃克斯開辦了自己的公司，而迪士尼最終能取得成功，也主要得益于烏布·伊沃克斯的繪畫才能與創作技巧。之后，華特開始在堪薩斯城為當地企業制作動畫短片。等到開始創作《愛麗絲喜劇系列》——講述一個現實中的女孩及其在動畫世界里的奇遇——的時候，華特的資金用完了，他的“歡笑動畫”公司也因此破產。華特并沒有氣餒，恰恰相反，1923年8月，他揣著僅有的40美元，帶著幾件繪圖材料和一部已經完工的實景動畫電影，離開堪薩斯城，奔向好萊塢。那時他還不到22歲。華特的哥哥羅伊當時已經在加利福尼亞，他向華特伸出援手，給了他250美元。他倆把手里的錢湊在一起，又借了500美元，在他們叔叔的車庫里支起了攝像機支架。很快，兄弟二人就接到了從紐約發來的一張訂單——第一部《愛麗絲在卡通國》(《愛麗絲喜劇系列》)短片電影。就這樣，在好萊塢一家地產辦公大樓后面相隔兩條大街的地方，兩人開始辦起了自己的制片公司。

迪士尼動畫的黃金時代

1925年7月3日，華特與莉蓮·邦茲在愛達荷州路易士頓市結婚，莉蓮是他首批雇用的員工之一。后來，他們有了兩個女兒——黛安娜和莎倫。與莉蓮結婚三年后，華特創作了一個新的動畫形象——米老鼠。在一部名叫《瘋狂的飛機》的無聲動畫片中，米老鼠的才華第一次得以施展。然而，這部動畫片還未上映，電影業就引進了聲音。這樣一來，米老鼠在影片《威利號汽船》中完成了其銀幕首秀。這是世界上第一部擁有同步聲音的動畫片，片中的米老鼠由迪士尼配音。華特生活節儉，他用賺來的錢進行了再投資，希望能做出更好的動畫片。他在技術上的務求完美和在編劇方面無與倫比的天賦迅速推動了公司的發展。在他制作動畫故事片《糊涂交響曲》的過程中，動畫業出現了“彩色印片法”。華特擁有“彩色印片法”為期兩年的技術專用權，這意味著只有他才有權制作彩色動畫。1932年，《花與樹》一片為華特捧回了自己電影制片廠的第一個奧斯卡獎。1937年，華特發行了首部運用多平面攝像技術拍攝的短片——《老磨坊》。米老鼠、唐老鴨、米妮和高飛狗等卡通形象的創作，加上在音樂、聲效和民俗材料方面的大膽和創新應用，讓20世紀30年代的迪士尼動畫短片享譽全球，其成就堪稱奇跡。在這一成就的帶動下，迪士尼旗下的廣告、出版和特許商品等利潤豐厚的附帶產業也紛紛確立了自己的地位。

迪士尼迅速對自己電影制片廠的設施進行了擴充，建起了一所培訓學校，正是在這所學校里，新一代動畫師不斷成長，并制作了第一部動畫長片——《白雪公主和七個小矮人》(1937年)。

1940年，伯班克電影制片廠建設完成，迪士尼的工作班底擴大至一千多名，包括藝術家、動畫師、編劇以及技術人員。然而，由于第二次世界大戰的爆發，迪士尼94%的設備被用于特殊的政府工作，包括為武裝部隊制作培訓和宣傳影片。

1945年，迪士尼推出音樂故事片《三劍客》，該片采用了真人表演與卡通動畫相結合的制作手法，華特將這種手法也成功地運用在《南方之歌》和深受好評的《歡樂滿人間》等影片中。隨后，迪士尼打造了幾部高成本影片，包括《木偶奇遇記》、《小鹿斑比》以及名聞遐邇的音樂試驗劇《狂想曲》。隨著《海豹島》(1948年)的上映，野生動物題材的影片成為迪士尼又一收入來源。1950年，華特利用在英國的凍結資金制作了諸如《金銀島》這樣的影片，從此催生了迪士尼電影制片廠后來的主流產品——真人實景電影。1954年，迪士尼成功進軍電視業。

制造快樂，實現夢想

建造迪士尼樂園的想法源于華特的一次經歷：他帶著自己的孩子去別的游樂園玩耍，看到他們在旋轉木馬上玩得很開心，于是便萌生了自己創辦樂園的念頭。他決定建造一個可以讓全家人共享天倫之樂的公園。為了建造迪士尼樂園，迪士尼和他的哥哥羅伊拿出所有家當作抵押，籌措到1700萬美元，但仍舊沒有達到所需數目。這時，美國國家廣播公司電視臺對他們施以援手，承諾出資600萬美元。作為交換條件，他們將擁有迪士尼樂園的部分所有權，而且迪士尼還要保證為他們每周制作一期電視節目。

迪士尼請來斯坦福研究所幫忙選址，他們認定阿納海姆將成為南加利福尼亞未來的發展中心。于是，迪士尼便買下阿納海姆160英畝的橘樹林。1954年5月1日，迪士尼樂園開始動工。1955年，隨著迪士尼樂園在加利福尼亞州阿納海姆落成開放，迪士尼的夢想——擁有一個整潔干凈、井井有條的游樂園——終于成真。作為一個以1700萬美元巨額資金打造的奇幻王國，它很快就帶來了十倍于投資的回報。到開放后的第二個25年時，迪士尼樂園已經接待了兩億多游客，其中不乏總統、國王、王后以及來自全球的王室貴胄。從那以后，迪士尼主題樂園又相繼登陸奧蘭多、東京、香港和巴黎。

1965年，華特·迪士尼開始將目光轉向如何提升美國城市居民的生活質量。他親自主持設計了“未來社會的試驗模型”(EPCOT)。根據設想，僅啟動就耗資9億美元的EPCOT是一個包含最新高科技內容的未來的真實生活社區。EPCOT包括“未來世界”和“世界之窗”兩個主要區域，兩者的設計初衷都是招徠成年人而非兒童。

除了主題樂園，迪士尼還捐資創建了一所大學，這就是加利福尼亞藝術學院，即人們所知道的加州藝院。在他看來，這里是藝術教育的極致化所在，諸多不同學科的人們可以在這里一起工作，一起夢想，一起開拓，共同創造出迎合未來所需、融匯百家之長的藝術作品。

華特·迪士尼度過了41年幸福的婚姻生活，他情緒多變，總是故意以“普通人”的形象示人，就在他懷揣建造新型戶外娛樂設施的夢想打算在人生路上繼續前行時，卻于1966年12月15日因循環系統疾病在洛杉磯圣約瑟夫醫院溘然長逝。到他去世時，他所開創的事業為他帶來的是尊重、崇拜和一個商業帝國。

華特·迪士尼是一個傳奇人物，是20世紀的平民英雄。他之所以能受到舉世歡迎，是因為他的名字所代表的那些理想：想象力、樂觀、創造力以及美國傳統中自力更生的成功信條。他用他的努力給我們帶來了歡樂和幸福，為各國人民提供了一個彼此溝通的途徑。他給我們講述的是過去，卻由此讓我們更貼近未來。毋庸置疑，偉大如華特·迪士尼者，將不會再有。

注釋

1. knackn. 技能，本領

2. agrarianadj. 土地的，耕地的

3. chauffeurvt. 開車運送

4. from stem to stern：完全，從頭到尾

5. camouflagen. 偽裝，保護色

6. camera stand：攝像機支架

7. featuretten. 電影短片

8. technicolorn. 彩色印片法

9. sidelinen. 副業

10. live action：真人(或實景)電影

11. mortgagevt. 抵押

12. engagevt. 雇傭

13. garnervt. 獲得，得到