The Golden Age of Hollywood was in full swing by 1933, with movie stars lighting up the silver screen. Names like Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn were well on their way to becoming legendary. Yet none of these iconic figures were destined to match the popularity, or longevity, of a scampish cartoon mouse named Mickey. Five years after his 1928 debut, Mickey Mouse was a full-fledged global sensation—soon joined by other characters animated by Disney Studios. Along the way, they turned Walt Disney into a tycoon and his film company into an empire. The works that resulted were more than “cartoons." They were cultural touchstones, rights of passage shared across generations with timeless messages and familiar friends. This is the story of Disney animation—a piece of Americana that thrills and delights as strongly today as it did 100 years ago.
WHY WE LOVE DISNEY ANIMATED MOVIES • EVERYONE HAS A BELOVED MEMORY OF FILMS AND CHARACTERS THAT WE ALL SHARE
CHAPTER 1 BOLD Beginnings • THE BIRTH DISNEY OF STUDIOS
The BOY who LOVED to DRAW • IT TOOK TIME, BUT WALT DISNEY TURNED HIS CHILDHOOD PASSION INTO SOMETHING GRAND
The CHARACTER THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING • MICKEY WAS THE RIGHT MOUSE AT THE RIGHT TIME
CHAPTER 2 The GOLDEN AGE • THE APEX OF DISNEY’S FILM ANIMATION
The DISNEY MAGIC • IN FIVE FILMS HE CREATED A TIMELESS STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE
The CLASSIC FILMS of the GOLDEN AGE
CHAPTER 3 Staying ON TOP • THE SILVER AGE OF DISNEY STUDIOS
The POSTWAR YEARS • DISNEY HIT ITS STRIDE FOLLOWING WORLD WAR II AND CREATED SOME OF ITS BEST-LOVED WORK
The CLASSIC FILMS of the SILVER AGE • Disney’s reputation for family entertainment blossomed during the1950s—a decade of expansion for the company that gave babyboomers (and the world) The Mickey Mouse Club on TV, 17-live-actionmovies in theaters, and a string of animated features that maynot have been as technically innovative or ambitious as the films thatcame before them, but were loved nonetheless.
CHAPTER 4 Dawn of a NEW ERA • HOW A DOWNTURN LED TO A RENAISSANCE
The REVIVAL YEARS • LOST AND FACING ITS LOWEST POINT, DISNEY ANIMATION FOUND ITS WAY BACK TO THE TOP
The CLASSIC FILMS OF THE MODERN AGE
100 Years Of Animated Disney Classics
PHOTO CREDITS
