Almost no young people today know who the cartoon character Oswald the Rabbit is, but they certainly recognize his successor, Bugs Bunny. Oswald, Bugs, and hundreds of other characters were created by Walt Disney, perhaps the most famous cartoonist in history. Born in prefix = st1 /Chicagoin 1901, Walt Disney always wanted to be an artist. After returning from World War I, in which he drove an ambulance, Disney worked as a commercial artist. He enjoyed drawing cartoons more than anything else, and decided to try his hand at a technology that was new at the time, moving pictures. In the 1920's, he produced several films where he made cartoon characters move as if by magic. The technique Disney used was painstaking. He made hundreds or even thousands of repeated drawings of the same character. In each drawing, the character was changed just a bit. A film was taken of the series of drawings, and when it was shown, the characters appeared to move. The process, called animation, is still used today, although computers have made the process much easier. In 1928, Disney created his most famous character, Mortimer Mouse, who we know today as Mickey. The mouse starred in a cartoon called Steamboat Willie, which was unusual because it involved the use of a sound track. Within the next few years, Disney invented many of his other characters. The list of Disney's animation successes is long and memorable. It includes Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, and Peter Pan. Perhaps his most remarkable animated film is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Created in 1937, it was an immediate success. Today, more than fifty years later, it is still one of the most popular films for children. What makes the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfsso remarkable?
It was a little success when created. It took more than a year to make it. It was made at a time when there were no computers. It has remained popular for more than fifty years.