1765 Broadside

The Sons of Liberty was a political group made up of American patriots that originated in the pre-independence North American British colonies. The group was formed to protect the rights of the colonists from the usurpations by the British government after 1766. They are best known for undertaking the Boston Tea Party in 1773, which led to the Intolerable Acts (an intense crackdown by the British government), and a counter-mobilization by the Patriots that led directly to the American Revolutionary War in 1775.

Origin[link]

After 1765 the major American cities saw the formation of secret groups set up to defend their rights. Boston had the "Boston Caucus Club," led by Samuel Adams and comprising artisans, merchants, tradesmen, and professionals, as well as the "Loyal Nine".^[1] Groups such as these were absorbed into the greater Sons of Liberty organization. Its name comes from a speech in the British Parliament by Colonel Isaac Barré referring to the colonials as sons of liberty.^[2]

In the popular imagination, the Sons of Liberty was a formal underground organization with recognized members and leaders. More likely, the name was an underground term for any men resisting new Crown taxes and laws.^[2] The well-known label allowed organizers to issue anonymous summons to a Liberty Tree, "Liberty Pole", or other public meeting-place. Furthermore, a unifying name helped to promote inter-Colonial efforts against Parliament and the Crown's actions. Their motto became, "No taxation without representation."^[3]

History[link]

The Bostonian Paying the Excise-Man, 1774 British propaganda print referring to the tarring and feathering of Boston Commissioner of Customs John Malcolm four weeks after the Boston Tea Party. The men also poured hot tea down Malcolm's throat, as can be seen. Note the noose hanging on the Liberty Tree, and the Stamp Act posted upside-down

After defeating France in the French and Indian War, the British Empire sought to provide offices for hundreds of military officers and 10,000 men, and intended to have the Americans pay for it.^[4] It passed a series of taxes, and when the Americans refused to pay on the argument of "No Taxation without Representation" (there were no American representatives in Parliament), Parliament insisted on its right to rule the colonies.^[5] The most incendiary tax was the Stamp Act of 1765, which caused a firestorm of opposition through legislative resolutions (starting in the Province of Virginia), public demonstrations (starting in the Province of Massachusetts), threats, and occasional hurtful losses.^[6]

Groups identifying themselves as Sons of Liberty existed in almost every colony.^[7] The organization spread month by month, after independent starts in several different colonies. August 1765 celebrated the founding of the group in Boston.^[8] By November 6, a committee was set up in New York to correspond with other colonies. In December an alliance was formed between groups in New York and Connecticut. January bore witness to a correspondence link between Boston and New York City, and by March, Providence had initiated connections with New York, New Hampshire, and Newport, Rhode Island. March also marked the emergence of Sons of Liberty organizations in New Jersey, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia, and a local group established in North Carolina was attracting interest in South Carolina and Georgia.^[9]

1846 artist's impression of the Boston Tea Party

The leaders of the Sons of Liberty heralded mostly from the middle class- artisans, traders, lawyers and local politicians. Samuel Adams and his cousin John were not members of the Sons of Liberty in order to not be directly connected with any violence that the organization may have participated. However there were members of the Sons of Liberty that had influential power with the people such as “Benjamin Edes, a printer, and John Gill of the Boston Gazette produced a steady stream of news and opinion.”^[10] Samuel Adams was connected to the Boston Gazette and published many articles under a pen name. This implies that Samuel Adams probably was participatory in the organization through writing, shared opinion, and association with prominent members. Though they were speaking out against the actions of the British government, they still claimed to be loyal to the Crown. Their initial goal was to ensure their rights as Englishmen. Throughout the Stamp Act Crisis, the Sons of Liberty professed continued loyalty to the King because they maintained a "fundamental confidence" in the expectation that Parliament would do the right thing and repeal the tax.^[11]

To add weight to their cause, the Sons of Liberty knew they needed to appeal to the masses that made up the lower classes.^[12] Several members of the Sons of Liberty were printers/publishers and distributed articles about the meetings and demonstrations the Sons of Liberty held, as well as about the fundamental political beliefs of the group and what they wanted to accomplish. They related in print the major events of the struggle against the new acts to promote their cause and vilify the local officers of the British government. Office holders identified by the Sons of Liberty as being part of the Stamp Act injustice quickly fell out of favor and lost their positions once local elections were held again. The Sons of Liberty would hold meetings to decide which candidates to support—those that would bring about the desired political change. In return, the British authorities attempted to denigrate the Sons of Liberty by referring to them as the "Sons of Violence" or the "Sons of Iniquity."^[13]

Furthermore, the inter-communication afforded the Colonies by the widespread nature of the Sons of Liberty allowed for decisive action against the Townshend Act in 1768. One by one the groups penned agreements limiting trade with Britain and imposing a highly effective boycott against importation and sale of British goods.^[14]

The burning of the HMS Gaspée.

In many cases their public meetings turned violent.^[15] Though the lower classes often agreed with the ideas presented by the Sons of Liberty, they wanted more action than words and simple shows of numbers. As such, the property of the gentry, customs officers and other British authorities often fell victim to the volatile nature of mobs.^[16]

In New York City the Sons of Liberty would put up liberty poles to stand as a testament to their resolve. The British soldiers would tear them down almost as soon as they were put up. This back and forth action resulted in several skirmishes between the two sides. Most notable among these engagements was the Battle of Golden Hill on January 19, 1770, in which many people were injured and at least one killed. Violent outbreaks over the pole raged intermittently from 1766 until the Patriots gained control of New York City government in April 1775.

In Boston, another example of the violence they committed could be found in their treatment of a local stamp distributor, Andrew Oliver. They burned his effigy in the streets. When he did not resign, they escalated to burning down his office building. Even after he resigned, they almost destroyed the whole house of his close associate, Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson. It is believed that the Sons of Liberty did this to excite the lower classes and get them actively involved in rebelling against the authorities. Their violent actions made many of the stamp distributors resign in fear.

The Sons of Liberty were also responsible for the burning of HMS Gaspée in 1772.

In December 1773, the Sons of Liberty issued and distributed a declaration in New York City called the Association of the Sons of Liberty in New York, which formally stated their opposition to the Tea Act and that anyone who assisted in the execution of the act was "an enemy to the liberties of America" and that "whoever shall transgress any of these resolutions, we will not deal with, or employ, or have any connection with him". The Sons of Liberty took direct action to enforce their opposition to the Tea Act at the Boston Tea Party. Members of the group, wearing disguises meant to evoke the appearance of Native American Indians, poured several tons of tea into the Boston Harbor in protest of the Tea Act. The Sons of Liberty sat in the long room above member Benjamin Edes's print shop and planned the famous tea party. During the planning, the Sons of Liberty drank from a punch bowl later donated to the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston.

Early in the American Revolution, the Sons of Liberty generally evolved into or were superseded by more formal groups such as the Committee of Safety.

After the end of the American Revolutionary War, Isaac Sears along with Marinus Willet and John Lamb, in New York City, revived the Sons of Liberty. In March 1784, they rallied an enormous crowd that called for the expulsion of any remaining Loyalists from the state starting May 1. The Sons of Liberty were able to gain enough seats in the New York assembly elections of December 1784 to have passed a set of punitive laws against Loyalists. In violation of the Treaty of Paris (1783) they called for the confiscation of the property of Loyalists.^[17]

Flags[link]

Nine stripe Sons of Liberty flag

In 1767, the Sons of Liberty adopted a flag called the rebellious stripes flag with nine uneven vertical stripes (five red and four white). It is supposed that nine represented the number of colonies that were to attend the Stamp Act Congress. A flag having 13 horizontal red and white stripes, used by American merchant ships during the war, was also associated with the Sons of Liberty. While red and white were common colors of the flags, other color combinations, such as green and white, in addition to yellow and white, were used.^[18][19]

Notable members[link]

• John Adams - lawyer, Massachusetts
• Samuel Adams - political writer, tax collector/fire warden, Boston
• Benedict Arnold - businessman, Norwich
• Benjamin Edes - journalist/publisher Boston Gazette, Boston
• John Hancock - merchant/smuggler/fire warden, Boston
• Patrick Henry - lawyer/fire warden Virginia
• John Lamb - trader, New York City
• William Mackay - merchant, Boston
• Alexander McDougall - captain of privateers, New York City
• James Otis - lawyer, Massachusetts
• Paul Revere - silversmith/fire warden, Boston
• Benjamin Rush - physician, Philadelphia
• Isaac Sears - captain of privateers, New York City
• Haym Solomon - financial broker, New York and Philadelphia
• Charles Thomson - tutor/secretary, Kentucky
• Joseph Warren - doctor/soldier, Boston
• Thomas Young - doctor, Boston
• Marinus Willett - cabinetmaker/soldier, New York
• Oliver Wolcott - lawyer, Connecticut

Later societies[link]

The name was also used during the American Civil War.^[20] Early in 1865, the Copperhead organization, the Knights of the Golden Circle, was reorganized as the Order of the Sons of Liberty. Like their namesakes, these Sons of Liberty spoke out and acted against what they saw as an injustice of thwarted rights. In this case, the injustice was being committed by the United States government by denying the rights of the Southern States to leave the Union. The Order of the Sons of Liberty, found mostly in the Northwestern states of the time — Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri and Kentucky — agreed with the idea that the Union was a voluntary establishment and any state wishing to leave and create their own form of government should be allowed to do so.

Unlike the pre-independence era Sons of Liberty, the Civil War era Order of the Sons of Liberty was a highly doctrinal, hierarchical organization. The original Sons of Liberty were united simply in their desires to change the political attitude of the British government, but often differed on the methods to be used and the specifics of the end result. The Order of the Sons of Liberty required members to swear an oath to their cause, and had a strict list of purposes to be followed on pain of punishment. Whereas, the eighteenth century Sons of Liberty tried to avoid large scale military conflicts, the nineteenth century organization planned for it, collecting and distributing guns and ammunitions to their members. The Order of the Sons of Liberty opposed the Union draft and planned to fight with the Southern troops.

Furthermore, after the Revolutionary War, the Sons of Liberty were looked upon as patriots and great leaders of the new country. After the Civil War, the Order of the Sons of Liberty faced charges of treason.

The Improved Order of Red Men, a patriotic fraternal secret society, claims to actually be the Sons of Liberty, having adopted the Native American motif after the Boston Tea Party.

One of the secret societies at the University of Virginia calls itself the Sons and Daughter of Liberty.

Modern references[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The patriotic spirit of the Sons of Liberty has been immortalized in modern times by Walt Disney Pictures through their film adaptation of Esther Forbes's novel Johnny Tremain. Within the movie the Sons of Liberty sing a rousing song titled "The Liberty Tree". This song raises the Liberty Tree to a national icon in a manner similar to the way George M. Cohan's "You're a Grand Old Flag" revitalized adoration for the American flag in the early twentieth century.

See also[link]

• Boston Tea Party
• Daughters of Liberty
• Declaratory Act
• Patriot movement
• Patriots (faction) (Netherlands)
• Société des Fils de la Liberté (Quebec)
• Stamp Act Congress
• United Irishmen
• United Scotsmen
• Boston Massacre

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Baker, Jean (1983), Affairs of Party: The Political Culture of Northern Democrats in the Mid-Nineteenth Century, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, ISBN 0-8014-1513-6 
• Becker, Carl (1901), "Growth of Revolutionary Parties and Methods in New York Province 1765-1774", American Historical Review 7 (1): 56–76, DOI:10.2307/1832532, ISSN 0002-8762, JSTOR 1832532 
• Champagne, Roger J. (1967), "Liberty Boys and Mechanics of New York City, 1764-1774", Labor History 8 (2): 115–135, ISSN 0023-656x 
• Champagne, Roger J. (1964), "New York's Radicals and the Coming of Independence", Journal of American History 51 (1): 21–40, DOI:10.2307/1917932, ISSN 0021-8723, JSTOR 1917932 
• Dawson, Henry Barton. The Sons of Liberty in New York (1859) 118 pages; online edition
• Hoffer, Peter Charles (2006), Seven Fires: The Urban Infernos The Reshaped America, New York: Public Affairs, ISBN 1-58648-355-2 
• Irvin, Benjamin H. (2003), "Tar, Feathers, and the Enemies of American Liberties, 1768-1776", New England Quarterly 76 (2): 197–238, DOI:10.2307/1559903, ISSN 0028-4866, JSTOR 1559903 
• Labaree, Benjamin Woods. The Boston Tea Party (1964).
• Maier, Pauline (1991) [1972], From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776, New York: W.W. Norton, ISBN 0-393-30825-1 
• Maier, Pauline. "Reason and Revolution: The Radicalism of Dr. Thomas Young," American Quarterly Vol. 28, No. 2, (Summer, 1976), pp. 229–249 in JSTOR
• Miller, John C. (1943), Origins of the American Revolution, Boston: Little-Brown, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=493183 
• Middlekauff, Robert (2005), The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789, Oxford University Press, ISBN )19531588X 
• Morais, Herbert M. (1939), "The Sons of Liberty in New York", in Morris, Richard B., The Era of the American Revolution, pp. 269–289, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=29142025 , a Marxist interpretation
• Nash, Gary B. (2005), The Unknown Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America, London: Viking, ISBN 0-670-03420-7 
• Schecter, Barnet (2002), The Battle of New York, New York: Walker, ISBN 0-8027-1374-2 
• Smith, Page (1976), A New Age Now Begins, New York: McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-059097-4 
• Unger, Harlow (2000), John Hancock: Merchant King and American Patriot, Edison, NJ: Castle Books, ISBN 0-7858-2026-4 
• Walsh, Richard. Charleston's Sons of Liberty: A Study of the Artisans, 1763–1789 (1968)

External links[link]

• The Sons of Liberty, ushistory.org
• The Sons of Liberty, u-s-history.com
• Sons of Liberty: Terrorists, Archiving Early America
• Albany Sons of Liberty Constitution
• Association of the Sons of Liberty in New York, December 15, 1773

Frank Turner
Frank Turner at a radio session for XFM in London.
Background information
Birth name	Francis Edward Turner
Also known as	Frank 'Dave' Turner
Born	(1981-12-28) 28 December 1981 (age 30) Manama, Bahrain
Origin	Meonstoke, England
Genres	Folk, folk-punk, hardcore punk, alternative rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Xtra Mile Recordings (UK), Epitaph, Paper + Plastick
Associated acts	Million Dead, Reuben, The Record Buying Public, Kneejerk, Badger Doritos, Albuquerque Meat Hat, Dive Dive
Website	frank-turner.com

Frank Turner (born 28 December 1981) is an English^[1] folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. To date, Turner has released four solo albums, two rarities compilation albums and four EPs. Turner began recording for his new album England Keep My Bones, in January 2011. It was released on 6 June 2011 in the UK, and 7 June 2011 worldwide.

Early life[link]

Turner was educated on a scholarship at Eton College, where he studied alongside Prince William,^[2] and later went on to attend the London School of Economics where he read History. His father, Roger Turner, is the son of Sir Mark Turner, formerly chairman of high street retailer BHS, and had himself also attended Eton before becoming a City investment banker, while his mother, Jane, the daughter of a bishop, is a primary school headmistress.

Musical career[link]

Beginnings and Million Dead (Up to 2005)[link]

Turner's musical career began at school, with the short-lived alternative band Kneejerk. The band released three records and played several shows around the UK (including a support slot for Boysetsfire), before disbanding in November 2001. The last record, their only full length, was entitled 'The half life of kissing' and was released by Yorkshire DIY hardcore label Sakari Empire after the band had actually broken up.^[3]

In 2001, Turner joined London post-hardcore band Million Dead at the invitation of former Kneejerk drummer Ben Dawson.^[4] In 2005, after four years and two albums, the band announced that they were parting ways, as "irreconcilable differences within the band mean that it would be impossible to continue."^[4]

[edit] Sleep is for the Week and Love Ire & Song (2005-2008)

Turner's first solo shows took place prior to the break-up of Million Dead, with a set at the Smalltown America all-dayer at 93 Feet East in London. After the band's split, Turner felt that "it seemed like the logical thing to do to try my hand at playing these songs more publicly and more concertedly than before".^[5] Turner states that "when Million Dead finished, I wanted to stay on tour, but I didn’t want the hassle of putting a band together."^[6]

After a split EP with rock band Reuben, Turner's first solo EP, Campfire Punkrock, was released in May 2006 on Xtra Mile Recordings, with him being recorded and backed by Oxford band Dive Dive who he had met while out on tour with Reuben.^[5][7] Band members Tarrant Anderson, Ben Lloyd and Nigel Powell would become his backing band from this point on, with most of his subsequent UK headline tours being full band shows. After touring in support of American singer-songwriter Jonah Matranga, the two released a split EP in August 2006. In September, he was the last act to appear on Steve Lamacq's "Lamacq Live" show on BBC Radio 1.^[8] Turner's debut full-length studio album, Sleep Is for the Week was released in January 2007, again recorded at Dive Dive's studio, produced by their guitarist Ben Lloyd^[9] and featuring drummer Nigel Powell.

After an extensive tour, including dates supporting yourcodenameis:milo and Biffy Clyro, and an appearance at SXSW,^[10] Turner released an EP, The Real Damage, in May 2007. After a further tour with Jonah Matranga and Jacob Golden, the "All About The Destination" DVD was released in October, before returning to the studio in Hampshire to record his second album. The album, Love Ire & Song again saw Ben Lloyd from Dive Dive in the producer's seat,^[11] and was released on 31 March 2008, followed by an extensive UK tour with Andy Yorke and Chris T-T. T-T also joined the live lineup on keyboards through summer 2008.

During summer 2008, Turner made several festival appearances, including sets at Y Not Festival, Two Thousand Trees Festival, the Cambridge Folk Festival, Truck, Glastonbury, Jam By The Lake (in Durham) and the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

In October/November, during his 2008 UK Tour for the Love, Ire and Song album, he became ill with gastroenteritis, and was forced to leave the stage in Nottingham halfway through his set. All remaining shows, which included Nottingham, Liverpool and Ireland, were cancelled - the first time that Turner had cancelled any show in ten years.^[12] He went on to reschedule all cancelled shows in January 2009.

[edit] Poetry of the Deed (2008-2010)

In December 2008 Turner released The First Three Years, a compilation of demos, b-sides and covers that are not featured on either of his studio albums. In January 2009, he released a combined package of The First Three Years and Love Ire & Song, and supported The Gaslight Anthem on their tour of the UK and Europe, demoing several new songs and announcing his plans to record a new album in May. The album was produced by Alex Newport, as previously suggested in interview by Turner.^[13] His band at the time still consisted of Ben Lloyd, Tarrant Anderson and Nigel Powell from Dive Dive, with keyboardist Matt Nasir having been added on the Love, Ire and Song tour.

Prior to recording Poetry of the Deed, Turner stated that:^[14]

Turner was announced as the support act on The Offspring's summer tour, during which he documented his travels with a blog on British music website NME.^[15] Regarding the support slot, Turner stated: "Smash was one of the first punk records I ever bought, and I’m blown away to even be considered for the shows. From a “career” point of view, it’s also great - playing to many thousands of people a night across the States is an opportunity not to be sniffed at."^[16]

On 28 April, Turner signed with Epitaph Records for releases outside the UK.^[17]

Preceded by the single "The Road", Turner's third studio album, Poetry of the Deed, was released on 7 September 2009 and reached #36 in the UK album chart. The following month he embarked upon a UK tour with his band in support of the album (with singer/songwriter Beans On Toast and US band "Fake Problems" as support acts), culminating in a sell-out show at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 October 2009. A live DVD/CD, entitled Take to the Road, documenting two shows from the tour - Shepherds Bush Empire and the Union Chapel - was released in the UK in March 2010. In November 2009, Turner began a tour of the US which moved to Europe from 28 November and returned to the UK on 19 December. He completed the year with a New Year's Eve show at The Spiegeltent in Gloucester.

In early 2010, Turner played several more UK gigs, with Chuck Ragan and Crazy Arm supporting. He also accompanied Flogging Molly and The Architects on the 2010 Green 17 Tour, and announced via his Twitter that he was working on new songs.^[18]

In June, he supported Green Day on their stadium shows, and also featured as the cover star of Kerrang! magazine for the first time, with an article inside documenting his solo career up to that point.

[edit] Rock & Roll EP and England Keep My Bones (2010-present)

Turner played at many festivals throughout the summer, including his headlining appearance at the Two Thousand Trees Festival, playing his new song I Still Believe. The song was released first as a single and then appeared on his Rock and Roll EP. I Still Believe appeared on Turner's most recent album, England Keep my Bones, released on 6 June 2011.^[19] Turner also contributed one song, a cover of Build Me Up Buttercup, to Centrepoint's 2010 Charity cover album 1969 Key to Change.^[20] On 25 January 2011 he was nominated for two Shockwaves NME Awards, for best Solo Artist and best Band Blog or Twitter.^[21]

Turner announced on his Twitter on 24 February 2011 that his fourth studio album would be called England Keep My Bones and that it would be released in the UK on 6 June 2011 and worldwide on 7 June 2011. He also announced details of solo tours in Australia, Germany, UK, and the US & Canada.^[22] Frank started recording of this album on 10 January 2011 ^[23] and finished recording on 20 January 2011,^[23] with mixing completed in February 2011. In March 2011, Turner stated that:^[24]

On 21 March 2011, it was announced that Turner would be making the step up to the main stage at Reading and Leeds in August 2011.^[25] He spoke about the "perks" of playing Reading in a recent interview with 6 Towns Radio.^[26] He will also be playing Download, Blissfields and Cambridge Folk festivals, as well as many other festivals across Europe.

Several songs from England Keep My Bones were debuted at Playfest (a new music festival in Norfolk) on 28 May.

Turner leaked new song, "I Am Disappeared" to YouTube on 29 March 2011, later making it available for free download through Xtra Mile. He also announced on the 29th that he would soon be releasing "Peggy Sang the Blues" as the first single from the album.

In early 2011, Turner was booked to play as a headliner at Blissfields Festival.

During his May 2011 tour, Turner played a new song, tentatively titled "Rod Stewart." This song later became retitled as "Sailors Boots" and features as the B-side to "If Ever I Stray".

England Keep My Bones entered the UK chart at number 12 on its week of release, Turner's highest charting album to date.^[27]

Turner later released a rarities compilation, titled The Second Three Years, on 18 November 2011 through Xtra Mile Recordings and 16 January 2012 through Epitaph Records. The album compiles material recorded after the release of Turner's first compilation, The First Three Years, that does not appear on either of Turner's two successive studio albums, including tracks from EPs, singles, covers and unreleased material.

On 21 April 2011 Frank played his 1000th solo show at the Strummerville festival in Shoreditch, London.

In spring 2012, he is scheduled to play several dates in Canada as an opening act for Joel Plaskett.^[28]

On Friday 13th April 2012, Frank headlined Wembley Arena to a sold out crowd of 12,000^[29][30]. Support for the show came from Beans On Toast, dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip and Billy Bragg.

Backing band[link]

Turner's band, 'The Sleeping Souls',^[31] both live and in the studio, consists of:

• Ben Lloyd - guitar, harmonica, mandolin
• Tarrant Anderson - bass
• Matt Nasir - piano, organ, guitar, backing vocals
• Nigel Powell - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Sleep Is for the Week (2007)
• Love Ire & Song (2008)
• Poetry of the Deed (2009)
• England Keep My Bones (2011)

TBA (2013)

Videography[link]

• Casanova Lament (unaired)
• Vital Signs (2006)
• The Real Damage (2007)
• Photosynthesis (2008)
• Reasons Not to Be an Idiot (2008)
• I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous (2008)
• Long Live the Queen (2008)
• The Road (2009)
• Poetry of the Deed (2009)
• Isabel (2010)
• Try This at Home (2010)
• I Still Believe (2010)
• Peggy Sang the Blues (2011)
• If Ever I Stray (2011)
• Sailor's Boots (2011)

DVDs[link]

• All About the Destination (22 October 2007)
• Take to the Road (22 March 2010)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Interviews[link]

• Frank Turner Interview
• Frank Turner on England Keep My Bones, libertarianism, Brian May and more
• Frank Turner invites Virgin Red Room to his gorgeous garden for an interview on England Keep My Bones.
• YuppiePunk Q&A on pop songwriting, punk rock capitalism and social media
• 26 Sept. 2009 Interview with ThePunkSite.com
• Stereokill Interview: 29 October 2008
• Stereokill Interview: 4 April 2009
• GiggingNI.com talks to Frank Turner
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfT0b2INxO4&feature=avmsc2
• Frank Turner Photo Interview
• Stereoboard Interview: March 2011
• Frank Turner on 6 Towns Radio with Terry Bossons: 20 May 2011
• A snapshot into the mind and musings of Frank Turner
• Folk-punk musician Frank Turner - PRI's The World interview with Marco Werman: 19 April 2011

Walt Disney
Walt Disney on January 1, 1954
Born	Walter Elias Disney (1901-12-05)December 5, 1901[1] Hermosa, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	December 15, 1966(1966-12-15) (aged 65) Burbank, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Lung Cancer
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, U.S.
Residence	Burbank, California
Nationality	American
Education	McKinley High School
Occupation	Film producer, Co-founder of The Walt Disney Company, formerly known as Walt Disney Productions
Years active	1920–1966
Home town	Chicago, Illinois
Political party	Republican
Board member of	The Walt Disney Company
Religion	Christian (Congregationalist)[2]
Spouse	Lillian Bounds (1925–1966; his death)
Children	Diane Marie Disney Sharon Mae Disney
Parents	Elias Disney Flora Call Disney
Relatives	Ronald William Miller (son-in-law) Robert Borgfeldt Brown (son-in-law) Roy Edward Disney (nephew)
Family	Herbert Arthur Disney (brother) Raymond Arnold Disney (brother) Roy Oliver Disney (brother) Ruth Flora Disney (sister)
Awards	7 Emmy Awards, 22 Academy Awards, Cecil B.DeMille Award
Signature

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon,^[3] and philanthropist, well known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O. Disney, he was co-founder of Walt Disney Productions, which later became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation is now known as The Walt Disney Company and had an annual revenue of approximately US$36 billion in the 2010 financial year.^[4]

Disney is particularly noted as a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most well-known fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, for whom Disney himself provided the original voice. During his lifetime he received four honorary Academy Awards and won 22 Academy Awards from a total of 59 nominations, including a record four in one year,^[5] giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual in history.^[6] Disney also won seven Emmy Awards and gave his name to the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the U.S., as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland.

The year after his December 15, 1966 death from lung cancer in Burbank, California, construction began on Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. His brother Roy Disney inaugurated the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971.

1901–1937: Beginnings[link]

Childhood[link]

Disney was born on December 5, 1901, at 2156 N. Tripp Avenue in Chicago's Hermosa community area to Irish-Canadian father Elias Disney and Flora Call Disney, who was of German and English descent.^[7][8] His great-grandfather, Arundel Elias Disney, had emigrated from Gowran, County Kilkenny, Ireland where he was born in 1801. Arundel Disney was a descendant of Robert d'Isigny, a Frenchman who had travelled to England with William the Conqueror in 1066.^[9] With the d'Isigny name anglicised as "Disney", the family settled in a village now known as Norton Disney, south of the city of Lincoln, in the county of Lincolnshire.

In 1878, Disney's father Elias had moved from Huron County, Ontario, Canada to the United States at first seeking gold in California before finally settling down to farm with his parents near Ellis, Kansas, until 1884. Elias worked for the Union Pacific Railroad and married Flora Call on January 1, 1888, in Acron, Florida. The family moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1890,^[10] hometown of his brother Robert^[10] who helped Elias financially for most of his early life.^[10] In 1906, when Walt was four, Elias and his family moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri,^[11] where his brother Roy had recently purchased farmland.^[11] In Marceline, Disney developed his love for drawing^[12] with one of the family's neighbors, a retired doctor named "Doc" Sherwood, paying him to draw pictures of Sherwood's horse, Rupert.^[12] His interest in trains also developed in Marceline, a town that owed its existence to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway which ran through it. Walt would put his ear to the tracks in anticipation of the coming train^[8] then try and spot his uncle, engineer Michael Martin, conducting the train.

10-year old Walt Disney (center right) at a gathering of Kansas City newsboys in 1912.

The Disneys remained in Marceline for four years,^[13] before moving to Kansas City in 1911^[14] where Walt and his younger sister Ruth attended the Benton Grammar School. At school he met Walter Pfeiffer who came from a family of theatre aficionados, and introduced Walt to the world of vaudeville and motion pictures. Before long Walt was spending more time at the Pfeiffers' than at home.^[15] As well as attending Saturday courses at the Kansas City Art Institute,^[16] Walt often took Ruth to Electric Park, 15 blocks from their home, which Disney would later acknowledge as a major influence of his design of Disneyland.^{[citation needed]}

Teenage years[link]

In 1917, Elias acquired shares in the O-Zell jelly factory in Chicago and moved his family back to the city,^[17] where in the fall Disney began his freshman year at McKinley High School and took night courses at the Chicago Art Institute.^[18] He became the cartoonist for the school newspaper, drawing patriotic topics and focusing on World War I. Despite dropping out of high school at the age of sixteen to join the army, Disney was rejected for being underage.^[19]

After his rejection by the army, Walt and a friend decided to join the Red Cross.^[20] Soon after joining he was sent to France for a year, where he drove an ambulance, but only after the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.^[21]

Disney as an ambulance driver immediately after World War I

Hoping to find work outside the Chicago O-Zell factory,^[22] in 1919 Walt moved back to Kansas City to begin his artistic career.^[23] After considering whether to become an actor or a newspaper artist, he decided on a career as a newspaper artist, drawing political caricatures or comic strips. But when nobody wanted to hire him as either an artist or even as an ambulance driver, his brother Roy, then working in a local bank, got Walt a temporary job through a bank colleague at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio^[23] where he created advertisements for newspapers, magazines, and movie theaters.^[24] At Pesmen-Rubin he met cartoonist Ubbe Iwerks^[25] and when their time at the studio expired, they decided to start their own commercial company together.^[26]

In January 1920, Disney and Iwerks formed a short-lived company called, "Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists". However, following a rough start, Disney left temporarily to earn money at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, and was soon joined by Iwerks who was not able to run their business alone.^[27] While working for the Kansas City Film Ad Company, where he made commercials based on cutout animations, Disney became interested in animation, and decided to become an animator.^[28] The owner of the Ad Company, A.V. Cauger, allowed him to borrow a camera from work to experiment with at home. After reading the Edwin G. Lutz book Animated Cartoons: How They Are Made, Their Origin and Development, Disney considered cel animation to be much more promising than the cutout animation he was doing for Cauger. Walt eventually decided to open his own animation business,^[29] and recruited a fellow co-worker at the Kansas City Film Ad Company, Fred Harman, as his first employee.^[29] Walt and Harman then secured a deal with local theater owner Frank L. Newman, arguably the most popular "showman" in the Kansas City area at the time,^[30] to screen their cartoons at his local theater, which they titled Laugh-O-Grams.^[30]

Laugh-O-Gram Studio[link]

Presented as "Newman Laugh-O-Grams",^[30] Disney's cartoons became widely popular in the Kansas City area^[31] and through their success, he was able to acquire his own studio, also called Laugh-O-Gram,^[32] for which he hired a vast number of additional animators, including Fred Harman's brother Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, and his close friend Ubbe Iwerks.^[33] Unfortunately, studio profits were insufficient to cover the high salaries paid to employees. Unable to successfully manage money,^[34] Disney's studio became loaded with debt^[34] and wound up bankrupt^[35] whereupon he decided to set up a studio in the movie industry's capital city, Hollywood, California.^[36]

Hollywood[link]

Disney and his brother Roy pooled their money and set up a cartoon studio in Hollywood^[37] where they needed to find a distributor for Walt's new Alice Comedies, which he had started making while in Kansas City^[35] but never got to distribute. Disney sent an unfinished print to New York distributor Margaret Winkler, who promptly wrote back to him that she was keen on a distribution deal for more live-action/animated shorts based upon Alice's Wonderland.^[38]

Alice Comedies[link]

Virginia Davis, the live-action star of Alice’s Wonderland and her family relocated from Kansas City to Hollywood at Disney's request, as did Iwerks and his family. This was the beginning of the Disney Brothers' Studio located on Hyperion Avenue in the Silver Lake district, where it remained until 1939. In 1925, Disney hired a young woman named Lillian Bounds to ink and paint celluloid. After a brief courtship, the pair married that same year.

The new series, Alice Comedies, proved reasonably successful, and featured both Dawn O'Day and Margie Gay as Alice with Lois Hardwick also briefly assuming the role. By the time the series ended in 1927, its focus was more on the animated characters and in particular a cat named Julius who resembled Felix the Cat, rather than the live-action Alice.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit[link]

By 1927, Charles Mintz had married Margaret Winkler and assumed control of her business. He then ordered a new all-animated series to be put into production for distribution through Universal Pictures. The new series, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, was an almost instant success, and the character, Oswald — drawn and created by Iwerks — became a popular figure. The Disney studio expanded and Walt re-hired Harman, Rudolph Ising, Carman Maxwell, and Friz Freleng from Kansas City.

Disney went to New York in February 1928 to negotiate a higher fee per short and was shocked when Mintz told him that not only did he want to reduce the fee he paid Disney per short but also that he had most of his main animators, including Harman, Ising, Maxwell, and Freleng—but not Iwerks, who refused to leave Disney—under contract and would start his own studio if Disney did not accept the reduced production budgets. Universal, not Disney, owned the Oswald trademark, and could make the films without Walt. Disney declined Mintz's offer and as a result lost most of his animation staff whereupon he found himself on his own again.^[39]

It subsequently took his company 78 years to get back the rights to the Oswald character when in 2006 the Walt Disney Company reacquired the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from NBC Universal, through a trade for longtime ABC sports commentator Al Michaels.^[40]

Mickey Mouse[link]

After losing the rights to Oswald, Disney felt the need to develop a new character to replace him, which was based on a mouse he had adopted as a pet while working in his Laugh-O-Gram studio in Kansas City.^[41] Ub Iwerks reworked the sketches made by Disney to make the character easier to animate although Mickey's voice and personality were provided by Disney himself until 1947. In the words of one Disney employee, "Ub designed Mickey's physical appearance, but Walt gave him his soul."^[41] Besides Oswald and Mickey, a similar mouse-character is seen in the Alice Comedies, which featured "Ike the Mouse". Moreover, the first Flip the Frog cartoon called Fiddlesticks showed a Mickey Mouse look-alike playing fiddle. The initial films were animated by Iwerks with his name prominently featured on the title cards. Originally named "Mortimer", the mouse was later re-christened "Mickey" by Lillian Disney who thought that the name Mortimer did not fit. Mortimer later became the name of Mickey's rival for Minnie – taller than his renowned adversary and speaking with a Brooklyn accent.

The first animated short to feature Mickey, Plane Crazy was a silent film like all of Disney's previous works. After failing to find a distributor for the short and its follow-up, The Gallopin' Gaucho, Disney created a Mickey cartoon with sound called Steamboat Willie. A businessman named Pat Powers provided Disney with both distribution and Cinephone, a sound-synchronization process. Steamboat Willie became an instant success,^[42] and Plane Crazy, The Galloping Gaucho, and all future Mickey cartoons were released with soundtracks. After the release of Steamboat Willie, Disney successfully used sound in all of his subsequent cartoons, and Cinephone also became the new distributor for Disney's early sound cartoons.^[43] Mickey soon eclipsed Felix the Cat as the world's most popular cartoon character^[41] and by 1930, despite their having sound, cartoons featuring Felix had faded from the screen after failing to gain attention.^[44] Mickey's popularity would subsequently skyrocket in the early 1930s.^[41]

[edit] Silly Symphonies

Following in the footsteps of Mickey Mouse series, a series of musical shorts titled, Silly Symphonies were released in 1929. The first, The Skeleton Dance was entirely drawn and animated by Iwerks, who was also responsible for drawing the majority of cartoons released by Disney in 1928 and 1929. Although both series were successful, the Disney studio thought it was not receiving its rightful share of profits from Pat Powers,^[45] and in 1930, Disney signed a new distribution deal with Columbia Pictures. The original basis of the cartoons was their musical novelty with the first Silly Symphony cartoons featuring scores by Carl Stalling.^[46]

Iwerks was soon lured by Powers into opening his own studio with an exclusive contract, while Stalling would also later leave Disney to join Iwerks.^[47] Iwerks launched his Flip the Frog series with the first voiced color cartoon Fiddlesticks, filmed in two-strip Technicolor. Iwerks also created two other cartoon series, Willie Whopper and the Comicolor. In 1936, Iwerks shut down his studio in order to work on various projects dealing with animation technology. He would return to Disney in 1940 and go on to pioneer a number of film processes and specialized animation technologies in the studio's research and development department.

By 1932, although Mickey Mouse had become a relatively popular cinema character, Silly Symphonies was not as successful. The same year also saw competition increase as Max Fleischer's flapper cartoon character, Betty Boop, gained popularity among theater audiences.^[48] Fleischer, considered Disney's main rival in the 1930s,^[49] was also the father of Richard Fleischer, whom Disney would later hire to direct his 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Meanwhile, Columbia Pictures dropped the distribution of Disney cartoons to be replaced by United Artists.^[50] In late 1932, Herbert Kalmus, who had just completed work on the first three-strip technicolor camera,^[51] approached Walt and convinced him to reshoot the black and white Flowers and Trees in three-strip Technicolor.^[52] Flowers and Trees would go on to be a phenomenal success and would also win the first 1932 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. After the release of Flowers and Trees, all subsequent Silly Symphony cartoons were in color while Disney was also able to negotiate a two-year deal with Technicolor, giving him the sole right to use their three-strip process,^[53][54] a period eventually extended to five years.^[46] Through Silly Symphonies, Disney also created his most successful cartoon short of all time, The Three Little Pigs (1933).^[55] The cartoon ran in theaters for many months, featuring the hit song that became the anthem of the Great Depression, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf".^[56]

One of two stars dedicated to Walt Disney on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

First Academy Award[link]

In 1932, Disney received a special Academy Award for the creation of "Mickey Mouse", a series which switched to color in 1935 and soon launched spin-offs for supporting characters such as Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto. Pluto and Donald became standalone cartoons in 1937,^[57] with Goofy following in 1939.^[58] Of all Mickey's partners, Donald Duck, who first teamed up with Mickey in the 1934 cartoon, Orphan's Benefit, was arguably the most popular, going on to become Disney's second most successful cartoon character of all time.^[59]

Children[link]

The Disneys' first attempt at pregnancy ended in miscarriage. Lillian became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter, Diane Marie Disney, on December 18, 1933.^[60] Later, the Disneys adopted Sharon Mae Disney (December 31, 1936 – February 16, 1993).^[61]

Diane married Ron Miller at the age of 20 and is known as Diane Disney Miller. The Millers established and own a winery called Silverado Vineyards in California.^[62] Diane and Ron Miller have seven children: Christopher, Joanna, Tamara, Jennifer, Walter, Ronald and Patrick.^[63] Years later, Diane went on to become the cofounder of The Walt Disney Family Museum, with the aid of her children.^[60] The museum was created to preserve her father's image and reach out to millions of Disney fans worldwide.^[64] The museum displays a chronological view of Walt Disney's life through personal artifacts, interactive kiosks and various animations.^[64]

Sharon Mae Disney was born December 31, 1936, in Los Angeles, California and was later adopted by the Disneys, due to Lillian's several birth complications.^[63][65] In 1950, Sharon went on to star as herself in the Walt Disney Studios special One Hour in Wonderland.^[66] Sharon married Robert Brown in 1958, with whom she had one child, and they remained married until his death in 1967.^[65] Sharon married William Lund in 1969 and had two children with him, but six years later they divorced.^[65][67] Sharon was a philanthropist and had contributed to charities such as the Marianne Frostig Center of Educational Therapy and the Curtis School foundation.^[68] In 1993 at the age of 57, Sharon died from cancer at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California.^[65] After Sharon's death, her estate donated $11 million to the California School of Performing Arts, where she was a member of the board of trustees for almost two decades. Sharon's donation was commemorated by renaming the School of Dance the Sharon D. Lund School of Dance.^[60][69]

1937–1941: Golden age of animation[link]

[edit] "Disney's Folly": Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Walt Disney introduces each of the Seven Dwarfs in a scene from the original 1937 Snow White theatrical trailer.

Following the creation of two cartoon series, in 1934 Disney began planning a full-length feature. The following year, opinion polls showed that another cartoon series, Popeye the Sailor, produced by Max Fleischer, was more popular than Mickey Mouse.^[70] Nevertheless, Disney was able to put Mickey back on top as well as increase his popularity by colorizing and partially redesigning the character to become what was considered his most appealing design to date.^[41] When the film industry learned of Disney's plans to produce an animated feature-length version of Snow White, they were certain that the endeavor would destroy the Disney Studio and dubbed the project "Disney's Folly". Both Lillian and Roy tried to talk Disney out of the project, but he continued plans for the feature, employing Chouinard Art Institute professor Don Graham to start a training operation for the studio staff. Disney then used the Silly Symphonies as a platform for experiments in realistic human animation, distinctive character animation, special effects, and the use of specialized processes and apparatus such as the multiplane camera – a new technique first used by Disney in the 1937 Silly Symphonies short The Old Mill.^[71]

All of this development and training was used to increase quality at the studio and to ensure that the feature film would match Disney's quality expectations. Entitled Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the feature went into full production in 1934 and continued until mid-1937, when the studio ran out of money. To obtain the funding to complete Snow White, Disney had to show a rough cut of the motion picture to loan officers. The film premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater on December 21, 1937 and at its conclusion the audience gave Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs a standing ovation. Snow White, the first animated feature in America made in Technicolor, was released in February 1938 under a new distribution deal with RKO Radio Pictures. RKO had been the distributor for Disney cartoons in 1936, after it closed down the Van Beuren Studios in exchange for distribution.^[72] The film became the most successful motion picture of 1938 and earned over $8 million on its initial release. These initial release earnings for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would be the equivalent of $122,487,945 in 2010.^[73]

Golden age of animation[link]

Following the success of Snow White, for which Disney received one full-size, and seven miniature Oscar statuettes, he was able to build a new campus for the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, which opened for business on December 24, 1939. Snow White was not only the peak of Disney's success, but also ushered in a period that would later be known as the Golden Age of Animation for the studio.^[74][75] Feature animation staff, having just completed Pinocchio, continued work on Fantasia and Bambi as well as the early production stages of Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Wind in the Willows while the shorts staff carried on working on the Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto cartoon series, ending the Silly Symphonies at this time.^{[clarification needed More info needed on end of the Silly Symphonies to make a new and separate sentence.]} Animator Fred Moore had redesigned Mickey Mouse in the late 1930s after Donald Duck overtook him in popularity among theater audiences.^[76]

Pinocchio and Fantasia followed Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into the movie theaters in 1940, but both proved financial disappointments. The inexpensive Dumbo was then planned as an income generator, but during production most of the animation staff went on strike, permanently straining relations between Disney and his artists.

1941–1945: World War II era[link]

In 1941, the U.S. State Department sent Disney and a group of animators to South America as part of its Good Neighbor policy, at the same time guaranteeing financing for the resultant movie, Saludos Amigos.^[77]

Shortly after the release of Dumbo in October 1941, the US entered World War II. The U.S. Army and Navy Bureau of Aeronautics^[78] contracted most of the Disney studio's facilities where the staff created training and instruction films for the military, home-front morale-boosting shorts such as Der Fuehrer's Face and the 1943 feature film Victory Through Air Power. However, military films did not generate income, and the feature film Bambi underperformed on its release in April 1942. Disney successfully re-issued Snow White in 1944, establishing a seven-year re-release tradition for his features. In 1945, The Three Caballeros was the last animated feature released by the studio during the war.

In 1944, Encyclopædia Britannica publisher William Benton, entered into unsuccessful negotiations with Disney to make six to twelve educational films per annum. Disney was asked by the US Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Office of Inter-American Affairs (OIAA), to make an educational film about the Amazon Basin, which resulted in the 1944 animated short, The Amazon Awakens.^{[79][80][81][82][83]}

1945–1955: Post-war period[link]

Disney studios also created inexpensive package films, containing collections of cartoon shorts, and issued them to theaters during this period. These included Make Mine Music (1946), Melody Time (1948), Fun and Fancy Free (1947) and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). The latter had only two sections, the first based on The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and the second on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. During this period, Disney also ventured into full-length dramatic films that mixed live action and animated scenes, including Song of the South and So Dear to My Heart. After the war ended, Mickey's popularity would also fade.^[84]

By the late 1940s, the studio had recovered enough to continue production on the full-length features Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, both of which had been shelved during the war years. Work also began on Cinderella, which became Disney's most successful film since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In 1948 the studio also initiated a series of live-action nature films, titled True-Life Adventures, with On Seal Island the first. Despite its resounding success with feature films, the studio's animation shorts were no longer as popular as they once were, with people paying more attention to Warner Bros. and their animation star Bugs Bunny. By 1942, Leon Schlesinger Productions, which produced the Warner Bros. cartoons, had become the country's most popular animation studio.^[85] However, while Bugs Bunny's popularity rose in the 1940s, so did Donald Duck's,^[86] a character who would replace Mickey Mouse as Disney's star character by 1949.^[87]

During the mid-1950s, Disney produced a number of educational films on the space program in collaboration with NASA rocket designer Wernher von Braun: Man in Space and Man and the Moon in 1955, and Mars and Beyond in 1957.

Walt Disney meets Wernher von Braun in 1954.

Disney and the Second Red Scare[link]

Disney was a founding member of the anti-communist group Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals.  In 1947, during the Second Red Scare,^[88] Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), where he branded Herbert Sorrell, David Hilberman and William Pomerance, former animators and labor union organizers, Communist agitators. All three men denied the allegations and Sorrell went on to testify before the HUAC in 1946 when insufficient evidence was found to link him to the Communist Party.^[89][90]

Disney also accused the Screen Cartoonists Guild of being a Communist front, and charged that the 1941 strike was part of an organized Communist effort to gain influence in Hollywood.^[88]

1955–1966: Theme parks and beyond[link]

Planning Disneyland[link]

Disneyland: aerial view, August 1963, looking SE. New Melodyland Theater at top. Santa Ana Freeway (US 101 at the time, now I-5) upper left corner.

On a business trip to Chicago in the late-1940s, Disney drew sketches of his ideas for an amusement park where he envisioned his employees spending time with their children. The idea for a children's theme park came after a visit to Children's Fairyland in Oakland, California. It also said that Disney may have been inspired to create Disneyland in the park Republic of the Children located in Manuel B. Gonnet, La Plata, Argentina, and opened in 1951.^[91] This plan was originally intended to be built on a plot located across the street to the south of the studio. These original ideas developed into a concept for a larger enterprise that would become Disneyland. Disney spent five years developing Disneyland and created a new subsidiary company, WED Enterprises, to carry out planning and production of the park. A small group of Disney studio employees joined the Disneyland development project as engineers and planners, and were dubbed Imagineers.^{[citation needed]}

As Disney explained one of his earliest plans to Herb Ryman, who created the first aerial drawing of Disneyland presented to the Bank of America during fund raising for the project, he said, "Herbie, I just want it to look like nothing else in the world. And it should be surrounded by a train."^[92] Entertaining his daughters and their friends in his backyard and taking them for rides on his Carolwood Pacific Railroad had inspired Disney to include a railroad in the plans for Disneyland.

Disneyland grand opening[link]

Disneyland officially opened on July 18, 1955. On Sunday, July 17, 1955, Disneyland hosted a live TV preview, among the thousands of people in attendance were Ronald Reagan, Bob Cummings and Art Linkletter, who shared cohosting duties, as well as the mayor of Anaheim. Walt gave the following dedication day speech:

Carolwood Pacific Railroad[link]

The Lilly Belle on display at Disneyland Main Station in 1993. The caboose's woodwork was done entirely by Walt himself.

During 1949, Disney and his family moved to a new home on a large piece of land in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles, California. With the help of his friends Ward and Betty Kimball, who already had their own backyard railroad, Disney developed blueprints and immediately set to work on creating a miniature live steam railroad for his backyard. The name of the railroad, Carolwood Pacific Railroad, came from his home's location on Carolwood Drive. The railroad's half-mile long layout included a 46-foot (14 m) long trestle bridge, loops, overpasses, gradients, an elevated berm, and a 90-foot (27 m) tunnel underneath his wife's flowerbed. He named the miniature working steam locomotive built by Disney Studios engineer Roger E. Broggie Lilly Belle in his wife's honor and had his attorney draw up right-of-way papers giving the railroad a permanent, legal easement through the garden areas, which his wife dutifully signed; however, there is no evidence of the documents ever recorded as a restriction on the property's title.^{[clarification needed]}

Expansion into new areas[link]

As Walt Disney Productions began work on Disneyland, it also began expanding its other entertainment operations. In 1950, Treasure Island became the studio's first all-live-action feature, soon followed by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (in CinemaScope, 1954), Old Yeller (1957), The Shaggy Dog (1959), Pollyanna (1960), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), The Absent-Minded Professor (1961), and The Parent Trap (1961). The studio produced its first TV special, One Hour in Wonderland, in 1950. Disney began hosting a weekly anthology series on ABC entitled Disneyland, after the park, on which he aired clips of past Disney productions, gave tours of his studio, and familiarized the public with Disneyland as it was being constructed in Anaheim. The show also featured a Davy Crockett miniseries, which started the "Davy Crockett craze" among American youth, during which millions of coonskin caps and other Crockett memorabilia were sold across the country.^[93] In 1955, the studio's first daily television show, Mickey Mouse Club debuted on ABC. It was a groundbreaking comedy/variety show aimed specifically for children. Disney took a strong personal interest in the show and even returned to the animation studio to voice Mickey Mouse in its animated segments during its original 1955-59 production run. The Mickey Mouse Club would continue in various incarnations in syndication and on the Disney Channel into the 1990s.

As the studio expanded and diversified into other media, Disney devoted less of his attention to the animation department, entrusting most of its operations to his key animators, whom he dubbed the Nine Old Men. Although he was spending less time supervising the production of the animated films, he was always present at story meetings.^[94] During Disney's lifetime, the animation department created the successful Lady and the Tramp ( the first animated film in CinemaScope) in 1955, Sleeping Beauty ( the first animated film in Super Technirama 70mm) in 1959, One Hundred and One Dalmatians (the first animated feature film to use Xerox cels) in 1961, and The Sword in the Stone in 1963.

Production of short cartoons kept pace until 1956, when Disney shut down the responsible division although special shorts projects would continue for the remainder of the studio's duration on an irregular basis. These productions were all distributed by Disney's new subsidiary, Buena Vista Distribution, which had taken over all distribution duties for Disney films from RKO by 1955. Disneyland, one of the world's first theme parks, finally opened on July 17, 1955, and was immediately successful. Visitors from around the world came to visit Disneyland, which contained attractions based on a number of successful Disney characters and films.

After 1955, the Disneyland TV show was renamed Walt Disney Presents. It switched from black-and-white to color in 1961 and changed its name to Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, at the same time moving from ABC to NBC,^[95] and eventually evolving into its current form as The Wonderful World of Disney. The series continued to air on NBC until 1981, when it was picked up by CBS.^[96] Since then, it has aired on ABC, NBC, the Hallmark Channel and the Cartoon Network via separate broadcast rights deals. During its run, the Disney series offered some recurring characters, such as the newspaper reporter and sleuth "Gallegher" played by Roger Mobley with a plot based on the writings of Richard Harding Davis.

Disney had already formed his own music publishing division in 1949 and in 1956, partly inspired by the huge success of the television theme song The Ballad of Davy Crockett, he created a company-owned record production and distribution entity called Disneyland Records.

Early 1960s successes[link]

By the early 1960s, the Disney empire had become a major success, and Walt Disney Productions had established itself as the world's leading producer of family entertainment. Walt Disney was the Head of Pageantry for the 1960 Winter Olympics.

After decades of pursuit, Disney finally acquired the rights to P.L. Travers' books about a magical nanny. Mary Poppins, released in 1964, was the most successful Disney film of the 1960s and featured a memorable song score written by Disney favorites, the Sherman Brothers. The same year, Disney debuted a number of exhibits at the 1964 New York World's Fair, including Audio-Animatronic figures, all of which were later integrated into attractions at Disneyland and a new theme park project which was to be established on the East Coast.

Although the studio would probably have proved major competition for Hanna-Barbera, Disney decided not to enter the race and mimic Hanna-Barbera by producing Saturday morning TV cartoon series. With the expansion of Disney's empire and constant production of feature films, the financial burden involved in such a move would have proven too great.

Plans for Disney World and EPCOT[link]

In early 1964, Disney announced plans to develop another theme park to be called Disney World a few miles southwest of Orlando, Florida. Disney World was to include "the Magic Kingdom", a larger, more elaborate version of Disneyland. It would also feature a number of golf courses and resort hotels. The heart of Disney World, however, was to be the Experimental Prototype City (or Community) of Tomorrow, known as EPCOT for short.

Mineral King Ski Resort[link]

During the early-to-mid 1960s, Walt Disney developed plans for a ski resort in Mineral King, a glacial valley in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. He brought in experts such as the renowned Olympic ski coach and ski-area designer Willy Schaeffler, who helped plan a visitor village, ski runs and ski lifts among the several bowls surrounding the valley. Plans finally moved into action in the mid 1960s, but Walt died before the actual work started. Disney's death and opposition from conservationists ensured that the resort was never built.

Death[link]

Like many people of the time, Walt Disney was a chain smoker his entire adult life, although he made sure he was not seen smoking around children.^[97] In 1966, Disney was scheduled to undergo surgery to repair an old neck injury^[98] caused by many years of playing polo at the Riviera Club in Hollywood.^[99] On November 2, during pre-operative X-rays, doctors at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, across the street from the Disney Studio, discovered a tumor in his left lung.^[100] Five days later a biopsy showed the tumor to be malignant and to have spread throughout the entire left lung.^[100] After removal of the lung, doctors informed Disney that his life expectancy was six months to two years.^[100] After several chemotherapy sessions, Disney and his wife spent a short amount of time in Palm Springs, California.^[98] On November 30, Disney collapsed at his home. He was revived by fire department personnel and rushed to St. Joseph's where on December 15, 1966, at 9:30 a.m., ten days after his 65th birthday, Disney died of acute circulatory collapse, caused by lung cancer.^[98] The last thing he reportedly wrote before his death was the name of actor Kurt Russell, the significance of which remains a mystery, even to Russell.^[101]

Roy O. Disney continued out with the Florida project, insisting that the name be changed to Walt Disney World in honor of his brother.

The final productions in which Disney played an active role were the animated feature The Jungle Book and the animated short Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, as well as the live-action musical feature The Happiest Millionaire, all released in 1967. Songwriter Robert B. Sherman recalled of the last time he saw Disney:

Hibernation Urban Legend[link]

A long-standing urban legend maintains that Disney was cryogenically frozen, and his frozen corpse stored beneath the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.^[103] In fact, Disney was cremated on December 17, 1966, and his ashes interred at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. The first known human cryogenic freezing did not occur until January 1967, more than a month after Disney's death.^[103]

According to "at least one Disney publicist", as reported in the French magazine Ici Paris in 1969, the source of the rumor was a group of Disney Studio animators with "a bizarre sense of humor" who were playing a final prank on their late boss.^[104]

Although the rumor is acknowledged as false by most historians, Robert Mosley (in Disney’s World (1986)) and Marc Eliot (in Walt Disney – Hollywood’s Dark Prince (1993)) argue that Disney may have known of cryonics and may have had an interest in the science.^[105] However his daughter Diane wrote in 1972, "There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that my father, Walt Disney, wished to be frozen. I doubt that my father had ever heard of cryonics."^[104]

Legacy: 1967–present[link]

Continuing Disney Productions[link]

Plaque at the entrance that embodies the intended spirit of Disneyland by Walt Disney: to leave reality and enter fantasy

After Walt Disney's death, Roy Disney returned from retirement to take full control of Walt Disney Productions and WED Enterprises. In October 1971, the families of Walt and Roy met in front of Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom to officially open the Walt Disney World Resort.

After giving his dedication for Walt Disney World, Roy asked Lillian Disney to join him. As the orchestra played "When You Wish upon a Star", she stepped up to the podium accompanied by Mickey Mouse. He then said, "Lilly, you knew all of Walt's ideas and hopes as well as anybody; what would Walt think of it [Walt Disney World]?". "I think Walt would have approved," she replied.^[106] Roy died from a cerebral hemorrhage on December 20, 1971, the day he was due to open the Disneyland Christmas parade.

1968 US postage stamp

During the second phase of the "Walt Disney World" theme park, EPCOT was translated by Disney's successors into EPCOT Center, which opened in 1982. As it currently exists, EPCOT is essentially a living world's fair, different from the actual functional city that Disney had envisioned. In 1992, Walt Disney Imagineering took the step closer to Disney's original ideas and dedicated Celebration, Florida, a town built by the Walt Disney Company adjacent to Walt Disney World, that hearkens back to the spirit of EPCOT. EPCOT was also originally intended to be devoid of Disney characters which initially limited the appeal of the park to young children. However, the company later changed this policy and Disney characters can now be found throughout the park, often dressed in costumes reflecting the different pavilions.

The Disney entertainment empire[link]

Today, Walt Disney's animation/motion picture studios and theme parks have developed into a multi-billion dollar television, motion picture, vacation destination and media corporation that carry his name. Among other assets The Walt Disney Company owns five vacation resorts, eleven theme parks, two water parks, thirty-nine hotels, eight motion picture studios, six record labels, eleven cable television networks, and one terrestrial television network. As of 2007, the company had annual revenues of over U.S. $35 billion.^[107]

Disney Animation[link]

Walt Disney was a pioneer in character animation. He was one of the first people to move away from basic cartoons with just "impossible outlandish gags" and crudely drawn characters to an art form with heartwarming stories and characters the audience can connect to on an emotional level. The personality displayed in the characters of his films and the technological advancements remain influential when animating today. He was also considered by many of his colleagues to be a master storyteller and the animation department did not fully recover from his demise until the late 1980s in a period known as the Disney Renaissance. The most financially and critically successful films produced during this time include Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994). In 1995, Walt Disney Pictures distributed Pixar's Toy Story, the first computer animated feature film. Walt Disney's nephew Roy E. Disney claimed that Walt would have loved Toy Story and that it was "his kind of movie".^[108] With the rise of computer animated films a stream of financially unsuccessful Traditional hand-drawn animated features in the early years of the 2000s (decade) emerged. This led to the company's controversial decision to close the traditional animation department. The two satellite studios in Paris and Orlando were closed, and the main studio in Burbank was converted to a computer animation production facility, firing hundreds of people in the process. In 2004, Disney released what was announced as their final "traditionally animated" feature film, Home on the Range. However, since the 2006 acquisition of Pixar, and the resulting rise of John Lasseter to Chief Creative Officer, that position has changed with the largely successful 2009 film The Princess and the Frog. This marked Disney's return to traditional hand-drawn animation and the studio hired back staff who had been laid-off in the past. Today, Disney produces both traditional and computer animation.

CalArts[link]

In his later years, Disney devoted substantial time to funding The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Formed in 1961 through a merger of the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and the Chouinard Art Institute, which had helped in the training of the animation staff during the 1930s, when Disney died, one-fourth of his estate went to CalArts, which helped in building its campus. In his will, Disney paved the way for the creation of several charitable trusts which included one for the California Institute of the Arts and other for the Disney Foundation.^[109] He also donated 38 acres (0.154 km²) of the Golden Oaks ranch in Valencia for construction of the school. CalArts moved onto the Valencia campus in 1972.

In an early admissions bulletin, Disney explained: "A hundred years ago, Wagner conceived of a perfect and all-embracing art, combining music, drama, painting, and the dance, but in his wildest imagination he had no hint what infinite possibilities were to become commonplace through the invention of recording, radio, cinema and television. There already have been geniuses combining the arts in the mass-communications media, and they have already given us powerful new art forms. The future holds bright promise for those who imaginations are trained to play on the vast orchestra of the art-in-combination. Such supermen will appear most certainly in those environments which provide contact with all the arts, but even those who devote themselves to a single phase of art will benefit from broadened horizons."^[110]

Walt Disney Family Museum[link]

In 2009, The Walt Disney Family Museum opened in the Presidio of San Francisco. Thousands of artifacts from Disney's life and career are on display, including 248 awards that he received.^[111]

Antisemitism accusations[link]

Disney was long rumored to be antisemitic during his lifetime, and such rumors have persisted after his death. Indeed, in the 1930s he welcomed German filmmaker and Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl to Hollywood.^[112] Disney biographer Neal Gabler, the first writer to gain unrestricted access to the Disney archives, concluded in 2006 that available evidence does not support such accusations. In a CBS interview Gabler summarized his findings:

Disney eventually distanced himself from the Motion Picture Alliance in the 1950s.^[114]

The Walt Disney Family Museum acknowledges that Disney did have "difficult relationships" with some Jewish individuals, and that ethnic stereotypes common to films of the 1930s were included in some early cartoons, such as Three Little Pigs and The Opry House. However, the museum points out that Disney employed Jews throughout his career, donated to several Jewish charities (The Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Yeshiva College^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Jewish Home for the Aged, The American League for a Free Palestine)^[114] and was named "1955 Man of the Year" by the B'nai B'rith chapter in Beverly Hills.^[114][115]

Academy Awards[link]

This display case in the lobby of the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco shows many of the Academy Awards he won, including the distinctive special award at the bottom for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Walt Disney holds the record for both the most Academy Award nominations (59) and the number of Oscars awarded (22). He also earned four honorary Oscars. His last competitive Academy Award was posthumous.^[116]

• 1932: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Flowers and Trees (1932)
• 1932: Honorary Award for creation of Mickey Mouse.
• 1934: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Three Little Pigs (1933)
• 1935: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: The Tortoise and the Hare (1934)
• 1936: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Three Orphan Kittens (1935)
• 1937: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: The Country Cousin (1936)
• 1938: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: The Old Mill (1937)
• 1939: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Ferdinand the Bull (1938)
• 1939: Honorary Award for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) The citation read, "For Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, recognized as a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field." (The award, unique in the history of the Oscars, is one large statuette and seven miniature statuettes.)^[5]
• 1940: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Ugly Duckling (1939)
• 1941: Honorary Award for Fantasia (1940), shared with: William E. Garity and J.N.A. Hawkins. The citation for the certificate of merit read, "For their outstanding contribution to the advancement of the use of sound in motion pictures through the production of Fantasia."^[5]
• 1942: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Lend a Paw (1941)
• 1943: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Der Fuehrer's Face (1942)
• 1949: Best Short Subject, Two-reel: Seal Island (1948)
• 1949: Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (Honorary Award)
• 1951: Best Short Subject, Two-reel: Beaver Valley (1950)
• 1952: Best Short Subject, Two-reel: Nature's Half Acre (1951)
• 1953: Best Short Subject, Two-reel: Water Birds (1952)
• 1954: Best Documentary, Features: The Living Desert (1953)
• 1954: Best Documentary, Short Subjects: The Alaskan Eskimo (1953)
• 1954: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom (1953)
• 1954: Best Short Subject, Two-reel: Bear Country (1953)
• 1955: Best Documentary, Features: The Vanishing Prairie (1954)
• 1956: Best Documentary, Short Subjects: Men Against the Arctic
• 1959: Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects: Grand Canyon
• 1969: Best Short Subject, Cartoons: Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day

Other honors[link]

Walt Disney was the inaugural recipient of a star on the Anaheim walk of stars awarded in recognition of his significant contribution to the city of Anaheim and specifically Disneyland, which is now the Disneyland Resort. The star is located at the pedestrian entrance to the Disneyland Resort on Harbor Boulevard. Disney has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and the other for his television work.

Walt Disney received the Congressional Gold Medal on May 24, 1968 (P.L. 90-316, 82 Stat. 130–131) and the Légion d'Honneur awarded by France in 1935.^[117] In 1935, Walt received a special medal from the League of Nations for creation of Mickey Mouse, held to be Mickey Mouse award.^[118] He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on September 14, 1964.^[119] On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Walt Disney into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts.

A minor planet, 4017 Disneya, discovered in 1980 by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina, is named after him.^[120]

The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California, opened in 2003, was named in his honor.

Waltograph, a freeware typeface, is based on his signature and handwriting.

In 1993, HBO began development of a Walt Disney biopic, directed by Frank Pierson and produced by Lawrence Turman, but the project never materialized and was soon abandoned.^[121] However, Walt - The Man Behind the Myth, a biographical documentary about Disney, was later made.^[122]

See also[link]

	Disney portal
	Animation portal

• Disney family
• Walt Disney anthology television series

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Thomas, Bob (1994). Walt Disney: An American Original. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-6027-8. 

Further reading[link]

• Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516729-5.
• Broggie, Michael (1997, 1998, 2005). Walt Disney's Railroad Story. Virginia Beach, Virginia. Donning Publishers. ISBN 1-56342-009-0
• Eliot, Marc (1993). Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince. Carol. ISBN 1-55972-174-X
• Mosley, Leonard. Disney's World: A Biography (1985, 2002). Chelsea, MI: Scarborough House. ISBN 0-8128-8514-7.
• Gabler, Neal. Walt Disney: The Triumph of American Imagination (2006). New York, NY. Random House. ISBN 0-679-43822-X
• Schickel, Richard, and Dee, Ivan R. (1967, 1985, 1997). The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher. ISBN 1-56663-158-0.
• Sherman, Robert B. and Sherman, Richard M. (1998) "Walt's Time: From Before to Beyond" ISBN 0-9646059-3-7
• Thomas, Bob (1991). Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 1-56282-899-1. 
• Watts, Steven, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life, University of Missouri Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8262-1379-0

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Walt Disney

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Walt Disney

• Walt Disney at the Internet Movie Database
• Walt Disney at the TCM Movie Database
• Works by or about Walt Disney in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Walt Disney Family Museum
• Walt Disney Gravesite