Born in Chicago to Elias Disney (an Irish Canadian) and Flora Call Disney (a German American), Walt Disney, who was one of five children in the family, spent most of his early life in Missouri (first in Marceline and later in Kansas City). After serving in Europe as an ambulance driver in Europe at the end of World War I, Disney returned to Kansas City, where he worked with Ub Iwerks at the Kansas City Film Ad Company. The two decided to set out on their own in 1922 and founded Laugh-O-gram Films. Although working at their own company allowed them to fine-tune a method of combining live action with animation, distribution problems led to the demise of Laugh-O-grams in a year. In 1923, Disney moved to Hollywood and founded the Walt Disney company with his brother Roy. Iwerks later joined them as a key animator...