Although Walt Disney seldom set pen to paper, either to write or to draw, and was himself responsible for very few of the achievements for which he has received credit, no other writer or artist in this century has had a more profound and far-ranging impact on the mind and imagination of the child than he did. Through his career in film as the producer of animated and live-action motion pictures, Disney revived interest in numerous works of literature and folklore; reshaped classic tales according to his own vision of the world and society; and successfully indoctrinated several generations of children to believe in the puritan ethic, the self-help philosophy, and the moral nature of the universe. No character in any of Horatio Alger's novels better exemplifies the success which determination, hard work, luck, and honesty bring than does the life of Disney.

Walter Elias Disney was born...