It all started with a Mouse.

" Animated Cartoons" -E.G. Lutz - In 1920, Walt Disney was working as a commercial artist/cartoonist and formed a company with his friend Ub Iwerks called Iwerks-Disney to produce commercial art. It was short lived, and he (and Iwerks) soon thereafter took a job with the Kansas City Film Ad Company  obtained a copy of the newly published “Animated Cartoons” from the Kansas City Public Library. It had a huge influence on his work. In 1922, Walt formed Laugh-O Gram Films and asked Ub to join him. This new studio failed and Walt went to California,

The "Dear Friend Ubbe" letter (June 1924) is Walt's letter to Ub asking him to join him in California. Ub became the "Hand behind the Mouse" by nearly singlehandedly animating at least the first three films. It was said that Ub could produce 700 usable drawings a day. Many of todays animators produce 80-100 a week.

Original Mickey Mouse drawing - Walt Disney’s company was at a critical low point in its development and Walt had been in New York trying to negotiate higher fees with Universal Picture the distributor of their animated short films with Oswald the Rabbit. Not only did Walt learn that he had no rights to his character, but Charles Mintz with Universal informed him that he had hired many of Walt's animators from him.  Walt was devastated about this business setback. So, on the long train ride back to California Walt started to sketch ideas for a new mouse character. Walt wanted the name Mortimer but Lillian did not like it. Lillian suggested the name of Mickey Mouse and the character of Mickey Mouse was first drawn by animator Ub Iwerks for a short film called “Plane Crazy." When the Disney Studios had failed to find a distributor, the always optimistic Disney moved forward and produced three additional animated short films featuring Mickey.  Ultimately, “Steamboat Willie” was the first of those to be released and premiered on November 18, 1928 

Steamboat Willie Script - In 1970, Dave Smith became the first director of the Walt Disney Archives, and as chief archivist was charged with collecting and preserving all aspects of the company’s history. One of the first things that Dave was asked to do was to archive all of the items in Walt's offices. In one of the drawers, Smith found the script to Steamboat Willie. When I was fortunate enough to get to speak with Dave about my painting, he mentioned that Walt was never one to keep the items that were "part of the process", as the finished product is what was important. He said it would be an important item to have in my painting. “The fact that he [Walt] saved the Steamboat Willie script proved to me that he did at least treasure this special moment in history, which had started him on the road to success.” Dave later said to historian Jim Korkis. In the stainless file organizer at the top of the painting is the 6 page script for "Steamboat Willie", their first released film with Mickey. The cover is open showing the film's opening sequence. Steamboat Willie premiered on November 18, 1928 (and for this reason the date is officially used for Mickey Mouse’s birthday).

Disneyland Original Presentation Map - The large, rolled yet folded document in the middle is the original drawing, completed over a weekend in September, 1953 by Herb Ryman and Walt of Walt's new vision. Dick Irvine, a colleague, called up Herb and Walt got on the phone and asked how long it would take him to get to the studio. Herb said 15 minutes and when he arrived, Walt began describing this new park that he wanted to build. He explained that Roy was going to New York to meet with some bankers to help with financing and they needed a drawing of this new park. He knew that Herb was just the guy to help. Herb said, " You’re crazy. You’ve got a lot of nerve to call me on a Saturday, hoping I can come up with something. Well I can’t. Nobody in the world can do it. It will embarrass me and you. I don’t want anything to do with it. We’re still good friends, but that’s impossible.“ Walt, you're crazy. You've got a lot of nerve to call me on Saturday, hoping I can come up with something...I don't want anything to do with it." About two hours later, Herb was hard at work, turning Walt's ideas into a beautiful drawing. The colorized version as well as the nine page document, describing Walt's Vision of this new park were taken to New York to secure funding to make it a reality.

It Took Walt Disney More Than 20 Years to Make 'Mary Poppins'. In the early 1940s, Walt Disney made his daughter Diane a promise: he would adapt her favorite 1934 children's book, British author P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins, into a big-screen masterpiece. Walt's long perseverance paid off, critically and financially Mary Poppins was the greatest success of his life. This was in 1964, 20 years after he read the book and two years before he passed away. In 1965 Mary Poppins was nominated for 13 Academy Awards. By winning 5 (including Best Actress in Leading Role (Julie Andrews) and Best Score) it remains the Disney film with the most awards even today.

The Heart of Our Cities-Victor Gruen (1964)

Walt immersed himself in this book during a July 1966 Vancouver trip/cruise with his family. Many of Walt's ideas for EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow) came after reading this book.

Marty Sklar says Disney kept one book placed prominently on his desk during the World Fair days: Victor Gruen's The Heart of Our Cities: The Urban Crisis: Diagnosis and Cure. Published in 1964, it challenged sociological, historical, and psychological city planning theories with logic and artistry. When I first spoke with Marty Sklar about my painting, he said that he had one of these books on his desk as well.

“I don’t believe there’s a challenge anywhere in the world that’s more important to people everywhere than finding solutions to the problems of our cities. But where do we begin… how do we start answering this great challenge?” -Walt Disney

The story of E.P.C.O.T. (Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow) began in the early 1960s, when Walt Disney decided he wanted to do something to change the plight of America’s cities. He sketched his early concept for a “city of the future” on a napkin, shown here.

After Disneyland was built, hotels and other businesses sprung up near the park that Walt said, “The one thing I learned from Disneyland was to control the environment. Without that we get blamed for the things that someone else does..."  So "Project X", as it was called started buying up land under a variety of names.

On October 26, 1966, Walt and Marty Sklar, principal creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, produced a film detailing their plans for "EPCOT." Two months later, Walt passed away on December 15, 1966.

When I presented Marty with one of the prints of my painting. Marty shared that the letter in the painting, dated November 8, 1966 was for a revised and shortened voice-over of the original film. This was signed, "OK, Go ahead, WALT" and was one of the last items of business signed by Walt.