By the time Walt had started to create The Alice Comedies, which was about a real girl and her adventures in an animated world, Walt ran out of money, and his company Laugh-O-Grams went bankrupted. Instead of giving up, Walt packed his suitcase and with his unfinished print of The Alice Comedies in hand, headed for Hollywood to start a new business.
If I’m every feeling scared, alone, or are just plain freaked out by work, I often think of Walt.
He believed the greatest character trait a person could have was Courage. He had good reason to believe that. He risked his entire business several times in his career. But it all worked out in the end.
In here: The Life of Walt Disney is the famous story of Walt loosing the rights to Oswald the duck due to fine print in a contract.
Before boarding the train home after that meeting, Walt sent Roy a telegram: “LEAVING TONIGHT STOPPING OVER KC ARRIVE HOME SUNDAY MORNING SEVEN THIRTY DON’T WORRY EVERYTHING OK WILL GIVE DETAILS WHEN ARRIVE — WALT” But while Walt was trying to protect his brother from the real story.
On the train back to California, Walt worked feverishly on his new character – a mouse. It was during the time of Charles Lindbergh’s flight in 1927 and Walt’s new cartoon, Plane Crazy was influenced by the times. Walt showed Lillian his new character and told her he was going to call him Mortimer Mouse. Lillian hated the name, so they came up with Mickey Mouse.
When all hope looked lost, Walt pushed harder and came up with possibly the greatest animated character of all time.
If you feel like you don’t know how you’re going to get through the next day, just think of Walt. Think of the courage you have inside you. And push!
You can do it.