Once upon a time there was this really cute and talented kid called Walter Elias Disney who was raised on a Missouri farm (why are they always 'raised' on farms but 'brought up' in suburbs?) which from the evidence of his later artwork, seems to have been entirely stocked with talking dogs, chipmunks with more chutzpah than Robin Williams, several speech-impaired ducks, and, at least, half a dozen genetically-modified mice.
Succumbing to his innate artistic impulses from an early age, lil' Walt is said to have seized a stick dipped in tar and embellished the walls of the family ranch house with all manner of capering critters (shucks...child prodigies, who'd have 'em?). Having enlisted as an ambulance driver in WW1, Walt continued to express his desire to doodle dizzily by decorating his whole vehicle in similar style (thus enabling huge numbers of mortally-wounded combatants to die laughing).
After returning from the war and failing to raise a bank loan or a titter with his Laugh-O-Gram venture, young Walt armed himself with a head full of notions and headed for 'them thar hills' (Beverley that is) where he got real animated by moving cartoon images.
In 1937, having spotting that the depressed western world could do with a pick-me-up; Walt screened his famous polygamy epic. Possibly as a result of the somewhat novel plot-line in which several persons of restricted growth set up a 'menage-a-huit' with an underage runaway, but more likely because of its brilliant artwork, the pic' was a hit enabling Walt to go on to create a whole string of great movies that brought pleasure to millions (and renewed self-esteem to elephants with learning difficulties).
Click for Christmas
