Walt Disney

Miss Piggy and Kermit at the 2012 Academy Awards in front of a picture of Walt Disney holding some of his Oscars.

Disney-style mogul Chesney on Dog City

Kermit and a quote not actually from Walt Disney

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was an animator and co-creator (and original voice) of Mickey Mouse, who expanded his projects to encompass producing animated feature films, live-action movies, and the theme park Disneyland. He became a familiar TV personality by hosting his long-running anthology series, and made rare guest appearances including once on The Jack Benny Hour. After his death, his studio became known as The Walt Disney Company and has been a leading media conglomerate, eventually buying Jim Henson's Muppets.

Disney himself started in silent films, making the short Alice Comedies before introducing Mickey Mouse. By the 1930s, Disney was no longer personally directing his shorts (his last being 1935's The Golden Touch) but supervising his growing animation studio. His short subjects roster expanded to include the musical Silly Symphonies (notably The Three Little Pigs), Donald Duck, Goofy, and moved to feature films beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. A stylized version of his signature (not actually Disney's handwriting) became his logo for animated projects and used in the various newspaper comics actually made by other artists. The last studio projects personally overseen by Disney included Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book. For the 1966 Dick Van Dyke comedy Lt. Robinson Crusoe, R.N., he received story credit under the backwards pseudonym "Retlaw Yensid."

References

• Disney is caricatured in the third season Dog City episode "The New Litter" as Chesney, an elephant theme park mogul, complete with mustache. In the episode's "Yves & Steven" short, he donates a valuable rare doll which his studio produced as a way to promote his latest park, Afro Chesney.

• Sesame Street Episode 3423 features Walt Dizzy, spoofing Disney while the actual Anything Muppet caricatures Steven Spielberg. A version of the Walt Disney signature appears in the logo.

• A 2012 online HMV promotion paired Muppet characters with celebrity quotes. Kermit the Frog appears with a quote mistakenly attributed to Walt Disney, "If you dream it, you can do it," but the line was actually from a 1981 General Electric advertising campaign.

• The third Disney Drive-On installment had Walter meet The 10th Old Man, a forgotten Disney animator. After Walter introduces himself, the aged artist greets him reverently as "Mr. Disney" and says it's an honor.

Notes

• Caroll Spinney, as part of his cartoonist aspirations, had once hoped to become a Disney artist. He had a job interview at the Disney studio (arranged through a friend's contact info for Clarence Nash, voice of Donald Duck) in 1957. Spinney recalled being told they liked his work, "Then, and all of a sudden, Walt appeared in the doorway. He didn't speak to me, but I thought, 'Wow. That's getting close.'"