To celebrate their anniversary, the studios are paying homage to their characters from “Mickey” to “Star Wars” to “Marvel”. A story
From the family garage where Walt Disney created his first cartoons – his first studio in 1923 -, to the series Star Wars broadcast on its Disney+ platform, the entertainment giant stages its legend and its successes in a multimedia exhibition retracing a hundred years of history. The American firm is celebrating this double jubilee with a retrospective presented since this week in Munich, the first stage of a European tour.
Alice and Oswald
Having become an entertainment empire brewing billions of dollars, Disney wants to convince that it has lost none of the spirit of its origins: its story is that “of a century of adventure, magic and imagination“, say the organizers. For a ticket at 24.90 euros for children over 9 years old – 28.90 euros at the weekend – visitors to the exhibition have access to ten thematic galleries combining image, sound and text.
To evoke the past, Disney has delved into its archive collection which brings together thousands of objects and documents: original scripts, photos, film props, correspondence, commercial items and theme parks. The organizers have released 250 original pieces including Pinocchio or Cruella costumes, the snow globe from the film Mary Poppins, or the first entrance ticket to Disneyland Park.
Long before these successes, Walter Elias Disney, a young cartoonist from Kansas City, had started in 1923 by making a series of silent short films featuring Alice, a little flesh-and-blood heroine evolving in a cartoon universe. This series marked the launch of the Disney animation studio and the foundation stone of the saga. The contract signed by Walt Disney for the distribution of Alice’s Wonderland is one of the exhibits. Then it was Oswald the rabbit, who turned into Mickey in 1928.
“Steamboat Willie”: the first Mickey Mouse
“Many children and young people today do not understand that Walt Disney was a real person”, as his characters ended up overshadowing their creator, notes Becky Cline, director of the Disney archive fund. This centenary is a “great opportunity to tell stories about Walt Disney himself and show that all the foundations of the company started with him“, she continues. A life-size video visualizing the pioneer of animation welcomes visitors.
Mickey Mouse arrives on the screens three years after Alice, in 1928, recalls the exhibition. A page from the original script of “Steamboat Willie” (a diversion of Steamboat Bill Jr. by Buster Keaton), the first cartoon featuring the famous mouse in the role of a sailor, is also presented. The first Disney studio was Walt’s home garage, where he made short films with animator Ub Iwerks, and the help of his brother Roy Oliver, his main support and producer. They remained loyal collaborators throughout his career.
Through the gallery of Disney characters, from Snow White to the Pirates of the Caribbean via Cinderella, the course lifts a veil behind the scenes of the making of films. “We wanted to do something that everyone could enjoy, that everyone would understand, regardless of age or cultural background, big Disney fans, like those who don’t know a lot“, explains Ms. Cline.
“To infinity and beyond !”
The course also recalls how the multinational entertainment company expanded its empire by swallowing up Pixar Studios, Marvel, the franchise Star Wars, which have become an integral part of the “Disney legend”. The enchanted kingdom is now a major player in the disputed streaming market with its Disney+ platform with 161 million subscribers worldwide. “To infinity and beyond” would say Buzz Lightyear, hero of the franchise Toy Story created by Pixar.
The exhibition is on view until September in the Bavarian metropolis, a choice that Walt Disney would not have denied: it is by drawing inspiration from Neuschwanstein Castle, a building clinging to the mountainside, south of Munich, that the American creator imagined the palace of The Sleeping Beautywhich became the band’s logo.