Wax Museum

Luke chose a famous American to research and portray for his class wax museum. He chose Walt Disney.

Both sets of grandparents were in town  and got to see him perform!

Here is his speech:

My name is Walter Disney, but people call me Walt. I was born in 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. But when I was five years old , my parents moved us to a farm in Missouri.

From the time I was young, I loved to draw. One day, my younger sister and I decided to draw pictures on the side of our farm house with some sticky tar and sticks we found. The tar was so sticky that it would not wash off. My dad was NOT happy about that! I kept drawing though and even sold a picture of a horse to my neighbor, Doc Sherwood, for 25 cents. That was the first picture I ever sold.

I began to take drawing classes when I was 14. When I was 16 I became an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. I was even sent to France for awhile, but I never stopped wanting to be an artist.

I started a company that made animated films with another artist in the 1920s, but we couldn't make enough money to stay in business. I didn't know how to make the movies I wanted to. Then I moved to Hollywood, CA where my brother, Roy, and I started Disney Brothers Studio. This time, my business was a success.

My company, now called Walt Disney Studios, needed a new cartoon character. I decided it should be a mouse. I called him Mortimer, but when my wife heard that name, she said it didn't sound friendly at all. She suggested Mickey and that's how Mickey Mouse came to be.

I went on to create many full length animated films, live action films, and a very popular amusement park before I died in 1966 at the age of 65.

He did a great job!