10 milestones in Disney's 100-year history

As the Walt Disney Company celebrates its centenary, John Wills traces the story of the ‘House of Mouse’ through 10 milestones…

Toy Story, starring cowboy Woody

Published: October 16, 2023 at 12:34 PM

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Alice’s Wonderland, 1923

One of Walt Disney’s early silent films is a delightful mix of live action and cartoon. Starring child actor Virginia Davis, it features a range of Disney staples including a Disneyland-style train and a cartoon mouse.

Steamboat Willie, 1928

Disney’s first animated film with synchronised sound – a technical breakthrough of the time – also introduced the world to Mickey Mouse. Just 8 minutes in length, the film is packed with visual humour.

Steamboat Willie, a mouse at the wheel

Steamboat Willie, Disney’s first animated film with synchronised sound, 1928. (Image by Alamy)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937

The company’s first animated feature film was initially dubbed ‘Disney’s folly’ because of its spiralling costs and three-year production time. Yet it proved hugely successful, and introduced the first ‘Disney princess’.

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs

Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, lobbycard, 1937. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images)

Der Fuehrer’s Face, 1943

Watch Donald Duck get caught in ‘Nutzi Land’, a fascist world of strangely manicured swastika shrubbery and bayonets, in this Chaplin-esque Second World War government propaganda piece.

The Living Desert, 1953

Disney’s 1950s attempts to break into nature documentaries weren’t without controversy: for White Wilderness (1958), film-makers hurled lemmings off cliffs as evidence of that species’ mass suicides. Yet nature has never been more entertaining than scorpions square-dancing to the ‘Stingeree’ in The Living Desert.

Read more Disney history:

Walt Disney completes a sketch of Mickey

Mary Poppins, 1964

This charming musical, featuring blended live-action and animation sequences, cast Julie Andrews as the extraordinary titular nanny. Disney’s version of Edwardian London is romantic, colourful, dreamlike and class-conscious. Some classic Sherman Brothers tunes make up for Dick Van Dyke’s mockney accent.

Julie Andrews in a scene from 'Mary Poppins'

Julie Andrews in a scene from 'Mary Poppins'. (Photo by Donaldson Collection/Getty Images)

The Little Mermaid, 1989

Marking the dawn of the ‘Disney Renaissance’, this animated feature – based on a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale – is classic Disney, with its traditional hand-painted animation, catchy tunes and story of mermaid princess Ariel.

Toy Story, 1995

Created by Pixar and distributed by Disney, the first wholly computer-animated feature film is technologically sophisticated, yet awash with nostalgia for lost childhood and beloved toys, and proved a perfect vehicle for mass merchandising.

Frozen, 2013

With their ice-set story of sisters Elsa and Anna, directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee updated a classic fairy tale for the 21st century – and Disney had its biggest hit in decades.

Black Panther, 2018

This superhero movie with both a big heart and a powerful message is a spectacular celebration of African history, culture and artistry, and highlights the strengths of the Disney–Marvel relationship

Black Panther

Black Panther was the first Marvel film with both a black lead and director. (Image by Alamy)

John Wills is a professor of American culture at the University of Kent, and author of Disney Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2017)

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This timeline was first published in the December 2023 issue of BBC History Magazine

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