Before The Mouse
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. A lot of Walt's childhood was spent moving around from farms in Missouri to the streets of Chicago. At just 16 years old, Walt deployed to France to serve as a ambulance driver for World War I.
"I actually developed a bit of a smoking habit when I was in France.... I remember being assigned to work with a man during the later half of my time out there, who hated that I smoked. This was before the long term health problems were well known, so when he told me to stop, I would just tell him to focus on his job. Then one day we were having one of our arguments and almost immediately after I was done lighting one of my cigarettes, he grabbed the box, chucked it out the back of our vehicle and it got run over by the guys behind us. That was pretty much the last time I ever smoked, who knows where my life would be right now if it wasn't for that moment" - Walt Disney, 1971 interview
Walt returned to the States in October of 1919, where he would soon get a job at advertising firm Presman-Rubin and befriend fellow animator, Ub Iwerks. In 1923, Walt would move to Hollywood, California, in hopes of becoming a film director. The Walt Disney Company, then known as "Disney Brothers Studio" would open in 1926 and began working several theatrical shorts for studios like Universal and Columbia. However, troubles would begin in 1928. Due to negotiations with film producer Charles Mintz going south, Walt would end up loosing the majority of his staff and his most famous character at the time, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, to Universal.
He and his remaining crew would brainstorm numerous ideas for new shorts and characters but it all seemed like the company had already started its death clock. That was until, Walt began to reminisce about his old pet mouse.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to my very first alternate history timeline. This one mainly follows the story of the Walt Disney Company after Walt (who doesn't have a smoking problem ITTL) loses the rights to Oswald. However, Disney will not be only one we'll cover. What will Universal do with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit? What will happen to companies like Fleischer Studios? Will there be new sports teams and locations? Who will lead these United States? Only time will tell.
As you can probably tell, this is inspired by @OldNavy1988 's timeline "As Dreamers Do". It will slowly get more and more different as we get closer to present day so consider this a sorta reinterpretation of his timeline (hopefully with less murder and awful people becoming president).
Constructive criticism and ideas for future events would be much appreciated!
"I actually developed a bit of a smoking habit when I was in France.... I remember being assigned to work with a man during the later half of my time out there, who hated that I smoked. This was before the long term health problems were well known, so when he told me to stop, I would just tell him to focus on his job. Then one day we were having one of our arguments and almost immediately after I was done lighting one of my cigarettes, he grabbed the box, chucked it out the back of our vehicle and it got run over by the guys behind us. That was pretty much the last time I ever smoked, who knows where my life would be right now if it wasn't for that moment" - Walt Disney, 1971 interview
Walt returned to the States in October of 1919, where he would soon get a job at advertising firm Presman-Rubin and befriend fellow animator, Ub Iwerks. In 1923, Walt would move to Hollywood, California, in hopes of becoming a film director. The Walt Disney Company, then known as "Disney Brothers Studio" would open in 1926 and began working several theatrical shorts for studios like Universal and Columbia. However, troubles would begin in 1928. Due to negotiations with film producer Charles Mintz going south, Walt would end up loosing the majority of his staff and his most famous character at the time, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, to Universal.
He and his remaining crew would brainstorm numerous ideas for new shorts and characters but it all seemed like the company had already started its death clock. That was until, Walt began to reminisce about his old pet mouse.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to my very first alternate history timeline. This one mainly follows the story of the Walt Disney Company after Walt (who doesn't have a smoking problem ITTL) loses the rights to Oswald. However, Disney will not be only one we'll cover. What will Universal do with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit? What will happen to companies like Fleischer Studios? Will there be new sports teams and locations? Who will lead these United States? Only time will tell.
As you can probably tell, this is inspired by @OldNavy1988 's timeline "As Dreamers Do". It will slowly get more and more different as we get closer to present day so consider this a sorta reinterpretation of his timeline (hopefully with less murder and awful people becoming president).
Constructive criticism and ideas for future events would be much appreciated!
Last edited:
