The Magic Kingdom Begins

Disneyland, Walt Disney's first theme park, opened in Anaheim, California, on this day in 1955.

Disneyland was one of many achievements for the visionary artist and businessman.

Walter Elias Disney, an aspiring cartoonist, left Chicago for Hollywood in 1923. While on a train ride five years later, Disney created Mickey Mouse. Featuring the first use of fully synchronized sound, Mickey's leading role in "Steamboat Willie" instantly launched his status as an American icon. By 1930, his likeness began appearing everywhere.

Disney's influence can even be seen in this Native American kachina doll from the 1930s. Perhaps inspired by Mickey's comical antics, this particular doll has been made to resemble one of the "Mudheads," the ritual clowns important to kachina ceremonies for the Hopi.

Source: Lynda Roscoe Hartigan. Made with Passion: The Hemphill Folk Art Collection in the National Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C. and London: National Museum of American Art with the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990).

Pictured: Unidentified Artist, Mickey Mouse Kachina, after 1930, carved and painted cottonwood, feathers, and string, 11 3/4 x 5 3/8 x 4 3/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson.