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William Hanna and Joseph Barbera produced the first animated program created for prime-time television—The Flintstones. When the show premiered in 1960, 45.7 million American households owned a television set.
More than 98 percent of U.S. households owned a television in 2011. Animated programming continues to be a popular viewing option. Debuting in December 1989, The Simpsons surpassed TV western Gunsmoke (1955–1975) to become the longest-running American scripted prime-time television series in 2009.
Walter "Walt" Disney was born on December 5, 1901, and died
December 15, 1966. During his career as an animator and producer,
he created some of the most recognizable characters in the world
including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald Duck.
Walter "Walt" Disney was born on December 5, 1901, in Chicago, IL. After serving as an ambulance driver during World War I, he worked in advertising before producing the Laugh-O-Gram animated films screened in the Kansas City, KS area. In 1923, Walt and brother Roy moved to Los Angeles, CA, where they cofounded Walt Disney Studios 
.
Walt Disney Studios soon began releasing a series of increasingly successful animated short films, including its first Alice Comedies in 1924, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927, and the premiere of the Mickey Mouse character in 1928. In December 1937, Disney released its first feature-length animated film—Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs—which became the most popular film of 1938. The studio followed Snow White's success with additional feature-length animated films, including Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942). Walt added live-action films in 1950, with the release of Treasure Island. The popularity of Disney's short- and feature-length films earned praise from audiences and critics alike, winning Walt a record 22 Academy Awards from 59 nominations.
Beginning in 1955, fans of Disney's characters and films could immerse themselves in the "Wonderful World of Disney" by visiting Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. A second park southwest of Orlando, FL, opened in 1971—five years after Walt Disney's death on December 15, 1966. Disneyland and Florida's Disney resorts are the most visited amusement parks in the world, attracting more than 134 million visitors in 2014.
Today, the animation studio Walt and Roy Disney founded in 1923 is known as the Walt Disney Company. With its headquarters in Burbank, CA, the company is one of the largest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world. Through acquisitions and mergers, the Disney family includes classics like Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, as well as more contemporary characters from Pixar Animation Studios (Toy Story and Finding Nemo), the Muppets Studio, Marvel Entertainment (Iron Man and Spider-man), and Lucasfilm (Star Wars and Indiana Jones). With so many beloved characters, it is no wonder why the Disney brand is one of the most valuable and admired in the world.
You can learn more about Walt Disney and the entertainment empire he created using data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies. For example:
—in December 2015. Movie-goers have been introduced to many new worlds and diverse populations since the series premiered in 1977, including: Tatooine (80,000–200,000, Humans, Jawas, and Tusken Raiders); Endor (30 million Ewoks, Yuzzum, etc.); and Mandalore (4 million Taung, Humans, etc.). The planet Coruscant dwarfs Earth's population of approximately 7.3 billion. With hyperspace coordinates (0,0,0) placing it at the center of the galaxy and important trade routes, Coruscant has a population of more than 1 trillion sentient beings!
Walt Disney designed and built Disneyland on a 160-acre site in Anaheim, CA. Sleeping Beauty's Castle (pictured)
has been the park's focal point since opening on July 17, 1955. Visitation to Disney's amusement parks grew
from approximately 1 million in 1955 to more than 134 million visitors in 2014.
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
In his Address to Congress on December 2, 1828, President John Quincy Adams recommended that "Census Day" be earlier in the year than the first Monday in August.
In response, Congress authorized that the 1830 census be taken as of June 1, 1830. The nation's fifth census recorded a resident population of 12,860,702—a 33.5 percent increase from 1820.
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