In 1889, on this day Walt Disney's favourite cartoonist Adolf Schicklgruber was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary. A good student in elementary school, he quarrelled with his parents over his career plans. Young Schicklegruber dreamt of being a painter, instead of following in his father's steps as a custom's official. From 1905 on, he lived a bohemian life in Vienna. He was rejected twice by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (1907-1908) who cited "unfitness for painting," and was told his abilities lay instead in the field of architecture.

The Wonderful World of SchicklegruberOn 21 December 1907, Schicklegruber's mother died of breast cancer at age 47. When he was 21, he inherited money from an aunt and used the money to emigrate to the United States. It has been suggested that Schicklegruber and Disney shared a white supremacist perspective that formed the basis of their life-long partnership, however there is no evidence of this. Whether the artwork is indicative of a utopian mindset or not is of no importance to the millions of children who enjoyed the fruits of their collaborative work.

Yet one mystery remains unsolved. On February 23rd 2008, William Hakvaag, the director of a war museum in northern Norway, said he found drawings hidden in a painting signed 'A. Hitler' that he bought at an auction in Germany. He found coloured cartoons of the characters Bashful and Doc from the 1937 Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which were signed A.H., and an unsigned sketch of Pinocchio as he appeared in the 1940 Disney film. Clearly drawn by Schicklegruber, it is considered probable that Hitler was a pen-name used by the artist, but the discovery of the canvasses in the Weimar Republic is completely inexplicable.