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= Walt Disney =
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Introduction
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Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an
American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A
pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several
developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he
holds the record for most Academy Awards won (22) and nominations (59)
by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special
Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of
his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of
Congress and have also been named as some of the best by the American
Film Institute.
Born in Chicago in 1901 and raised largely in Missouri, Disney
developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy
and took a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved
to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio
(now the Walt Disney Company) with his brother Roy. With Ub Iwerks, he
developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular
success; he also provided the voice for his creation in the early
years. As the studio grew, he became more adventurous, introducing
synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, animated
feature films and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen
in features such as 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' (1937),
'Pinocchio', 'Fantasia' (both 1940), 'Dumbo' (1941), and 'Bambi'
(1942), furthered the development of animated film. New animated and
live-action films followed after World War II, including 'Cinderella'
(1950), 'Sleeping Beauty' (1959), and 'Mary Poppins' (1964), the last
of which received five Academy Awards.
In the 1950s, Disney expanded into the theme park industry, and in
July 1955 he opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California. To fund the
project he diversified into television programs, such as 'Walt
Disney's Disneyland' and 'The Mickey Mouse Club'. He was also involved
in planning the 1959 Moscow Fair, the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the
1964 New York World's Fair. In 1965, he began development of another
theme park, Disney World, the heart of which was to be a new type of
city, the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT).
Disney was a heavy smoker throughout his life and died of lung cancer
in 1966 before either the park or the EPCOT project were completed.
Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in private but
adopted a warm and outgoing public persona. He had high standards and
high expectations of those with whom he worked. Although there have
been accusations that he was racist or antisemitic, they have been
contradicted by many who knew him. The historiography of Disney has
taken a variety of perspectives, ranging from views of him as a
purveyor of homely patriotic values to being a representative of
American cultural imperialism. Widely considered to be one of the most
influential cultural figures of the 20th century, Disney remains an
important presence in the history of animation and in the cultural
history of the United States, where he is acknowledged as a national
cultural icon. His film work continues to be shown and adapted, the
Disney theme parks have grown in size and number around the world and
his company has grown to become one of the world's largest mass media
and entertainment conglomerates.
Early life and education
======================================================================
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901, at 1249 N Tripp
Avenue in the Hermosa neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United
States. He was the fourth son of Elias Disney, who was born in the
Province of Canada to Anglo-Irish parents, and Flora ( Call), an
American of German and English descent. Aside from Walt, the sons of
Elias and Flora were Herbert, Raymond and Roy; and the couple had a
fifth child, Ruth, in December 1903. In 1906, when Disney was four,
the family moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri, where his uncle
Robert had just purchased land. In Marceline, Disney developed his
interest in drawing when he was paid to draw the horse of a retired
neighborhood doctor. Elias was a subscriber to the 'Appeal to Reason'
newspaper, and Disney practiced drawing by copying the front-page
cartoons of Ryan Walker. He also began to develop an ability to work
with watercolors and crayons. He lived near the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe Railway line, and became enamored with trains. In late 1909,
Disney and Ruth started school at the same time at the Park School in
Marceline. The Disney family were active members of a Congregational
church. Disney later described his childhood in Marceline as one of
the happiest and most formative periods of his life, and drew
inspiration from the town for several of his future projects.
In 1911, the Disneys moved to Kansas City, Missouri. There, Disney
attended the Benton Grammar School, where he met fellow-student Walter
Pfeiffer, who came from a family of theatre fans and introduced him to
the world of vaudeville and motion pictures. Before long, Disney was
spending more time at the Pfeiffers' house than at home. Elias had
purchased a newspaper delivery route for 'The Kansas City Star' and
'Kansas City Times'. Disney and Roy woke up at 4:30 every morning to
deliver the 'Times' before school, and repeated the round for the
evening 'Star' after school. The schedule was exhausting, and Disney
often received poor grades after falling asleep in class, but he
continued his paper route for more than six years. He attended
Saturday courses at the Kansas City Art Institute and also took a
correspondence course in cartooning.
In 1917, Elias bought stock in a Chicago jelly producer, the O-Zell
Company, and moved back to Chicago with his family. Disney enrolled at
McKinley High School and became the cartoonist of the school
newspaper, drawing patriotic pictures about World War I; he also took
night courses at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.
In mid-1918, Disney attempted to join the United States Army to fight
the Germans, but he was rejected as too young. After forging the date
of birth on his birth certificate, he joined the Red Cross in
September 1918 as an ambulance driver. Disney was shipped to France
but arrived in November, after the armistice. He drew cartoons on the
side of his ambulance for decoration and had some of his work
published in the army newspaper 'Stars and Stripes'.
1919–1928: Early career
=========================
He returned to Kansas City in October 1919, where he worked as an
apprentice artist at the Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio, where he
drew commercial illustrations for advertising, theater programs and
catalogs, and befriended fellow artist Ub Iwerks. In January 1920, as
Pesmen-Rubin's revenue declined after Christmas, Disney, aged 18, and
Iwerks were laid off.
They started their own business, the short-lived Iwerks-Disney
Commercial Artists. Failing to attract many customers, Disney and
Iwerks agreed that Disney should leave temporarily to earn money at
the Kansas City Film Ad Company, run by A. V. Cauger; the following
month Iwerks, who was not able to run their business alone, also
joined. The company produced commercials using the cutout animation
technique. Disney became interested in animation, although he
preferred drawn cartoons such as 'Mutt and Jeff' and Max Fleischer's
'Out of the Inkwell'. With the assistance of a borrowed book on
animation and a camera, he began experimenting at home. He came to the
conclusion that cel animation was more promising than the cutout
method. Unable to persuade Cauger to try cel animation at the company,
Disney opened a new business with a co-worker from the Film Ad Co,
Fred Harman. Their main client was the local Newman Theater, and the
short cartoons they produced were sold as "Newman's Laugh-O-Grams".
Disney studied Paul Terry's 'Aesop's Fables' as a model, and the first
six "Laugh-O-Grams" were modernized fairy tales.
In May 1921, the success of the "Laugh-O-Grams" led to the
establishment of Laugh-O-Gram Studio, for which he hired more
animators, including Fred Harman's brother Hugh, Rudolf Ising and
Iwerks. The Laugh-O-Grams cartoons did not provide enough income to
keep the company solvent, so Disney started production of 'Alice's
Wonderland'based on 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'which combined
live action with animation; he cast Virginia Davis in the title role.
The result, a 12½-minute, one-reel film, was completed too late to
save Laugh-O-Gram Studio, which went into bankruptcy in 1923.
Disney moved to Hollywood in July 1923 at 21 years old. Although New
York was the center of the cartoon industry, he was attracted to Los
Angeles because his brother Roy was convalescing from tuberculosis
there, and he hoped to become a live-action film director. Disney's
efforts to sell 'Alice's Wonderland' were in vain until he heard from
New York film distributor Margaret J. Winkler's Winkler Pictures,
whose services was recommended by her former employer, Harry Warner,
then president of Warner Bros. Pictures, in response to a letter by
Disney. She was losing the rights to both the 'Out of the Inkwell' and
'Felix the Cat' cartoons, and needed a new series. In October, they
signed a contract for six 'Alice' comedies, with an option for two
further series of six episodes each. Disney and his brother Roy formed
the Disney Brothers Studiowhich later became the Walt Disney Companyto
produce the films; they persuaded Davis and her family to relocate to
Hollywood to continue production, with Davis on contract at $100 a
month. In July 1924, Disney also hired Iwerks, persuading him to
relocate to Hollywood from Kansas City. In 1926, the first official
Walt Disney Studio was established at 2725 Hyperion Avenue; the
building was demolished in 1940.
By 1926, Winkler's role in the production and distribution of the
'Alice' series had been handed over to her husband, the film producer
Charles Mintz, and her brother George Winkler; Winkler had dropped
their distribution services at this point, finding distributors in FBO
and Universal Pictures. The series ran until July 1927, by which time
Disney had begun to tire of it and wanted to move away from the mixed
format to all animation. After Mintz requested new material to
distribute through Universal Pictures, Disney and Iwerks created
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character Disney wanted to be "peppy,
alert, saucy and venturesome, keeping him also neat and trim". The
series was a critical and commercial success for Winkler and Disney,
effectively positioning them as a major force in American animation.
In February 1928, Disney hoped to negotiate a larger budget for
producing the 'Oswald' series, only to be refused by Mintz after
Disney travelled to New York City to confront him. Mintz had also
persuaded many of the artists involved to work directly for him,
including Harman, Ising, Carman Maxwell and Friz Freleng. Disney also
found out that Universal owned the intellectual property rights to
Oswald. Mintz threatened to start his own studio and produce the
series himself if Disney refused to accept the reductions. Disney
declined Mintz's ultimatum and lost most of his animation staff,
except Iwerks, who chose to remain with him. Universal boss Carl
Laemmle later terminated Mintz's contract and allowed Winkler employee
Walter Lantz to form an in-house animation studio after Harman and
Ising failed to gain control over the series. Disney reacted
positively to his news due to his high respect of Lantz's work; the
two Walts formed a friendly rivalry that lasted until Disney's death.
1928–1934: Creation of Mickey Mouse and following successes
=============================================================
To replace Oswald, Disney and Iwerks developed Mickey Mouse, possibly
inspired by a pet mouse that Disney had adopted while working in his
Laugh-O-Gram studio, although the origins of the character are
unclear. Disney's original choice of name was Mortimer Mouse, but his
wife Lillian thought it too pompous, and suggested Mickey instead.
Iwerks revised Disney's provisional sketches to make the character
easier to animate. Disney, who had begun to distance himself from the
animation process, provided Mickey's voice until 1947. In the words of
one Disney employee, "Ub designed Mickey's physical appearance, but
Walt gave him his soul."
Mickey Mouse first appeared in May 1928 as a single test screening of
the short 'Plane Crazy', but it, and the second feature, 'The
Gallopin' Gaucho', failed to find a distributor. Following the 1927
sensation 'The Jazz Singer', Disney used synchronized sound on the
third short, 'Steamboat Willie', to create the first post-produced
sound cartoon. After the animation was complete, Disney signed a
contract with a former executive of Universal Pictures, Pat Powers, to
use the "Powers Cinephone" recording system; Cinephone became the new
distributor for Disney's early sound cartoons, which soon became
popular.
To improve the quality of the music, Disney hired the professional
composer and arranger Carl W. Stalling, on whose suggestion the 'Silly
Symphony' series was developed, providing stories through the use of
music; the first in the series, 'The Skeleton Dance' (1929), was drawn
and animated entirely by Iwerks. Also hired at this time were several
artists, both local and from New York. Both the Mickey Mouse and
'Silly Symphonies' series were successful, but Disney and his brother
felt they were not receiving their rightful share of profits from
Powers. In 1930, Disney tried to trim costs from the process by urging
Iwerks to abandon the practice of drawing every frame individually in
favor of the more efficient technique of drawing key poses and letting
assistants sketch the poses. Disney asked Powers for an increase in
payments for the cartoons. Powers refused and signed Iwerks to work
for him; Stalling resigned shortly afterwards, thinking that without
Iwerks, the Disney Studio would close. Disney had a nervous breakdown
in October 1931, which he blamed on overworking and Powers' business
tactics. He and Lillian took an extended holiday to Cuba and a cruise
to Panama to recover.
With the loss of Powers as distributor, Disney studios signed a
contract with Columbia Pictures to distribute the Mickey Mouse
cartoons, which became increasingly popular, including
internationally. Disney and his crew also introduced new cartoon stars
like Pluto in 1930, Goofy in 1932 and Donald Duck in 1934. Always keen
to embrace new technology and encouraged by his new contract with
United Artists, Disney filmed 'Flowers and Trees' (1932) in full-color
three-strip Technicolor; he was also able to negotiate a deal giving
him the sole right to use the three-strip process until August 31,
1935. All subsequent 'Silly Symphony' cartoons were in color. 'Flowers
and Trees' was popular with audiences and won the inaugural Academy
Award for best Short Subject (Cartoon) at the 1932 ceremony. Disney
had been nominated for another film in that category, 'Mickey's
Orphans', and received an Honorary Award "for the creation of Mickey
Mouse".
In 1933, Disney produced 'The Three Little Pigs', a film described by
the media historian Adrian Danks as "the most successful short
animation of all time". The film won Disney another Academy Award in
the Short Subject (Cartoon) category. The film's success led to a
further increase in the studio's staff, which numbered nearly 200 by
the end of the year. Disney realized the importance of telling
emotionally gripping stories that would interest the audience, and he
invested in a "story department" separate from the animators, with
storyboard artists who would detail the plots of Disney's films.
1934–1941: Golden age of animation
====================================
By 1934, Disney had become dissatisfied with producing cartoon shorts,
and believed a feature-length cartoon would be more profitable. The
studio began the four-year production of 'Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs', based on the fairy tale. When news leaked out about the
project, many in the film industry predicted it would bankrupt the
company; industry insiders nicknamed it "Disney's Folly". The film,
which was the first animated feature made in full color and sound,
cost $1.5 million to producethree times over budget. To ensure the
animation was as realistic as possible, Disney sent his animators on
courses at the Chouinard Art Institute; he brought animals into the
studio and hired actors so that the animators could study realistic
movement. To portray the changing perspective of the background as a
camera moved through a scene, Disney's animators developed a
multiplane camera which allowed drawings on pieces of glass to be set
at various distances from the camera, creating an illusion of depth.
The glass could be moved to create the impression of a camera passing
through the scene. The first work created on the cameraa 'Silly
Symphony' called 'The Old Mill' (1937)won the Academy Award for
Animated Short Film because of its impressive visual power. Although
'Snow White' had been largely finished by the time the multiplane
camera had been completed, Disney ordered some scenes be re-drawn to
use the new effects.
'Snow White' premiered in December 1937 to high praise from critics
and audiences. The film became the most successful motion picture of
1938 and by May 1939 its total gross of $6.5 million made it the most
successful sound film made to that date.{{efn|$1.5 million in 1937
equates to $ in ; $6.5 million in 1939 equates to $ in , according to
calculations based on the US GDP deflator measure of inflation.}}
Disney won another Honorary Academy Award, which consisted of one
full-sized and seven miniature Oscar statuettes. The success of 'Snow
White' heralded one of the most productive eras for the studio; the
Walt Disney Family Museum calls the following years "the 'Golden Age
of Animation. With work on 'Snow White' finished, the studio began
producing 'Pinocchio' in early 1938 and 'Fantasia' in November of the
same year. Both films were released in 1940, and neither performed
well at the box officepartly because revenues from Europe had dropped
following the start of World War II in 1939. The studio incurred a
loss on both pictures and was deeply in debt by the end of February
1941.
In response to the financial crisis, Disney and his brother Roy
started the company's first public stock offering in 1940, and
implemented heavy salary cuts. The latter measure, and Disney's
sometimes high-handed and insensitive manner of dealing with staff,
led to a 1941 animators' strike which lasted five weeks. While a
federal mediator from the National Labor Relations Board negotiated
with the two sides, Disney accepted an offer from the Office of the
Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to make a goodwill trip to South
America, ensuring he was absent during a resolution he knew would be
unfavorable to the studio. Due to the strikeand the financial state of
the companyseveral animators left the studio and founded United
Productions of America, and Disney's relationship with other members
of staff was permanently strained as a result. The strike temporarily
interrupted the studio's next production, 'Dumbo' (1941), which Disney
produced in a simple and inexpensive manner; the film received a
positive reaction from audiences and critics alike.
1941–1950: World War II and beyond
====================================
Shortly after the release of 'Dumbo' in October 1941, the U.S. entered
World War II. Disney formed the Walt Disney Training Films Unit within
the company to produce instruction films for the military such as
'Four Methods of Flush Riveting' and 'Aircraft Production Methods'.
Disney also met with Henry Morgenthau Jr., the secretary of the
treasury, and agreed to produce short Donald Duck cartoons to promote
war bonds. Disney also produced several propaganda productions,
including shorts such as 'Der Fuehrer's Face'which won an Academy
Awardand the 1943 feature film 'Victory Through Air Power'.
The military films generated only enough revenue to cover costs, and
the feature film 'Bambi'which had been in production since
1937underperformed on its release in August 1942, and lost $200,000 at
the box office. On top of the low earnings from 'Pinocchio' and
'Fantasia', the company had debts of $4 million with the Bank of
America in 1944.{{efn|$4 million in 1944 equates to $ in , according
to calculations based on the Consumer Price Index measure of
inflation.}} At a meeting with Bank of America executives to discuss
the future of the company, the bank's chairman and founder, Amadeo
Giannini, told his executives, "I've been watching the Disneys'
pictures quite closely because I knew we were lending them money far
above the financial risk. ... They're good this year, they're good
next year, and they're good the year after. ... You have to relax and
give them time to market their product." Disney's production of short
films decreased in the late 1940s, coinciding with increasing
competition in the animation market from Warner Bros. and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Roy Disney, for financial reasons, suggested more
combined animation and live-action productions. In 1948, Disney
initiated a series of popular live-action nature films, titled
'True-Life Adventures', with 'Seal Island' the first; the film won the
Academy Award in the Best Short Subject (Two-Reel) category.
1950–1966: Theme parks, television, other interests, and final years
======================================================================
In early 1950, Disney produced 'Cinderella', his studio's first
animated feature in eight years. It was popular with critics and
theater audiences. Costing $2.2 million to produce, it earned nearly
$8 million in its first year.{{efn|$2.2 million in 1950 equates to $
in ; $8 million in 1950 equates to $ in , according to calculations
based on the Consumer Price Index measure of inflation.}} Disney was
less involved than he had been with previous pictures because of his
involvement in his first entirely live-action feature, 'Treasure
Island' (1950), which was shot in Britain, as was 'The Story of Robin
Hood and His Merrie Men' (1952). Other all-live-action features
followed, many of which had patriotic themes. He continued to produce
full-length animated features too, including 'Alice in Wonderland'
(1951) and 'Peter Pan' (1953). From the early to mid-1950s, Disney
began to devote less attention to the animation department, entrusting
most of its operations to his key animators, the Nine Old Men,
although he was always present at story meetings. Instead, he started
concentrating on other ventures. Around the same time, Disney
established his own film distribution division Buena Vista, replacing
his most recent distributor RKO Radio Pictures.
For several years Disney had been considering building a theme park.
When he visited Griffith Park in Los Angeles with his daughters, he
wanted to be in a clean, unspoiled park, where both children and their
parents could have fun. He visited the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen,
Denmark, and was heavily influenced by the cleanliness and layout of
the park. In March 1952, he received zoning permission to build a
theme park in Burbank, near the Disney studios. This site proved too
small, and a larger plot in Anaheim, 35 mi south of the studio, was
purchased. To distance the project from the studiowhich might attract
the criticism of shareholdersDisney formed WED Enterprises (now Walt
Disney Imagineering) and used his own money to fund a group of
designers and animators to work on the plans; those involved became
known as "Imagineers". After obtaining bank funding he invited other
stockholders, American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatrespart of American
Broadcasting Company (ABC)and Western Printing and Lithographing
Company. In mid-1954, Disney sent his Imagineers to every amusement
park in the U.S. to analyze what worked and what pitfalls or problems
there were in the various locations and incorporated their findings
into his design. Construction work started in July 1954, and
Disneyland opened in July 1955; the opening ceremony was broadcast on
ABC, which reached 70 million viewers. The park was designed as a
series of themed lands, linked by the central Main Street, U.S.A.a
replica of the main street in his hometown of Marceline. The connected
themed areas were Adventureland, Frontierland, Fantasyland and
Tomorrowland. The park also contained the narrow gauge Disneyland
Railroad that linked the lands; around the outside of the park was a
high berm to separate the park from the outside world. An editorial in
'The New York Times' considered that Disney had "tastefully combined
some of the pleasant things of yesterday with fantasy and dreams of
tomorrow". Although there were early minor problems with the park, it
was a success, and after a month's operation, Disneyland was receiving
over 20,000 visitors a day; by the end of its first year, it attracted
3.6 million guests.
The money from ABC was contingent on Disney television programs. The
studio had been involved in a successful television special on
Christmas Day 1950 about the making of 'Alice in Wonderland'. Roy
believed the program added millions to the box office takings. In a
March 1951 letter to shareholders, he wrote that "television can be a
most powerful selling aid for us, as well as a source of revenue. It
will probably be on this premise that we enter television when we do".
In 1954, after the Disneyland funding had been agreed, ABC broadcast
'Walt Disney's Disneyland', an anthology consisting of animated
cartoons, live-action features and other material from the studio's
library. The show was successful in terms of ratings and profits,
earning an audience share of over 50%. In April 1955, 'Newsweek'
called the series an "American institution". ABC was pleased with the
ratings, leading to Disney's first daily television program, 'The
Mickey Mouse Club', a variety show catering specifically to children.
The program was accompanied by merchandising through various companies
(Western Printing, for example, had been producing coloring books and
comics for over 20 years, and produced several items connected to the
show). One of the segments of 'Disneyland' consisted of the five-part
miniseries 'Davy Crockett' which, according to Disney biographer Neal
Gabler, "became an overnight sensation". The show's theme song, "The
Ballad of Davy Crockett", became internationally popular and ten
million records were sold. As a result, Disney formed his own record
production and distribution entity, Disneyland Records.
As well as the construction of Disneyland, Disney worked on other
projects away from the studio. He was consultant to the 1959 American
National Exhibition in Moscow; Disney Studios' contribution was
'America the Beautiful', a 19-minute film in the 360-degree Circarama
theater that was one of the most popular attractions. The following
year he acted as the chairman of the Pageantry Committee for the 1960
Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, where he designed the
opening, closing and medal ceremonies. He was one of twelve investors
in the Celebrity Sports Center, which opened in 1960 in Glendale,
Colorado; he and Roy bought out the others in 1962, making the Disney
company the sole owner.
Despite the demands wrought by non-studio projects, Disney continued
to work on film and television projects. In 1955, he was involved in
"Man in Space", an episode of the 'Disneyland' series, which was made
in collaboration with NASA rocket designer Wernher von Braun. Disney
also oversaw aspects of the full-length features 'Lady and the Tramp'
(the first animated film in CinemaScope) in 1955, 'Sleeping Beauty'
(the first animated film in Technirama 70 mm film) in 1959, 'One
Hundred and One Dalmatians' (the first animated feature film to use
Xerox cels) in 1961, and 'The Sword in the Stone' in 1963.
In 1964, Disney produced 'Mary Poppins', based on the book series by
P. L. Travers; he had been trying to acquire the rights to the story
since the 1940s. It became the most successful Disney film of the
1960s, although Travers disliked the film intensely and regretted
having sold the rights. The same year he also became involved in plans
to expand the California Institute of the Arts (colloquially called
CalArts), and had an architect draw up blueprints for a new building.
Disney provided four exhibits for the 1964 New York World's Fair, for
which he obtained funding from selected corporate sponsors. For
PepsiCo, who planned a tribute to UNICEF, Disney developed It's a
Small World, a boat ride with audio-animatronic dolls depicting
children of the world; Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln contained an
animatronic Abraham Lincoln giving excerpts from his speeches;
Carousel of Progress promoted the importance of electricity; and
Ford's Magic Skyway portrayed the progress of mankind. Elements of all
four exhibitsprincipally concepts and technologywere re-installed in
Disneyland, although It's a Small World is the ride that most closely
resembles the original.
During the early to mid-1960s, Disney developed plans for a ski resort
in Mineral King, a glacial valley in California's Sierra Nevada. He
hired experts such as the Olympic ski coach and ski-area designer
Willy Schaeffler. With income from Disneyland accounting for an
increasing proportion of the studio's income, Disney continued to look
for venues for other attractions. In 1963, he presented a project to
create a theme park in downtown St. Louis, Missouri; he initially
reached an agreement with the Civic Center Redevelopment Corp, which
controlled the land, but the deal later collapsed over funding. In
late 1965, he announced plans to develop another theme park to be
called "Disney World" (now Walt Disney World), a few miles southwest
of Orlando, Florida. Disney World was to include the "Magic Kingdom"a
larger and more elaborate version of Disneylandplus golf courses and
resort hotels. The heart of Disney World was to be the "Experimental
Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT), which he described as:
an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its
cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from
the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of
tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing
and testing and demonstrating new materials and systems. And EPCOT
will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and
imagination of American free enterprise.
During 1966, Disney cultivated businesses willing to sponsor EPCOT. He
received a story credit in the 1966 film 'Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.' as
Retlaw Yensid, his name spelt backwards. He increased his involvement
in the studio's films, and was heavily involved in the story
development of 'The Jungle Book', the live-action musical feature 'The
Happiest Millionaire' (both 1967) and the animated short 'Winnie the
Pooh and the Blustery Day' (1968).
Illness, death and aftermath
======================================================================
Disney had been a heavy smoker since World War I. He did not use
cigarettes with filters and had smoked a pipe as a young man. In early
November 1966, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was treated with
cobalt therapy. Believing the treatment to have been successful, he
returned to work. However, on November 30 he felt unwell and was taken
by ambulance from his home to St. Joseph Hospital where, on December
15, at age 65, he died of circulatory collapse caused by the cancer.
His remains were cremated two days later and his ashes were interred
at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
The release of 'The Jungle Book' and 'The Happiest Millionaire' in
1967 raised the total number of feature films that Disney had been
involved in to 81. When 'Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day' was
released in 1968, it earned Disney an Academy Award in the Short
Subject (Cartoon) category, awarded posthumously. After Disney's
death, his studios continued to produce live-action films prolifically
while the quality of their animated films was allowed to languish. In
the late 1980s, this trend was reversed in what 'The New York Times'
describes as the "Disney Renaissance" that began with 'The Little
Mermaid' (1989). Disney's studios continue to produce successful film,
television and stage entertainment.
Disney's plans for the futuristic city of EPCOT did not come to
fruition. After Disney's death, his brother Roy deferred his
retirement to take full control of the Disney companies. He changed
the focus of the project from a town to an attraction. At the
inauguration in 1971, Roy dedicated Walt Disney World to his brother.
Walt Disney World expanded with the opening of Epcot Center in 1982;
Walt Disney's vision of a functional city was replaced by a park more
akin to a permanent world's fair. In 2009, the Walt Disney Family
Museum, designed by Disney's daughter Diane and her son Walter E. D.
Miller, opened in the Presidio of San Francisco. Thousands of
artifacts from Disney's life and career are on display, including
numerous awards that he received. In 2014, the Disney theme parks
around the world hosted approximately 134 million visitors.
Personal life and character
======================================================================
Early in 1925, Disney hired an ink artist, Lillian Bounds. They
married in July of that year, at her brother's house in her home town
of Lewiston, Idaho. The marriage was generally happy, according to
Lillian, although according to Disney's biographer Neal Gabler she did
not "accept Walt's decisions meekly or his status unquestionably, and
she admitted that he was always telling people 'how henpecked he is'."
Lillian had little interest in films or the Hollywood social scene and
she was, in the words of the historian Steven Watts, "content with
household management and providing support for her husband". Their
marriage produced two daughters, Diane (born December 1933) and Sharon
(adopted in December 1936, born six weeks previously). Within the
family, neither Disney nor his wife hid the fact Sharon had been
adopted, although they became annoyed if people outside the family
raised the point. The Disneys were careful to keep their daughters out
of the public eye as much as possible, particularly in the light of
the Lindbergh kidnapping; Disney took steps to ensure his daughters
were not photographed by the press.
In 1949, Disney and his family moved to a new home in the Holmby Hills
district of Los Angeles. With the help of his friends Ward and Betty
Kimball, who already had their own backyard railroad, Disney developed
blueprints and immediately set to work on creating a miniature live
steam railroad for his back yard. The name of the railroad, Carolwood
Pacific Railroad, came from his home's location on Carolwood Drive.
The miniature working steam locomotive was built by Disney Studios
engineer Roger E. Broggie, and Disney named it 'Lilly Belle' after his
wife; after three years Disney ordered it into storage due to a series
of accidents involving his guests.
Disney grew more politically conservative as he got older. A
Democratic Party supporter until the 1940 presidential election, when
he switched allegiance to the Republican Party, he became a generous
donor to Thomas E. Dewey's 1944 bid for the presidency. Disney engaged
in red-baiting in response to organized labor actions against his
company. In 1941, he paid for a full-page ad in 'Variety' claiming
that "Communistic agitation" was responsible for a cartoonist strike
against him. In 1946, he was a founding member of the Motion Picture
Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, an organization who
stated they "believ[ed] in, and like, the American Way of Life ... we
find ourselves in sharp revolt against a rising tide of Communism,
Fascism and kindred beliefs, that seek by subversive means to
undermine and change this way of life". In 1947, during the Second Red
Scare, Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC), where he branded Herbert Sorrell, David Hilberman
and William Pomerance, former animators and labor union organizers, as
communist agitators; Disney stated that the 1941 strike led by them
was part of an organized communist effort to gain influence in
Hollywood.
'The New York Times' reported in 1993 that Disney had been an FBI
informant passing secret information to J. Edgar Hoover about
communist activities in Hollywood. However, while Walt Disney was made
a "Special Agent in Charge Contact" in 1954, FBI officials claim this
was largely an honorary title regularly awarded to members of a
community who might be of use to the bureau. The FBI declassified and
released Walt Disney's file on their website, and revealed that much
of Disney's correspondence with the bureau (via studio personnel) was
in relation to the production of educational films; such as a certain
installment of the "Career Day" newsreel segments on 'The Mickey Mouse
Club' focusing on the bureau (which aired in January 1958), as well as
an unmade 1961 educational short warning children about the dangers of
child molestation.
Disney's public persona was very different from his actual
personality. Playwright Robert E. Sherwood described him as "almost
painfully shy ... diffident" and self-deprecating. According to his
biographer Richard Schickel, Disney hid his shy and insecure
personality behind his public identity. Kimball argues that Disney
"played the role of a bashful tycoon who was embarrassed in public"
and knew that he was doing so. Disney acknowledged the façade and told
a friend that "I'm not Walt Disney. I do a lot of things Walt Disney
would not do. Walt Disney does not smoke. I smoke. Walt Disney does
not drink. I drink." Critic Otis Ferguson, in 'The New Republic',
called the private Disney: "common and everyday, not inaccessible, not
in a foreign language, not suppressed or sponsored or anything. Just
Disney." Many of those with whom Disney worked commented that he gave
his staff little encouragement due to his exceptionally high
expectations. Norman recalls that when Disney said "That'll work", it
was an indication of high praise. Instead of direct approval, Disney
gave high-performing staff financial bonuses, or recommended certain
individuals to others, expecting that his praise would be passed on.
Reputation
======================================================================
Views of Disney and his work have changed over the decades, and there
have been polarized opinions. Mark Langer, in the 'American Dictionary
of National Biography', writes that "Earlier evaluations of Disney
hailed him as a patriot, folk artist, and popularizer of culture. More
recently, Disney has been regarded as a paradigm of American
imperialism and intolerance, as well as a debaser of culture." Steven
Watts wrote that some denounce Disney "as a cynical manipulator of
cultural and commercial formulas", while PBS records that critics have
censured his work because of its "smooth façade of sentimentality and
stubborn optimism, its feel-good re-write of American history".
Watts argues that many of Disney's post-World War II films "legislated
a kind of cultural Marshall Plan. They nourished a genial cultural
imperialism that magically overran the rest of the globe with the
values, expectations, and goods of a prosperous middle-class United
States." Film historian Jay P. Telotte acknowledges that many see
Disney's studio as an "agent of manipulation and repression", although
he observes that it has "labored throughout its history to link its
name with notions of fun, family, and fantasy". John Tomlinson, in his
study 'Cultural Imperialism', examines the work of Ariel Dorfman and
Armand Mattelart, whose 1971 book ( 'How to Read Donald Duck')
identifies that there are "imperialist ... values 'concealed' behind
the innocent, wholesome façade of the world of Walt Disney"; this,
they argue, is a powerful tool as "it presents itself as harmless fun
for consumption by children." Tomlinson views their argument as
flawed, as "they simply 'assume' that reading American comics, seeing
adverts, watching pictures of the affluent ... ['Yankee'] lifestyle
has a direct pedagogic effect".
Politics and allegations of prejudice
=======================================
Disney has been accused of antisemitism for having given Nazi
propagandist Leni Riefenstahl a tour of his studio a month after .
Riefenstahl's invitation was solicited to Disney by painter and ballet
dancer Hurbert "Jay" Stowitts, a close friend of Riefenstahl, and a
former colleague of Leopold Stokowski who at the time was
collaborating with Disney on 'Fantasia'. A month later a spokesperson
for Disney told the 'New York Daily News': "Miss Riefenstahl got into
the studio, but she crashed the gate. A Los Angeles man who is known
to Disney obtained permission to take a party through the plant. Leni
was in the party. If we had known it in advance she wouldn't have got
in." Animation historian Jim Korkis theorizes that Disney may have
also met with Riefenstahl for financial reasons: as an attempt by
Disney to recover over 135,000 Reichsmarks owed from his German film
distributor and to get the ban on Disney films lifted in Germany.
Animator Art Babbitt, organizer behind the 1941 strike at the studio
and who held a well-known grudge against Disney, claimed in his later
years that he saw Disney and his lawyer attend meetings of the German
American Bund, a pro-Nazi organization, during the late 1930s.
However, according to Disney biographer Neal Gabler: "...that was
highly unlikely, not only because Walt had little enough time for his
family, much less political meetings, but because he had no real
political leanings at the time." Disney's office appointment book
makes no mention of him attending Bund rallies, and no other employee
ever claimed he attended such meetings.
According to Gabler, Disney was apolitical and "something of a
political naïf" during the 1930s and he had previously told one
reporter - as tensions in Europe were brewing - that America should
"let 'em fight their own wars" claiming he had "learned my lesson"
from World War I. Gabler also noted that in late 1939, Disney was
going over a scale model of a new studio to be built in Burbank, when
one animator suddenly asked him how the recently begun war in Europe
would affect its construction, to which Disney responded by asking,
"What war?" During World War II, Disney was actively involved in
making propaganda films against the Nazis, both for the general public
(such as 'Der Fuehrer's Face' and 'Education for Death'), as well as
educational and training films exclusively for the United States
Government. As early as October 1940 (over a year before America's
entry into the war), Disney began enlisting contracts from various
branches of the United States Armed Forces to make training films, and
in March 1941 he held a luncheon with Government representatives
formally offering his services "...for national defence industries at
cost and without profit. In making this offer, I am motivated solely
by a desire to help as best I can in the present emergency." These
training films contained highly classified information and required
the highest level of security clearance to be viewed. If Disney had
any previous sympathies toward Nazism, the U.S. Government would have
disqualified him from making these films.
The Walt Disney Family Museum acknowledges that ethnic stereotypes
common to films of the 1930s were included in some early cartoons but
also points out that Disney donated regularly to Jewish charities and
was named the 1955 "Man of the Year" by the B'nai B'rith chapter in
Beverly Hills. The organization itself found no evidence of
antisemitism on Disney's part. The plaque read: "For exemplifying the
best tenets of American citizenship and inter-group understanding and
interpreting into action the ideals of B'nai B'rith." Disney had
numerous Jewish employees, many of whom were in influential positions.
None of Disney's employees - including animator Art Babbitt, who
disliked Disney intensely - ever accused him of making antisemitic
slurs or taunts. Jewish story man Joe Grant, who worked closely with
Disney throughout the 1930s and 1940s stated, "As far as I'm
concerned, there was no evidence of antisemitism. I think the whole
idea should be put to rest and buried deep. He was not antisemitic.
Some of the most influential people at the studio were Jewish. It's
much ado about nothing. I never once had a problem with him in that
way." In addition songwriter Robert B. Sherman recalled that when one
of Disney's lawyers made antisemitic remarks towards him and his
brother Richard, Disney defended them and fired the attorney. Gabler,
the first writer to gain unrestricted access to the Disney archives,
concludes that the available evidence does not support accusations of
antisemitism and that Disney largely got that reputation due to his
association with Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of
American Ideals - an anti-Communist organization formed in 1944, that
was rumored to have antisemitic undertones. Gabler concludes that
"...though Walt himself, in my estimation, was not antisemitic,
nevertheless, he willingly allied himself with people who were
antisemitic, and that reputation stuck. He was never really able to
expunge it throughout his life." Disney distanced himself from the
Motion Picture Alliance, and had no involvement with the organization
after 1947.
According to Disney's daughter Diane Disney-Miller, her sister Sharon
dated a Jewish boyfriend for a period of time, to which her father
raised no objections and reportedly said, "Sharon, I think it's
wonderful how these Jewish families have accepted you."
Disney has also been accused of other forms of racism because some of
his productions released between the 1930s and 1950s contain racially
insensitive material. Gabler argues that "Walt Disney was no racist.
He never, either publicly or privately, made disparaging remarks about
blacks or asserted white superiority. Like most white Americans of his
generation, however, he was racially insensitive." The feature film
'Song of the South' was criticized by contemporary film critics, the
NAACP, and others for its perpetuation of black stereotypes, but
during filming Disney became close friends with its star, James
Baskett, describing him in a letter to his sister Ruth as "the best
actor, I believe, to be discovered in years." Disney and Baskett
stayed in contact long after the film's production, with Walt sending
him gifts. When Baskett was in failing health, Disney not only began
financially supporting him and his family, but also campaigned
successfully for an Honorary Academy Award for his performance, making
Baskett the first black actor so honored. Baskett died shortly
afterward, and his widow wrote Disney a letter of gratitude for his
support claiming he had been a "friend in deed and [we] certainly have
been in need." Floyd Norman, the studio's first black animator who
worked closely with Disney during the 1950s and 1960s, said, "Not once
did I observe a hint of the racist behavior Walt Disney was often
accused of after his death. His treatment of peopleand by this I mean
all peoplecan only be called exemplary."
Portrayals and cultural depictions
====================================
Disney has been portrayed numerous times in fictional works. H. G.
Wells references Disney in his 1938 novel 'The Holy Terror', in which
World Dictator Rud fears that Donald Duck is meant to lampoon the
dictator. Disney was portrayed by Len Cariou in the 1995 made-for-TV
film 'A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: The Annette Funicello
Story', and by Tom Hanks in the 2013 film 'Saving Mr. Banks'. In 2001,
American German-language author Peter Stephan Jungk published (trans:
'The King of America'), a fictional work of Disney's later years that
re-imagines him as a power-hungry racist. The composer Philip Glass
later adapted the book into the opera 'The Perfect American' (2013).
Several commentators have described Disney as a cultural icon. On
Disney's death, journalism professor Ralph S. Izard comments that the
values in Disney's films are those "considered valuable in American
Christian society", which include "individualism, decency, ... love
for our fellow man, fair play and toleration". Disney's obituary in
'The Times' calls the films "wholesome, warm-hearted and entertaining
.... of incomparable artistry and of touching beauty". Journalist
Bosley Crowther argues that Disney's "achievement as a creator of
entertainment for an almost unlimited public and as a highly ingenious
merchandiser of his wares can rightly be compared to the most
successful industrialists in history." Correspondent Alistair Cooke
calls Disney a "folk-hero ... the Pied Piper of Hollywood", while
Gabler considers Disney "reshaped the culture and the American
consciousness". In the 'American Dictionary of National Biography',
Langer writes:
Disney remains the central figure in the history of animation.
Through technological innovations and alliances with governments and
corporations, he transformed a minor studio in a marginal form of
communication into a multinational leisure industry giant. Despite his
critics, his vision of a modern, corporate utopia as an extension of
traditional American values has possibly gained greater currency in
the years after his death.
In December 2021, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opened a
three-month special exhibit in honor of Disney titled "Inspiring Walt
Disney".
Awards and honors
======================================================================
Disney received 59 Academy Award nominations, including 22 awards:
both totals are records. He was nominated for three Golden Globe
Awards, but did not win, but he was presented with two Special
Achievement Awardsfor 'Bambi' (1942) and 'The Living Desert' (1953)and
the Cecil B. DeMille Award. He also received four Emmy Award
nominations, winning once, for Best Producer for the 'Disneyland'
television series. Several of his films are included in the United
States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as
"culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant": 'Steamboat
Willie', 'The Three Little Pigs', 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs',
'Fantasia', 'Pinocchio', 'Bambi', 'Dumbo' and 'Mary Poppins'. In 1998,
the American Film Institute published a list of the 100 greatest
American films, according to industry experts; the list included 'Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs' (at number 49), and 'Fantasia' (at 58).
In February 1960, Disney was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame
with two stars, one for motion pictures and the other for his
television work; Mickey Mouse was given his own star for motion
pictures in 1978, and Disneyland received one in 2005. Disney was also
inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1986, the California Hall
of Fame in December 2006, was the inaugural recipient of a star on the
Anaheim walk of stars in 2014, and was a member of the first Orange
County Hall of Fame class in 2023.
The Walt Disney Family Museum records that he "along with members of
his staff, received more than 950 honors and citations from throughout
the world". He was made a in the French in 1935, and in 1952 he was
awarded the country's highest artistic decoration, the . Other
national awards include Thailand's Order of the Crown (1960);
Germany's Order of Merit (1956), Brazil's Order of the Southern Cross
(1941), and Mexico's Order of the Aztec Eagle (1943). In the United
States, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on September 14,
1964, and on May 24, 1968, he was posthumously awarded the
Congressional Gold Medal. He received the Showman of the World Award
from the National Association of Theatre Owners, and in 1955, the
National Audubon Society awarded Disney its highest honor, the Audubon
Medal, for promoting the "appreciation and understanding of nature"
through his 'True-Life Adventures' nature films. A minor planet
discovered in 1980 by astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina, was named 4017
Disneya, and he was also awarded honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale,
the University of Southern California and the University of
California, Los Angeles.
See also
======================================================================
* Masaichi Nagata - the president of Japanese film company Daiei Film
whose connection with Disney had influenced distributions of Disney
productions and the publication of 'Bambi, a Life in the Woods' in
Japan, construction of Nara Dreamland, and so on.
External links
======================================================================
* [https://www.lambiek.net/artists/d/disney.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia
biography.]
*
*
* [https://www.waltdisney.org/ The Walt Disney Family Museum]
* [https://www.thewaltdisneybirthplace.org/ The Walt Disney
Birthplace]
*
* [https://vault.fbi.gov/walter-elias-disney FBI Records: The Vault -
Walter Elias Disney] from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
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