Walt Disney
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Longchamps. Disney, Autobiography; Hollister, Man or Mouse, chap. 3.
Duties in Neufchteau. Walt to Alice Howell, Dec. 29, 1931, Misc. File, WDA.
Accomplished tour guide. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 4.
Pershing picnic. Walt to Alice Howell, Dec. 29, 1931, Misc File, WDA.
Receiving flag. Alice Howell to Walt, Dec. 1, 1939, Ho Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1940-1941, G-M, A1523, WDA.
“mingled with joy and sorrow.” Walt to Howell, Dec. 5, 1942, Ho Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1942-1943, D-H, A1527, WDA.
French hostility. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
German garbage detail. Ibid., Reel 4.
“doing something I very seldom do…” Walt Disney: An Intimate History CD-ROM.
Trip to Soissons. Miller, Story of Disney.
“I found out that the inside…” New York Journal American, Jan. 29, 1938.
Sending cartoons to Life and Judge. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
Painting German helmets. Walt Disney interview, Marceline, audiotape.
“France is an interesting place…” McKinley Voice annual, 1919, Disney, Disney Drawings Folder, WDA.
Considering Albania. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 4.
Watching Pershing leave. Ibid..
Discharge. Captain F.A. Fellows (chief of personnel, Transportation Department) to Bureau of Personnel, Aug. 7, 1919, Hazel Brough Records Center, Red Cross, Falls Church, Va.
Reuniting with Maas. Miller, Story of Disney; Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
Returning from France. Walt to Mark [?], May 12, 1920, Disney, Walt, Corr., Walt Disney Early Corr., WDA; Walt to Edwin McQuade, Sept. 24, 1963, Red Cross Photos Folder, WDA.
Maas in Chicago. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
Beatrice. Ibid.; Walt to Mrs. Beatrice Peterson, Aug. 18, 1933, Misc Folder, WDA.
Saving money. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
“He never understood me.” Walt Disney, speech at Big Brothers ceremony, Mar. 14, 1957, WDA.
Smoking. Diane Disney Miller, “A Plea to Eradicate a ‘Pediatric’ Disease,” LAT, Aug. 9, 1995.
“a lifetime of experience…” Miller, Story of Disney.
“bloody” thumb. Roy Disney interview by Hubler, June 18, 1968.
“I was settled.” Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 4.
“It seemed easier…” Quoted in Hubler, Disney.
TWO || The Go-Getter
“America at the close of the Great War…” Ann Douglas, Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1995).
“Guts and goodness in tandem.” Walter Kerr, The Silent Clowns (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975).
Looking for a job. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5, A2361, WDA. Louis Pesmen claimed that Walt returned with samples the next day. Louis Pesmen, [Notes], Aug. 11, 1971, Pesmen, Louis A., Folder, Kansas City, A3256, WDA.
“I could have kissed him!” Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
Aunt Margaret. Ibid.
“making a great success.” Lowell Lawrance, “Mickey Mouse—Inspiration from Mouse in K.C. Studio,” Kansas City Journal-Post, Sept. 8, 1935.
Newman Theater magazine ads. Pesmen [Notes].
Delivering mail. Walt Disney Autobiography, unpub. ms., 1939, 2nd installment, WDA.
Political cartoonist. Disney Drawings Folder, WDA.
Comic strips. Inventory of Moore Collection, Beecher, Ruth, Folder, Disney Family Corr., A2379, WDA.
“Cartoonist.” Federal Census, [Jan. 7,] 1920, Jackson County, Mo., ed. 166, sheet 5, line 37.
“I felt well-qualified.” Walt Disney Autobiography, unpub. ms., 1934, WDA.
“hillbilly.” Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
Practicing his signature. Leslie Iwerks and John Kenworthy, The Hand Behind the Mouse (New York: Disney Editions, 2001).
“He just didn’t have a childhood…” Donald Iwerks interview by author.
Iwwerks’s youth. David R. Smith, “Ub Iwerks, 1901-1971,” Funnyworld, no. 14 (Spring 1972).
“Throw it in a ditch.” Iwerks interview.
Scolding Pesmen. Hal Pesmen (son of Louis Pesman), interview by author.
In one version… Disney, Autobiography, 1934.
Deal with Carder. Ibid.
Half his savings. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
United Leather Workers Journal. Walt Pfeiffer, interview by Bob Thomas, Apr. 26, 1973, WDA.
Between $125 and $135 that first month. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
Comic strip plates. Ibid..
Ad for Kansas City Slide Co. “The Mouse That Won a Nation,” Kansas City Times, Nov. 11, 1978. Iwerks and Kenworthy, in Hand Behind The Mouse, give the date as Jan. 29, 1920.
Joining Kansas City Slide Co. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
Million dollars’ worth of business. Ibid., Disc 5, CD, WDA.
“one of the pioneers…” A. V. Cauger to Walt, Sept. 11, 1942, C Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1942-1943, A-C, A1526, WDA.
A. V. Cauger. “Kansas City’s Own ‘Daddy’ of Ad Films Is Honored by his Hollywood Alumni,” Box Office, Feb. 3, 1945.
“I got a fine job here…” Walt to Mack [?], May 12, 1920, Disney, Walt, Corr., 1920, Walt Disney Early Corr., A3381, WDA.
“[T]he few customers I had would call…” Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
Offer of cartooning. Brian Burnes, Robert W. Butler, and Dan Viets, Walt Disney’s Missouri: The Roots of Creative Genius, ed. Donna Martin, (Kansas City: Kansas City Star Books, 2002).
“The trick of making things move…” Don Alpert, “The Man of the Land Disney,” LAT, Apr. 30, 1961.
Gruff voice. Theodore Cauger, interview by author.
Spitting in the drinking fountain. Phillip Fisher to Walt, Jan. 25, 1934, D.V.’s Letters, 1934, Walt Disney Corr., A1504, WDA.
Developing his own ads. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
Car ad. Diane Disney Miller, as told to Pete Martin, The Story of Walt Disney (New York: Holt, 1956).
Borrowing a camera. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
Financial chicanery. David Smith, Call Family History, Sept. 1971, WDA.
Rented touring car. Ruth Disney Beecher quoted in Lawrence Edward Watkin, Walt Disney, unpub., ms., WDA.
Garage. Roy Disney quoted in Walt Disney: An Intimate History of the Man and His Magic, CD-ROM, Pantheon Productions, 1998.
Glass negative camera. Louis Pesmen, untitled ms., Jul. 7, 1971, Pesmen, Louis A., Folder, Kansas City, A3256, WDA.
“Walt was a focused man…” Dorothy Puder, interview by author.
“When he’d come home…” Roy O. Disney quoted in Walt Disney: An Intimate History CD-ROM.
“He was just busy…” Puder interview.
“lightning sketchers.” Donald Crafton, Before Mickey: The Animated Film, 1898-1928 (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1982).
Winsor McCay. Charles Solomon, Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989); see also John Canemaker, “Winsor McCay,” in The American Animated Cartoon: A Critical Anthology, ed. Gerald and Danny Peary (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1980).
Animation methods. Crafton, Before Mickey. See also Michael Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).
“Animators were scarce.” “Snow White Animator,” Cartoonist Profiles 1, no. 4 (Fall 1969).
“The scenario would probably be…” Dick Huemer in Charles Solomon, The Disney That Never Was: The Stories and Art from Five Decades of Unproduced Animation (New York: Hyperion, 1995).
“We got very few laughs.” Joe Adamson, “A Talk with Dick Huemer,” in Peary and Peary, American Animated Cartoon.
“distinctive features.” Crafton, Before Mickey.
“there was only this one book…” Alpert, “Man of the Land.”
“vulgate of modern industrial animation.” Crafton, Before Mickey.
Lutz recommendations. Edwin G. Lutz, Animated Cartoons: How They Are Made, Their Origin and Development (1920; repr., Bedford, Mass.: Applewood Books, 1998).
“not very profound.” Walt Disney interview by Martin, Disc 5, CD.
“Scarfoot” McCory. Richard G. Hubler, Walt Disney, unpub. ms., RHC.
Correspondence course. Ben Sharpsteen, interview by Dave Smith, Oct. 21, 1974, WDA.
Photostat of Muybridge book. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
“the best animation scene…” Quoted in Hubler, Disney.
Kansas City Art Institute. Iwerks in KCKN Disney Transcription Spot, Mar. 29, 1945, Kansas City Broadcast, Walt Disney Corr, 1945-1946, L-P, A1535, WDA.
Cel system at Slide Co. Disney, Autobiography 1934.
“The Little Artist.” Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons.
Pesmen and Newman. Louis Pesmen, untitled ms., July 7, 1971, Pesman, Louis A., Folder, Kansas City Box, A3256, WDA.
“big showman in Kansas City…” Quoted in Richard H. Syring, “One of the Great Geniuses,” Silver Screen, Nov. 1932.
Description of Newman Theater. Newman Theater Magazine 1, no. 1 (n.d.), WDA.
Showing Milton Feld Laugh-O-grams. Diane Disney Miller, as told to Pete Martin, The Story of Walt Disney (New York: Holt, 1956).
“Of course all of my contacts…” Walt to Frank Newman, Jun. 21, 1933, N, D.V.’s Letters, 1934, Walt Disney Corr., 1930-1934, J-O, A1504, WDA.
Showing Newman Laugh-O-grams. Don Eddy, “The Amazing Secret of Walt Disney,” American Magazine, Aug. 1955.
Laugh-O-gram premiere. Russell Merritt and J. B. Kaufman, Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993).
“I was intrigued…” Quoted in “The Mouse that Won a Nation,” Kansas City Times, Nov. 11, 1978.
Laugh-O-gram method. Merritt and Kaufman, Walt in Wonderland.
Cartoons on theater protocol. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 5.
“I got to be a little celebrity…” Ibid.; Miller, Story of Disney.
Live action. I was shown these films in Marceline through the kindness of Kay Malins.
Studio on dirt hill. A. V. Cauger, interview, Mar. 29, 1945, Ted Cauger Collection.
Setting up the studio. Disney, Autobiography, 1934, WDA.
“Our sights…” Fred Harman, “New Tracks in Old Trails,” True West, Oct. 1968.
“Our hopes…” Ibid.
friend at a local film distributor. Jim Foland to Walt, Jul. 30, 1931, F, D.V.’s Letters, 1931-33, Walt Disney Corr., 1930-1934, D-I, A1503, WDA.
“[T]hat was Walt…” Roy Disney, interview by Richard Hubler, Jun. 18, 1968, RHC, box 14, folder 52.
“we just couldn’t swing it.” Harman, “New Tracks.”
his father’s advice. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 1.
Laugh-O-Gram purpose. Articles of Association, May 18, 1922, Missouri Secretary of State File, 39844. There is some dispute over whether the company’s name was “Laugh-O-Gram” as in the legal documents, or “Laugh-O-gram” as on the posters. I have chosen to use the former for the company name and the latter for the name of the films.
Roy’s tuberculosis. Hubler, Disney.
Roy moving to California. Gilbert Seldes, “Mickey Mouse Maker,” The New Yorker, Dec. 19, 1931.
Herbert’s transfer. Herbert A. Disney to Bayles Steele, Postmaster Kansas City, May 12, 1921, Herbert Disney File, National Personnel Records Center, Civilian Personnel Records, National Archives.
Elias’s sister in Portland. Lawrence Edward Watkin, Walt Disney, unpub. ms., WDA.
Tired of the Kansas City winters. Puder interview.
November 6, 1921. Flora Disney to Raymond Disney, Nov. 4, 1932, Disney Family: Genealogy, Etc., A2383, WDA.
“I never knew Walt’s emotions…” Quoted in Katherine Greene and Richard Greene, The Man Behind the Magic: The Story of Walt Disney (New York: Viking Press, 1991).
Boardinghouses. Marion Cauger to David Smith, Nov. 11, 1970, Cauger, Marion, Folder, Kansas City Box, A325; Walt to Mel Cauger, Aug. 16, 1946, C Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1945-46, A-K, A1534; Esther Hammond to Walt, Dec. 10, 1940, H Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1942-1943, D-H, A1537, WDA.
“one of the most important events…” Walt to Mrs. R. B. Cowell, Apr. 26, 1965, D Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1965, Committees—Disney School, A1607, WDA.
“belief in a Supreme Being…” Walt to Frank Land, May 25, 1951, Land, Frank S., Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1951-1952, H-L, A1546, WDA.
Art editor of DeMolay magazine. C. B. Liter to Dr. Cecil Munsey, Aug. 22, 1977, Untitled Folder, Kansas City Box, A2364, WDA.
Meeting Edna. Roy quoted in Hubler, Disney.
Edna Francis. Bob Thomas, Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire (New York: Hyperion, 1998).
“It was a matter of…” Quoted in Hubler, Disney.
Forgetting dinner invitation. Mrs. Walt Disney as told to Isabella Taves, “I Live with a Genius,” McCall’s, Feb. 1953.
“talk and talk…” Edna Disney quoted in Hubler, Disney.
Assets. Ibid.
Ising’s loan. Merritt and Kaufman, Walt in Wonderland.
“quite a salesman.” Ibid.
Oil refinery scheme. Transcription of tape, Jack Kloepper [Oct. 1970], Kansas City Box, A3256, WDA.
Dr. John Cowles. John Cowles, Jr., interview by author.
Cowles’s advice to First National Bank. Nadine Missakian, interview by David Smith and Jim Stewart, Aug. 12, 1970, WDA.
“Dad was always…” Cowles interview.
$2,500 those first months. In the Matter of Laugh-O-Gram Films, Inc., District Court of the U.S. Western Division of the Western District Of Missouri, File 4457, National Archives, Central Plains Region.
Motion Picture News announcement. Motion Picture News, Jun. 17, 1922.
Hiring Carmen Maxwell. Merritt and Kaufman, Walt in Wonderland.
Walt Pfeiffer as scenario editor. Walt Pfeiffer, interview by Bob Thomas, Apr. 26, 1973, WDA.
1922 theater survey. L. C. Moen, “Statistics of the Motion Picture Industry,” Motion Picture News, Dec. 2, 1922, cited in Richard Koszarski, An Evening’s Entertainment: The Age of the Silent Feature Picture, 1915-1928 (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1990).
Mace in New York. Motion Picture News, Aug. 26, 1922.
“bills were amounting to…” Kloepper, transcription of tape.
Ads. Cited in Alma Vaughn (Newspaper Library, State Historical Society of Missouri) to David Smith, Mar. 17, 1977, Laugh-O-Gram Film Co., A2378, WDA.
“[O]ur only study was…” Quoted in Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons.
Krazy Kat cartoon. Pfeiffer interview.
“Walt had the idea…” Quoted in Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons.
Setup. Merritt and Kaufman, Walt in Wonderland.
Model sheets. Ibid..
Draw directly on cel. Ibid.
Pegs at bottom. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (New York: Hyperion, 1981).
Cinderella scenario. Cinderella (Laugh-O-gram), original script, 1922, Laugh-O-Gram Film Co., A2378, WDA.
“It was more fun than pay.” Pfeiffer interview.
“happy spirit that existed…” Jack Kloepper to David Smith, Oct. 27, 1970, Kloepper File, Kansas City Box, A3256, WDA.
Looking for accidents. Mrs. Rod Thurlow to Walt, Apr. 27, 1956, T Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1956, S-Z, A1565, WDA. Thurlow was the daughter of Lorey Tague.
“[P]eople would come up…” Quoted in Merritt and Kaufman, Walt in Wonderland.
“I didn’t inherit any of that thrift.” Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reel 11.
“It will take another five thousand…” Mac [Red Lyon] to mother, Oct. 7, 1922, Laugh-O-Gram Film Co., A2378, WDA.
“Walt’s checks kept bouncing.” Quoted in “The Mouse that Won
a Nation,” Kansas City Times, Nov. 11, 1978.
Walt Dinsey. Merritt and Kaufman Walt in Wonderland.
“worse than broke.” Mac [Red Lyon] to mother, Oct. 16, 1922, Laugh-O-Gram Film Co., A2378, WDA.
“He had the drive and ambition…” Nadine Missakian, Notes, Missakian, Nadine, Corr. Folder, Kansas City Box, A2364, WDA.
“feature of photographing youngsters…” Kansas City Star, Oct. 29, 1922.
Dr. Thomas B. McCrum and the shoes. Miller, Story of Disney.
“Walt Disney at each filming…” Introduction to Film on Dental Hygiene, “Tommy Tucker’s Tooth,” Tommy Tucker’s Tooth File, Laugh-O-Gram Film Co., A2378. [Records is erroneously referred to here as “Reynolds.”]
Records told another interviewer… Merritt and Kaufman, Walt in Wonderland.
Dr. Cowles covering debt. In the Matter of Laugh-O-Gram Films.
Spotting dollar bill. Quoted in David R. Smith, “Up to Date in Kansas City,” Funnyworld, no. 19 (Fall 1978).
“animated cartoons and spicy jokes.” Paul H. Cromelin to Laugh-O-Gram, Feb. 10, 1923, Walt Disney Corr., 1923, Walt Disney Early Corr., A3381, WDA.
Reediting Lafflets. Merritt and Kaufman, Walt in Wonderland.
Universal. General manager, Laugh-O-Gram, to Paul H. Cromelin, Inter-Ocean, Mar. 28, 1923, Walt Disney Corr., 1923, Walt Disney Early Corr., A3381, WDA.
“We have looked at your product…” H. A. Boushey to Jack Kloepper, Apr. 4, 1923, ibid.
“we do not believe…” Commercial Traders Cinema Corp. to Laugh-O-Gram, May 12, 1923, ibid.
“very trying and expensive.” Walt to Eunice Snyder, Nov. 13, 1922, ibid.
“crack the market.” Walt Disney interview by Martin, Disc 5, CD.
“We have just discovered…” Walt to Paul H. Cromelin, May 16, 1923, Walt Disney Corr., 1923, Walt Disney Early Corr., A3381, WDA.
Seeing Virginia Davis. Davis quoted in Merritt and Kaufman, Walt in Wonderland.
Contract. David Smith notes on letters, Walt to Mrs. Davis, Apr. 13, 1923, Alice Comedies, Oswald, A2357, WDA.
Davis’s home as set. “The Virginia Davis Interview,” Hogan’s Alley, no. 2 (Summer 1995).
“very soon.” Walt to Frank Duffey (Path) May 9, 1923, Walt Disney Corr., 1923, Walt Disney Early Corr., A3381, WDA.