Walt Disney

by Neal Gabler

  “Our dilemma…” Kimball, “Wonderful World of Walt Disney.”

  “Mickey Mouse was a nothing…” Friz Freleng, Recollections of Friz Freleng, unpub. ms., 1969, Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA.

  Developing Mickey. Kinney, Disney and Animated Characters; Ben Sharpsteen, interview by Dave Smith, Oct. 21, 1974, WDA.

  “Now that’s the way…” Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (New York: Hyperion, 1981).

  “body is to be drawn…” Quoted in ibid..

  “counter movements…” Ward Kimball, interview by Steve Hulett, WDA.

  “traveled this ontogenetic pathway…” Stephen Jay Gould, “A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse,” in The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History (New York: W. W. Norton, 1980).

  “I think people think of Mickey…” Quoted in Charles Solomon, The Disney That Never Was: The Stories and Art from Five Decades of Unproduced Animation (New York: Hyperion, 1995).

  “his vitality,…” Updike, More Matter.

  “We got tired…” Walt’s annotations on Bob Thomas, Walt Disney, ms., WDA.

  Not rehabilitating Mickey. Culhane, Disney’s Fantasia; Sharpsteen interview by Smith.

  “It would be difficult…” Chester S. Cobb, Handwritten Notes, n.d., Sorcerer’s Apprentice—Chester Cobb suggestions, Fantasia Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “What would you think…” Stokowski to Walt, Nov. 26, 1937, St Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1938-1939, Q-T, A1519, WDA.

  “we should try to follow…” Memo, Walt to Otto Englander, Aug. 31, 1937, InterOffice Communications, Walt Disney Corr., 1936-1937, E-L, A1512, WDA.

  “all steamed up.” Walt to Gregory Dickson, Oct. 26, 1937, St Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1938-1939, Q-T, A1519, WDA.

  “you have no more…” Stokowski to Walt, Nov. 2, 1937, St Folder, ibid.

  “avoid slapstick gags.” “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” SPECIAL NOTICE, Nov. 15, 1937, Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Transcripts—Extra Copies Folder, Fantasia Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “I have never been more…” Walt to Stokowski, Nov. 18, 1937, St Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1938-1939, Q-T, A1519, WDA.

  Exploiting divorce. Walt to Gregory Dickson, Dec. 27, 1937, InterOffice Communications, Walt Disney Corr., 1936-1937, E-L, A1512, WDA.

  Recording at night. James Algar quoted in Culhane, Disney’s Fantasia.

  Bath towels. Ibid.

  “sizable portion…” Chasins, Stokowski.

  New contract. Memo, Roy to Walt, Re: Mr. Stokowski and the Musical Feature, Feb. 22, 1938, InterOffice Corr., Walt Disney Corr., 1938-1939, I-Me, A1517, WDA.

  Sharpsteen’s analysis. Sharpsteen interview by Smith, WDA.

  Preventing animators’ boredom. Story Meeting on “The Nutcracker Suite,” Mar. 2, 1939, Story Meetings 1939, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  Flower Ballet. Notes on General Story Meeting, May 11, 1935; Dick Creedon to Halvenson and Rickard, Flower Ballet, Sept. 10, 1936; Conference on “Flower Ballet,” Sept. 24, 1936, Fantasia—“Flower Ballet”—dated meetings & continuities, Fantasia Story Meetings, etc. A1782, WDA.

  “I can’t get into a rut…” LAT, Feb. 21, 1941.

  “This is not the cartoon medium.” Story Meeting, Dec. 8, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, 1938, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “[I]t’s a continual fight…” Ibid.

  “[W]e’re not making…” Story Meeting, Dec. 23, 1938, ibid.

  “[T]hey’re worried about the high-brow…” Story Meeting, Nov. 11, 1938, ibid.

  “I wouldn’t worry…” Story Meeting, Nov. 17, 1938, ibid.

  “There are things in that music…” Story Meeting, Nov. 8, 1938, ibid.

  “just the ordinary guy…” Roy O. Disney, interview by Richard Hubler, Nov. 17, 1967, WDA.

  “Even if the thing’s a flop…” Story Meeting Notes, Nov. 29, 1939, Bambi—Story Meetings, 1939, Bambi Production Materials—Story Meeting Notes, Sweatbox Notes, Corr., Research A3267, WDA.

  “I am up to my neck…” Walt to Deems Taylor, Aug. 4, 1938, T Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1938-1939, Q-T, A1519, WDA.

  Across the street from pornographic film studio. John Canemaker, Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation (New York: Disney Editions, 2001).

  Resentful. Thomas and Johnston, Disney’s “Bambi.”

  Walt seldom appeared. Marc Davis, interview by Bob Thomas, Fall 1989, WDA.

  “riding herd…” Memo, Lessing to Roy, Re: Misc. Goings On, Apr. 27, 1938, Disney, Roy O.—Trip to Europe, 1938 Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., Disney, Roy O.—Personal & Trips (1934-41), A2995, WDA.

  Discontent and dread. Thomas and Johnston, Disney’s “Bambi.”

  Parents’ new home. Memo, Roy to Walt, Re: New Home for Mother and Dad, Sept. 22, 1938, Disney, Roy O., Folder, Walt Disney Corr., InterOffice, 1938-1944, D, A1627, WDA.

  “We better get this furnace fixed…” Ruth Disney Beecher, interview by David Smith, Nov. 4, 1974, Beecher, Ruth, Folder, WDA.

  Flora’s death. Ibid. Also Ted Beecher, interview by Dave Smith, Nov. 4, 1974, WDA.

  “installation of the furnace showed…” Quoted in Thomas, Building a Company.

  Parents touring Forest Lawn. Hubler, Disney.

  “You should have seen…” Glenn Puder, interview by author.

  “I don’t want to talk…” Richard Greene and Katherine Greene, The Man Behind the Magic: The Story of Walt Disney (New York: Viking, 1991).

  “Jiminy.” The first reference to this name that I could find is Story Meetings, Seq. 3—Pinocchio Meets Fox and Cat—Taken to Theatre; Seq. 7—Fox and Cat Take Pinocchio to Pleasure Island, Sept. 13, 1938, Story Meetings 1938-39 folder, Pinocchio, Story Material, A2761, WDA.

  “vibra harps…” Story Meetings, Oct. 21, 1938, ibid.

  “His little laugh…” Story Meetings, Dec. 8, 1938. ibid.

  “[T]he general outline seems…” Ibid.

  Jiminy as narrator. Story Meeting, Jan. 16, 1939, ibid.

  Jiminy and Uncle Ed. Mosley, Disney’s World.

  “God, he did such…” Ward Kimball, interview by Thorkil Rasmussen, Feb. 23, 1978, WDA.

  “sort of halfway thing.” Kimball interview by Mica.

  “felt the character needed to be…” Quoted in Charles Solomon, Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989).

  Kahl animating Pinocchio. Ollie Johnston to John Canemaker, Mar. 19, 1998, in Canemaker, Nine Old Men; Milt Kahl, interview by Mica Prods., Nov. 3, 1983, WDA.

  Even Fred Moore was impressed… Charles Solomon, “An Afternoon with Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas and Pinocchio,” Animation World, no. 3 (July 1998).

  “[i]t all gives us…” Walt to Otto Englander, Dec. 4, 1937, InterOffice Communications, Walt Disney Corr., 1936-1937, E-L, A1512, WDA.

  Model dept. Quoted in Greene and Greene, Inside the Dream.

  Filming inanimate objects. Thomas and Johnston, Illusion of Life.

  Twenty women in the airbrush department. Ibid..

  “We must keep from going broke…” Meeting on Color Tests, Mar. 29, 1939, Story Meetings, 1938-39, Pinocchio, Story Material, A2961, WDA.

  “[T]his was an era…” Frank Thomas, interview by Bob Thomas quoted in Watts, Magic Kingdom.

  “change the history…” Ollie Johnston, interview by author.

  “We’ve always wanted to do…” Story Meeting on “The Nutcracker Suite,” Mar. 2, 1939, Story Meetings 1939, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  Securing releases. Stokowski to Walt, Jun. 10, 1938, St Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1938-39, Q-T, A1519, WDA.

  Considering music. Notes from Story Meetings, Sept. 8, 1938, “Moto Perpetuo” (Perpetual Motion), Sept. 15, 1938; Story Meeting, Sept. 10, 1938; Hal Thompson, “Siegfried,” Sept. 12, 1938, Extra Copies (Nibelungen Ring); Memo, Mary Goodrich to John [Rose], Jun. 9, 1938; Story Meeting, Sept. 14, 1938; Story Meeting, Sept. 26, 1938, Fant
asia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “swooping through the halls…” Shamus Culhane, Talking Animals and Other People (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986).

  “What is loud…” Robyn Flans, “Joe Grant,” Disney News, Fall 1970.

  Harpo Marx. Culhane, Disney’s Fantasia.

  “blowing the top off…” Story Meeting, Nov. 17, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, 1938, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  Soundstage concert. Sept. 29, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, Sept. 1938, ibid.

  “until all hands were red.” Jimmy Johnson, Inside the Whimsy Works: My Thirty-Seven Years with Walt Disney Productions, unpub. ms., 1975, WDA.

  “I don’t know what more…” Story Meeting, Sept. 30, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, Sept. 1938, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “We’re searching here…” Story Meeting, Nov. 11, 1938, ibid.

  “It is like pruning…” Meeting on Sound Stage—Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6, n.d., ibid.

  “if the spirit of the music…” Story Meeting, Fantasia, Room 232, Sept. 13, 1938, ibid.

  Not everything had to connect. Story Meeting, Oct. 24, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, 1938, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “I know everybody has the tendency…” Story Meeting, Dec. 23, 1938, ibid.

  “story annoys you.” Story Meeting on Fantasia, Sept. 28, 1938, ibid.

  three-dimensional effect. Story Meeting on Fantasia, Sept. 26, 1938; Sept. 28, 1938, ibid.

  Perfume. Story Meeting, Sept. 14, 1938, ibid.

  “It would be quite a sensation…” Story Meeting, Sept. 26, 1938, ibid.

  “We don’t want to follow…” Story Meeting, “Toccata and Fugue,” Nov. 8, 1938, ibid.

  “a sort of mad musician…” Story Meeting, Sept. 10, 1938; “Night on Bald Mountain,” Story Meeting, Sept. 29, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, Sept. 1938, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “Cydalise.” Story Meeting, Sept. 30, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, Sept. 1938; Story Meeting, Oct. 17, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, 1938; Story Meeting, Nov. 2, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, 1938, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “Dance of the Hours.” Story Meeting on Fantasia, Sept. 29, 1938; Story Meeting, Oct. 17, 1938, ibid.

  Belcher live action. Nov. 9, 1938, Walt Disney Desk Diaries, 1938, Walt Disney Desk Diaries, 1934-1943, A3084, WDA; Memo, Jack Caldwell to Dick Huemer, Re: “Dance of the Hours,” Oct. 27, 1938; Story Meeting, Nov. 2, 1938, Concert Feature—Meeting, 1938, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “The Nutcracker Suite.” Story Meeting on Fantasia, [“Nutcracker Suite”], Sept. 28, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, Sept. 1938, Fantasia Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  Reconsidering “Nutcracker.” Brief Synopsis of “Nutcracker Suite,” Nov. 1, 1938, Concert Feature Meetings, 1938, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA; Story Meeting, Concert Feature—“Nutcracker Suite”—Chinese Dance, Nov. 25, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings 1938 folder, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “[T]here’s something very valuable…” Story Meeting, Concert Feature—“Nutcracker Suite”—Chinese Dance, Nov. 25, 1938.

  “something of a prehistoric theme…” Story Meeting, Sept. 13, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, Sept. 1938, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “The happy ending again!” Story Meeting on Fantasia, Sept. 30, 1938, ibid.

  “as though the studio had sent…” John Hubley quoted in Culhane, Disney’s Fantasia.

  H. G. Wells. Story Meeting, Sept. 23, 1938, WDA.

  Didn’t want to antagonize Christian fundamentalists. John Hubley quoted in Culhane, Disney’s Fantasia.

  “That’s what I see…” Story Meeting, Sept. 23, 1938, WDA.

  Striking primitive themes. Story Meeting, Oct. 3, 1938, WDA.

  “It will be safer…” Ibid.

  “Something like the last…” Story Meeting, Oct. 19, 1938, Concert Feature—Meetings, 1938, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “If you had selected any other…” Deems Taylor to Stuart [Buchanan], Feb. 22, 1939, T Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1938-1939, Q-T, A1519, WDA.

  Restrictions. Chasins, Stokowski.

  “Mr. Stokowski is a little difficult…” Memo, Stuart Buchanan to Walt, Mar. 27, 1939, Buchanan, Stuart, Walt Disney Corr., InterOffice, 1938-1944, A1625, WDA.

  Stokowski happier with recordings. Chasins, Stokowski.

  Already over budget. Memo, Herb Lamb to Walt, Re: Production and Cost Report, Nov. 16, 1938, Lamb, Herb, Folder, Walt Disney Corr., InterOffice, 1938-1944, L-M, A1629, WDA. By this point the studio had spent $650,739.06.

  “There’s certain guys…” Sweatbox Notes, Bambi, Sept. 9, 1939, Bambi—Story Meetings, 1939, Bambi Production Materials—Story Meeting Notes, Sweatbox Notes, Corr., Research, A3267, WDA.

  “These people had come…” Memo, William B. Levy to Walt, Oct. 31, 1939, Levy, Wm. B., Folder, Walt Disney Corr., InterOffice, 1938-1944, L-M, A1629, WDA.

  Dividends of extra time. Sweatbox Notes, Sept. 1, 1939, Bambi—Story Meetings, 1939, Bambi Production Materials—Story Meeting Notes, Sweatbox Notes, Corr., Research A3267, WDA.

  “jell so well.” Sweatbox Notes, Sept. 9, 1939, ibid.

  “The whole damn thing…” Milt Kahl, interview by Bob Thomas, May 14, 1973, WDA.

  “You had people trying to outdo…” Quoted in Steve Hulett, “A Star is Drawn,” Film Comment, Jan.-Feb. 1979.

  “We worked every night…” Quoted in Eliot, Dark Prince.

  “It’s the toughest job…” Walt to Van Schmus, Oct. 20, 1939, Misc. File, WDA.

  Contest submissions. F#4—Title Contest—Key File, Walt Disney Corr., InterOffice 1938-1944, S-Z, A1632, WDA.

  “It isn’t the word alone…” Hal Horne to Paul Stuart Buchanan, May 26, 1939, F#4—Title Contest—Key File, Walt Disney Corr., InterOffice 1938-1944, S-Z, A1632, WDA. To my knowledge, the first time the word Fantasia appears in relation to the film is in a desk diary entry on Apr. 20, 1938, for a sweatbox session of “dance of fawns.”

  “by trying to find what we want…” Stokowski to Walt, Oct. 20, 1939, St Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1938-1939, Q-T, A1519, WDA.

  “no artists.” Quoted in Jules Engel, interviewed by Lawrence Wechsler and Milton Zolotow, Los Angeles Art Community Group Portrait, UCLA, 1985.

  “you’re going to have people…” Ibid.

  “wild abstraction.” Story Meeting on “Toccata and Fugue,” Feb. 28, 1939, Story Meetings—1939, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc. A1782, WDA.

  “You bring figures in…” Story Meeting Notes—“Toccata and Fugue,” Aug. 21, 1939, ibid.

  “This is more or less picturing…” Ibid.

  “It’s like something you see…” Story Meeting on “The Nutcracker Suite,” Mar. 2, 1939, Story Meetings—1939, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  “[T]here’s a theory…” Story Meeting on “Toccata and Fugue,” Jun. 5, 1939, ibid.

  “things must be big…” Story Meeting on “Toccata and Fugue,” Mar. 3, 1939, ibid.

  “We don’t get too serious…” Meeting on Sound Stage—Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Aug. 8, 1939, ibid.

  Walt was so eager to proceed… Ibid.

  Quarrel over “Pastorale.” Concert Feature Meeting with Stokowski, Jul. 14, 1939; Meeting on Sound Stage—Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, Aug. 8, 1939, Story Meetings—1939, Fantasia, Story Meetings, etc., A1782, WDA.

  Bambi schedule. Telephone conversation between Dave Hand and Perce Pearce, Mar. 29, 1939, Bambi—Correspondence, Perce Pearce, Bambi Production Materials, Story and Meeting Notes, Sweatbox Notes, Corr., Research, A3267, WDA.

  Walt’s new instructions. Ibid.

  “best animal animators…” Meeting, Apr. 5, 1939, Bambi—Story Meetings, 1939, ibid.

  “There is no formula…” Ibid.

  “[W]e’ve found that out…” Bambi—First Four Reels (Meeting Not
es—Sound Stage—Aug. 31, 1939), ibid.

  “they have a very analytical…” Sweatbox Notes, Bambi, Sept. 1, 1939, ibid.

  Kahl, Larson, Thomas controlling animation. Sweatbox Notes, Bambi, Sept. 9, 1939, ibid.

  New Bambi schedule. Ibid.

  “There would be a disaster…” Ibid.

  “It’s wise to move easy…” Ibid.

  “sacks of wheat.” Eric Larson, interview by Mica Prods., n.d., WDA.

  Deer film and live deer. Walt to George Schaefer, RKO, Nov. 1, 1939, RKO Hollywood Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1938-1939, Q-T, A1519, WDA; Thomas and Johnston, Illusion of Life; Richard Huemer, Recollections of Richard Huemer, unpub. ms., 1969, Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA; Thomas and Johnston, Disney’s “Bambi.”

  Lebrun’s anatomy classes. Thomas and Johnston, Illusion of Life; Larson interview by Mica.

  Centralizing Thumper. Sweatbox Notes, Bambi, Sept. 1, 1939, Bambi—Story Meetings, 1939, Bambi Production Materials—Story Meeting Notes, Sweatbox Notes, Corr., Research, A3267, WDA.

  “[N]ow the first part…” Thomas and Johnston, Disney’s “Bambi.”

  “Say we open up…” Story Meeting Notes, Nov. 22, 1939, Bambi—Story Meetings, 1939, Bambi Production Materials—Story Meeting Notes, Sweatbox Notes, Corr., Research, A3267, WDA.

  “He has never been on ice before.” Meeting Notes, Dec. 11, 1939, ibid.

  Consulting three times a week. Discussion of New Burbank Disney Studio by Frank Crowhurst, interview by Gerrit Roelof, Apr. 16, 1940, WDA.

  “All was nebulous…” Ibid.

  Ground-breaking. New Studio Building (Misc. Folder), Walt Disney Corr., InterOffice, 1938-1944, NoQ, A1630, WDA.

  “It is going to save the studio…” Memo, Roy to William Garity and Frank Crowhurst, Re: Studio Building Program, Jan. 19, 1939, New Studio Building Folder, Walt Disney Corr., InterOffice, 1938-1944, N-Q, A1630, WDA.

  Debating economies. Discussion of New Studio Unit Set-Up, Oct. 24, 1938—Sweatbox 4, New Studio Building (Misc.), ibid.

  RFC loan. Memo, George Morris to Roy, Jun. 9, 1939; Roy to George Morris, Jun. 25, 1939, Disney, Roy O.—Trip to New York, June, July 1939 Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., Disney, Roy O.—Personal & Trips (1934-41), A2995, WDA.