Walt Disney

by Neal Gabler

  Studio expansion. Michael Gordon, “Disney’s Land,” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 4, 1958.

  Golden Oak Ranch. LAT, Apr. 9, 1959; Memo, Dick Pfahler to Those Concerned, Mar. 2, 1964, P Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, N-Tatum, A1651, WDA.

  Firing Ward Kimball. Marc Davis to Robin Allan, Jun. 11, 1985 in John Canemaker, Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation (New York: Disney Editions, 2001).

  “I’m the boss of everything…” DeRoos, “Magic Worlds.”

  “I’m not the perfectionist anymore.” Baltimore News-Post, May 1959, in “‘Disney’s No Comic Character’: Burris Jenkins in Disneyland,” The E Ticket, Fall 2002.

  “It was run from the top down…” Shows, Backstage Adventures.

  “Walt would never let any person get in…” Quoted in Hubler, Disney.

  “I think he is a find.” Memo: Walt to Bill Anderson, Jun. 29, 1956, Bill Anderson Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1956, A1641, WDA.

  Discovering Hayley Mills. Bill Anderson, interview by Bob Thomas, May 17, 1973, WDA.

  “His live movies have become…” Dr. Max Rafferty, “The Greatest Pedagogue of Them All,” LAT, Apr. 19, 1965.

  Grosses. Memo, Card [Walker] to Walt: Re: Doris Day Pictures, May 29, 1962, Card Walker, 1961-62 Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, Tryon-Z, A1652, WDA.

  “one of the funniest…” Tel. Walt to Russell Downing, Radio City Music Hall, Sept. 28, 1960, D Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1960, D-H, A1582, WDA.

  Crying at Pollyanna. Quoted in Mosley, Disney’s World.

  “Our part in things…” “The World of Walt Disney,” Newsweek, Dec. 31, 1962.

  “We’re making corn, Peter.” Quoted in Green and Green, Remembering Walt.

  “These avant garde artists…” Efron, “Still Attacking.”

  “infinite possibilities.” Richard Schickel, The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney, 3rd ed. (1968; repr., Chicago: Elephant Paperbacks, 1997).

  “I feel that wit…” Bill Roberts to Walt, Apr. 27, 1960, R Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1960, P-Z, A1585, WDA.

  “they have had the opportunity…” Tel. Bill Anderson to Walt, Jun. 5, 1963, Bill Anderson Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, A-Disney Aircraft, A1648, WDA.

  “I do not want my name attached…” Tel. Walt to William Anderson, Apr. 23, 1962, Mills, John, and Family Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1965, K-M, A1610, WDA.

  “That’s the kind of film…” Ron Miller quoted in Katherine Greene and Richard Greene, Inside the Dream: The Personal Story of Walt Disney (New York: Roundtable Press, 2001).

  “it set me to thinking…” Memo, Walt to Roy, May 31, 1963, Roy Disney Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, A-Disney Aircraft, A1648, WDA.

  “a lot of yelling and screaming…” Quoted in Bob Thomas, Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire (New York: Hyperion, 1998); Ron Miller, interview by author.

  “I tried to explain…” Ibid.

  Pancake House. Anderson, Hollywood TV.

  “Nobody had to ask anyone…” Quoted in Greene and Greene, Inside the Dream.

  Monies paid in fiscal year 1960. Variety, Apr. 18, 1961.

  Negotiating with Loyd Wright. Memo, Roy to Walt, Re: Your Personal Contract with W.D.P., Nov. 11, 1960, Roy Disney Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, A-Disney Aircraft, A1648, WDA.

  “You could hear them…” Quoted in Hubler, Disney.

  Car door slam. Quoted in Thomas, Building a Company.

  “We work for years…” Jimmy Johnson, Inside the Whimsy Works: My Thirty-Seven Years with Walt Disney Productions, unpub. ms., 1975, chap. 1, WDA.

  “Roy’s great ambition in life,…” Quoted in Greene and Greene, Man Behind the Magic.

  “striving father,…” Harry Tytle, One of “Walt’s Boys”: An Insider’s Account of Disney’s Golden Years (Royal Oak, Mich.: Airtight Seals Allied Productions, 1997).

  “Walt would tell him,…” Walter Pfeiffer, interview by Bob Thomas, Apr. 26, 1973, WDA.

  Rivalry between Roy E. and Ron Miller. Tytle, One of “Walt’s Boys.”

  “That was the first time…” Quoted in Thomas, Building a Company.

  “None of us would be here…” Ibid.

  Terms of contracts. Variety, Apr. 18, 1961.

  “It is wonderful to smoke…” Walt to Roy, Jun. 24, 1961, D Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1961, Comm. to Disneyland, A1587, WDA.

  Peace pipe atop portrait. Johnson, Whimsy Works, chap. 2.

  Reviewing and auditing Chouinard. Memo, Mickey Clark to Walt, Re: Progress Report No. 1, Chouinard Art Institute, Sept. 27, 1956; Price Waterhouse [unsigned] to Walt, Oct. 2, 1956; Memo, Clark to Walt, Re: Chouinard Art School, Jan. 22, 1957; Memo, Mickey Clark to Walt, Re: Chouinard Art Institute, Dec. 13, 1957, Chouinard Art Institute Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1957, A-D, A1566; Memo, Mickey Clark to Walt, Oct. 3, 1956, Clark, Mickey, Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1956-1957, A-Disney, A1641, WDA.

  “We could get the best instructors…” Walt to Hopkins, Re: Prof. Robert Feild, Feb. 28, 1939, Feild, Robert, Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1938-1944, F-K, A1628, WDA.

  “You have to do something…” Tommie Wilck quoted in Hubler, Disney.

  “Walt was obsessed with the idea…” Quoted in Hubler, Disney.

  “He wanted to build that school!” Quoted in Green and Green, Remembering Walt.

  “I want people to come there…” Quoted in Hubler, Disney.

  “we had schools of music,…” Millard Sheets, Los Angeles Art Community: Group Portrait, interview by George M. Godwin, 1977, Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA.

  “so the students who were studying fine arts…” Quoted in Greene and Greene, Inside the Dream.

  “I don’t mean teach drawing,…” Green and Green, Remembering Walt.

  “He was losing interest…” Libby Slate, “Marc Davis,” Disney News, Fall 1992.

  “[I]f you see fit…” Walt to Joseph P. Kennedy, Apr. 26, 1961, Joseph P. Kennedy Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1965, K-M, A1610, WDA.

  “It doesn’t have a wienie!” Anderson, “Great Big.”

  Walt didn’t see prototype. Memo, Tommie [Wilck] to Walt, Sept. 6, 1963, Walt Disney Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1963, Congratulatory-H (Misc.), A1596, WDA.

  “We were living off of black coffee…” Quoted in Anderson, “Great Big.”

  “it is very gratifying…” Memo, Roy to Walt, Re: New Orleans Square, May 15, 1964, Roy Disney Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, A-Disney Aircraft, A1648, WDA.

  Royal Dano and Lincoln. Bob Gurr quoted in Anderson, “Great Big.”

  “Oh, yeah, [Walt] was upset,…” Marc Davis, interview by Bob Thomas, May 25, 1973, WDA.

  “You never saw such a stack…” Ruthie Tompson, presentation at the National Fantasy Fan Club (NFFC) Convention, Jul. 21, 2000.

  “Well, I guess we’ve prolonged this…” Anderson, “Great Big.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen,…” Bright, Inside Story.

  “This is not a toy.” Chicago Daily News, Apr. 21, 1964.

  Other accounts attributed the difficulties… Anderson, “Great Big.”

  Operating on April 30. Chicago Sun-Times, Apr. 30, 1964; Chicago Tribune, Apr. 30, 1964.

  “Do you suppose God is mad…” Quoted in Hubler, Disney.

  “Dad cried…” Quoted in Greene and Greene, Inside the Dream.

  Checkup and rest. LAT, May 13, 1964.

  First season attendance. Steven C. Van Voorhis (manager, New York World’s Fair Operation, GE) to Members of Executive Office, Nov. 6, 1964, General Electric Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Special Projects, 1961-1965, Aspen-Hallmark, A1660, WDA.

  “always its ultimate destination.” Walt to Ralph Newman, Nov. 10, 1964, Illinois Exhibit for New York Fair Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Special Projects, 1961-1965, Illinois-National, A1661, WDA.

  “chuckling, reall
y enjoying it.” Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, Walt’s Time: From Before to Beyond, ed. Bruce Gordon, David Mumford, and Jeff Kurtti (Santa Clarita, Calif.: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998).

  Joe Grant and Mary Poppins. Joe Grant, interview by Michael Barrier, www.michaelbarrier.com/Interviews/Grant/interview_joe_grant.htm.

  Roy contacting Travers. Memo, Perce Pearce to Roy, Re: Mary Poppins, Jan. 6, 1944, P Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1938-1944, N-Q, A1630; Memo, Roy to Walt, Re; Mary Poppins Stories, Jan. 24, 1944, T Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 19444, S-Z, A1533, WDA.

  Roy meeting Travers and Walt willing to fly to Arizona. Memo, Roy to Walt, Jan. 20, 1944, Disney, Roy O., Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1938-1944, D, A1627; Walt to Mrs. P. L. Travers, Feb. 24, 1944, T Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1944, S-Z, A1533, WDA.

  Roy phoned again in March. Memo, Roy to Walt, Mar. 27, 1944, T Folder, Walt Disney Corr., S-Z, A1533, WDA.

  Script approval. Memo, Bill Dover to Walt, Re: Mary Poppins Stories, Feb. 4, 1959, Bill Dover Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1958-1959, Dover-M, A1646, WDA.

  Travers’s terms. Memo, Frank Waldheim to Bill Dover, Re: Mary Poppins, Apr. 20, 1959; Memo, Bill Dover to Walt, Re: Mary Poppins, Jul. 3, 1959, Bill Dover Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1958-1959, Dover-M, A1646, WDA.

  “Amelia Earhardt [sic] type.” Memo, Roy to Walt, Re: Mary Poppins Stories, Jan. 24, 1944.

  Not a fan of Walt Disney’s work. Brian Sibley quoted in Greene and Greene, Inside the Dream.

  Travers’s treatment. Walt to Travers, Jul. 29, 1960; Walt to Travers, Feb. 13, 1961, Pamela Travers Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1964, Radziwill-Z, A1604, WDA.

  “benefit of your reactions…” Walt to Travers, Feb. 13, 1961, ibid.

  “Mary Poppins project is so important…” Travers to Walt, Apr. 13, 1961; Tel. Walt to Travers, Apr. 14, 1961, Pamela Travers Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1964, Radziwill-Z, A1604, WDA.

  Signing and retracting. Memo, Bill Dover to Walt, Re: “Mary Poppins”—Pamela Travers, May 2, 1961, Walt to Travers, May 18, 1962, Pamela Travers Folder, Walt Disney Corr., ibid.

  “When we sat down…” Sherman and Sherman, Walt’s Time.

  “we will make use of it…” Walt to Pamela Travers, Mar. 21, 1963, Pamela Travers Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1964, Radziwill-Z, A1604, WDA.

  Mary Martin. Walt to Travers, Mar. 31, 1961; Tel. Walt to Mary Martin, Mar. 8, 1961, ibid.

  Julie Harris. Memo, [Bill] Dover to Walt, Re: Mary Poppins, Oct. 6, 1961, Bill Dover, 1960-1962 Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, Disney Foundation-H (Misc.), A1649; Walt to Julie Harris, Mar. 26, 1962, H Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1962, Committees-H (Misc.), A1591, WDA.

  Julie Andrews. Walt to Julie Andrews, Feb. 26, 1962, Andrews, Julie, Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1964, A-C (Misc.), A1599, WDA.

  Special operation. Walt to Julie Andrews, Oct. 31, 1962, ibid.

  “mutiliating the story.” Travers to Walt, May 21, 1962, Pamela Travers Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1964, Radziwill-Z, A1604, WDA.

  “Walt had rooms of storyboards…” Quoted in Greene and Greene, Inside the Dream.

  “There wasn’t a sad face…” Quoted in Paul F. Anderson, “Walt’s World,” POV 1, no. 3 (Spring 1993).

  “making sure that everybody was happy…” Quoted in Greene and Greene, Inside the Dream.

  “like a big kid.” Tracy Watson, “Karen Dotrice,” Disney News, Winter 1994.

  “I think it’s going to be one of our best.” Walt to Ruth, Dec. 5, 1963, B Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1963, A-B, A1594, WDA.

  “chickenfeed.” Iwerks quoted in Hubler, Disney.

  “Jolly Holiday.” Sherman and Sherman, Walt’s Story.

  “The animator would fuss and complain…” Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (New York: Hyperion, 1981).

  “terrific.” Tel. Walt to Bill Anderson, Oct. 17, 1963, Bill Anderson Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, A-Disney Aircraft, A1648, WDA.

  Showing film to exhibitor. Hubler, Disney.

  “You have made a great many…” Goldwyn quoted in Sherman and Sherman, Walt’s Story.

  “The whole picture is…” Pamela Travers to Walt, Sept. 1, 1964, Pamela Travers Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1964, Radziwill-Z, A1604, WDA.

  Travers expressing her disappointment. Caitlin Flanagan, “Becoming Mary Poppins,” The New Yorker, Dec. 19, 2005. Flanagan also recounts a story from Richard Sherman where Travers, having had to wangle an invitation to the premiere, cornered Walt afterward and complained about the animated sequence. To which Walt allegedly said, “Pamela, that ship has sailed.” But this is highly unlikely given Travers’s communication with Walt.

  Poppins’s gross. Memo, Card Walker to Walt, Re: Mary Poppins, Mar. 10, 1966, Card Walker Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1965-1966, Retlaw-Z, A1655, WDA; Schickel, Disney Version.

  Moscow showing. Memo, Card Walker to Walt, Re: Mary Poppins—Moscow, Ned Clarke letter, 7/11/65, July 19, 1965, Card Walker Folder, ibid.

  “That lovely statue…” Julie Andrews to Walt, [Apr. 29, 1965,] Andrews, Julie, Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1964, A-C (Misc.) A1599, WDA.

  “Knowing Hollywood,…” Walt to Julie Andrews, Apr. 29, 1965, ibid.

  “With the business…” Hedda Hopper, “Rumored Sell-Out Denied by Disney,” LAT, Feb. 13, 1965.

  “I’m on the spot.” Efron, “Still Attacking.”

  “[w]hen we got in the car…” Marc Davis, interview by Bob Thomas, May 25, 1973, WDA; Hubler, Disney.

  Fair attendance. Memo, Frank Stanek to Marty Sklar, May 9, 1968, Re: NY World’s Fair: Attendance Figures, RHC, Box 17, Folder 57.

  “If This is Architecture,…” Life, Jul. 31, 1964.

  Winston Churchill. Bill Cottrell, interview by Jay Horan, Aug.-Oct., 1983, WDA.

  Sayers’s meetings. Memo, Jack Sayers to Walt, Aug. 31, 1965, Jack Sayers Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 196501966, Retlaw-Z, A1655, WDA.

  Recruiting General Potter. Memo, Card Walker to Walt, Re: General Potter, Jan. 18, 1965, Walt Disney Corr., N-S, A1611, WDA.

  “testing ground.” Quoted in Anderson, “Great Big.”

  SRI study on New Jersey. SRI, [Report on New Jersey Theme Park], [1958,] Harrison Price Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, N-Tatum, A1651, WDA.

  “that audience is not responsive.” Harrison Price quoted in Hubler, Disney.

  “Walt is interested…” Memo, Vincent Jefferds to Walt, Re: Disneyland-Type Park in Brasilia, May 31, 1960, J Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, Herald-M, A1650, WDA.

  Inception of St. Louis Project. 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).

  Terms of St. Louis Project. Draft letter, Walt Disney Productions to Civic Center Redevelopment Corp., St. Louis, Nov. 5, 1963, General Electric Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Special Projects, 1961-1965, Aspen-Hallmark, A1660, WDA.

  St. Louis attractions. Memo, Art Dept. to Whom It May Concern, Re: Walt Disney-St. Louis Project, Nov. 27, 1963, St. Louis Project Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Special Projects, 1961-1965, Premiere-Walt, A1663, WDA.

  Announcing second Disneyland. Peter Bart, “Walt Disney Eyes a 2nd Disneyland,” NYT, Jul. 3, 1964.

  “St. Louis project is only in the talking stage.” Walt to Jack Williams, Jr., (Waycross [Ga.] Journal-Herald), Jul. 1, 1964, Disneyland General Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1964, Disney-Gifts, A1601, WDA.

  Losing interest. Burnes, Butler, and Viets, Disney’s Missouri; Memo, Mel Melton to Walt, Re: Project St. Louis, Apr. 28, 1964, St. Louis Project Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Special Projects, 1961-1965, Premiere-Walt, A1663, WDA.

  “Florida would be better…” Phil Meyer, “Florida Disneyland?” Miami Herald, Aug. 9, 1959.

  City of Tomorrow. An Economic Master Plan for the City of Tomorrow, Dec. 17, 1959, Project West Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1960,
P-Z, A1585, WDA.

  Roy reconnoitered. Robert Price Foster, The Founding of a Kingdom, unpub. ms., 1992, WDA.

  “influence RCA’s plans.” Card Walker to Walt, May 26, 1960, Walt Disney, Inter Co. Memos Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, A-Disney Aircraft, A1648, WDA.

  “It just wasn’t working.” Bill Cottrell interview by Horan, Aug.-Oct. 1983, WDA.

  “It was that Disneyland,…” Quoted in Hubler, Disney.

  “We are more enthusiastic…” Memo, Donn Tatum to Walt, Re: Florida, Jun. 1, 1961, Donn Tatum Folder, Walt Disney Corr. Inter-Office, 1960-1964, N-Tatum, A1651, WDA.

  Convening executives. Foster, Founding.

  “What do you want to do that for?” Mrs. Walt Disney, interview by Richard Hubler, Apr. 16, 1968, Disney, Lillian, Folder, WDA.

  “We would carefully select a third party…” Memo, Card Walker to Walt/Roy, Re: Discussion Outlined for New Project, Sept. 13, 1963, Card Walker, 1960-62 folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1960-1964, Tryon-Z, A1652, WDA.

  Walt’s decision. Bob Thomas, Walt Disney: An American Original (New York: Hyperion, 1994).

  November trip. Foster, Founding.

  Flying in Gulfstream. Ibid.

  Foster in Florida. Ibid.; Memo, Bob Foster to Walt, Re: Project Future Present Status, May 7, 1964, Florida—Inter-Office Memos Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Walt Disney World, A-Z, A1666, WDA.

  Roy’s negotiations. Foster, Founding.

  “our own constitutional convention.” Ibid.

  Recognized by waitress. Card Walker quoted in Greene and Greene, Inside the Dream.

  “There are so many things…” News-Journal, Daytona Beach, Apr. 11, 1965, B Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1965, A-B, A1605, WDA.

  Already purchased 27,400 acres. Memo, Bob Foster to Those Listed, Re: Project Future, Apr. 26, 1965, Florida—Inter-Office Memos Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Walt Disney World, A-Z, A1666, WDA.

  “sell you on the idea…” Memo, Roy to Walt, Aug. 3, 1965, Roy Disney Folder, Walt Disney Corr., Inter-Office, 1965-1966, A-I, A1653, WDA.

  “He looked like I had thrown a bucket…” Orlando Sentinel, Jul. 28, 2003.