Walt Disney

by Neal Gabler

  Thomas, Bob. Walt Disney: An American Original. 1976; reprint New York: Hyperion, 1994.

  ——. Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire. New York: Hyperion, 1998.

  Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. New York: Hyperion Books, 1981.

  ——. Walt Disney’s “Bambi”: The Story and the Film. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1990.

  Tietyen, David. The Musical World of Walt Disney. Milwaukee: H. Leonard Publishing, 1990.

  Trethewey, Richard L. Walt Disney: The FBI Files. Pacifica, Calif.: Rainbo Animation Art, 1994.

  Tytle, Harry. One of “Walt’s Boys”: An Insider’s Account of Disney’s Golden Years. Royal Oak, Mich.: Airtight Seals Allied Production, 1997.

  Wasko, Janet. Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 2001.

  Watts, Steven. The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.

  ARTICLES AND ESSAYS

  Adamson, Joe. “With Walt on Olympus: An Interview with Dick Huemer.” Funnyworld, Fall 1977.

  Alexander, Jack. “The Amazing Story of Walt Disney.” Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 31, 1953.

  Apple, Max. “Uncle Walt.” Esquire, Dec. 1983.

  Barrier, Mike. “‘Building a Better Mouse’: Fifty Years of Disney Animation.” Funnyworld, Fall 1979.

  ——. “Screenwriter for a Duck: Carl Barks at the Disney Studio.” Funnyworld, Fall 1979.

  Berland, David I. “Disney and Freud: Walt Meets the Id.” Journal of Popular Culture, Spring 1982.

  “Big Bad Wolf.” Fortune, Nov. 1934.

  Brockway, Robert W. “The Masks of Mickey Mouse: Symbol of a Generation.” Journal of Popular Culture, Spring 1989.

  Brunette, Peter. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” In The American Animated Cartoon: A Critical Anthology. Edited by Gerald Peary and Danny Peary. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1980.

  Canemaker, John. “Sincerely Yours, Frank Thomas.” Millimeter, Jan. 1975.

  ——. “Grim Natwick.” Film Comment, Jan.-Feb. 1975.

  ——. “Art Babbitt: The Animator as Firebrand.” Millimeter, Sept. 1975.

  ——. “Vladimir William Tytla (1904-1968): Animation’s Michelangelo.” Cinefan-tastique, Winter 1976.

  ——. “Disney Design, 1928-1979: How the Disney Studio Changed the Look of the Animated Cartoon.” Millimeter, Feb. 1979.

  ——. “David Hilberman.” Cartoonist Profiles, Dec. 1980.

  Charlot, Jean. “But Is It Art? A Disney Disquisition.” American Scholar, Summer 1939.

  Churchill, Douglas W. “How Mickey Mouse Enters Art’s Temple.” NYT Magazine, Jun. 3, 1934.

  ——. “Disney’s Philosophy.” NYT Magazine, Mar. 6, 1938.

  Culhane, John. “A Mouse for All Seasons.” Saturday Review of Literature, Nov. 11, 1978.

  Dale, Kittie. “Disneyland, Ks., Had Its Historic, Exciting Moments.” Ellis Review, 1972.

  Davidson, Bill. “The Fantastic Walt Disney.” Saturday Evening Post, Nov. 8, 1964.

  De Roos, Robert. “The Magic Worlds of Walt Disney.” National Geographic, Aug. 1963.

  Deming, Barbara. “The Artlessness of Walt Disney.” Partisan Review 12, no. 2 (Spring 1945).

  “Disney Family Settled in Huron County in 1848.” Goderich Signal Star, Jul. 7, 1999.

  Disney, Mrs. Walt, as told to Isabella Taves. “I Live With a Genius.” McCall’s, Feb. 1953.

  Disney, Walt. “The Cartoon’s Contribution to Children.” Overland Monthly and Outwest Magazine, Oct. 1933.

  ——. “The Marceline I Knew.” Marceline News, Sept. 7, 1938.

  ——. “Growing Pains.” American Cinematographer, Mar. 1941.

  ——. “A Roving Mouse Landed Me in a Hole!” New York Enquirer, May 5, 1957.

  ——. “Newspaperboys, Ah, How Well I Remember!” Family Weekly, Oct. 14, 1961.

  Eddy, Don. “The Amazing Secret of Walt Disney.” American Magazine, Aug. 1955.

  Efron, Edith. “Still Attacking His Ancient Enemy—Conformity.” TV Guide, Jun. 17, 1965.

  “Father Goose.” Time, Dec. 17, 1954.

  Fessier, Michael, Jr. “Legacy of a Last Tycoon.” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 12, 1967.

  Flans, Robyn. “Joe Grant.” Disney News, Fall 1970.

  Ford, John D. “An Interview with John and Faith Hubley.” In The American Animated Cartoon: A Critical Anthology. Edited by Gerald Peary and Danny Peary. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1980.

  Gardner, John. “Saint Walt: The Greatest Artist the World Has Ever Known, Except for Possibly, Apollonius of Rhodes.” New York, Nov. 12, 1973.

  Glenn, Charles. “Exploding Some Myths About Mr. Disney.” Daily Worker, Feb. 17, 1941.

  Gordon, Mitchell. “Case of the Unretiring Mr. Rosenberg.” Wall Street Journal, Feb. 14, 1968.

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

  “Growing Up Disney.” People, Dec. 21, 1998.

  Halevy, Julian. “Disneyland and Las Vegas.” Nation, Jun. 7, 1958.

  Hart, Reg. “Interview with Friz Freleng.” Griffithiana, no. 34 (Dec. 1988).

  Hirsch, M. J., Jr. “Mouse Minter.” Advertising and Selling, Jul. 18, 1935.

  Hiss, Tony, and David McClelland. “The Quack and Disney.” The New Yorker, Dec. 19, 1975.

  Hollister, Paul. “Genius at Work: Walt Disney.” Atlantic Monthly 166 (Dec. 1940).

  Huemer, Dick. “Thumbnail Sketches.” Funnyworld, Fall 1979.

  ——. “The Battle of Washington.” Funnyworld, Winter 1980.

  Hughes, Robert. “Walt Disney: From Mousebrow to Highbrow.” Time, Oct. 15, 1973.

  Hulett, Steve. “A Star Is Drawn.” Film Comment, Jan.-Feb. 1979.

  Jackson, Kathy Merlock. “Mickey and the Tramp: Walt Disney’s Debt to Charlie Chaplin.” Journal of American Culture, Dec. 2003.

  Jamison, Barbara Berch. “Of Mouse and Man, or Mickey Reaches 25.” NYT Magazine, Sept. 13, 1953.

  JWM. “Walt Disney, Showman and Educator, Remembers Daisy.” CTA Journal, Dec. 1955.

  Kaufman, J. B. “Three Little Pigs—Big Little Picture.” American Cinematographer, Nov. 1988.

  Kimball, Ward. “The Wonderful World of Walt Disney.” In You Must Remember This. Edited by Walter Wagner. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1975.

  King, Margaret J. “Disneyland and Walt Disney World: Traditional Values in Futuristic Form.” Journal of Popular Culture 15, no. 1 (Summer 1981).

  ——. “The Recycled Hero: Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett.” In Davy Crockett: The Man, the Legend, the Legacy. Edited by Michael A. Lofaro. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1985.

  Klein, I. “Golden Age Animator Vladimir (Bill) Tytla.” Cartoonist Profiles, Aug. 1970.

  ——. “Reminiscences.” Cartoonist Profiles, Aug. 1970.

  ——. “The Disney Studio in the 1930s.” Cartoonist Profiles, 1974.

  ——. “When Walt Disney Took Another Giant Step!” Cartoonist Profiles, Mar. 1977.

  ——. “I. Klein.” Cartoonist Profiles, Sept. 1978.

  ——. “‘Screen Gems’ Made of Paste: Memories of the Charles Mintz Studio.” Funnyworld, Summer 1979.

  ——. “Some Close-Up Shots of Walt Disney During the ‘Golden Years.’” Funnyworld, Spring 1983.

  Lawrance, Lowell. “Mickey Mouse—Inspiration from Mouse in K.C. Studio.” Kansas City Journal-Post, Sept. 8, 1935.

  Lears, Jackson. “The Mouse that Roared.” New Republic, Jun. 15, 1998.

  Litwak, Leo E. “A Fantasy That Paid Off.” NYT Magazine, Jun. 27, 1965.

  Low, David. “Leonardo da Disney.” New Republic, Jan. 5, 1942.

  Mann, Arthur. “Mickey Mouse’s Financial Career.” Harper’s, May 1934.

  McEvoy, J. P. “Walt Disney Goes to War.” This Week, Jul. 5, 1942.

  Menen, Aubrey. “Dazzled in Disneylan
d.” Holiday, Jul. 1963.

  Merritt, Karen, and Russell Merritt. “Mythic Mouse.” Griffithiana, Dec. 1988.

  “Mickey Mouse and the Bankers.” Fortune, Nov. 1934.

  Miller, Arthur. “Walter in Wonderland.” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 4, 1938.

  ——. “Dali and Disney Plan Something Definitely New.” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 7, 1946.

  “Mouse and Man.” Time, Dec. 27, 1937.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Disney.” Ladies’ Home Journal, Mar. 1941.

  Muir, Florabel. “Animated Cartoons Going Over Big.” New York Sunday News, Dec. 1, 1929.

  Nater, Carl. “Walt Disney Studio—A War Plant.” Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers 42, no. 3 (Mar. 1944).

  Natwick, Grim. “Animation.” Cartoonist Profiles, Dec. 1978.

  ——. “Animation.” Cartoonist Profiles, June 1979.

  Nugent, Frank. “The Slapstick Professor.” New York Times, May 5, 1935.

  ——. “Disney Is Now Art—But He Wonders.” NYT Magazine, Feb. 26, 1939.

  ——. “The Million Dollar Mouse.” NYT Magazine, Sept. 21, 1947.

  Peet, Creighton. “Mickey Mouse’s Miraculous Monkey Shines.” Literary Digest, Aug. 9, 1930.

  Peri, Don. “Roy Williams: An Interview.” Funnyworld, Fall 1977.

  “Pollen Man.” The New Yorker, Nov. 1, 1941.

  Pringle, Henry F. “Mickey Mouse’s Father.” McCall’s, Aug. 1932.

  “Profound Mouse.” Time, May 15, 1933.

  Rafferty, Dr. Max. “The Greatest Pedagogue of Them All.” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 19, 1965.

  Rasky, Frank. “80 Million a Year from Fantasy.” Star Weekly (Toronto), Nov. 14, 1964.

  Reilly, Frank. “The Walt Disney Comic Strips.” Cartoonist Profiles, Winter 1969.

  Robbins, L. H. “Mickey Mouse Emerges as Economist.” NYT Magazine, Mar. 10, 1935.

  Robins, Sam. “Disney Again Tries Trailblazing.” NYT Magazine, Nov. 3, 1940.

  Salkin, Leo. “Disney’s ‘Pigs is Pigs’: Notes from a Journal, 1949-1953.” In Storytelling in Animation: The Art of the Animated Image, vol. 2. Edited by John Canemaker. Los Angeles: AFI, 1993.

  Santora, Phil. “A Kid from Chicago.” New York Daily News, Sept. 30, 1964.

  Schickel, Richard. “Ruler of the Magic Kingdom.” Time, Dec. 7, 1998.

  Scott, Joan. “Ordeal by Disney.” Film Comment, Dec. 1987.

  Scully, Vincent. “If This Is Architecture…” Life, Jul. 31, 1964.

  Seldes, Gilbert. “Mickey Mouse Maker.” The New Yorker, Dec. 19, 1931.

  ——. “Disney and Others.” New Republic, Jun. 8, 1932.

  ——. “No Art, Mr. Disney.” Esquire, Sept. 1937.

  Shanley, J. P. “King of Disneyland.” New York Times, Dec. 5, 1954.

  Sherman, George. “Bill Tytla.” Cartoonist Profiles, Aug. 1970.

  Skolsky, Sidney. “Mickey Mouse—Meet Your Maker.” Hearst’s International Cosmopolitan, Feb. 1934.

  Slate, Libby. “Marc Davis.” Disney News, Fall 1992.

  Smith, David R. “Ub Iwerks, 1901-1971.” Funnyworld, Spring 1972.

  ——. “Ben Sharpsteen…33 Years with Disney.” Millimeter, Apr. 1975.

  ——. “Up to Date in Kansas City.” Funnyworld, Fall 1978.

  ——. “Disney Before Burbank: The Kingswell and Hyperion Studios.” Funnyworld, Summer 1979.

  ——. “New Dimensions—Beginnings of the Disney Multiplane Camera.” In The Art of the Animated Image: An Anthology. Edited by Charles Solomon. Los Angeles: American Film Institute, 1989.

  Solomon, Charles. “Historical Perspective.” Animation Magazine, Summer 1992.

  Strzyz, Klaus. “Art Babbitt.” Comics Journal, Fall 1969.

  ——. “Art Babbitt.” Comics Journal, Mar. 1988.

  ——. “Ward Kimball.” Comics Journal, Mar. 1988.

  Syring, Richard H. “One of the Great Geniuses.” Silver Screen, Nov. 1932.

  Thompson, Dorothy. “On the Record.” New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 25, 1940.

  Trillin, Calvin. “Disney World, Fla.” The New Yorker. Nov. 6, 1971.

  Updike, John. “Introduction to The Art of Mickey Mouse.” In John Updike, More Matter. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.

  “Virginia Davis Interview.” Hogan’s Alley, no. 2 (Summer 1995).

  Wallace, Irving. “Mickey Mouse and How He Grew.” Collier’s, Apr. 9, 1949.

  Wallace, Kevin. “The Engineering of Ease.” The New Yorker, Sept. 7, 1963.

  Waller, Gregory A. “Mickey, Walt and Film Criticism from Steamboat Willie to Bambi.” In The American Animated Cartoon: A Critical Anthology. Edited by Gerald Peary and Danny Peary. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1980.

  “Walt Disney Accused.” Frances Clark Sayers, interview by Charles M. Weisenberg. F.M. and Fine Arts, Aug. 1965.

  “Walt Disney Studios.” California Arts and Architecture, Jan. 1941.

  Wanger, Walter. “Mickey Icarus, 1943: Fusing Ideas with the Art of the Animated Film.” Saturday Review of Literature, Sept. 4, 1943.

  Waterbury, Ruth. “What Snow White’s Father Is Doing Now.” Liberty, Nov. 26, 1938.

  “The Wide World of Walt Disney.” Newsweek, Dec. 31, 1962.

  “A Wonderful World.” Newsweek, Apr. 18, 1955.

  Woolf, S. J. “Walt Disney Tells Us What Makes Him Happy.” NYT Magazine, July 10, 1938.

  UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS AND ARTICLES

  Anderson, Paul F. The Artist and the Aviator: Victory Through Air Power. 2005.

  Discussion of New Burbank Disney Studio. Frank Crowhurst, interview by Grant Roelof. Apr. 16, 1940. WDA.

  Disney, Walt. Autobiography. 1934. WDA.

  ——. Autobiography. 2nd, 3rd, 5th installments. 1939. WDA.

  Early Chicago Residences of the Elias Disney Family. Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks. [1991.]

  Foster, Robert Price. The Founding of a Kingdom. 1992. WDA.

  Freleng, Friz. Reflections of Friz Freleng. 1969. Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA.

  Graham, Don. The Art of Animation. n.d. WDA.

  Hollister, Paul. Man or Mouse: The Story of Walt Disney, So Far. 1955. WDA.

  Hubler, Richard G. Walt Disney. RHC. 1968.

  Huemer, Richard. Recollections of Richard Huemer. 1969. Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA.

  Johnson, Jimmy. Inside the Whimsy Works: My Thirty-Seven Years with Walt Disney Productions. 1975. WDA.

  Jungmeyer, Jack. “The Marceline Farm Days in the Boyhood of Walt Disney.” Dec. 20, 1954. WDA.

  Lessing, Gunther. My Adventures During the Madero-Villa Mexican Revolution. 1963. WDA.

  Los Angeles Art Community: Group Portrait. Jules Engel, interview by Lawrence Wechsler and Milton Zolotow. 1985. UCLA.

  Perkins, Jessie Call. The History of the Call Family. December 1947. WDA.

  Pesmen, Louis. Untitled ms. [1971]. WDA.

  Sorrell, Herbert Knott. You Don’t Choose Your Friends: The Memoirs of Herbert Knott Sorrell. 1963. Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA.

  Watkin, Lawrence Edward. Walt Disney. n.d. WDA.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  When one works on a project as big as this one for as many years as it has taken me to accomplish it, one accumulates many debts along the way, but I have one major creditor: Howard Green. Among scholars, the Walt Disney Company has gained the unenviable reputation of being an impregnable corporate fortress, about as forthcoming as the old Soviet Kremlin. No one gains full access, I was warned by numerous individuals who had tried, unless one is serving the company’s agenda. Those people didn’t account for Howard Green. Howard Green is the longtime vice-president for studio communications at the Disney company, though the crisp austerity of that title is misleading. Howard is no button-down bureaucrat. He is an enthusiast, a historian, an astute critic, a facilitator, and a good and generous friend—someone who would have fit comfortably into the old, informal Hyperion enclave. His friendship has been one of the great rewa
rds of my writing this book. When I first met Howard at the studio years ago at the inception of this project, I was braced for a maze of restrictions and a pile of provisos, including the proviso that I write approvingly of Walt Disney. Instead, I got a simple injunction: Write a serious book. I have tried to do so, but I couldn’t have done so without the assistance of Howard, who opened the extensive Disney archives to me and introduced me to Disney animators, Disney scholars, old Disney employees, and acquaintances of Walt. It should be noted that having done all this, Howard did not require me to submit the manuscript to the studio for approval, and I haven’t. I received cooperation. I did not seek nor did I receive a company imprimatur.

  Another individual who deserves special praise is Roy E. Disney, Roy O. Disney’s son and Walt Disney’s nephew. I was told that Roy E. was instrumental in facilitating studio cooperation for this book. At the same time, he never attempted to influence what I was writing.

  Having been loosed in the Disney Archives, where I would spend thousands upon thousands of hours working my way through Walt Disney’s correspondence and reading tens of thousands of other documents as well as watching Disney films and listening to Disney recordings, I was aided and abetted by three other extraordinary individuals whom I am now privileged to call friends. Dave Smith founded the archives in 1971 and has headed them ever since. In the Disney community Dave is a legend—the primary fount of Disney information. He was never less than generous in sharing that information with me, in answering all questions, large and small, and in ferreting out any material that I requested and even some that I didn’t know enough about to request. The archives manager, Robert Tieman, is also a published Disney authority. Robert, a self-professed curmudgeon, once took umbrage at an article that described him as cheery, so he will no doubt be offended when I say how much I appreciated his willingness to answer the numerous questions with which I pelted him daily, his forays to the annex to find material that was not readily available, and—dare I say it—the dry good humor with which he tolerated me even after years of my pestering him for Disney arcana. Robert’s drollery leavened those long ten-hour days in the archives. Last but by no means least is Rebecca Cline, the assistant archivist. Rebecca not only answered questions, fetched material, Xeroxed documents, assisted my photo research, and took me on a tour of the studio, including Walt’s office, she also patiently listened whenever I discovered what I thought was some golden nugget of information and listened even more patiently as I expatiated on some new theory of Walt that I was formulating. Just as Robert’s drollery helped me through those long lunchless days, so did Becky’s kindness and unfailing good nature. One couldn’t ask for a better companion or a more decent human being. In addition to everything else they did, Dave, Robert, and Rebecca all read the manuscript and provided comments that made this a better book than it would otherwise have been. Thanks are due as well to Brian Hoffman of the archives, and Shelly Graham at the Disney Photo Library, who assisted in the photo research and scanned the images, and Margaret Adamic, who provided legal clearances.