Young-Ears

Summary:

This section starts when Walt first came to Hollywood.  Walt applied to work as a director but companies turned him away.  So Walt and his brother Roy decided to become business partners and would create cartoons.  They found a distributor who would pay them for their cartoons including the Alice Comedies. Walt also sent for Ub to come and work as an animator with him in Hollywood.  After the signing of the contract with the distributor Roy and Walt rented a space in Los Angeles and called it the “Disney Brothers Studios.” When the “Alice Comedies became a hit Walt started hiring more employees one of them including a woman by the name of Lillian Bounds who he would marry in 1925.  With more employees came the need for a bigger place so they moved to a studio on Hyperion Avenue and with the move Roy changed the name to “Walt Disney Studios.” With Alice Comedies revenue diminishing Walt and Ub collaborated and launched a new series called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.   Unsuccessful at first, but Oswald grew into money making shorts.  Then Walt hit a road block when the distributor he signed with was going to steal his company and already had all Walt’s employees except Ub signed with him not Walt.  Walt went back to Kansas City feeling defeated.  But this feeling didn’t last long; soon Walt, Ub, and Roy were back in California and started to create Mickey Mouse.   They found a new distributor by the name of Pat Powers and with the financial help of Powers they made the first Mickey Mouse cartoon called Plane Crazy.  But it was Steamboat Willie (1928) that truly made the mouse famous because of its cutting edge technology of synchronizing music and dialogue with the cartoon.  Walt continued making Mickey cartoons with great success and soon moved to a new set of cartoons called Silly Symphonies.  Their distributor Pat Powers wasn’t paying the company enough money so when he went to go talk to him Powers said that he already had Ub signed with him. So, if Walt renewed the contract he could have Ub back but Disney declined and was hurt by his friend’s betrayal.  Walt became very stressed so his doctor recommended he take a vacation and take up a sport and that is just what he did.  After the trip in 1931, Roy signed a contact permitting to sell Mickey merchandise; including watches, stuffed animals, and toys which were a big hit with the public.  The next step for Walt was colored cartoons and in 1932 Flowers and Trees was the first Disney colored cartoon which he won an Oscar for as well as a special award for the creation of Mickey.  A year after his baby girl Diane Marie Disney was born on December 18.  During this time also created the Disney Art School for new artists and a place to train new employees.  In 1934 a new idea arose to make a full length motion picture called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  This film was special because not only did it have music and color it had depth as well.  With the use of a multiplane camera different scenes are layered on top of each other to create three dimensional appearances. Three long years and over two million drawing later the film was finished.  Making eight million dollars and won Walt a very special Academy Award (seen below.) In 1936 Walt and Lillian adopted Sharon Mae Disney because Lillian was having birth complications. This was also the year that Walt’s mother died caused by asphyxiation by defective furnace.   Walt was out growing the Hyperion Studio and decided to build a new studio on Buena Vista Street in Burbank California.  Walt was very involved with the new building and wanted it to be a workers paradise.  At this time he was also working on Pinocchio next Fantasia was made, then Bambi. But with the start of the war in 1944 things began to halt at the studio.

Plane Crazy

 Steamboat Willie

Recieving Special Oscar for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Review:

I found this section particularly interesting.  The beginning of Walt's career is a struggle and it is inspiring that he never gave up on his dream. His gains out weighted his losses.  Every struggle had a counter success.  In this section it really starts to interpret Disney's actions and tell of the man he really was.  He truly cared for his employees and was extremely committed to his job.  As I get deeper in my book I find that I am continually drawn to the book notice that I am always thinking about it.  The book is so intriguing and every Disney lover will fall head of heels for this enchanting story.

Flowers and Trees

Focus: Authors Point of View

Bob Thomas at the start of the book flashes back to when he was viewing the uncompleted Disneyland with Walt.  He was so intrigued by how Walt had such a clear vision on what Disneyland would become and how passionate he was about his work.  When Thomas decided to write this book on Walt's life he had numerous long interviews with Disney which he found that Walt was a very different man than he expected.  And after many years of research Thomas wrote the true story of Walt Disney.  Not just the story of his success but of the man he really was. An unsuccessful cartoonist from Kansas City who went bankrupt at his first cartoon attempts then developed into the American legend that we know of today. 

 

 

 Hyperion Studios

 

 Walt and Roy Disney