Word: walts
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When the train rolled into Los Angeles, the first sketch of the historic rodent was tucked safely in Walt's pocket, and the roughs of his first cartoon, Plane Crazy, were drawn. Plane Crazy, however, was not the first to reach the public. Sound came roaring in just then, and silent pictures silently expired. Walt rushed to New York, recorded sound track for a new Mickey Mouse cartoon called Steamboat Willie, and released it in Manhattan. "It's a wow!" cried one critic after another, and the public came piling in. Man was about to be conquered...
...next few years Walt made a Mickey Mouse cartoon every month. His staff quickly grew from 20 to 50 to 150 (he now employs almost 1,000 people at his studio). Dozens of dazzling offers were dangled before him, but Walt declined to sell out; he knew he could not be happy except as his own boss. With a foresight remarkable in a man only 28 years old, Walt set about strengthening his organization for a long creative haul. He started the Silly Symphonies, even though there was every sign that they would not be very popular, because he felt...
...these siren songs, Walt lent half an ear. Encouraged by Leopold Stokowski and Deems Taylor, he made the biggest boner of his career: Fantasia. Its basic idea, to illustrate music with pictures, was depressing enough to anyone who loves either form of art. Its declared intention to bring "culture" to the "masses" turned out to be silly: it had nothing to do with culture, and the "masses" would have nothing to do with it. Fantasia has never earned back what it cost. Worse yet, though Walt learned a lesson from Fantasia, he learned the wrong one: mistaking for culture what...
...Strike. The decision did not solve all Walt's problems. The day Pinocchio was released, Germany marched into Poland. The foreign market-in which Disney expects to make about half his take-was cut at least in half. The same problem met Dumbo and Bambi. Meanwhile, Disney had his famous strike. Whatever the rights of the affair-Walt maintained that he was being persecuted by the Communists, the union leaders said he was running a sweatshop-Walt handled it badly and lost the decision gracelessly. The studio was closed down for two weeks. Except for the war, it would...
After the war, Walt definitely decided: "We're through with caviar. From now on it's mashed potatoes and gravy." His first four postwar features-Make Mine Music, Song of the South, Fun and Fancy Free and Melody Time-looked like mashed potatoes all right, but they didn't bring in much gravy. Disney's next big picture, however, made plenty: Cinderella may eventually outgross Snow White. And though Alice in Wonderland was a flop, Peter Pan was another smash hit. which exchanged Barrie sentiment for Hollywood slapstick and almost made the crocodile the hero...