Acknowledgements
When I was first approached by White Owl Books to write a biography about Walt Disney, I quickly became overwhelmed. Not only is Walt Disney a historical figure that I admire personally, but millions of people around the world have grown up with ‘Uncle Walt’ and the work he is famous for playing prominently in their lives. How do I do justice to this great man? I asked myself. How do I tell his story in a way that has never been told before while making it interesting and engaging to a new audience? And how does someone like me, a high school history teacher living in suburban North Carolina, even begin to convey how important this man’s story is to me and everyone who adores his work?
As a result, there is no way I could have successfully undertaken this project without a number of people who have provided me with essential help along the way.
I first want to give thanks to those closest to me: God, who has bestowed me with the gift of writing and storytelling; my wife Andrea, who never gave up hope on me and supported me wholeheartedly in my pursuit of research while working on this project for the last couple of years; and my children, who always got excited about and asked questions regarding ‘Daddy’s book’.
I also would like to thank the staff at White Owl Books, including Lori Jones, Aileen Pringle, Natasha Weale, and Jonathan Wright, for their interest in the life of Walt Disney. I appreciate their willingness to take a chance on me in tackling this enormous undertaking, as well as their patience in the face of dozens of emails I sent regarding everything from word count and illustrations to cover art and contracts.
I also want to extend a very gracious thank you to Mr Titus Koesters, who produced the drawing of Walt Disney for the cover art. I was very lucky to get to know Titus in 2019 as a sophomore student in my Advanced Placement US History class. Titus is a very humble and extremely talented young man who creates excellent pieces of artwork, and I can’t wait to see where his talent takes him in the future.
I also would like to thank everyone with whom I developed relationships during my research trips to Chicago and Missouri during the first half of 2020. Robert Coker and his staff over at the Walt Disney Birthplace and The O-Zell Soda Co. were incredibly helpful in bringing the Chicago of Elias Disney’s day to life. Rey Colón was also invaluable in developing the narrative of Elias and Flora’s design and construction of the houses on Tripp Avenue, as well as their role in shaping life in the neighbourhood of Hermosa.
The people of Missouri were also wonderful and incredibly helpful in bringing Walt Disney to life for me, going above and beyond to help me, even during the restrictions created by COVID-19. I am forever thankful to Kaye Malins, Director of the Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline, who provided my family and I with a wonderful couple of days in town, touring us around and treating us to a delicious lunch (including Dusty Millers) at Ma Vic’s Café. I would also like to thank her for getting us into the Disney farmhouse, an evening I will remember for the rest of my life. I would like to thank Ms Chris Ankeney and her family for allowing us to stay on Manly Howe Taylor’s farm, as well as sharing the family’s story and photographs with us. Dan Viets, Director of Thank You Walt Disney, Inc. also deserves my gratitude, as he spent his afternoon touring us around Kansas City and showing off the Laugh-O-gram studio building. Finally, thank you to Ms Roberta Long, who invited me to sit on the front porch of her home, the Disneys’ Bellefontaine house, while she told me stories about her history in the house. Seeing the garage behind the house was particularly special, allowing me to touch the very building that was built with both Elias and Walt’s hands.
I owe a special thanks to Michael Tritt, Chief Marketing Officer, and Lauren Hypse Kovarna, Marketing Manager, of Union Station. While Union Station was closed due to COVID-19 during our trip to Kansas City, Lauren was able to schedule us a tour with Michael, who gave up a few hours to show us around. Lauren was also instrumental in providing me with the photographs of Union Station during the 1920s, allowing my readers to visualise some of the sights and locations that Walt experienced during his young adulthood in Kansas City.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to express thanks to the amazing help I had in researching this book. When it came to some topics, especially the role of the American Red Cross in the First World War, there was only so far I could get through basic web searches and books. The staff at the library of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro were incredibly helpful in locating the annual reports of the American Red Cross, while Jean Shulman from the American Red Cross was instrumental in providing documents regarding Walt’s service in the relief organisation, including the passport application he forged.
Thus, while the story of the young Walt Disney has been a wonderful one to tell, the credit belongs to all of those above. From the bottom of my heart, and from everyone who picks up this book, thank you.
Note
Everything that I have written is factual. Any piece of actual information has come directly from some sort of primary source, whether book, newspaper article, video, telegram, scientific study, or peer-reviewed article. I also use photographs and interviews to flesh out the conversations and thoughts that various individuals had, interspersed with quotes and dialogue pulled from interviews and primary source material. None of this is historically or factually inaccurate, but rather a narrative representation of actual events that happened based on individuals’ recollections of specific events.
A select bibliography of sources can be found at the end of this volume.
Call, Charles and Henrietta Gross: Walt Disney’s maternal grandfather and father to Flora (née Call) Disney.
Cauger, Arthur Vern (A.V.): owner of the Kansas City Slide Company, which later became known as the Kansas City Film Ad Company.
Cottingham, James: Principal of Benton Grammar School in Kansas City.
Crane, William: Civil War veteran who was the previous owner of the farm that Elias purchased north of Marceline, Missouri.
Davis, Virginia: discovered in 1923 at the age of four by Walt Disney; he would later sign her to become the titular character of his Laugh-O-gram animated series, the Alice Comedies. Davis would be a part of the series for a year until her parents disagreed with Walt on salary.
Disney, Arundel Elias and Maria Swan: Walt Disney’s paternal great-grandparents, who emigrated from Ireland to Canada in 1834.
Disney, Elias: Walt Disney’s father, who was born in Bluevale, Canada and would later move to the U.S. and marry Flora Call.
Disney, Flora (née Call): Walt Disney’s mother, who was born in Steuben, Ohio and would later meet Elias Disney in Ellis, Kansas.
Disney, Herbert Arthur: firstborn of Elias and Flora Disney and older brother of Walt Disney.
Disney, Kepple and Francis Best: Walt Disney’s paternal great-great-grandparents who abided in County Kilkenny, Ireland.
Disney, Kepple and Mary Richardson: Walt Disney’s paternal grandparents, who resided in Bluevale, Canada.
Disney, Lillian (née Bounds): wife of Walt Disney who was originally hired to be an ink-and-paint girl for the Disney Bros. Studio.
Disney, Margaret (née Rogers): wife of Robert Disney and aunt of Walt Disney, who provided her nephew with art supplies, inspiring his passion for illustration, and later, animation.
Disney, Raymond Arnold: second child of Elias and Flora Disney and older brother of Walt Disney.
Disney, Robert: the second son of Kepple and Mary (née Richardson) Disney and younger brother of Elias Disney. Known by his nickname in Marceline as ‘Gold Bug’ Disney, Robert often migrated around the United States, searching for (and often finding) economic success in real estate.
Disney, Roy Oliver: third child of Elias and Flora Disney, and Walt Disney’s older brother who partnered with him in his pursuits as an animator as part of the Disney Bros. Studio.
Disney, Ruth Flora: fifth child of Elias and Flora Disney and younger sister of Walt.
Disney, Walter Elias: fourth child of Elias and Flora Disney and the hero of our story and animation pioneer. Shortened his name to Walt in late 1919 while working at Pesmen-Rubin, his first job as a professional artist.
Dollard, Kathleen: ink-and-paint girl who worked for the Disney Bros. Studio in Los Angeles.
Feld, Milton: general manager of Kansas City’s Newman Theater.
Fleischer, Max: creator of ‘Out of the Inkwell’, an immensely popular animated series during the early days of syndicated animation.
Flickinger, Clem: childhood friend of Walt Disney during his time living in Marceline, Missouri.
Francis, Edna: long-suffering fiancée and later wife of Roy Disney, sister of Roy’s friend, Mitch Francis.
Francis, Mitch: Friend of Roy Disney and brother of Roy’s wife, Edna Francis.
Freleng, Isador ‘Friz’: animator from Kansas City who was hired to work for the Disney Bros. Studio in Los Angeles. It was Freleng who replaced Ham Hamilton in 1926.
Gay, Margie: young actress who took over when Dawn O’Day stepped down as the main character in the Alice Comedies. Third actress to play Alice.
Hamilton, Irene: ink-and-paint girl hired by Walt Disney to help produce the Alice Comedies. Sister of Ham Hamilton.
Hamilton, Rollin ‘Ham’: animator who joined the Disney Bros. Studio in Los Angeles for the production of the Alice Comedies.
Hardwick, Lois: young actress who took over when Margie Gay stepped down as the main character in the Alice Comedies. Fourth and final actress to play Alice.
Harman, Fred: younger brother of Hugh Harman who was hired by Walt to work at Laugh-O-gram. Later moved to Los Angeles to work at Disney Bros. Studio.
Harman, Hugh: friend of Walt whom he met during their time at the Kansas City Film Ad Company. Walt later worked with Harman when they created Kaycee Studios and later hired him to work at Laugh-O-gram. Later moved to Los Angeles to work at the Disney Bros. Studio.
Howell, Harriett Alice: head cook of the canteen at Neufchâteau, France during the First World War. It was here that Walt became close friends with Howell while working as a driver for the canteen.
Ising, Rudolf ‘Rudy’: early employee of Walt’s at Laugh-O-gram in Kansas City. Later moved to Los Angeles to work at the Disney Bros. Studio.
Iwwerks, Ubbe: young artist who became friends with Walt during their time at Pesmen-Rubin in Kansas City. After losing their jobs, Walt and Ubbe would go into business together, creating their own advertising studio, Iwwerks-Disney. Ubbe would become one of Walt’s first employees with the start of Laugh-O-gram and the Disney Bros. Studio. Later changed the spelling of his name to Ub Iwerks.
Laemmle, Carl: head of Universal Studio who originally requested that Charles Mintz and the Disney Bros. Studio create a rabbit character, who would ultimately become Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Land, Frank S. ‘Dad’: founder of the Order of DeMolay of Kansas City and sponsor for Walt Disney during his time as a DeMolay in 1920.
Loomis, Ann: ink-and-paint girl who worked for the Disney Bros. Studio in Los Angeles.
Lyon, Red: camera operator who worked for Walt at Laugh-O-gram in Kansas City.
Maas, Russell: friend of Walt Disney whom he met while working in the Chicago Post Office. Maas and Walt conspired together to enlist in the days following the outbreak of the First World War, even though they were underage. Like Walt, Maas would also be accepted into the American Red Cross.
Mace, Leslie: distribution salesman who worked with Walt at Laugh-O-gram in Kansas City.
Martin, Mike: Walt’s uncle, married to Flora Disney’s sister, Alice. Uncle Mike was a train engineer for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad and often passed through Marceline, Missouri, allowing young Walt to pilot the train into town.
Maxwell, Carman: animator who worked with Walt Disney at Laugh-O-gram in Kansas City.
McCay, Winsor: animation pioneer, best known for his syndicated comic strip, Little Nemo, and his animated film, Gertie the Dinosaur.
McCrum, Dr Thomas B.: Kansas City dentist who commissioned two films from Walt in the final days of Laugh-O-gram: Tommy Tucker’s Tooth and Clara Cleans Her Teeth.
Messmer, Otto: co-creator of animated series ‘Felix the Cat’, a popular character in the early days of syndicated animation.
Mintz, Charles: distributor of the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who inherited the responsibilities after marrying Margaret Winkler. Mintz is best known for his ‘theft’ of the rights of Oswald from the Disney Bros. Studio in 1928, as well as most of the Disney staff.
Muybridge, Eadweard: animation pioneer and author of Animals in Motion, which inspired Walt and Ubbe to hone their animation skills. Inventor of the zoopraxiscope, which allowed for the illusion of animation of still images.
Newman, Frank: Owner of the Newman Theater, one of the largest and most successful movie palaces in Kansas City, Missouri. It was Newman who first gave Walt the opportunity to screen his work professionally before paid audiences in the form of his Newman Laugh-O-grams.
O’Day, Dawn: young actress who took over when Virginia Davis stepped down as the main character in the Alice Comedies. O’Day performed in only one film for Disney: Alice’s Egg Plant. Second actress to play Alice.
Orr, Carey: political cartoonist for The Chicago Tribune and personal hero to a young Walt Disney.
Pantages, Alexander: owner of Los Angeles chain of theatres and vaudeville houses who agreed to distribute gag reels upon Walt’s arrival from Kansas City in late 1923.
Parr, Dr Walter R.: reverend of St. Paul’s Congregational Church, located in the Hermosa neighbourhood of Chicago. Parr and his wife Mary were also close friends of Elias and Flora Disney, and the two men agreed to name their next children after each other.
Pesmen, Louis: Walt’s first boss, along with Bill Rubin, as a professional artist during his time working at Pesmen-Rubin in Kansas City.
Pfeiffer, Walt: childhood friend of Walt Disney in Kansas City, Missouri. Walt often spent time at the Pfeiffer home and, after encouragement from Pfeiffer’s father, the two boys began to perform vaudeville skits. Walt Disney would remember his childhood friend when he did some art work for Pfeiffer’s father upon his return to Kansas City after the First World War. Pfeiffer would later join Walt at Laugh-O-gram in Kansas City.
Reynolds, Aletha: artist responsible for inking and tracing cels for the animators at Laugh-O-gram in Kansas City.
Rubin, Bill: Walt’s first boss, along with Louis Pesmen, as a professional artist during his time working at Pesmen-Rubin in Kansas City.
Scrogin, Ernest A.: founder and owner of O-Zell, the soda and jelly factory at which Elias Disney worked and owned stock in Chicago. It was later found that Scrogin participated in corrupt business practices.
Sewell, Hazel (née Bounds): sister of Lillian Disney.
Sherwood, Leighton ‘Doc’: farmer and retired doctor who lived near the Disneys north of Marceline, Missouri. It was Doc Sherwood who would give young Walt his first illustrated commission.
Simpson, Nadine: stenographer and bookkeeper at Laugh-O-gram in Kansas City. Simpson would later have mercy on Walt when he suffered financial difficulty during Laugh-O-gram’s final days.
Stalling, Carl: piano player at the Isis Theater and friend of Walt Disney. Stalling originally began working with Walt when the two collaborated on the Song-O-Reel, Martha: Just a Plain Old-Fashioned Name. Stalling would later move to Los Angeles where he would produce music for animated shorts for the Walt Disney Studio.
Sullivan, Pat: co-creator of animated series ‘Felix the Cat’, a popular character in the early days of syndicated animation.
Tague, Lorey: animator who worked with Walt Disney at Laugh-O-gram in Kansas City.
Taylor, Don: childhood friend of Walt Disney and son of Manly Howe and Bertha Taylor.
Taylor, Erastus ‘Grandpa’ and Elizabeth: neighbours of the Disney family in Marceline, Missouri. ‘Grandpa’ Taylor often told an enraptured young Walt Disney about his experiences, real and fictional, in the American Civil War.
Taylor, Manly Howe and Bertha (née Phillips): neighbours of the Disney family, just north of Marceline, Missouri. Manly Howe was the son of Erastus ‘Grandpa’ Taylor, while Bertha Phillips Taylor was the niece of William and Elizabeth Crane. The Taylors often spent time with the Disney family, and their children were playmates to the Disney kids.
Walliman, Otto: animator who worked with Walt Disney at Laugh-O-gram in Kansas City.
Winkler, George: brother of Margaret Winkler who was hired by Charles Mintz to act as an intermediary between the distribution company and the Disney Bros. Studio. While Mintz was the brains behind his corrupt dealings with the Disney Bros. Studio, Winkler was the one who carried out the deeds.
Winkler, Margaret: animation distributor for Pat Sullivan’s ‘Felix the Cat’ and Walt Disney’s Alice Comedies. Stepped down as distributor of Disney films after her marriage to Charles Mintz in 1923.
Preface
Walter Elias Disney was an incredible man. He has been described by his numerous biographers as ‘an American Original,’ ‘the Triumph of the American Imagination,’ and ‘the Illustrated Man,’ attributing to his significance as an innovator in the world of animation.
The multitudinous biographies written about Disney tend to focus on his childhood in small-town America, his fondly-remembered Marceline, Missouri. They go on to describe his early years dabbling in film and animation, listing his different ventures including Laugh-O-gram Studios, the Alice Comedies, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, before detailing the loss of his first original character and many of his animators to film distributor, Charles Mintz. These books follow Walt, dejected, back west and peer over his shoulder as he creates his famous mouse, leading to the explosion of the Disney Studios as it began to create Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons. Readers begin biting their nails in suspense (and quietly judge) as Walt takes the risk to create the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is released to universal acclaim in 1937. His biographers trace the growth of his film ventures during and after the Second World War with his well-known films, Dumbo, Bambi, and Cinderella, which catapulted him into global fame. Never satisfied, Walt began utilising the medium of television, ultimately paying for the financing of his theme park, Disneyland, which would transition Disney entertainment from an evening’s escape to a vacation destination. As Walt Disney’s fame grew and he became involved in outside ventures like the 1964 New York World’s Fair and city planning, his biographers note how his life was sadly cut short due to lung cancer, and how the company began limping along throughout the 1960s and 1970s before bringing us into the present day.
But oftentimes, written biographies, as well as podcasts, blog posts, and even television specials, focus on Walt Disney and his life as a series of incredible events and innovations he experienced, isolating him from the world around him. They focus on his trial-and-error experimentation (and numerous failures) when creating his own animation companies; the success of his Mickey Mouse shorts and feature animation, including the several technological and technical advancements of his studio; and the great success of his Disneyland theme park, a larger-than-life toy for its creator, himself a big kid.
The scores of people who discuss and analyse Walt’s life and sing his accolades are at best biographers, but more often, they are Disney fans who have bought into the message and dreams of the things he created. They are often not trained historians, instead simply telling the story of one man without understanding or explaining his place in events unfolding around him. But one man’s life doesn’t happen in a vacuum, especially that of Walter Elias Disney.
Walt Disney was a real-life version of Forrest Gump: not only did he affect the world around him, leading to memorable fads still a part of the collective memory today, including Davy Crockett coon-skin caps and Ingersoll Mickey Mouse watches, but he was also affected by the history that he experienced as well, reacting to many of the most important events of the twentieth century in the imaginative way that only Disney could.
Walt Disney not only influenced American and global culture through the development of his animated shorts and features, television programmes, theme parks and attraction technologies, but he was also a product of American and global culture, which then led him to be a creator of culture. His exposure to vaudeville performance and early films as a child instilled in him a love for performance; the introduction of television into American homes encouraged him to embrace the medium by creating family-friendly programming that helped further create his brand; and his partnership with four very different corporations in 1964 for the New York World’s Fair led to the development of new robotics technology and special effects, which would change the entertainment world for decades to come.
Walt Disney was not just a culture-creator, as without his exposure and response to American culture, he would likely have been just another person, not a household name. The world would be one without Disney parks or Mickey Mouse.
It would be a world with less magic, less joy, and fewer dreams.