by Neal Gabler
Displacing the old “rubber hose.” Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons.
Apportionment of Pigs. J. B. Kaufman, “Three Little Pigs—Big Little Picture,” American Cinematographer, Nov. 1988.
“[u]nder his influence…” Quoted in Solomon, Enchanted Drawings.
“The drawing that people think of…” Quoted in ibid.
Walt dropping by Moore’s table. Claude Smith to Barrier, in Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons.
“Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” Cottrell interview by Horan; Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reels 6 & 7; Kaufman, “Three Little Pigs.”
“At last we have achieved…” Graham, Art of Animation.
UA reaction. Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reels 6 & 7.
Whistling “Who’s Afraid…” Kaufman, “Three Little Pigs.”
“[Y]ou cannot escape.” Richard Watts, Jr., “Sight and Sound: What Disney Did,” New York Herald Tribune, Oct. 15, 1933.
“Personally, I would like to get you…” J. P. McEvoy, “Letters I Would Love to Mail,” New York Daily Mirror, [1933], Disney Clippings, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Too few prints. Dick Lundy quoted in Kaufman, “Three Little Pigs.”
Lengthening whiskers. Katherine Greene and Richard Greene, Inside the Dream: The Personal Story of Walt Disney (New York: Roundtable Press, 2001).
Comic strip. Roy to Walt, Oct. 26, 1933, Disney, Roy O.—1933 Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., Disney, Roy O.—Personal & Trips (1934-41), A2995, WDA.
Writers Club dinner. Owen Crump to Walt, Mar. 28, 1963, C Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1963, C-Complaint, A1595, WDA.
Not break even. Morris to Roy, Oct. 18, 1933, Disney, Roy O.—1933 Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., Disney, Roy O.—Personal & Trips (1934-41), WDA.
Apology. Kaufman, “Three Little Pigs.”
“I realized something was happening…” Quoted in Solomon, Enchanted Drawings.
Personality animation began… Quoted in Stefan Kanfer, Serious Business: The Art and Commerce of Animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy Story (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1997).
“It brought us honors…” Disney, “Growing Pains.”
“[T]he main thing about…” Walt Disney interview by Martin, Reels 6 & 7.
Pleaded ignorance. Harry Tytle, “Walt’s Boys”: An Insider’s Account of Disney’s Golden Years (Royal Oak, Mich.: Airtight Seals Allied Production, 1997).
If it hadn’t been for the Depression… Ken Anderson, interview by Bob Thomas, May 15, 1973, WDA.
Elias and Flora in Portland. Flora to Raymond, Nov. 4, 1932, Disney Family: Genealogy, Etc., A2383, WDA; Elias to Raymond, Feb. 31, 1933 [?], Elias Disney Box, WDA.
“Quit worrying.” Richard G. Hubler, Walt Disney, unpub. ms., 1968, RHC.
“by force of circumstance…” Lewis Jacobs, The Rise of the American Film: A Critical History (1939; repr., New York: Teachers College Press, 1968).
“No one will ever know…” Robert D. Feild, The Art of Walt Disney (New York: Macmillan, 1942).
“historians of the future…” Will Hays, Annual Report to the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (New York, 1934).
“Ford factory.” Disney, “Growing Pains.”
“[T]he picture Walt was after…” Quoted in Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons.
“This would be an ideal way…” Ibid..
“The best story guys…” Jack Kinney, Disney and Animated Characters.
“one eyebrow…” Bill Justice, Justice for Disney (Dayton, Ohio: Tomart Publications, 1992).
“like a Roman Emperor…” I. Klein, Cartoonist Profiles, no. 39 (Sept. 1978).
Questionnaires. See Story Meeting on Sailormen All, Apr. 4, 1938, Sea Scouts Folder, RM 26, WDA; Memo, Walt to All Concerned, Feb. 28, 1936, Inter-Office Communications, Walt Disney Corr., 1936-1937, E-L, A1512, WDA.
Gag files. Roy to Walt, Jun. 6, 1936, Drake, George, Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1936-1937, A-D, A1511, WDA; Paul Hollister, “Genius at Work: Walt Disney,” Atlantic Monthly 166, no. 6 (Dec. 1940).
Director’s responsibilities. Justice, Justice; Thomas and Johnston, Illusion of Life.
“Walt was the antagonist.” Ben Sharpsteen, Answers to Questions submitted by Dave Smith, Sept. 1974, WDA.
“Albert Hurter had a big room…” Quoted in John Canemaker, “Grim Natwick,” Film Comment, Jan.-Feb. 1975.
“[T]he director ‘saw’ the story…” John Culhane, Walt Disney’s Fantasia.
“[m]ake it stronger…” Eric Larson, interview by Christopher Finch and Linda Rosenkrantz, Jul. 25, 1972, WDA.
Redrawing contributing to beauty. Thomas and Johnston, Illusion of Life.
One animator so resisted… Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons.
“A sweatbox session…” Kinney, Disney and Animated Characters.
Previews. Shamus Culhane, Talking Animals; Kinney, Disney and Animated Characters.
“Even though he was blocking…” Sharpsteen interview by Peri.
“in spite of all your work…” Walt to Eleanore Humiston, Jun. 13, 1962, H Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1962, Committees-H (Misc.), A1591, WDA.
“took too much…” Disney, Autobiography, 1934, WDA.
Badminton games. Marc Davis, interview by Richard Hubler, May 21, 1968, WDA.
“That’s a part of them…” Lillian Disney Truyens, interview by Bob Thomas, Apr. 19, 1973, Disney, Lillian, Folder, WDA.
Travel. Walt to Edith Hughes, Aug. 3, 1933; Walt to Flora, Sept. 8, 1933, Misc. File, WDA.
Introduction to polo. Hedda Hopper, “O’Connor’s Grove Opening,” LAT, Mar. 23, 1963.
Polo instruction. Cottrell interview by Horan; Lucille Benedict to Roy, May 17, 1933, Roy O. Disney—1933 Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., Disney, Roy O.—Personal & Trips (1930-33); Disney, Autobiography; Walt to Mrs. L. E. Francis, May 13, 1958, F Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1958, D-G, A1570, WDA.
Polo compatriots. Los Angeles Herald & Express, Apr. 14, 1933; Mercury, Nov. 22, 1934; New York Post, May 14, 1934; Daily Trojan, Jan. 9, 1934.
“very few people outside…” Quoted in Marc Eliot, Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Dark Prince (New York: HarperCollins, 1994).
Sunday drives. Lillian Disney Truyens interview.
“[I]t’s my only sin.” Walt to Flora Disney, Dec. 5, 1933, Lawrence Edward Watkin, Walt Disney, unpub. ms., WDA.
Doctor’s advice. Diane Disney Miller, as told to Pete Martin, The Story of Walt Disney (New York: Holt, 1956).
Adding yards to new house. Thomas Wood, [no title], 1944, Disney Clippings, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Rush job. LAT, Jun. 12, 1932.
“Lilly has been feeling…” Walt to Flora, Sept. 8, 1933, Misc. File, WDA.
“Really, it’s quite a strange…” Walt to Flora, Dec. 5, 1933, ibid.
Keeping birth quiet. Walt to Rob Wagner, Jan. 13, 1934, Wagner’s, Rob, Script Folder, Walt Disney Corr., 1930-1934, V-Z, 1935, A-B, A1506, WDA.
Birth of Diane. Miller, Story of Disney; NYT, Dec. 19, 1933; LAT, Dec. 19, 1933.
“AM PROUD FATHER…” Tel. Walt to Roy, Dec. 18, 1933, Disney, Roy O.—1933 Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., Disney, Roy O.—Personal & Trips (1934-41), A2995, WDA.
“I’ll think of something…” Sidney Skolsky, “Mickey Mouse—Meet Your Maker,” Hearst’s International Cosmopolitan, Feb. 1934.
Mickey Mouse Club membership. Walt Disney, “The Cartoon’s Contribution to Children,” Overland Monthly and Outwest Magazine, Oct. 1933.
500 million paid admissions. “Mickey Mouse Is Eight Years Old,” Literary Digest, Oct. 3, 1936.
“dozens of works produced…” Gilbert Seldes, “No Art, Mr. Disney,” Esquire, Sept. 1937.
“supreme artistic achievement…” “The Pie in the Art,” Nation, Nov. 7, 1934.
“loved Mickey Mouse…” Quoted in John Culhane, “A Mouse for All Seasons,” Saturday Review of Literature, Nov. 11, 1978.
Highest comp
liment. “Miracle Mickey,” Film Daily, Aug. 7, 1935.
“international hero…” “The Big Bad Wolf,” Fortune, Nov. 1934.
Queen Mary. Ibid..
Arturo Toscanini. LAT, Feb. 2, 1936.
“[n]ot since the days…” NYT, Dec. 11, 1935.
Sergei Eisenstein. Eisenstein to Walt, Mar. 16, 1935, RHC, Box 27, Folder 107.
Charlotte Clark. George Morris to Roy, Nov. 8, 1930, Roy O. Disney—NY trip—Nov. 1930 Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., Disney, Roy O.—Personal & Trips (1930-33); Roy to Irving Lesser, Mar. 4, 1931, Irving Lesser Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., G-Lo (1930-41), A2996, WDA.
“real high-class book.” Roy to Irving Lesser, Mar. 26, 1931, Irving Lesser Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., G-Lo (1930-41), WDA.
“we are building up…” George Borgfeldt Co. to Roy, Apr. 27, 1931, Bi, D.V.’s letters, 1931-1933, Walt Disney Corr., 1930-1934, A-C, A1502, WDA.
“longhand like some bunch of farmers.” Roy to Irving Lesser, Mar. 23, 1932, Irving Lesser Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., G-Lo (1930-41), WDA.
Quality control. Tom Tumbusch, “Walt’s Businessman,” POV, Jul. 17, 1992.
“one of the homeliest men…” Jimmy Johnson, Inside the Whimsy Works: My Thirty-Seven Years with Walt Disney Productions, unpub. ms., 1975, chap. 2, WDA.
Proud of his homeliness. DeWitt Jones quoted in Leonard Mosley, Disney’s World: A Biography (New York: Stein & Day, 1985).
Kamen background. M. J. Hirsch, Jr., “Mouse Minter,” Advertising and Selling, Jul. 18, 1935.
“I don’t know how much business…” Roy Disney, interview by Richard Hubler, Feb. 20, 1968, RHC.
Kamen deals. Tumbusch, “Businessman,”; Hirsch, “Minter.”
“Getting the Three Little Pigs…” Hirsch, “Minter.”
Forty licensees. “Mickey Mouse Financier,” Literary Digest, Oct. 21, 1933.
$35 million. Hirsch, “Minter.”
“Shoppers carry…” L. H. Robbins, “Mickey Mouse Emerges as Economist,” NYT Magazine, Mar. 10, 1935.
“Wherever he scampers…” Ibid..
Mickey Mouse watch. Roy to Lucille [Benedict], May 29, 1933, Roy O. Disney—1933 Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr., Disney, Roy O.—Personal & Trips (1930-31), A2994, WDA.
Lionel Corporation. NYT, Jan. 22, 1935.
Kamen increasing licensing. “Mickey Mouse Is Eight Years Old,” Literary Digest, Oct. 3, 1936; Summary of Income Statements from Dec. 31, 1934 to Oct. 2, 1943, Morris, George, Folder, Walt Disney Inter-Office Corr., 1938-1944, L-M, A1629, WDA.
Ancillary rights. NYT, Mar. 12, 1934.
“[I]t is no exaggeration…” “Mickey Mouse Is Eight Years Old.”
“We began to have an awful…” Quoted in Marcia Blitz, Donald Duck (New York: Harmony Books, 1979).
Resembling comic strip Mickey. Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons.
“abandoned gradually…” “1933: A Trial Balance—Mickey Mouse,” Theatre Arts Monthly, Feb. 1934.
“In the beginning of the thirties…” Eric Larson, interview by Thorkil Rasmussen, Feb. 22, 1978, WDA.
“realized the minute we got…” Ward Kimball, interview by Steve Hulett, WDA.
“feeling of cuteness…” Les Clark, Training Course Lecture: Discussion of Mickey, Aug. 17, 1936, WDA.
Mickey and Minnie were married. Walt Disney, “Mickey Mouse is 5 Years Old,” Film Pictorial, Sept. 30, 1933.
Comparing to Harold Lloyd. Walt Disney, interview by Hooper Fowler, Look, Jan. 1964, WDA.
“To me there was something…” Quoted in Karen Merritt and Russell Merritt, “Mythic Mouse,” Griffithiana, Dec. 1988.
“If our gang…” Disney, “Cartoon’s Contribution.”
“an international bore.” “Puppets—Two Styles,” Nation, May 8, 1935.
Clarence Nash. Tony Hiss and David McClelland, “The Quack and Disney,” The New Yorker, Dec. 19, 1975; Miller, Story of Disney; Blitz, Donald Duck.
Nash and Iwerks. Culhane, Talking Animals.
“Being a duck…” Miller, Story of Disney.
“turning point.” Ward Kimball, “Wonderful World.”
“There have been signs…” Gilbert Seldes, “True to Type,” New York Journal, Apr. 8, 1935.
“Sometimes it was hard for an audience…” Miller, Story of Disney.
“Every time we put…” Anonymous quoted in Irving Wallace, “Mickey Mouse and How He Grew,” Collier’s, Apr. 9, 1949.
“The duck can blow his top…” Robert De Roos, “The Magic Worlds of Walt Disney,” National Geographic, Aug. 1963.
Walt extending Donald’s range. Hiss and McClelland, “Quack.”
“Donald could be anything…” Ibid..
“If we start using the duck…” Memo, Walt to Roy, Oct. 9, 1935, Clarence Nash Folder, Inter-Office Communications, Walt Disney Corr., 1935, He-R, A1509, WDA.
“Again it’s manifest…” Variety, Feb. 12, 1936.
“constitute art…” NYT, Dec. 15, 1933.
“frightened…” Sergei Eisenstein, Eisenstein on Disney, ed. Jay Leyda (London: Methuen, 1988), n.p.
“Everybody in the world beat a path…” Richard Huemer, Recollections of Richard Huemer, 1969, Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA.
Media coverage. “Profound Mouse,” Time, May 15, 1933; Douglas W. Churchill, “How Mickey Mouse Enters Art’s Temple,” NYT Magazine, Jun. 3, 1934; Vanity Fair, Oct. 1933.
“I sometimes feel…” Lowell Lawrance, “Mickey Mouse—Inspiration from Mouse in K.C. Studio,” Kansas City Journal-Post, Sept. 8, 1935.
“Horatio Alger of the cinema.” Churchill, “Art’s Temple.”
“As far as I can remember…” “By the Way, Mr. Disney,” NYT, Dec. 1, 1935, sec. 9.
“almost painfully shy…” Clipping, Robert Sherwood, Aug. 29, 1931, MWEZ, n.c. 19,000, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
“[i]t’s the mouse…” 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).
Informality. “Big Bad Wolf.”
“air clears…” “Extra Added Attractions,” (Aug. 7, 1935) in Otis Ferguson, The Film Criticism of Otis Ferguson, ed. Robert Wilson (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1971).
“Disney is as free…” Clipping, [n.d.], 8 MWEZ, n.c. 17,901, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Indifferent to money. See Pringle, “Mickey’s Father;” “Profound Mouse;” Arthur Mann, “Mickey Mouse’s Financial Career,” Harper’s 168 (May 1934).
“he could swear…” Kinney, Disney and Other Animated Characters.
“played the role…” Quoted in Randy Bright, Disneyland: The Inside Story (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1987).
“There’s just one thing…” Quoted in Bob Thomas, Walt Disney: An American Original (New York: Hyperion, 1994).
“Well he knew…” Colvig to Larry Morey, Dec. 29, 1937, Colvig, Pinto, Personal Folder, Roy O. Disney Corr. A-C (1929-51), A2993, WDA.
The Golden Touch. Kinney, Disney and Animated Characters; Ben Sharpsteen, interview by Don Peri, Mar. 5, 1975, WDA.
Unprepossessing. Culhane, Talking Animals; Milton Kahl quoted in Hubler, Disney; Skolsky, “Mickey Mouse.”
Killing owl. Churchill, “Disney’s Philosophy.”
Moods. Kinney, Disney and Animated Characters; Bill Peet quoted in Thomas and Johnston, Illusion of Life.
“apt to rip a storyboard…” Thomas and Johnston, Illusion of Life.
“The big part of my career…” Quoted in Hubler, Disney.
Osmosis. Ben Sharpsteen, Answers to Questions Submitted by Dave Smith, Sept. 1974, WDA.
“Of all the things…” Animator Paul Carlson quoted in Amy Boothe Green and Howard Green, Remembering Walt: Favorite Memories of Walt Disney (New York: Hyperion, 1999).
“best gag mind…” Huemer, Recollections.
“Of all the studio chiefs…” Quoted in Mosley, Disney’s World.
“would do a
rough outline…” Ward Kimball, interview by Rick Shale, WDA.
“And he would be the leader…” Ibid.
Walt wrote all the dialogue. Ben Sharpsteen, interview by Don Peri, Apr. 16, 1974, WDA.
“Walt was always very…” Betsy Richmond, “Remembering Walt: Ollie Johnston,” Apr. 1986, WDA.
Eric Larson claimed… Larson interview by Rasmussen, Feb. 22, 1978, WDA.
Chesterfield butts. Kinney, Disney and Animated Characters. In the 1930s Walt also smoked Lucky Strikes.
“He could be brutal.” Quoted in Jim Korkis, “The Story of Jack Hannah,” Persistence of Vision, no. 8 [1995].
Homer Brightman. Leo Salkin quoted in Solomon, Enchanted Drawings.
“If Walt said to me…” Charles Solomon, The Disney That Never Was: The Stories and Art from Five Decades of Unproduced Animation (New York: Hyperion, 1995).
“kind of trance.” Green and Green, Remembering Walt.
“Y’know this old guy would come snufin’…” Thomas and Johnston, Illusion of Life.
“You’d have the feeling…” Ibid.
“supersalesman.” Kimball, “Wonderful World of Disney.”
Unique sensitivity. Larson interview by Rasmussen.
“He oftentimes didn’t know…” Quoted in Eliot, Dark Prince.
Setting up table. Thomas and Johnston, Illusion of Life.
“forte was the supervision…” Ben Sharpsteen, interview by Don Peri, Feb. 6, 1974, WDA.
“A lot of the guys…” Maurice Rapf quoted in Patrick McGilligan and Paul Buhle, Tender Comrades: A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997).
“little things…” Quoted in Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons.
The Country Mouse. Hubler, Disney.
Mickey’s tail. Frank Reilly, “The Walt Disney Comic Strips,” Cartoonist Profiles, Winter 1969.
“People don’t realize…” Solomon, Disney That Never Was.
“I think the outstanding thing…” Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons.
“greatest gift.” Anonymous employee quoted in Watkin, Disney.
“I don’t want just…” Frank Thomas quoted in Green and Green, Remembering Walt.
“He was very excited…” Greene and Greene, Man Behind the Magic.