Legends of Walt Disney Legends of Animation Tex Avery: Hollywood’s Master of Screwball Cartoons Walt Disney: The Mouse that Roared Matt Groening: From Spitballs to Springfield William Hanna and Joseph Barbera: The Sultans of Saturday Morning Legends of Walt Disney The Mouse that Roared Jeff Lenburg Walt Disney: The Mouse that Roared Copyright © 2011 by Jeff Lenburg All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Chelsea House An Infobase Learning Company 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lenburg, Jeff. Walt Disney : the mouse that roared / Jeff Lenburg. — 1st ed. p. cm. — (Legends of animation) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-60413-836-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-60413-836-X (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-1-4381-3725-4 (e-book) 1. Disney, Walt, 1901-1966— Juvenile literature. 2. Animators—United States—Biography—Juvenile literature. I. Disney, Walt, 1901-1966. II. Title. III. Series. NC1766.U52D54533 2011 791.43092—dc22 [B] 2010051580 Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.infobaselearning.com Text design by Kerry Casey Cover design by Takeshi Takahashi Composition by EJB Publishing Services Cover printed by Yurchak Printing, Landisville, Pa. Book printed and bound by Yurchak Printing, Landisville, Pa. Date printed: May 2011 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. To my literal “other half” (and “full man”), my twin brother, Greg, with love CONTENTS Y Acknowledgments 9 1 An Innovator in the Making 11 2 The Unrepentant Animator 22 3 A Perfect Fit: A Mouse Named Mickey 41 4 Stretching the Imagination 57 5 Breaking New Ground 69 6 Making Dreams Come True 94 7 Planning for Tomorrow 115 Selected Resources 129 Selected Bibliography 131 Index 134 About the Author 142 ACkNOwlEdgmENTS Y S pecial thanks to David R. Smith of the Walt Disney Studios Archives for his kind and generous assistance in providing numer- ous details, answers, and pieces of information on Disney animation in chronicling previous histories and that proved helpful to the biographer. Many thanks to the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the Archives of Performing Arts and the Regional History Collections at the University of Southern Cali- fornia; the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive of the University of California, Los Angeles Library; Arizona State University West, Fletcher Library; Associated Press, and United Press International for the use of research; oral histories; transcripts; books; newspaper, magazine and trade articles; photographs; and other documents vital to the success of this project. My deepest gratitude to the following publications—the Anaheim Bulletin, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter, The Film Daily, Motion Picture Herald, Motion Picture News, The Moving Picture World, Variety, Film Comment, Funnyworld, Griffithiana, Journal of Popular Culture, and Mindrot—for their extensive coverage of the sub- ject’s films and career that were of great value in researching and writing this biography. Finally, to the legendary Walt Disney, thank you for your inspira- tion and for instilling in this former Disneyland cast member and gen- erations of followers the common belief that if you follow your heart, dreams will come true. 9