|
|
|
Perhaps no other person had as much influence on American popular culture as Walt Disney. It is estimated that in 1966, the year of his death, 240 million people saw a Disney movie, an audience of 100 million watched a weekly Disney television show, 150 million read a Disney comic strip, and nearly 7 million visited Disneyland. How was one man able to captivate so many? Disney grew up poor and had to work to help support his family. Though his company grew to global proportions, there were many lean years when the whole enterprise seemed very much in doubt. But Disney, the incurable optimist, somehow always managed to keep things afloat as he became the premier animator in Hollywood. His most famous creations, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, were known and loved by millions around the world. The medium of color television was, for practical purposes, created by the Walt Disney World of Color, which became the most popular television show in America in the late 1950s, leading to an explosion of sales of the new technology. His landmark films, Snow White, Bambi, Fantasia and Pinocchio, set new standards for animation. His live-action family films, Swiss Family Robinson and Pollyanna, which emphasized optimism, good overcoming evil, and strong moral values, became the backbone of popular American culture in the middle of the 20th century. Though in later years Walt had to give up his pencil to other animators, it was always his vision that created the Disney magic. Whether in the look of a cartoon character, or the personality, or the tying together of a story line, his imagination animated all Disney creations. Then came Disneyland, which redefined the idea of an amusement park into a total-immersion experience that attracted visitors from all over the globe. When visiting Soviet boss Nikita Khrushchev was told that he could not visit the park due to security concerns, he exploded into a rage, ranting at the injustice of it all, and darkly predicted a newly invigorated arms race. Disney understood that Americans craved both security and adventure, and he created a mythic past they could relate to and be proud of. He was an optimistic futurist. Americans loved his vision of technological progress leading inevitably to a brighter tomorrow. Walt Disney came across to millions as a mellow uncle, and in some ways he was. He built state-of-the-art facilities for his employees and could extract tremendous loyalty from them. He could also be an overbearing perfectionist who drove his workers mercilessly. Disney’s deceptively simple genius was sometimes belittled by cultural critics, but his iconic works still resonate with ordinary Americans. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006, 633 pp, $35) |
He did find time to hone his considerable talent as a cartoonist, however, and this became his path to fortune.
