Medford mail tribune., August 10, 1958, Image 34

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Teamwork is a key to the success of Walt Disney (right), as this story Walt, his wife, and daughters Diane and
conference shows. Yet his close supervision assures the "Disney touch." Sharon pose beside pool at Disneyland.
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He makes the world of fairyland castles
by Peer J. Oppenheimer
w
f hen Walt Disney stepped off the plane from
Ireland, reporters wanted to know how
successful he had been in casting actors for
his next film, "Darby O'Gill and the Little People."
"Very successful," Walt said seriously. "I finally
signed Brian Conners."
The newsmen looked at him blankly.
"Brian Conners, the king of the leprechauns,"
Walt explained. "He's 21 inches tall and 5,000 years
old. He turned me down before because he didn't
want to appear in a movie. But when he read this
script he not only changed his mind, he offered me
three pots of gold to let him appear in the film!"
"Come, come now, Mr. Disney," a rookie reporter
replied dubiously. "You don't really believe in
leprechauns, do you?"
Walt looked at him in surprise. "Of course I do,"
and, without a smile, he headed for his car.
Puzzled, the young reporter turned to a veteran
newsman for a clue. "What do you think?"
"If Walt says there are leprechauns, you can bet
your life there are," an old-timer replied, then
added, almost as an afterthought, "and if they're
hiding now, they'll be around by the time his picture
comes out!"
For that is part of Walt Disney's magic: his ability
Family Weekly, August 10, 1954
THE SECR
3
come vividly to life for all to enjoy.
to create a believable world of dreams that appeals
to all age groups.
However, when Walt himself was asked if he
credits his success to an ability to see things through
the eyes of children, he replied emphatically:
"Definitely not. From Mickey Mouse to Sleeping
Beauty and from Old Yeller to Brian Conners, the
kind of entertainment we create is meant to appeal
to every member of the family."
Still, Walt's ability to turn almost everything he
touches into gold depends on more than producing
entertainment with family appeal. Few artists, no
matter how creative, have ever assembled a fortune
without some shrewd business sense, or at least the
ability to select employees who make up what
ever they may lack in business perspective. But
there's little evidence that Walt lacks anything.
In a recent article on Walt Disney Productions
The Wall Street Journal credited Walt's success to
his formula of "Dream, diversify and never miss
an angle." It cited "his ability to wring every
possible profitable squeal and squeak" out of every
enterprise as proof that he is about the shrewdest
businessman who ever came to Hollywood. And
there are ample facts and figures to back up that
impressive claim.
While most film companies cut their dividend
payments last year, or made none at all, Walt
ill-??
An idea at Disney's studio goes through such a disturbed, though. Pictures incorporating many
wringer many creative artists rebel. Walt isn't ideas are more likely to please many persons.
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Disney Productions marked up its most profitable
year$2.44 per share on total revenue of just under
$36 million. Five years ago the profits were 35 cents
a share on revenue of $7.7 million.
This, says The Wall Street Journal, was accom
plished by Walt's method of firing shotgun blasts of
ideas and products. As soon as one hits the public
fancy, Walt moves in with all his money-making
schemes and capitalizes on the popularity.
A typical example of how he works is the ex
ploitation and promotion connected with "Sleeping
Beauty," a full-length cartoon which will not be
released until the end of this year. Yet at Disney
land, Walt's fabulous amusement center near Los
Angeles, basic artwork from the film has already
been transformed into color-animated dioramas
where children and adults pay 35 cents apiece for
admission. This not only puts cash into Walt's
pockets, it also creates advance interest in the film.
And this is only the beginning. Walt's merchan
dising department has lined up toy makers, garment
manufacturers, and others interested in making
Sleeping Beauty articles, which will assure Walt
5 percent royalty with a minimum advance payment
of $5,000 per year per product regardless whether
it pays ff for the manufacturers.
To complete the cycle, "Sleeping Beauty will
receive publicity via TV blurbs on "Disneyland
Walt
operated
and through the Mouseketeer books, records, and
syndicated cartoon strips. This will not only further
publicize the film, but put still more earnings into
Walt's enterprises. And since his products are never
outdated, he will re-release the picture over and
over again, as he has done with "Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs," "Fantasia," "Song of the South,"
and other hits.
With this scheme multiplied over the past two
decades, it's easy to see how Walt can afford to put
close to $2 million into studio expansion when other
film makers are retrenching.
Although Walt Disney Productions has grown into
1 a gigantic operation it now employs close
to 2,000 people the driving force continues to
be Disney himself, though he hasn't drawn a single
character in 31 years. "Drawing," Walt says, "has
long ago become a means to an end with me. It's
not only that I have no time for it any longer, but
I've found development of the stories themselves
much more intriguing than drawing."
This seems all the more amazing when one con
siders that each film no matter how many people
have worked on it, has the "Disney touch."
"The secret is teamwork," Walt explained. "Each
character is arrived at by group effort. An artist
might have a lot of talent and come up with an
excellent idea, but if, after it is thoroughly analyzed,
the character cannot be adapted and worked with
by the group, we discard it."
What about the individualistic artist? "He has the
best wishes of the organization," Walt smiled, but
hastily added that in almost every instance another
place has been found for him in the company. Many
artists who couldn't "conform" have been turned
into writers, directors, even producers.
This system has been condemned by some artists
as a "production line" which kills individual effort.
To this Walt replies that it's impossible to run such
an organization with conflicting ideas, no matter
how good they are.
Walt himself still supplies ideas for every phase
of this enterprise the films, cartoons, Disneyland
Park, merchandise possibilities, as well as promotion
and publicity suggestions although his older
brother Roy is the financial head of the company
and makes certain Walt doesn't go overboard. Their
close working relationship dates back to 1923 when
Walt came to Hollywood. Only 22 at the time, he
already had a good background in the field he had
chosen for himself.
Disney's first animation camera, built by himself and
in an uncles garage, was used from 1923 to IVZy.
Walt was born 57 years ago in Chicago. His up
bringing there, on a farm near Marceline, Mo., and
then in Kansas City, followed the pattern of a
typical Midwestern middle-class family. His father,
Elias Disney, was a contractor-builder; his mother
kept house for four sons and a daughter.
Walt's first job, in the best American tradition,
was a paper route when he was nine. He was an
average student in school, joined a couple of secret
societies whose aspirations are still secret to all
but their members, and was active in sports,
particularly track.
From a very early age, he showed decided interest
in the stage, with Charlie Chaplin as his idol. On
amateur nights at local theaters, he even did im
personations of Chaplin, and occasionally won prizes
for his clever mimicry.
Yet he was not attracted to drawing. "I don't
know how I got started," Walt insists. "Nobody
else in the family is artistically inclined."
Walt's first real job, at 15 was not as a cartoonist
but as a "news butcher," riding trains be
tween Kansas City and Chicago to sell peanuts,
candy, and magazines. His next job took him to
France during World War I, chauffeuring Red Cross
officials in vehicles he had covered with his sketches,
forerunners of the characters that covered thousands
of planes, trains, trucks, and jeeps in World War II.
Walt got his first art job shortly after the war
when he joined an advertising company in Kansas
City to draw pictures showing egg-laying mash and
salt blocks for cattle.
Fired after business dropped off, he had a brief
career as a postman before he decided to go into
business for himself.
With a partner who had the unbelievable name
of Ubbe Iwerks, Walt became successful at design
ing letterheads and theater ads but not successful
enough to reject a $35-a-week art job a few months
later which gave him his start in animated cartoons.
During the first couple of years, he kept his job
as a cartoonist during the day, while working on
his own projects at night in an empty garage, along
with an increasing number of fellow cartoonists.
His first big deal seven films of modernized fairy
tales were sold to a distributing company in New
York which promptly went into bankruptcy. Quips
Walt: "The real secret of my success was that I
was too naive to quit when I wasn't good enough."
This failure and his belief that he had gone as
far as he could in Kansas City led him to Hollywood,
CCoTitinued on page 18)
Family Weekly, August 10, 195S