Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince

Marc Eliot

1993

Secaucus, N.J.: Carol Pub. Group

ISBN: 155972174X

Description

This book is called the first truly unauthorized biography, and in the case of Disney, unauthorized is important because all previous “authorized” biographies had to pass the scrutiny of Disney Studios. The author shows that Disney’s troubled personal life, particularly difficult childhood, physical abuse of his father, problems with being a father, is the source of his creative expressions, the template for Disney’s later cartoon stories, and accounts for Disney’s troubles with his animators, whom he underpaid and refused to give any power to. Nor would Disney grant Mickey Mouse’s real creator, animator Ub Iwerks, his proper credit, though Iwerks was Disney’s oldest friend aside from the filmmaker’s brother, Roy. The author shows that Disney’s father had instilled in the boy a hatred of Jews, and Walt never curbed his tongue about Jews among his animators and especially not when talking about fellow studio heads. The author was not able to use the materials from the Disney Archives because he did not have an approval. This volume includes interviews, both anonymous and attributed, with former Disney animators.