A question about books on Walt Disney.

E

Emxx

New member
I've noticed that there are books about Walt Disney with a lot of mixed opinions about them. But are there any books on him that are generally considered good?
 
Well, that's the problem. Disney was a very flawed person, and a lot of elitists (and most of the animators I know) like to exaggerate them. There are some great ones about the positive side of him. unfortunately I can't recall the titles off the top of my head. And most of them are more about the movies and animated shorts they made. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
 
Moved over to the Disney forum, which is a better place for this, I think.

Are you asking for good biographies about Walt Disney, for books that don't have an ideological axe to grind, or for books that present him in a purely positive light? It's kind of hard to figure that out from what you've written.

Assuming the first and/or second, I remember hearing good things about Neal Gabler's bio Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, and really mean to get to it at some point. It certainly doesn't seem to have generated the same animosity that David Michaelis' recent biography about Charles Schulz has. There also seems to be another bio from animator Michael Barrier and another earlier book published in 1994, but I have no direct knowledge of either one, I'm afraid.

Mark Evanier seems to think Gabler and Barrier's books both look accurate and have no obvious grudges against Walt, and I trust his word about a lot of these kinds of things, so I don't think you'll go too wrong with either one.

-- Ed
 
Reportedly Walt's daughter didn't like Gabler's book at all, FWIW. She has written a biography about Walt herself, I believe - I think she wrote it when he was still alive.

I have read several books about the ol' Mousetro, and my fave is How To Be Like Walt, which I happened to see at Barnes and Noble a couple of years ago. The author of the book talked to just about everybody who ever met or worked with Walt and paints a pretty balanced picture of his trials, triumphs and personality. Plus it's a fun read. Anyway, that's my rec.
 
I'll second reading "How to Be Like Walt"....It was an interesting read,plus it showed both the positive and negative sides of Mr. Disney....
 
And did it fairly. And what do you know, Mr. Disney turns out to have been a pretty decent guy after all. There are those in the media and in Hollywood who have done their darndest to paint him as a despot, a Nazi sympathizer, a slavedriver etc. etc. I once had the privilege to speak to a former Disney animator, and I asked him about all the guff that's bandied about regarding Walt. He said Walt was driven, focused, frank but never mean-spirited, was one of the most tolerant and open-minded people he ever met, was kind-hearted, courtly (his word) towards women and protective of children (would not allow cursing on the set of a movie or TV show if children were around, for instance). He said that envy is the reason Walt is trashed by some people. I challenged him and asked him why there were no female animators during Walt's time, and this guy said "But there was - one of them worked on Bambi." That shut MY ignorant mouth in a hurry! It was after I spoke with this guy that I decided to find books about Walt, and I found some real lulus, let me tell you - one was called "The Dark Prince of Hollywood" and is a total piece of crap. Richard Schickel's book "The Disney Version" isn't much better. Yup, the "How To" book is probably the best of the bunch.
 
Well, there's not liking it because it's an unfair hatchet job and not liking it because it presents your father in a negative light along with the positive. It's one of the reasons why I think any criticism by the kids of a biography of the parent has to be taken with a grain of salt -- without knowing the kids, you can't really say whether any of their objections are because of a lack of objectivity. Unfortunately, I don't recall much about Walt's daughter's objections, if any.

However, we did cover the book a little bit for Toon Zone News, including an interview at NPR and a link to an excerpt, an op-ed at the LA Times by Gabler, and another interview with Gabler about the book at Creative Loafing. The excerpt will probably be the most relevant for those on the fence about the book.

On balance, I think Walt did far more good than harm in his lifetime, but I can still take issue with some of his personal opinions and professional actions without letting that ruin his work.

Thanks for the recs about the "How to Be Like Walt" book, though. Just what I needed -- another book to add to the list of "Stuff I Should Really Read Someday" :p.

-- Ed
 
Personally, I find the many flaws in Walt's personality make him far more human and interesting to learn about. That people demonize him over it is beyond ridiculous. Same deal with overglorifying his many strengths. I like and respect Walt alot and I owe that to fair and accurate facts. :)



*chokes* The Dark Prince of-? You've got to be kidding me. :eek:

I've actually read The Disney Version and it was a newer edition with an intro from the author, and I was glad to learn that he has since lightened up from his previous IMO purist views. The book itself wasn't all that bad, but then again, it wasn't all that good either. :sweat:
 
Hey folks. There is only one ultimate Disney book. DISNEY ANIMATION; THE ILLUSION OF LIFE by "the" Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, form Abbeville Press - 1981. This book is as big as a hard cover telephone book. A complete history, commentary, sketches, cells, etc. The book does not focus on Walt, himself, but more on what the studio produced from its inception and the people involved (at least up to 1981). Lots of facts, backround material, history, people, and just plain trivia. It would take you years to obsorb all of the material in this book. I've been working on it for 27 years.

THANX
 
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