Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination

Arrived on time Interesting

I would suggest this book for all who want to start a business entertainment.

As definitive and expansive a biography of the complex figure Walt Disney as you could hope to find.

Ever since I purchased this book and began eagerly devouring it, I've debated whether I am qualified to write a review for it, or conversely, whether I may be uniquely UN-qualified, and should recuse myself due to bias. You see, my family's mythology is deeply intertwined with that of the late Mr. Disney. I was born in Marceline, MO, Disney's boyhood home, the small Midwestern railroad town which, as I was told growing up and the book clearly relates, formed the foundation for so much of his character, outlook, and artistic vision. The town really is a great slice of small-town American life, even to this day. My parents grew up and got married there, my Father and grandparents are buried there, and I still visit it when I get the chance, which isn't nearly often enough. For those and many other reasons, the Disney mythology deeply resonates with me. But, with as much objectivity as I could muster, I decided to go for it. I apologize for the long back story, but it's an integral part of my review and is what inspired me to write, so it bore mentioning. Neal Gabler's "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination" is a fascinating, absorbing, and detail-filled examination of the life of a man who not only desired to re-create his own earlier, idealized rural (translation: Marceline) experiences, but who expanded that vision to the rest of the world through his pioneering work in both animation and entertainment. Nothing is missed: Walt's early and (perhaps even over-dramatized) difficult childhood; The creation of the Disney studio and it's early successes including Mickey Mouse, one of the world's most recognized artistic and commercial symbols; the animated triumph of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves; the devastating animator's strike of 1941, and the post-war metamorphosis from cutting edge folk artist to corporate defender of cold-war conservatism and "right-wing" values. Gabler manages to portray the whole story in a disarming and captivating, straight-forward, one would almost say, mid-western, tone that I for one can certainly relate to. The resultant impact that Disney (and the huge mega-corporation he almost single-handedly created) has had on society, culture, and even politics has been mixed to say the least, and the book argues, successfully I think, that there is no clear-cut, clean and simplistic answer to the question, was it for good or ill? Ironic, considering that black and white, good versus evil simplicity versus shaded, ambiguous and complex meaning were recurring themes throughout his artistic life, and by extension, that of our country, more relevant than ever in this day and age. I found the book to be very balanced, with equal credence given to both sides of that coin. Occasionally, I found myself getting bogged down in the pedantic details of the development of the animation and the inner dynamics of the company. But they weren't too overwhelming, and in the end, they were both necessary and complementary

Other reviewers have already covered most of the key points to be made. The remarks that follow are somewhat more personal than theirs. Throughout my childhood, films were "magic carpets" which transported me to distant lands, past centuries, and human experiences almost (not quite) too good or too bad to be true. However, I knew that the murders, plane crashes, train wrecks, buildings ablaze, earthquakes, and attacks by Apaches - albeit exciting -- were not "real." One exception: Disney's animated feature films: they touched my young heart in ways and to an extent no other films did. Decades later, I still vividly recall how upset I was by separations of "children" from their parents (e.g. Dumbo from his mother, Pinocchio from Gepetto) and especially upset when Bambi eagerly awaited the return of his mother from the meadow, and when the seven dwarfs incorrectly assumed (as did I) that Snow White was dead. With all due respect to brilliant musical scores (I saved up from what my paper routes earned to purchase most of the sound track albums) and to the delightful and wholesome humor of characters such as Thumper and the chorus of crows reacting to a flying elephant, there were always darker themes and ominous elements at work in a series of animated feature films. Now having read Neal Gabler's book which will probably be the definitive biography of Walt Disney, at least for a while, I have a much better understanding of the creative genius who deserves and has received primary credit for the "magic" to be found in so many of the films and to be experienced while visiting the theme parks. I also have a much better understanding of the tormented man whose emotional complexity and ambiguity are reflected in so many of his animated feature films. There is a scene in another of my favorite films, "The Wizard of Oz," when Toto pulls a curtain back, exposing an obviously embarrassed fraud rather than an authentic wizard. As I worked my way through Gabler's book, I frequently recalled that scene. But there is a significant difference: L. Frank Baum's wizard created no magic whatsoever whereas Walter Elias Disney did in collaboration with hundreds of associates, creating incomparable magic in dozens of feature and documentary films as well as in long-running television programs. Now a grandfather of ten, I am pleased and reassured that at least the younger ones among them enjoy the Disney "magic" as much as I once did...and still do. Our troubled world seems to need it at least as much today as it did more than 60-70 years ago when the Great Depression gave way to World War II. Perhaps it needs the Disney magic even more now. In my opinion, that will continue to be Walt Disney's heritage but only so long as the human heart is open to it and is nourished by it.

I consider myself a historian on the life of Walt Disney, so when I opened Neal Gabler's 'Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination', I was quite honestly ready to shred it apart by finding inconsistancies, errors, and glaring ommissions on the life and trials of Walt Disney. Well folks . . . I couldn't. So complete and accurate and stylistically refreshing is Gabler's bio-epic on the man that changed the American media market, that I was somewhat stunned (happily) to find and confirm facts presented by Gabler that I did not know. And there are many! Walt Disney was an American Dreamer. He was a perfectionist who cared about the quality of what he did and how his actions affected the American public. So too was he an American Patriot willing to serve his country in plausible ways using his resources. Disney never cared about the money . . . but about his staff and the consumers who counted on him to create movie magic . . . and movie magic he did. Neal Gabler has written an honest and dignified epic on the life and ongoing legend of Walt Disney. Simply put, if you're interested in learning about Walt Disney, and how Disney's approach to live has professional meaning and merit in today's media business enviornment, then stop reading my review and pick up this book. Mr. Gabler, thank you for writing such a wonderful work on this amazing gentleman. Well done.

Walt Disney has become a legendary character of the twentieth century. So much was written about him, and so much was inaccurate, that the legends often attained a currency that was not deserved. How many times have we heard that he was frozen? Gabler (who was the first of Walt's biographers to work with rare Disney family records) opens the book with this statement (it's not true.) The truth is much more interesting than that. Disney was an optimistic, hardworking go-getter with an astounding capacity for concentration who fell in love with the early twentieth century's high technology--motion pictures. Motion pictures drawn by hand. He had the perseverance to start over again every time he failed artistically and financially. And fail he did. This is one of the most unlikely success stories ever told, since the Disney Brothers studio was working in a marginal field (animation) in a minor city (Kansas, then Hollywood, when the animation studios were all in New York), and attempting to make it as an independent producer just as the big studios were forming, eliminating independent competition in all but a few areas by 1928. He made it because he had the unfashionable idea that quality would out, he had a tremendous amount of luck and he knew how to make appealing entertainment(Mickey Mouse was NOT the first successful character he created). Disney also had a real genius for hiring talented people. A surprising number of remarkable artists started with him in Kansas City, others were trained right on the studio lot. Mr. Gabler's book is readable and contains much new information. Who would have thought that Charlie Chaplin was, at one time, Snow White's Prince? Chaplin, one of the few independent producers left by 1936, loaned his books for MODERN TIMES to the Disneys to help them ask fair prices for their landmark feature. For Disney's weak spot was running the business--he once actually forgot to add on the profit to the budget for a job in Kansas City, and was forced to work for cost of materials, with no salary for him or his animators! The 1941 strike by his artists was seen as a personal betrayal--but this strike can be predicted when you read about that early project. The Dream was the goal but (as an old cartoon states) coal is still somewhat important. Disney had his head in the clouds, and his brother Roy, who played the father's role to his sibling since childhood, was a major reason why Walt's feet were kept on the ground. It was a fine parntership and this is really a dual biography. The truth about Disney is not sensational or scandalous--just refreshing after decades of inaccuracy and outright fabrication that somehow passed for fact. The weakest part of the book is Gabler's attempts to psychoanalyze Walt's obsession with animation production as a desire to control his world. Of course he controlled his world. This is what all artists do. We animators love creating characters that APPEAR to think and move for themselves. They are

Neal Gabler's Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination is a very speical book. Every aspect of Disney's life is covered in detail. It is a vivid, acurate book about one of Hollywood's only geniuses. Disney himself was not a jolly, happy man as we all think he was. Throughout his life he was often depressed and felt lonely. He went through finaical problems at his studio. (The book makes it clear that Disney was an awful businessman.) He overworked himself and his animators. But look at his product! Pinnochio, Snow White, Fantasia and so on. As he aged, he became less obsessive, less sad, less of a workaholic. Disneyland, perhaps his most successful project finacially, put him out of the debt that he had been dealing with since the beginning of his carreer. He watched his grandchildren grow. However, Disney's life was cut short due to years of chainsmoking. He greatest dream, EPCOT and Disney World were not fully realized before his death. Instead of the absolutely extraordinary city and vacation area he planned, his company threw together a resort with a lame, already dated world's fair (the oposite of his plan) and a replica of Disneyland. Gabler, while telling this magnificent story, also puts to rest the legend that Disney was anti-Jew and anti-Black. Disney, while being an avid republican from the 1940s on, was not any of these things. Many Jewish people and Black people were employed at the studio and treated fairly. Disney was a supporter of McCarthy's witchhunts, but only because a terrible, communist-fueled strike took a toll on his studio and work ethic. It also puts to rest the myth that Disney was frozen. He was cremated! (Other biographies have stated that as well.) This book is far better than the soapy Bob Thomas book that made Disney to look like a saint. Although Walt Disney was a considerate, good person, he did have a darker side. This book is an absolute must read for any Disney or Hollywood fan AND for anyone who just wants to read a great story about a great man.