Authors: Michael Barrier
The Animated Man (70 page)
74
. Maxwell, August 20, 1973.
75
. Maxwell interview.
76
. Adamson/Freleng.
77
. Friz Freleng, tape-recorded letter to author, circa July 1976.
78
. Ising to Ray Friedman, circa August 27, 1927, RI.
79
. Ising to Freleng, November 15, 1927, RI.
80
. Paul Smith interview.
81
. Ising to Freleng, February 10, 1928, RI.
82
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney, March 7, 1928, WDA.
83
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney, February 28, 1928, WDA.
84
. Walt Disney, February 28, 1928.
85
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney, March 2, 1928, WDA.
86
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney, March 5, 1928, WDA.
87
. Lillian Disney, Martin interview.
88
. Lawrance, “ âMickey Mouse'âInspiration from Mouse in K.C. Studio.”
89
. Lillian Disney, “I Live with a Genius,” 104.
90
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.
91
. Paul Smith interview.
92
. There is an entry under that date for “2 Previews & Express” in “General Expense Account 1925â1926â1927.” The “express” portion of that charge was for shipping a print of
Plane Crazy
to a film storage company in New York.
93
. Diane Kirkpatrick, “Animation Gold: An Interview of Pioneer Animator Frank Goldman,”
Cinegram
2, no. 1 (1977): 39.
94
. Jackson to author, November 13, 1975.
95
. Jackson, 1973 interview.
96
. Jackson to author, February 22, 1977. Many of the exposure sheets, discarded by the Disney studio years ago, have survived in a private collection.
97
. The first page of the sketches and synopses is reproduced in Christopher Finch,
The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms
(New York, 1973), 51.
98
. That was a standard figureâthe amount paid to the projectionistârecorded in Roy Disney's account book for theatrical previews, but it seems unlikely that the unfinished
Steamboat Willie
would have been previewed in a theater, even in silent form. The two dollars may have paid for something else, perhaps refreshments.
99
. Walt Disney, “Growing Pains,”
Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers
, January 1941, 33â34.
100
. Jackson, 1973 interview.
101
. Michael Barrier, Milton Gray, and Bill Spicer, “An Interview with Carl Stalling,”
Funnyworld
13 (Spring 1971): 21. The interviews on which the published interview was based were conducted on June 4 and November 25, 1969.
102
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney and Iwerks, September 7, 1928, WDA.
103
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney and Iwerks, September 14, 1928, WDA.
104
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney and Iwerks, undated but probably written September 6, 1928, WDA.
105
. Walt Disney, September 7, 1928.
106
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney and Iwerks, September 20, 1928, WDA.
107
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney and Iwerks, September 23, 1928, WDA.
108
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney, September 25, 1928, WDA.
109
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney and Iwerks, September 28, 1928, WDA.
110
. Walt Disney, September 23, 1928.
111
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney and Iwerks, October 6, 1928, WDA.
112
. Walt Disney to “gang,” September 30, 1928, WDA.
113
. Walt Disney, September 23, 1928.
114
. According to David R. Smith of the Walt Disney Archives, Columbia Picturesâby then Disney's distributorâpaid a license fee of $150 on April 25, 1931. Smith to author, e-mail, March 28, 2006.
115
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney and Iwerks, October 1, 1928, WDA.
116
. Walt Disney, October 6, 1928.
117
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney and Iwerks, October 22, 1928, WDA.
118
. Walt Disney to Lillian Disney, October 20, 1928, WDA.
119
. Walt Disney to Lillian Disney, October 26, 1928, WDA.
120
. Barrier, Gray, and Spicer, “Interview with Carl Stalling,” 21.
121
. Walt Disney to Lillian Disney, October 27, 1928, WDA.
122
. Even in the early 1930s, when Mickey Mouse was wildly popular, New York theaters were paying considerably less than a thousand dollars for a Disney cartoon's
two-week run. The Rivoli Theatre was paying $250 for the first week of each of seventeen
Mickeys
, and $150 for the second week; the Roxy was paying $500 for the first week and $300 for each additional week. Henry W. “Hank” Peters to Roy Disney, August 29, 1932, WDA.
123
. From a speech Disney gave on October 1, 1966, to the National Association of Theatre Owners. The speech was published in
Motion Picture Exhibitor
, October 19, 1966, AMPAS. Disney's speech has also been published in Kathy Merlock Jackson,
Walt Disney: A Bio-Bibliography
(Westport, 1993), 139â44.
124
. “Report Universal Seeks to Be Rid of Colony Lease,”
Motion Picture News
, January 12, 1929, 78.
125
. Walt Disney, October 20, 1928.
126
. Walt Disney, October 27, 1928.
127
. Walt Disney to Iwerks, November 11, 1928, WDA.
128
. Advertisement,
New York Times
, November 18, 1928, sec. 9, 5.
129
. Barrier, Gray, and Spicer, “Interview with Carl Stalling,” 22.
130
.
Film Daily
's review and other laudatory reviews from the Colony Theatre run were reproduced in a promotional sheet issued by Pat Powers, doing business as “Disney Cartoons,” around the end of 1928. The sheet itself is reproduced in the spring 1971
Funnyworld
, 28â29.
131
. As summarized in a letter to Charles J. Giegerich from Roy Disney, September 2, 1929, WDA. Giegerich, who worked for Powers, was trying to go behind his boss's back and make his own deal with the Disneys; Roy politely turned him aside.
132
. Giegerich to Walt Disney, December 19, 1928, WDA.
133
. Giegerich to Walt Disney, December 31, 1928, WDA.
134
. Jackson to author, July 28, 1975.
135
. Jackson, July 28, 1975.
136
. Walt Disney, “Growing Pains,” 32.
CHAPTER 3
“You've Got to Really Be Minnie”
1
. Jackson, February 22, 1977.
2
. Jackson, interview, November 5, 1976.
3
. Walt Disney, “Growing Pains,” 35.
4
. Walt Disney, September 20, 1928.
5
. Walt Disney, September 25, 1928, WDA.
6
. The scenario is titled “The Spook Dance,” WDA.
7
. Iwerks described the disagreement in an interview represented by notes in the Walt Disney Archives. The interview was probably conducted by Bob Thomas as part of his research for
Walt Disney, the Art of Animation
(New York, 1958).
8
. Walt Disney to Giegerich, June 12, 1929, WDA.
9
. Giegerich to Walt Disney, night letter, August 12, 1929, WDA.
10
. Walt Disney to Giegerich, July 26, 1929, WDA.
11
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney and Iwerks, February 9, 1929, WDA. In a letter to his Laugh-O-gram investor J.V. Cowles on December 28, 1928, Disney described his plans and invited Cowles to invest in the “series of one reel talking comedies.” Cowles evidently met with Disney and Stalling in Kansas City on January 27, 1929, when they were on their way to New York, but nothing indicates that he ever invested in Disney's separate sound recording company.
12
. Jackson, 1973 interview.
13
. Al Eugster, interview, March 17, 1978.
14
. Jackson, November 13, 1975.
15
. Jackson to author, October 28, 1975.
16
. Ben Sharpsteen, interview, October 23, 1976.
17
. Jackson, November 13, 1975.
18
. Jackson to author, December 23, 1978.
19
. Sharpsteen, 1976 interview.
20
. Dick Lundy, interview, November 26, 1973.
21
. Jackson to author, June 3, 1985.
22
. Walt Disney to Giegerich, December 23, 1929, WDA.
23
. Jackson to author, September 10, 1977.
24
. Jackson, 1973 interview.
25
. Jackson to author, May 3, 1977.
26
. Lundy, 1973 interview.
27
. Jackson, 1973 interview.
28
. Jackson, November 13, 1975.
29
. Jack Zander, interview, March 24, 1982. The California Institute of the Arts, Chouinard's successor institution, has no student records from that period.
30
. P.A. Powers to Walt Disney, December 26, 1929, WDA.
31
. Walt Disney Productions was a partnership until December 16, 1929, when the company was incorporated. The corporation acquired the partnership's assets on June 30, 1930.
32
. Roy Disney to Walt Disney, January 24, 1930, WDA.
33
. Copies of the release and the promissory note are held by the Walt Disney Archives.
34
. Roy Disney to Walt Disney, February 1, 1930, WDA.
35
. Roy Disney to Walt Disney, January 25, 1930, WDA.
36
. Sharpsteen, 1976 interview.
37
. Roy Disney, January 25, 1930.
38
. Barrier, Gray, and Spicer, “An Interview with Carl Stalling,” 24.
39
. Carl Stalling to author, September 23, 1970, and February 21 and March 16, 1971.
40
. Roy Disney, January 25, 1930.
41
. Al Lichtman, United Artists' vice president and general manager for distribution, expressed regret to Roy Disney on June 3, 1932, that “the deal I worked on for so long for the purchase of an interest in your business fell through.” Joseph Schenck, UA's chairman, had discussed the idea of investing in the Disney company with his brother, Nicholas, the head of Loew's, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's parent company, and had concluded that in the weak economy, “the investment was too large at this time.” Roy, in a June 10 reply to Lichtman, found “a source of satisfaction that men of the calibre of Mr. Schenck and yourself have thought well enough of us to wish to be associated with us,” WDA.
42
. David Hand, interview, November 21, 1973.
43
. Roy Disney to Walt Disney, January 24, 1930, WDA.
44
. Lillian Disney to Roy and Edna Disney, January 30, 1930, WDA.
45
. Walt Disney to Roy Disney, typescript for night letter, February 7, 1930, WDA.
46
. Roy Disney to Walt Disney, April 24, 1930, WDA.
47
. Roy Disney to Walt Disney, night letter, May 6, 1930, WDA.
48
. Walt Disney, “Color and Wide Screen in Cartoon Field,”
Film Daily
, April 6, 1930, 17.
49
. Harry Carr, “The Only Unpaid Movie Star,”
American Magazine
, March 1931, 125.
50
. David Hand, October 29, 1946, lecture at Rank animation studio, DH.
51
. Carr, “Only Unpaid Movie Star,” 57.
52
. Sharpsteen, 1976 interview.
53
. Les Clark, telephone interview, August 19, 1976.
54
. Jackson, July 28, 1975.
55
. Jackson, 1973 interview.
56
. Hand, 1973 interview.
57
. Ed Benedict, interview with Gray, January 31, 1977.
58
. Jackson, 1973 interview.
59
. Jackson, May 3, 1977.
60
. Arthur Mann, “Mickey Mouse's Financial Career,”
Harper's
, May 1934, 719.
61
. Walt Disney to Giegerich, July 30, 1929, WDA.
62
. Cecil Munsey,
Disneyana: Walt Disney Collectibles
(New York, 1974), 16â17; Gunther Lessing to Art Arthur, Motion Picture Industry Council, November 18, 1949, AMPAS. According to Munsey, Roy Disney verified the accuracy of Walt Disney's account of the writing-tablet deal.
63
. For example, Disney wrote to Gottfredson on February 1, 1935: “This first week's strip gives indications of a very interesting continuity. The characters you are using are interesting types and I especially like the old man from whom Mickey bought the paperâhe's very funny looking.” Walt Disney to Floyd Gottfredson and “Merle” (probably Merrill de Maris), memorandum, February 1, 1935, WDA.
64
. Ed Love, interview with Gray, January 18, 1977.
65
. Love, 1977 interview.
66
. Jackson, 1976 interview.
67
. Dana Larrabee, “Ed Benedict on Animation: The Facts of Life,”
Film Collector's World
, May 1, 1977, 32.
68
. Hand, telephone interview, June 29, 1976.
69
. Aubrey Menen, “Dazzled in Disneyland,”
Holiday
, July 1963, 106.
70
. Clark, interview, December 1, 1973.
71
. Thomas,
Building a Company
, 71â72.
72
. Love, interview, September 25, 1990.
73
. Dick Hall, interview, September 8, 1978.
74
. Jackson, 1976 interview.
75
. Mark Langer, “Designing
Dumbo:
An Annotated Interview with A. Kendall O'Connor,”
Animation Journal
, Fall 1993, 48.
76
. Jackson, May 3, 1977.
77
. Jackson, June 3, 1985.
78
. Clark, telephone interview.