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Did Walt have a horrible
childhood?
Was Walt dishonorably discharged
from the army?
Was Walt a mean boss?
What was Walt's favorite
attraction at Disneyland?
How did Walt die?
Was Walt frozen?
How
many children did Walt have?
What was the greatest tragedy in
Walt's life?
Is it true that Walt testified
before the House Un-American Activities Committee? If so, why?
Is it true that Walt couldn't
draw?
Did Walt have a horrible
childhood?
Walt's earliest years on a farm in Marceline, Missouri, were idyllic, and
provided inspiration for many of the farm-based films he made later in
life. When the family moved to Kansas City in the summer of 1911, his life
grew more difficult. He had to work for his father, delivering newspapers.
That required getting up during the night and venturing out into ice and
snow in the winter. It was not an easy task, and Walt would remember the
hardships he suffered for the rest of his life. But the often-repeated
claim that his father, Elias, was a domineering tyrant is simply untrue.
Elias was certainly demanding, but he was also a dedicated father who took
pains to provide art lessons for Walt and a piano for his sister Ruth.
Elias took pride in Walt's early accomplishments in amateur theatrical
competitions. He often invited poor people to their house for food and
conversation. Walt loved his father deeply, and said so often.
Was Walt dishonorably discharged
from the army?
No. First of all, he was never in the army. He was in the Red Cross
Ambulance Corps for a year, following World War I. And he wasn't
dishonorably discharged from that, either.
Was Walt a mean boss?
Walt was unquestionably one of the most demanding bosses an employee could
ever have. He didn't hesitate to cut down an employee with a harsh word,
or even a public tirade. He was uncompromising in his desire for quality,
and he held his staff to the same high standards as he did himself. What's
more, he never thought money was the reason to do good work, and he had
difficulty understanding others whose main motivation was cash. That said,
Walt had an unerring eye for talent, and he rewarded good talent
abundantly. He was willing to spend time and money on training and
teaching, long before that was fashionable. He hired women -- and promoted
them -- in a time when that was the exception, not the rule. He really
cared about his employees, and there are repeated instances in which his
generosity and support were extraordinary. When one valued staffer needed
to get over a lengthy illness, he sent him on a vacation to Europe.
Another time, animator Ollie Johnston was ill for a period, and Walt took
pains to reassure him that his job was safe and he should take all the
time he needed to recover. Though more than one staffer left the Disney
Studio unhappily, many others stayed with Walt for decades. Thirty years
after his death, a number of former employees still welled up with tears
when they talked about his death. This is hardly the mark of a
"mean" boss.
What was Walt's favorite
attraction at Disneyland?
One time, shortly before Walt's death, a reporter asked him this question.
He began describing a ride that featured pirate ships and cannons. Few in
the audience knew that he was talking about Pirates of the Caribbean, an
attraction that was still in development. The point is, Walt's favorite
attraction was always the one he was working on.
How did Walt die?
He had advanced lung cancer, probably caused by many years of smoking.
Walt's smoker's cough warned employees that he was near. He generally had
a cigarette in his hands; for years he preferred unfiltered Lucky Strikes.
Later, he smoked strong French cigarettes called Gitanes. His daughter
Diane has made it one of her life's goals to stop young people from
smoking.
Was Walt frozen?
No researcher has discovered where this myth began, but it certainly is
widespread. Quite the opposite, Walt's daughter Diane recalls that her
father spoke frequently about his desire to be cremated -- and in fact he
was. When Disney archivist Robert Tieman researched the issue, he
discovered that the first attempts at freezing a person weren't even
discussed until after Walt's death. In any case, the people who knew Walt
and loved him never heard him utter a word about trying it out himself.
What's more, his family lingered around him for some time after his death.
No white-smocked physicians rushed his body off to some kind of freezing
chamber as would undoubtedly have been the case if he was being preserved.
How many children did Walt have?
Walt and his wife, Lilly, had two children. Diane was born in 1933. Her
younger sister, Sharon, was adopted in January 1937.
What was the greatest tragedy in
Walt's life?
Walt never answered this question, so it's impossible to know for sure.
But based on interviews with most of his closest family members, it's
possible to make a reasonable guess. Though he had many business failures
-- particularly early in his life -- he would not have considered any of
them tragic. In fact, he had a firm belief that every young person should
have a failure or two. One such event was the acrimonious strike that hit
his studio in 1941. It was terribly unpleasant for Walt -- and it changed
his relationship with his employees for the rest of his life. But as
unhappy a time as the strike was, it seems likely that the most painful
event was his mother's death in November 1938. Walt and Roy had purchased
a home for their parents some months before. Flora had been complaining
about the gas furnace. Walt sent a studio handyman to fix it, but he
didn't do an adequate job. Early one morning, poisonous fumes spread
through the house. The couple's housekeeper began to get woozy and checked
on the couple upstairs. She found Elias lying in the hall. Flora was on
the bathroom floor. They were able to rescue Elias, but it was too late
for Walt's beloved mother. Many years later, according to his daughter
Sharon, Walt still found the subject nearly impossible to talk about.
Is it true that Walt testified
before the House Un-American Activities Committee? If so, why?
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was a congressional
committee in the late 1940s and early 1950s that was concerned with the
threat of communism to America. Although its concerns may be justified in
the context of the time, there were unreasonable excesses that destroyed
the careers of a number of men and women employed in the film industry.
And Walt did, in fact, willingly testify before the committee in 1947. He
believed strongly that he was taking patriotic and honorable action. In
the years following World War II, as the Soviet Union became a frightening
world power, the idea that communism presented a genuine threat was not
irrational. Walt's thoughts about communism were clear: "I believe it
is an un-American thing . . . they really ought to be smoked out so that .
. . all the good, free causes in this country, all the liberalisms that
really are American, can go on without the taint of communism."
What's more, Walt's testimony wasn't an attempt to vilify individuals; it
primarily dealt with his feelings that the studio strike of 1941 had been
manipulated by communists. They "smeared me," he said.
"Nobody came near to find out what the true facts of the thing were.
. . . They distorted everything, they lied; there was no way you could
ever counteract anything that they did; they formed picket lines in front
of my theaters and, well, they called my plant a sweatshop, and that is
not true."
Is it true that Walt couldn't
draw?
No. Walt did drawings for his high
school newspaper. They show the work of a very talented young artist.
What's more, Walt single-handedly animated some of his earliest cartoons.
As the years went on, however, Walt was able to hire staffers who were
more talented artists than he. As a result, he stopped drawing and turned
his attention to bringing out the best in those he hired to do the job.
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