Surely the definitive account of the director - its hard to imagine there could be a better one. Exhaustively researched, well written and a serious treatment of a man who in recent years has received too much press for being an anti-Semitic, commie-hating Nazi who is now frozen - I understand how people enjoy those rumours considering how he has been deified, but he was a genius.
If you made a film out of this life it might run along these sort of lines: Act 1: a struggling animator moving to Hollywood with his brother Roy, starts to make some money but is eventually kicked out of his business by the actual owner and vows never to be wronged again. Act 2: the creation of Mickey Mouse and his own studio, leading up to Steamboat Willie and maybe Three Little Pigs. Act 3: Disney's folly with Snow White and its incredible success. Act 4: Post Snow White dreams and a series of unprofitable cartoon masterpieces followed by war propaganda work and cartoon compilations which saved the studio but killed Disney's taste for animation. Act 5: Disney starts to muck around with trains just for fun - but following his passion gives him the idea for Disneyland. He's rewarded with a hot streak few others match in the 50s, being the first mogul to conquer television and theme parks - then also in the late 50s and 60s being the only studio with a really unique brand and making a pile out of live action films.
There is so much material here the book could have been longer. Gabler throws in a lot of analysis about Disney's life and work and how it fitted in with America. He does criticise Disney for lousy employee skills - why he paid them heaps in the 30s and made sure they were well trained up, he took his pound of flesh in time and energy from them and was anti-union, and when the unions flared up he called them all commies... in short he was a typical person who owned his own business (something which set him apart from all the other moguls). A wonderful book.
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