The Animated Man (69 page)

67
. In a July 27, 1959, letter to William Beaudine, congratulating him on fifty years in the movies, Disney said: “I want you to know that I am not far behind you—next February will make my 40th year as part of the motion picture business!” William Beaudine Collection, AMPAS.

68
. Although Iwerks returned to the Disney studio as an employee in 1940, he filled out an application for employment on January 7, 1943, probably for reasons related to the studio's wartime work. On the application, he stated that he had worked for “Pessman [
sic
] & Rubin Gray Advertising Agency” from September 1919 to January 1920 and for United Film Ad (the eventual name of the company earlier known as Kansas City Slide and Kansas City Film Ad) from March 1920 to June 1924, ignoring his few months at Laugh-O-gram. WDA.

69
. Hugh Harman, interview, December 3, 1973.

70
. Michael Barrier,
Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age
(New York, 1999), 20–21.

71
. Walt Disney to Irene Gentry, August 17, 1937, WDA.

72
. Roy Disney, June 1968 interview.

73
. “Shake-up in Police Jobs,”
Kansas City Star
, February 6, 1921, 1; courtesy of J. B. Kaufman.

74
. Russell Merritt and J. B. Kaufman,
Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney
(Baltimore, 1993), 125.

75
. David R. Smith to author, e-mail, July 17, 2006.

76
. Merritt and Kaufman,
Walt in Wonderland
, 125, identifies March 20, 1921,
as the date of the first showing. An advertisement in the
Kansas City Star
for that date (on page 2B) lists “Newman Laugh-a-Grams” as among the components of a newsreel compilation called “News and Views”; courtesy of J. B. Kaufman.

77
. Herbert Disney's folder at the National Personnel Records Center, Saint Louis, shows that he worked as a carrier in the Kansas City post office until July 15, 1921, when he transferred to Portland. Some sources say that Elias, Flora, and Ruth followed him there in November 1922, but 1921 fits better with what is known of Walt Disney's own activities in 1921 and 1922.

78
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

79
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

80
. Fred Harman, “New Tracks in Old Trails,”
True West
, October 1968, 10–11.

81
. Fred Harman to Walt Disney, May 10, 1932, WDA. Disney replied—in the same warm, friendly tone—on May 23.

82
. Roy Disney, June 1968 interview.

83
. Rudolph Ising to author, December 20, 1979; Hugh Harman, 1973 interview. The name of Peiser's restaurant is from the Laugh-O-gram bankruptcy papers and a 1923 Kansas City city directory.

84
. Ising, interviewed by J. B. Kaufman on August 14, 1988, in Didier Ghez, ed.,
Walt's People: Talking Disney with the Artists Who Knew Him
(2005), 1:20–21.

85
. Incorporation papers, Laugh O Gram Corporation, Corporation Division, Office of the Secretary of State, Jefferson City, MO. Although the incorporation papers show the company's name as “Laugh O Gram,” the more common form was “Laugh-O-gram.”

86
. “Laugh-O-Gram
[sic]
Cartoons Announced,”
Motion Picture News
, June 17, 1922, 3257; “Plan Distribution of Laugh-O-Grams,”
Motion Picture News
, August 26, 1922, 1055.

87
. C. G. Maxwell, interview with Gray, April 6, 1977.

88
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

89
. Ising, interview, June 2, 1971.

90
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

91
. The record of Laugh-O-gram's bankruptcy shows the purchase in November and December 1922 and January 1923 of sheets of celluloid measuring 20 inches by 50 inches from E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company.

92
. Maxwell to Bob Thomas, August 20, 1973. Maxwell gave a copy of that letter to the author in 1986.

93
. The contract's terms and its subsequent history are reflected in various documents filed during Laugh-O-gram's bankruptcy proceedings.

94
. David R. Smith, “Up to Date in Kansas City,”
Funnyworld
19 (Fall 1978): 23–24.

95
. “Recording the Baby's Life in Films,”
Kansas City Star
, October 29, 1922, 3D; courtesy of J. B. Kaufman.

96
. Maxwell interview.

97
. Copies of the promotional piece and a newspaper advertisement for the course were in Ising's papers.

98
. After Laugh-O-gram was declared bankrupt, a bankruptcy referee rejected as transparent dodges Schmeltz's chattel mortgages and the assignment of the Pictorial Clubs contract to him, denying his claim that the debts covered by those instruments should take priority over those of unsecured creditors.

99
. Edna Francis Disney, interview with Richard Hubler, August 20, 1968, BU/RH.

100
. A photocopy of the contract is in a private collection.

101
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview. As reflected in the Laugh-O-gram bankruptcy proceedings, Harman, Ising, and Maxwell worked for Laugh-O-gram much later in its life than most employees. Harman and Maxwell were Laugh-O-gram employees through the end of June 1923, Ising almost as long. Ub Iwerks's Laugh-O-gram employment ended on May 5, 1923.

102
. Ising, December 20, 1979. Documents in the Laugh-O-gram bankruptcy case indicate that Fred Schmeltz paid the back rent in late July. Some sources say that Laugh-O-gram moved to the Wirthman Building, but that building was at Thirty-first and Troost, more than a block away from the space above Peiser's. Laugh-O-gram was never housed at the Wirthman Building, but Hugh Harman, Ising, and Maxwell made
Sinbad the Sailor
, their single
Arabian Nights
cartoon, in two offices there in 1924.

103
. Maxwell, August 20, 1973.

104
. M.J. Winkler to Walt Disney, May 16, 1923, photocopy, WDA.

105
. Walt Disney to Winkler, June 18, 1923, photocopy, WDA.

106
. Winkler to Walt Disney, June 25, 1923, photocopy, WDA.

107
. Hugh Harman and Ising, joint interview, October 31, 1976. Harman and Ising both remembered the damage to the emulsion, but only Ising remembered the film's being reshot. The film was definitely reshot, though, since the surviving version shows none of the damage that both men remembered.

108
. Ising, note to transcript of October 31, 1976, joint interview with Hugh Harman.

109
. Walt Disney to Winkler, May 14, 1923, photocopy, WDA. The letter is reproduced in Smith, “Up to Date in Kansas City,” 33.

110
. Pictorial Clubs ultimately paid for the films as part of Laugh-O-gram's bankruptcy proceedings, but the creditors' representatives had great difficulty collecting the money.

111
. Ising, December 20, 1979.

112
. Lowell Lawrance, “ ‘Mickey Mouse'—Inspiration from Mouse in K.C. Studio,”
Kansas City Journal Post
, September 8, 1935, clipping, Kansas City Public Library.

CHAPTER 2
“A Cute Idea”

1
. “Walt Disney's Kin and Backer Taken by Death,”
Los Angeles Times
, July 31, 1953, AMPAS. Robert Disney died at the age of ninety-one. His wife Margaret, who encouraged the young Walt Disney to draw, died in 1920; Robert remarried in 1921.

2
. Walt Disney, interview with Pete Martin, early 1961. This transcript accompanies the transcripts of the 1956 interviews but its internal references are clearly to the later date. References in the text to statements Disney made in 1961 are references to this transcript unless noted otherwise.

3
. Roy Disney, 1967 interview.

4
. Robert De Roos, “The Magic Worlds of Walt Disney,”
National Geographic
, August 1963, 173.

5
. Walt Disney to Winkler, August 25, 1923, photocopy, WDA.

6
. Winkler to Walt Disney, September 7, 1923, photocopy, WDA.

7
. Winkler to Walt Disney, telegram, October 15, 1923, WDA.

8
. Walt Disney to Winkler, October 24, 1923, photocopy, WDA.

9
. Walt Disney to Winkler, January 21, 1924, photocopy, WDA.

10
. Roy Disney, 1967 interview.

11
. David R. Smith, “Disney Before Burbank,”
Funnyworld
20 (Summer 1979): 33.

12
. Wilfred Jackson, interview, December 2, 1973.

13
. Roy Disney, June 1968 interview. In this interview, Roy put the total loan from Robert Disney at seven hundred dollars, but an early account book, cited in Thomas,
Building a Company
, 48–49, showed a loan in five installments totaling $500 between November 14 and December 14, 1923. The loan was repaid with interest—the total was $528.66—on January 12, 1924.

14
. Roy Disney, 1967 interview.

15
. Roy Disney, 1967 interview.

16
. Walt Disney to Margaret J. Davis, October 16, 1923, photocopy, private collection.

17
. Lowell E. Redelings, “The Hollywood Scene,”
Hollywood Citizen-News
, February 18, 1957, AMPAS.

18
. Lillian Disney, 1986 interview posted on the Walt Disney Family Museum Web site in 2001.

19
. Smith, “Disney Before Burbank,” 34.

20
. Iwerks's letter has apparently not survived, but Disney's reply, dated June 1, 1924, says in part, “I'll say I was surprised to hear from you and also glad to hear from you. . . . Am glad you have made up your mind to come out,” photocopy, WDA.

21
. Smith, “Disney Before Burbank,” 34.

22
. Roy Disney, interview with Hubler, February 20, 1968, BU/RH.

23
. Lillian Disney, Martin interview.

24
. Lillian Disney, interview with Hubler, April 16, 1968, BU/RH. This interview
was apparently not recorded, the transcript based instead on notes taken by Marty Sklar of the Disney staff.

25
. Lillian Disney, Hubler interview.

26
. Disney was apparently mentioned only once in the
Los Angeles Times
before 1929, in a one-paragraph item, “Actors Mix With Cartoons,”
Los Angeles Times
, July 6, 1924, B3.

27
. Lillian Disney (“Mrs. Walt Disney”), as told to Isabella Taves, “I Live with a Genius,”
McCall's
, February 1953, 105, AMPAS.

28
. Lillian Disney, Hubler interview. Lillian spoke of the bet as involving Hugh and Walker Harman and Rudolph Ising, as well as Ub Iwerks, but the Harmans and Ising did not join the Disney staff until just before the Disneys' wedding, and Walt Disney has a mustache in photos taken before then.

29
. Lillian Disney, Martin interview.

30
. “General Expense Account 1925–1926–1927 by Roy O. Disney,” WDA.

31
. Lillian Disney, 1986 interview.

32
. “General Expense Account 1925–1926–1927.”

33
. Lillian Disney, Martin interview.

34
. The Disneys' addresses from before their purchase of a home in 1926 are from “family and archival sources.” David R. Smith to author, e-mail, April 24, 2006.

35
. Lillian Disney, Martin interview.

36
. Ising, 1971 interview.

37
. Walt Disney to M.J. Winkler, May 29, 1924, WDA.

38
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

39
. Ising, 1971 interview.

40
. Smith, “Disney Before Burbank,” 34.

41
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

42
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

43
. Hugh Harman, 1976 joint interview with Ising.

44
. Ising, 1971 interview.

45
. Hugh Harman and Ising, 1976 joint interview.

46
. Ising, 1973 interview.

47
. Ising, 1971 interview.

48
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

49
. Ising, 1976 joint interview with Hugh Harman.

50
. Ising, 1971 interview.

51
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview; Hugh Harman and Ising, 1976 joint interview.

52
. Smith, “Disney Before Burbank,” 34.

53
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

54
. Ising to Maxwell, February 28, 1926, RI.

55
. Ising, 1976 joint interview with Hugh Harman.

56
. Ising to family members, April 13, 1926, RI.

57
. David R. Smith to author, e-mail, October 31, 2005.

58
. Roy Disney, June 1968 interview.

59
. Winkler to Walt Disney, April 7, 1924, WDA.

60
. Charles Mintz to Walt Disney, October 24, 1924; Walt Disney to Mintz, November 3, 1924, WDA.

61
. Mintz to Walt Disney, October 6, 1925, WDA.

62
. Mintz to Walt Disney, November 17, 1925, WDA.

63
. Mintz to Walt Disney, November 24, 1925, WDA.

64
. Mintz to Walt Disney, January 31, 1927, WDA.

65
. “ ‘U' Will Release Animated Cartoon Comedies,”
Motion Picture News
, March 25, 1927, 1052; “General Expense Account, 1925–1926–1927.”

66
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

67
. Dick Huemer, interview, November 27, 1973.

68
. Paul Smith, interview with Gray, March 22, 1978.

69
. Maxwell, August 20, 1973.

70
. Paul Smith interview.

71
. Hugh Harman, 1973 interview.

72
. Paul Smith interview.

73
. Ising to Adele Ising, January 29, 1927, RI.