Cinema Cemetery
Without Roy Disney, There is No Walt.
Disclaimer:
The following is my own opinion and not the opinion of any studios I have worked for in the past or will work for in the future. All specific information comes courtesy of publicly accessible articles, please see the bibliography for more information.
Everyone knows about Walt Disney. But what force turned a stubborn, creative, sickly young man into an animation powerhouse, reshaping the very canvas of film history?
I personally know more artists than I can count who have wild artistic vision and dogged determination that would easily rival Walt’s own. Why aren’t they masters of the art world? What was Walt Disney’s secret? As is the case with any success story, a lot of it just comes down to luck and timing, but unlike many success stories, Walt DID have a silver bullet.
Without this secret weapon, you would never know the name Walt Disney. That secret weapon, was Roy Disney.
Walt, by all accounts, was not the best businessman. Roy, by all accounts, was a financial wizard.
Saving Walt
“Born in Chicago in 1893, eight years before Walt ...., Roy encouraged his younger brother to pursue his interest in art, despite the opposition of their stern father. Roy became a banker and moved to Glendale in 1920; the dry climate helped combat the tuberculosis he caught in the Navy. Walt joined him during the summer of 1923, after his first studio in Kansas City, Mo., went bankrupt. Roy helped Walt raise the money to set up a studio to make the live-action animation "Alice" comedies. (4)”
This partnership didn’t exactly come out of nowhere.
“Even as children, Walt and Roy were business partners. They delivered newspapers together. (5)”
Roy always looked out for Walt, even protecting him from physical abuse from their father when they were young. As an adult though,
“Roy Disney was a financial genius. But he was more than that in the same way that Walt Disney was more than a film producer. Roy could read personality and sum it up with a succinct mastery that paralleled Walt’s determination to explore and assign a distinct character to each of the Seven Dwarfs, or his ability to discern talent from raiding artists’ wastepaper baskets for drawings. Roy’s gentle vision was supporting the creative aims of his younger brother. To that end, he advised him in ways other than financial. (5)”
The connection of trust between an artist and a businessperson can be a strong and powerful one if they’re looking out for each other. Add a brotherly bond on top of that and you have a partnership of proportions which the world has not seen since.
“Roy O. Disney forsook banking work and a hospital bed, where he was recuperating from tuberculosis contracted during wartime, to start as the cameraman, bookkeeper, and even cel washer for a time at the little animation studio in 1923. (5)”
As Walt himself describes it:
“When Roy helped me back there, I was all alone and in this business. Roy had no connection on with this business at all. I came out here and my first thing was that Roy had helped me and I wanted Roy and I to be partners, that was all, I mean, we just wanted to be partners—I wanted it.
Roy, not knowing the business, he didn’t know what we were in. But Roy had a faith in me—the same as he did when I was in Kansas City and he’d send me those checks. And I think that Roy has done a lot of things there against his better judgment, because he felt that I wanted to do it.
And most of our arguments and disagreements, I think, have been because Roy has felt that he had to protect me. And Roy has never been a person to want a lot of money; Roy has been one who could be content. (3)”
Roy was smart enough to know his limitations and how to protect himself from his blind spots.
“Roy knew he was not as charismatic as his younger brother, nor as creative. He surrounded himself with a talented group of men to make Walt’s dream(s) a reality. (2)”
“As the fledgling studio grew, Roy managed the finances, an often difficult job because Walt wanted to do things that were new, better and experimental. The cost of an exciting project didn't interest him: Expenditures for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) topped $2 million--eight times the original estimate of $250,000. Roy had to find ways to finance experiments that ranged from the introduction of the Technicolor process into animation to the creation of Disneyland. Although the relationship between the brothers was usually loving and supportive, they occasionally fought fiercely. (4)”
The strength that being family brought to their partnership, also brought strife. Nobody fights like siblings do. But, just like most siblings, they also found their way back to each other in the end. While Roy was not one to toot his own horn, Walt was crystal clear on just who made Walt Disney studios a success.
“In October 1966 (a little more than two months before Walt died), at a luncheon with Walt, his brother Roy and other Disney Company executives, Walt (was asked) what … the fate of the Florida project (would be) if he got hit by a truck after lunch? Walt replied, ‘Absolutely nothing. My brother Roy runs this company. I just piddle around.’ (2)”
Saving the World
Walt’s secret weapon Roy continued saving his studio, his legacy, and his memory; even after Walt’s sudden death.
“Delaying a long-anticipated retirement to help fulfill the legacy Walt meant to leave behind, Roy O. Disney salvaged what could have turned into a disaster and became the number one man behind 1971’s ... Walt Disney World. (1)”
“Walt may have dreamed castles but it was Roy who got them built. It was Roy who, in his 70s—with a longing to retire and travel and spend time with his grandchildren—wrestled with heat and humidity, swamp land and scrub brush, construction delays and finances to make Walt’s last dream a reality. (2)”
“Roy E. Disney (Roy’s son) recalls, "Walt died and the world believed that was the end of the company--so many CEOs called Dad's office wanting to know its price that his secretary was turning them down without even calling him to the phone. It was not a good time to get big loans, and by then his conviction that he was not a creative guy had become so strong that tackling such ambitious projects scared him. (4)”
“One of his first decisions was that the Disneyworld project would be officially renamed “Walt Disney World.” Roy was insistent that people be reminded that this was Walt’s project. Very few others in the company agreed with that choice because of marketing reasons.
In a meeting, someone referred to it as “Disneyworld” and Roy’s hand went to his glasses as he focused on the offending word: “I’m only going to say this one more time. I want it called ‘Walt Disney World.’ Not Disneyworld, not Disneyland East, not anything else. Walt Disney World.” (2)”
Disneyland was a hard-fought triumph. Walt Disney World, was in another galaxy in terms of scale and pitfalls Roy had to face.
“His biggest accomplishment in that regard was probably convincing the county and the state of Florida to let him create a “special district” so that Disney World ... could be made.
...
This was a huge boon for the Walt Disney Company, giving it enough power to do what they wanted with Disney World to make it the best it could be. Though known for being quiet and camera-shy, Roy O. Disney was impressively able to sway Florida Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. and with the Supreme Court of Florida, among others, to give the Walt Disney Company what it needed to get off the ground with its ambitious Orlando utopia. (1)”
“Roy was asked by reporters why a grandfather had felt the obligation to tackle this impossible project at this point in his life. Roy smiled, “I didn’t want to have to explain to Walt when I saw him again why the dream didn’t come true.”
Later, Roy spent time in a boat on the Seven Seas Lagoon in front of the Magic Kingdom and when asked why he wasn’t in the park to handle all the media attention, Roy quietly remarked, “Today is my brother’s day. I want them to remember my brother today.” (2)”
“Roy died on December 20, 1971, less than three months after Walt Disney World opened to the public. He lived just long enough to fulfill his last, maybe most important mission in regard to the Disney legacy. He was later honored with a statue of him sitting with Minnie Mouse on a bench in Town Square of Main Street, U.S.A. (1)”
“Roy was a modest man and, when he died, little was known of his accomplishments, especially in comparison to his brother, Walt. Roy was the man who built Walt Disney World without a cent of debt…(2)”
Learning
So, what can we take away from all this?
First and foremost, no one person’s success is really all that it seems. Just as the lead singer of a band is seen as the music’s driving force, regardless of reality, Walt Disney will forever have his successes chalked up to him alone in the public consciousness. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a complicated character who did a lot of amazing things and otherwise. But his success was not a result of solitary efforts.
Easy then, if you’re a creative just find your Roy and all will be well right?
Not so fast. A large part of Walt and Roy’s success came down to the era in which they started their studio, the politics of the time and the current economics of the booming entertainment industry. The same brothers in the same location using modern technology in modern times probably wouldn’t stand a chance. There are so many factors working against small creators in this economy, especially in LA. Also, entertainment isn’t the event it used to be. With the internet connecting us all, supply is high so demand is low. There’s absolutely no good chance that the Disney brothers would have made it starting out in 2018.
It’s uncomfortable but true, a lot of the Disney success was just down to luck. Now, luck without skill is nothing, they were able to capitalize on their good fortune because they had the talent between them to do so.
Luck not being in your favor is never a good excuse to stop learning, to stop pushing yourself as a creator, an artist, a filmmaker. Mold yourself into the person you need to be and continuously pound on that locked door, if luck opens, you’ll be prepared.
Finally, if you are studying business or finance and you love film. Look for your Walt, build relationships with artists. Never feel like you must become one yourself, but seek them out and get to know them. The same advice applies to artists, it’s easy to be intimidated by the suits or to think of them as simple squares; but they are the people with the skills that could be the difference between your dreams becoming reality and your art staying on a shelf in the basement until it’s thrown out when you die. Harsh, but true.
Re-examining the bond between the Disney brothers, their strengths and weaknesses, the real secret weapon we can take away from their inspirational lives is this: Trust. Surround yourself with people you trust. If you can’t trust yourself, work on that first. Become who you need to be should luck strike in your favor. Then, find one other person to trust. Let them do their thing and they’ll let you do yours in full confidence. Once that bond is real, you’ll have a leg up on everyone else in the industry.
When people work together and appreciate each other, amazing things can happen!
This has been Cinema Cemetery, digging six feet deeper into film-making culture!
-Alaina Smith