The Lessons Walt Disney Learned Still Apply TodayWritten by Stephen Schochet
Contrary to popular belief, Walt Disney spent more time as a struggler than a success. Described at a various times as a visionary and a genius there were actually many occasions he could not foresee results of his ideas, and they nearly brought him to financial ruin. Yet lessons he learned through years are useful and timeless. 1) Ownership is key: Early in his career, Walt created a character on behalf of Universal Studios named Oswald Rabbit. When he tried to negotiate better payments for himself, Walt was informed that Universal had copyright on character and he was entitled to no compensation. From then on Walt owned everything he created. 2) Have passion for your product: Walt worked three long years on Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs which was originally budgeted at a $500,000 an extraordinary amount considering average cartoon in 1930s cost $10,000. His competitors, his wife and his brother all predicted Disney would be ruined. During filming, Walt was plagued with both health and financial problems as Snow White ran way over budget. Needing an additional half million to complete picture, he acted out story in front of a tough-minded banker and got loan he needed. The result was a classic that made $8,000,000 at a time when movie tickets cost 25 cents for adults and a dime for kids. 3) Make timeless products: Pinocchio, Fantasia and Bambi all failed in their first releases. World War II cut off international distribution. The national mood turned away from public sentiment. Disney plunged four million into debt and it looked like Bank Of America would cut off his line of credit. In a dramatic meeting, founder of bank, A.P. Giannini stood up and told board members that Disney made great movies and that war would not last forever. They voted unanimously to keep Disney afloat after old man's speech. He was proven right years later when all three films became profitable classics.
| | Walt Disney Is Coming To TownWritten by Stephen Schochet
1923, twenty-one-year-old Walt Disney arrived in Los Angeles fresh from disappointment of his first cartoon studio going bankrupt in Kansas City. He went to see his twenty-nine-year-old brother Roy in Veteran's Hospital were he was recovering from tuberculosis. Roy, a former bank teller and navy man was concerned about his brother's skinniness. "Hey kid, haven't you been eating? I'm supposed to be sick one. So now that you're in L.A. what are you are going to do with yourself?" "I don't know. I've given up on animation. But I've got to get into show business somehow. I'll think I'll try and become a director." Walt who had filmed some newsreel footage in Kansas City, printed a business card stating he was a member of press, which he used to finagle his way onto studio lots. He had a meeting with a secretary at Metro. "Yes, I had my own studio in Kansas City, I made cartoons and live action films perhaps you heard of me?" "No I can't say that I have. And we really have a lot of people coming here looking for work and no jobs." Metro was in a state of chaos, Rudolph Valentino was demanding more money and they had frozen his salary. Because of movie The Four Horseman Of The Apocalypse (1921) Valentino was now an international star who was surviving by hunting rabbits in Santa Monica Mountains. Walt, who would later know great fame combined with money trouble could have identified, but he had his own problems. Turned away at Metro Walt decided to go to Charlie Chaplin's studio in Hollywood and ask great star for work personally. Chaplin had been Walt's hero, when Disney was thirteen he had won a two dollar prize imitating tramp on stage, not an easy trick. One time Charlie Chaplin had entered a similar contest and lost. Walt waited all day on sidewalk for Chaplin to come out but he never did. Disney didn't know that Chaplin buried himself in his work, afraid to go home where his 16 year old pregnant wife Lita and her mother were filling his mansion with unwanted relatives, turning Beverly Hills estate into 1923 version of Jerry Springer show. Or that liberal Chaplin was infuriating his United Artist partner conservative Mary Pickford by taking forever to finish his films, sometimes emerging from his editing room with a long beard looking like Robinson Crusoe. Walt had his own concerns.
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