0:00:02 > 0:00:04- AS MICKEY:- Hey, Pluto, here she comes.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08Hey, Pluto, here she comes.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24Walt Disney was as driven a man
0:00:24 > 0:00:26as I have ever met in my life.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31What he really wanted to do...
0:00:33 > 0:00:35..was, as we used to say in the Middle West,
0:00:35 > 0:00:37make a name for himself.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43Walt Disney was an international celebrity by the time he was 30.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Hailed a genius before he was 40.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55He built a media and entertainment company
0:00:55 > 0:00:58that stands as one of the most powerful on the planet.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Won more Academy Awards than anybody in history.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Created a cinematic artform
0:01:07 > 0:01:11and invented a new kind of American vacation destination.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Walt loved attention.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16He was an extrovert.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18He loved to be the centre of attention.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22He wants to be an artist...
0:01:22 > 0:01:25and I think he discovered something early on -
0:01:25 > 0:01:28that talent was his way of getting attention.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31He's a man of the times,
0:01:31 > 0:01:33and the times are exciting.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46Kansas City, 1919.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52Walt Disney had just returned from France after the First World War.
0:01:54 > 0:01:55Not quite 18,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58he already stood out from the other working-class boys
0:01:58 > 0:02:00returning from the front.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09He landed a job as a commercial artist for a local ad company.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13Walt had been an enthusiastic artist
0:02:13 > 0:02:15from the time he was little,
0:02:15 > 0:02:17and he was determined to do work he loved.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22But Walt lived for the evenings.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Movie houses were springing up all over town,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27and he soon became a regular visitor,
0:02:27 > 0:02:30taking in at least one feature film...
0:02:31 > 0:02:33..a newsreel...
0:02:34 > 0:02:36..and an animated cartoon or two.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41It was an exciting
0:02:41 > 0:02:42and very dynamic medium.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46The industry was very young.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49There was no regulations,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51or no customs, or no conformity.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55It was wide open to what people wanted to make of it.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57Disney was captivated.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00His only formal training
0:03:00 > 0:03:02was a few months at art schools
0:03:02 > 0:03:03in Chicago and Kansas City...
0:03:05 > 0:03:09..but he was convinced he could make better than what he was seeing.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14He took out Eadweard Muybridge's Human Figures in Motion
0:03:14 > 0:03:15from the public library.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19Then he borrowed a volume
0:03:19 > 0:03:20that laid out the basics
0:03:20 > 0:03:22of animation in film-making.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26Disney read about roughing out a storyline,
0:03:26 > 0:03:28creating characters,
0:03:28 > 0:03:31and carefully drawing each individual frame
0:03:31 > 0:03:32onto white linen paper.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36By mounting each frame on pegs,
0:03:36 > 0:03:38just as the book instructed,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40and shooting them one at a time,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43he began to create the illusion of movement.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48He was really into modern culture.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51The pleasure of somehow engaging with
0:03:51 > 0:03:53the potential of cinema,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55the potential of animation, was exciting to him
0:03:55 > 0:03:59and he had this little ability to draw.
0:03:59 > 0:04:00He had a knack.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Disney's first efforts were short cartoons
0:04:08 > 0:04:10he made at night and on weekends,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13using a film camera he borrowed from his boss at work.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22"I gagged 'em up to beat hell," he would say,
0:04:22 > 0:04:26and then sold them to a small Kansas City-based theatre chain.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34The fees didn't even cover his costs,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37but Disney gained something more important than money.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Attention.
0:04:39 > 0:04:40Excitement.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42A whiff of destiny.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53At age 20, Disney quit his day job
0:04:53 > 0:04:55and started a company.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Laugh-O-Grams, Inc.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59Walter Elias Disney, president.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03He hired a salesman,
0:05:03 > 0:05:04a business manager
0:05:04 > 0:05:07and four young apprentice animators.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18Disney and his Laugh-O-Grams crew
0:05:18 > 0:05:20secured a contract
0:05:20 > 0:05:22for six animated fairy-tale shorts...
0:05:24 > 0:05:25..but when they delivered the work,
0:05:25 > 0:05:27the distributor wouldn't pay up.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Walt could no longer pay the wages
0:05:31 > 0:05:33or the rent on his office,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35the phone bill, the electricity bill.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Creditors began circling.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Walt needed to make money, and fast.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Taking advantage of a new technique used by his rival, Max Fleischer,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55his big new idea was to insert footage of a real girl
0:05:55 > 0:05:58into animated scenes.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00Alice in Cartoonland, he claimed,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02was bound to be a winner.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Walt was able to scrape together
0:06:06 > 0:06:08just enough cash to complete Alice.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12He finished his cartoon experiment with little help,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14while sleeping at the office,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16bathing at the train station,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18subsisting on canned beans
0:06:18 > 0:06:21and the charity of the Greek diner.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25But by the time the cartoon short was finished,
0:06:25 > 0:06:26in the summer of 1923,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28it was too late.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32His company was headed into bankruptcy.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34Alice In Cartoonland
0:06:34 > 0:06:37would not save Laugh-O-Grams, Inc.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40Walt Disney had suffered his first real failure.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47He packed his cardboard suitcase with two spare shirts
0:06:47 > 0:06:51and what was left of his drawing supplies...
0:06:51 > 0:06:53then headed for Union Station,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55where he treated himself
0:06:55 > 0:06:56to a first-class ticket
0:06:56 > 0:06:59on the Santa Fe California Limited,
0:06:59 > 0:07:01straight through to Los Angeles.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12Hollywood in the 1920s
0:07:12 > 0:07:15is a beacon of the future.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18That's where the action is at,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20and I think Disney senses that,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23and that's where he wants to be.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25He's not thinking about animation now.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27He's already failed with animation,
0:07:27 > 0:07:28so the next step is,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31"I'm going to go out here and I'm going to become a movie director.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33"That's what I'm going to do."
0:07:36 > 0:07:38The wannabe movie man
0:07:38 > 0:07:40walked past Charlie Chaplin's studio,
0:07:40 > 0:07:42along La Brea Avenue,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44rode the trolley to Culver City
0:07:44 > 0:07:47to see the set used in Ben Hur...
0:07:48 > 0:07:51..and talked his way onto the Universal lot,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54where he wandered around late into the night.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59But after weeks of effort,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Walt had not been able to talk his way into a job.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09His older brother, Roy,
0:08:09 > 0:08:10had little patience
0:08:10 > 0:08:11for Walt's insistence
0:08:11 > 0:08:14on finding a place in the movie business.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18He had sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door
0:08:18 > 0:08:19when he first got to town,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22and he admonished his brother to find a similar job.
0:08:24 > 0:08:25One that paid.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31Walt was considering this advice
0:08:31 > 0:08:34when a cartoon distributor from New York got in touch.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Margaret Winkler, the only woman in the business,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43had remembered Walt's Alice In Cartoonland pitch
0:08:43 > 0:08:46and wanted to see how the young animator's big idea had turned out.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Soon after Disney shipped his Alice reel
0:09:04 > 0:09:06to Winkler's office in New York,
0:09:06 > 0:09:08the distributor wired back an offer.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13She wanted Walt to make 12 Alice shorts
0:09:13 > 0:09:16and was willing to pay 1,500 per episode.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21When he gets that telegram,
0:09:21 > 0:09:22the first thing he does is
0:09:22 > 0:09:24he goes to visit his brother Roy,
0:09:24 > 0:09:28and Walt is waving this telegram saying,
0:09:28 > 0:09:29"Look!
0:09:29 > 0:09:31"We've got a chance here!"
0:09:31 > 0:09:34His brother is not enthusiastic.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37His brother has no entertainment ambitions whatsoever.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39His brother is the pragmatist.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42But Walt says, you know,
0:09:42 > 0:09:43"We can do this.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45"I need you for this."
0:09:47 > 0:09:49The two brothers scraped up a little cash
0:09:49 > 0:09:50from friends and relatives,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52and set up a two-man operation
0:09:52 > 0:09:54in the back of a real-estate office.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58Walt was the artist and idea man.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00Roy was the fundraiser,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03the book-keeper, and all-round utility man.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07But Walt recognised that he needed the kind of help
0:10:07 > 0:10:09Roy could not provide,
0:10:09 > 0:10:11so he convinced an old friend
0:10:11 > 0:10:13and collaborator, Ub Iwerks,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16to relocate from Kansas City to Los Angeles.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Iwerks is incredible and can work fast,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21so it's an early sign that Disney
0:10:21 > 0:10:23always wants to work with the very best,
0:10:23 > 0:10:26and isn't afraid of working with someone
0:10:26 > 0:10:28who's better than he is at many things.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32Iwerks began restyling
0:10:32 > 0:10:34the Alice's Wonderland shorts
0:10:34 > 0:10:36as soon as he arrived -
0:10:36 > 0:10:39creating films with less emphasis on the girl,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and more on the cartoon characters.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44The Disneys' distributor
0:10:44 > 0:10:45loved the new look.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47They wanted more, and faster,
0:10:47 > 0:10:51and were willing to pay good money to get them.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Walt recruited more of his old gang from Missouri,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56then hired some locals,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59and the number of employees at the Disney studio
0:10:59 > 0:11:00swelled to a dozen.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07The brothers enjoyed their early success
0:11:07 > 0:11:10and expected it to continue.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13Roy bought an unassuming new sedan,
0:11:13 > 0:11:15Walt a flash Moon Roadster.
0:11:17 > 0:11:18They purchased adjoining plots
0:11:18 > 0:11:21and built new houses next door to each other.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28In 1925,
0:11:28 > 0:11:29Walt married Lillian,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33an inker working at the Disney Brothers Studio.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43"He just had no inhibitions,"
0:11:43 > 0:11:44Lillian said of Walt.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48"He was completely natural.
0:11:48 > 0:11:49"He was fun."
0:12:01 > 0:12:03By the beginning of 1926,
0:12:03 > 0:12:05the Disney Brothers Studio
0:12:05 > 0:12:09was churning out a new Alice short every 16 days
0:12:09 > 0:12:13and Walt and Roy were ready to take on a more spacious studio building
0:12:13 > 0:12:16in the Silver Lake neighbourhood of Los Angeles.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19When they moved from the Disney Brothers Studio
0:12:19 > 0:12:21to the Hyperion Avenue facility,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25a very striking and a very revealing thing happens.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Walt goes to Roy and he says,
0:12:27 > 0:12:31"I've made a decision and that decision is, from hence,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34"this will be called the Walt Disney Studio,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37"not the Disney Brothers Studio."
0:12:37 > 0:12:39Walt Disney believed
0:12:39 > 0:12:41that it was his vision
0:12:41 > 0:12:44of creativity and entertainment
0:12:44 > 0:12:47that was the engine of this enterprise,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49and that's what was being sold.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57By the end of 1926,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01Disney had become obsessed with his rivals in the cartoon industry.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05He knew his Alice pictures were running out of steam.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09He spent much of his free time in darkened theatres,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12assessing the work of the top New York-based animators -
0:13:12 > 0:13:15the Fleischer brothers and Pat Sullivan.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21He was taking aim at the industry's gold standard -
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Sullivan's Felix the Cat.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29If you look at animation at that period,
0:13:29 > 0:13:30it's extremely crude,
0:13:30 > 0:13:32it's really violent,
0:13:32 > 0:13:33it's really gag-driven,
0:13:33 > 0:13:35and it's very urban.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43These are older men making kind of crude, hard animation
0:13:43 > 0:13:45and Disney steps in as this young guy,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48and he's like, "OK, well, I see what you're doing,
0:13:48 > 0:13:51"I'll try this out and then I'll figure out my own voice
0:13:51 > 0:13:53"and my other influences around me to transform it."
0:13:55 > 0:13:59The key to a challenging the supremacy of Felix the Cat,
0:13:59 > 0:14:00Walt believed,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04was creating his own compelling and likeable character.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06Disney's distributor
0:14:06 > 0:14:07suggested he try a rabbit.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09Too many cats on the market.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17Ub Iwerks took charge of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit's look,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20while Disney wrote the storylines and the gags.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32The bosses at Universal Pictures
0:14:32 > 0:14:35were so taken with the first sketches of Oswald,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38they offered a contract for 26 episodes.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43Walt Disney Studios seem to be riding high.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49But by the time the team put the finishing touches
0:14:49 > 0:14:51on the first order of Oswald shorts,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55the animators were increasingly frustrated with their boss.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57The old Kansas City hands
0:14:57 > 0:15:00who had helped Disney get started in the business
0:15:00 > 0:15:04were working into the night and through the weekends,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07whilst Walt was taking much of the money and most of the credit.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13I think the two sides of Disney emerged.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16You have, on the one hand, Walt the inspirer.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19The other side of Disney was Disney the driver,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21who demanded work,
0:15:21 > 0:15:23who demanded creativity,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25demanded productivity
0:15:25 > 0:15:29and if people didn't meet his standards,
0:15:29 > 0:15:30he could come down on you
0:15:30 > 0:15:32like a ton of bricks.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37By this time, his distributor, Margaret Winkler,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40had married the businessman Charles Mintz.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Mintz saw an opportunity.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46They owned the rights to Oswald,
0:15:46 > 0:15:48not the Disney brothers.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Ub Iwerks comes to Walt Disney and says,
0:15:51 > 0:15:55"Walt, I've been approached by Charles Mintz
0:15:55 > 0:15:58"to essentially leave you and to go to work for Mintz -
0:15:58 > 0:16:00"and I'm not the only one.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02"All of the animators have,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05"but they haven't told you." Disney doesn't believe it.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08He just sort of pooh-poohs the whole thing
0:16:08 > 0:16:11and doesn't really believe Ub Iwerks, who says, you know,
0:16:11 > 0:16:12there's a problem brewing here.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Walt went to New York in February of 1928
0:16:21 > 0:16:25with big hopes for a new contract from Mintz,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27but it only took a few days for Disney to realise
0:16:27 > 0:16:29that Iwerks had been right.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32Mintz had already poached
0:16:32 > 0:16:34almost all of Disney's artists,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36except for Ub,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38and the distributor told Walt
0:16:38 > 0:16:41he was going to go on making the Oswald cartoons without him.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49When Disney boarded the train for the trip back to Los Angeles,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51he was despondent.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Almost all of his team
0:16:53 > 0:16:55had abandoned him.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57He had no distributor,
0:16:57 > 0:16:58no Oswald,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00and very little money in the bank.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18When Walt arrived at Union Station in Los Angeles,
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Ub Iwerks detected none of his friend's trademark good cheer
0:17:22 > 0:17:23and enthusiasm.
0:17:25 > 0:17:30"He looked like he'd just run into a stone wall," Ub would say.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33But Walt was not in the mood to give up.
0:17:33 > 0:17:34Walt steps up,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36"Boom, you think Oswald was good?
0:17:36 > 0:17:39"I can do much better than that.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41"I'll show you what I'm capable of doing."
0:17:41 > 0:17:45Disney has daily brainstorming sessions with Roy and Ub,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48and a few other loyalists who had not signed with Mintz.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Intent on dreaming up a bankable new character,
0:17:53 > 0:17:54and one they would own,
0:17:54 > 0:17:59Disney's skeleton team scoured popular magazines for inspiration,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01bounced ideas off one another
0:18:01 > 0:18:03and drew figures on their sketchpads
0:18:03 > 0:18:06until something began to emerge.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09Pear-shaped body,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11ball on top,
0:18:11 > 0:18:12a couple of thin legs.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14Iwerks later explained,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17"You gave it long ears and it was a rabbit.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20"Short ears, it was a cat.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23"With an elongated nose, it became a mouse."
0:18:25 > 0:18:28Walt suggested they name him "Mortimer".
0:18:28 > 0:18:31His wife, Lillian, thought that was terrible
0:18:31 > 0:18:32and came up with "Mickey".
0:18:34 > 0:18:35As with Oswald,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Ub took charge of the mouse's look.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Walt gave him his personality.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42He doesn't have the financial backing
0:18:42 > 0:18:44to support what it is he's doing.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47He wants to be a bigger voice than he is.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49And it's a perfect metaphor -
0:18:49 > 0:18:51him being the small mouse,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54this seemingly insignificant figure,
0:18:54 > 0:18:56individual within this big industry
0:18:56 > 0:18:59that he wants to break into.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01Disney was unable to find a distributor
0:19:01 > 0:19:04willing to take a chance on his new mouse...
0:19:04 > 0:19:06but Walt refused to give up.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10At a meeting with Roy one day,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13as the tiny staff worked up a third
0:19:13 > 0:19:15and still unsold Mickey Mouse cartoon,
0:19:15 > 0:19:17Walt suddenly blurted out,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20"We'll make them over with sound."
0:19:21 > 0:19:23"How can I do something better with animation
0:19:23 > 0:19:26"than what everybody else is doing?"
0:19:26 > 0:19:28He's always the person looking for new technology.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31He's always the person trying to find the newest invention,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33to make animation better.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Just as with Alice's Wonderland,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Max Fleischer had invented the technique,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44but it was Walt who would make it work.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47At the time, producing a soundtrack in sync with,
0:19:47 > 0:19:49and music that makes sense with,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53the action on screen is very difficult.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56This was a very precise and intricate process
0:19:56 > 0:19:58that Disney had to think through.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Disney saw no good option than to take the chance.
0:20:04 > 0:20:05He headed back to New York
0:20:05 > 0:20:08and signed a quick deal with the licensor
0:20:08 > 0:20:11of one of the most advanced sound systems in town.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Walt didn't have enough money in the bank
0:20:15 > 0:20:18to pay for the recording sessions, so he wired Roy
0:20:18 > 0:20:21to do whatever he had to to get the cash.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27He told his brother to sell his beloved Moon Roadster if needed.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Stuck in New York to oversee the sound work,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36Walt trawled desperately for a distributor.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39He carried his reels from one office to another
0:20:39 > 0:20:40for three long months,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43and came up empty.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47He did manage to secure a two-week run at the Colony Theater,
0:20:47 > 0:20:49at Broadway and 53rd Street.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58Steamboat Willie premiered
0:20:58 > 0:21:00on November 18th, 1928.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07ENGINE CHUGS
0:21:11 > 0:21:14HORN BLARES
0:21:17 > 0:21:19HE WHISTLES
0:21:21 > 0:21:24The audience at the Colony Theater was enthralled.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27People had heard sound in pictures before,
0:21:27 > 0:21:29but never like this.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31HORN BLARES
0:21:34 > 0:21:36WHISTLING
0:21:36 > 0:21:37"It knocked me out of my seat,"
0:21:37 > 0:21:39one New York reporter wrote.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42"TURKEY IN THE STRAW" PLAYS
0:21:44 > 0:21:47Some audiences begged the projectionist
0:21:47 > 0:21:49to delay the start of the feature
0:21:49 > 0:21:50and rerun Steamboat Willie.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Steamboat Willie was such a huge hit
0:22:01 > 0:22:05and it gave Disney studio really a sort of pre-eminence -
0:22:05 > 0:22:10where suddenly this company is taking a step to the front ranks.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12This upstart from the West Coast
0:22:12 > 0:22:15just erupts in the middle of everybody
0:22:15 > 0:22:17with this amazing character.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20HE SINGS
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Mickey was a multi-talented charmer,
0:22:23 > 0:22:26a dancer, a comedian, a singer.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28And within months,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30never mind he was just a cartoon,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Mickey Mouse was the newest Hollywood celebrity.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40Fanmail for Mickey Mouse
0:22:40 > 0:22:43poured into the studio, on Hyperion Avenue,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46with postmarks from across the world.
0:22:46 > 0:22:47From England, Spain,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49the Philippines...
0:22:49 > 0:22:52Some were addressed to Mickey, some to Walt.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02Mickey is understood as being the creation of Disney
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and Disney is understood as being the father of Mickey -
0:23:05 > 0:23:08and combined, that makes for a kind of
0:23:08 > 0:23:10international stardom
0:23:10 > 0:23:14- that we really hadn't seen before. - APPLAUSE
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Walt Disney ALWAYS talked about Mickey Mouse as being his alter ego.
0:23:31 > 0:23:32He would say that, you know,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35"I'm closer to Mickey Mouse than I am to anyone else."
0:23:37 > 0:23:39- AS MICKEY:- Hey, Pluto, here she comes.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41Mickey and Walt are talking to each other.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Hey, Pluto, here she comes.
0:23:43 > 0:23:44So, he's got to do Mickey's voice.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46Someone's got to do it.
0:23:46 > 0:23:47So, of course, Walt does it -
0:23:47 > 0:23:49because it's him talking to himself.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Walt Disney was not yet 30
0:23:56 > 0:23:57and he had made himself
0:23:57 > 0:23:59the first celebrity of animation.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04A film cartoonist the public could name.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09His studios stood atop the industry,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12and was growing to meet the demand for new cartoons.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16The success of Mickey
0:24:16 > 0:24:19attracted some of the best talent to Hyperion,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22but Disney insisted on having the final word
0:24:22 > 0:24:25on every foot of finished film that came out of his studio.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31He spent long hours at the office,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34often until one or two o'clock in the morning.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40He was anxious and obsessive,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42chain-smoking day and night,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44drumming his thumbs impatiently
0:24:44 > 0:24:46on the table in story meetings.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49His role was changing in the studio.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52He was leaving behind things that were so familiar to him -
0:24:52 > 0:24:56working with his hands, being an active participant in the work.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00Becoming more and more a man who was the intellectual overseer -
0:25:00 > 0:25:04evaluating, criticising, editing.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07And as he stepped back from this more active participation,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10initially, he was, I think, very distressed by it.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12He felt uncomfortable doing it.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21Outside of work,
0:25:21 > 0:25:25Walt had talked of having a big family of his own for years.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27He wanted ten children,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30he told his sister, and would spoil them all.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33His wife, Lillian,
0:25:33 > 0:25:35had her doubts about raising any number of children,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37especially when she considered
0:25:37 > 0:25:39the office hours Walt kept.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Roy's wife, Edna, had had her first child already.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Finally, Lillian was talked into it,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52and, by the spring of 1931,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54she was pregnant as well.
0:25:56 > 0:25:57Walt was ecstatic
0:25:57 > 0:25:59and made plans for a bigger house
0:25:59 > 0:26:01to accommodate the new addition.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Then Lillian miscarried.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10Disney waved off the well-wishers and sympathisers.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13He threw himself back into his work.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16He insisted he was fine.
0:26:18 > 0:26:19He was not.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25- WALT ON TAPE:- In 1931, I had a hell of a breakdown.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I went all to pieces.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30It was just, pound, pound, pound.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32It was costs, but costs were going up,
0:26:32 > 0:26:34and I was always way over
0:26:34 > 0:26:37whatever they figured the pictures would bring in.
0:26:37 > 0:26:38And I cracked up.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42I just got irritable.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46I got to a point that I couldn't talk on the telephone.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48I'd begin to cry.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51And at the least little thing,
0:26:51 > 0:26:53I'd just go that way.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03In October, 1931,
0:27:03 > 0:27:05Walt Disney took his doctor's advice
0:27:05 > 0:27:08and escaped on the first real vacation of his life.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15He and Lillian went across the country to Washington, DC,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19then to Key West, and on to a week's stay in Cuba.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23They took a steamship through the Panama Canal
0:27:23 > 0:27:25on the way back to Los Angeles.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29Once home, Disney told people
0:27:29 > 0:27:31that the breakdown had been a godsend.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Life was sweet, he said,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38and there was more to it than work.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40He threw himself into a new exercise regime.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44He went with Lillian on long horseback rides...
0:27:47 > 0:27:49..learned to play polo
0:27:49 > 0:27:50and joined a league.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Walt comes back from his nervous breakdown,
0:27:54 > 0:27:56and he does change his lifestyle.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59But does Walt Disney withdraw?
0:27:59 > 0:28:01Does he delegate?
0:28:01 > 0:28:03Does he do the things that one might have expected him to do?
0:28:03 > 0:28:04No, he does not.
0:28:12 > 0:28:18SINISTER MUSIC PLAYS
0:28:20 > 0:28:22OWL HOOTS
0:28:22 > 0:28:24Disney had never shied away
0:28:24 > 0:28:26from spending money on his vision,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29even when the studio was cash-poor.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34He had already used up his earliest Mickey profits
0:28:34 > 0:28:37in the creation of a new series of cartoon shorts,
0:28:37 > 0:28:39called "Silly Symphonies".
0:28:39 > 0:28:42It marked a turning point.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46Walt aspired to make not just cartoons, but art.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49DOG HOWLS
0:28:51 > 0:28:53CAT HISSES
0:28:55 > 0:29:00The Silly Symphonies were much more about animation as art.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08So The Skeleton Dance and others like them
0:29:08 > 0:29:10were understood as these wonderful,
0:29:10 > 0:29:11almost avant-garde films
0:29:11 > 0:29:15that merged music and dance,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18and made characters out of nature,
0:29:18 > 0:29:21and also other kinds of inanimate things
0:29:21 > 0:29:24in ways that people hadn't really seen before.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27HARP PLAYS
0:29:39 > 0:29:42Silly Symphonies raised Walt
0:29:42 > 0:29:43to near-mythical status
0:29:43 > 0:29:46among cartoonists and animators.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49Artists from all over the country
0:29:49 > 0:29:51packed their bags and headed for California
0:29:51 > 0:29:55just for the chance to work with the great Walt Disney.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00The Hyperion staff grew to nearly 200.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10Men ruled the studio,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13as they did all studios in the 1930s.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15The women who came to work at Disney
0:30:15 > 0:30:18were relegated to the low-wage ink and paint department...
0:30:20 > 0:30:22..but, in the middle of the Great Depression,
0:30:22 > 0:30:25few complained about a steady job with steady pay.
0:30:26 > 0:30:28It becomes, like, the studio to work at
0:30:28 > 0:30:31and all of those animators just thrive,
0:30:31 > 0:30:33because Disney sets it up
0:30:33 > 0:30:34as a legitimate profession.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37"Here, step in, I will recognise your talent.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39"I will pay you well."
0:30:39 > 0:30:41It was like a renaissance to us, you know.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45It was the flowering of the animation industry.
0:30:45 > 0:30:46It had never been done before.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48It's fine art, you know.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50Not just dumb cartoons.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52BIRDS TWEET
0:30:56 > 0:31:00Disney's new series was the test ground for innovation,
0:31:00 > 0:31:02with firsts in sound technique,
0:31:02 > 0:31:04colour and multiplane camera technology
0:31:04 > 0:31:07which produced a three-dimensional depth
0:31:07 > 0:31:09never seen before in animation.
0:31:09 > 0:31:10PIGEONS COO
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Walt intended the studio
0:31:17 > 0:31:18to be the place
0:31:18 > 0:31:22where you created great art.
0:31:22 > 0:31:29SINISTER MUSIC BLARES
0:31:29 > 0:31:32That was so instrumental
0:31:32 > 0:31:35to Walt's understanding of the studio...
0:31:37 > 0:31:39..and that became,
0:31:39 > 0:31:41in many ways,
0:31:41 > 0:31:43the most powerful element
0:31:43 > 0:31:46in how he dealt with his workers.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57THUNDER CRASHES
0:31:57 > 0:31:59They wanted to produce great things.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02He MADE them want to produce great things.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08HORN TOOTS
0:32:08 > 0:32:09He was very jovial.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11He was very informal.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17He's the one who first insisted
0:32:17 > 0:32:20on only being referred to by his first name.
0:32:20 > 0:32:21Boss?
0:32:21 > 0:32:23He wasn't boss.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25He was a friend.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27And everybody called him Walt.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29If they didn't call him Walt,
0:32:29 > 0:32:31that was the end of that one.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35We used to play volleyball at noon
0:32:35 > 0:32:38over there, across the street in the annexe.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42And Walt used to come over there and watch us, you know.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45He used to say, "Don't play too rough."
0:32:45 > 0:32:47He wanted us to be careful not to hurt our hands -
0:32:47 > 0:32:49our drawing hand, particularly.
0:32:49 > 0:32:51And we loved to win, because then he'd applaud!
0:32:53 > 0:32:54But he was the big daddy there,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57he didn't miss anything, you know.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00Disney offered drawing classes at the studio,
0:33:00 > 0:33:02and brought in professors
0:33:02 > 0:33:05from the art institute to teach them.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07He invited experts
0:33:07 > 0:33:08to lecture on impressionism,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11expressionism, cubism,
0:33:11 > 0:33:13the Mexican muralists.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17He was always very much about not only hiring the artists,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20but providing a safe place for them to do their job.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22And by "safe", I mean a place to make mistakes,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25and a place to fail, and a place to take criticism
0:33:25 > 0:33:27without the fear of being fired,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29and a place to be able to learn.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33INDISTINCT
0:33:38 > 0:33:40CHEERING
0:33:40 > 0:33:42He wanted a family, a community, a place.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47I can actually create...
0:33:47 > 0:33:49a little world -
0:33:49 > 0:33:52bordered, mine.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54Just what I need it to be.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56Inhabited by all these people,
0:33:56 > 0:33:58a community.
0:33:58 > 0:33:59Marked "Disney".
0:34:02 > 0:34:05Walt Disney, not yet 35,
0:34:05 > 0:34:08appeared to be on top of the world.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11His studio was a Technicolor rainbow
0:34:11 > 0:34:14in the middle of the pale, grey, Depression-era America.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20His home life was thriving, too.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24Lillian had given birth to a daughter, Diane,
0:34:24 > 0:34:28and the Disneys would soon adopt a second daughter, Sharon.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32But Disney wasn't satisfied.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35He needed a new adventure, he would say.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39"A kick in the pants to jar loose some inspiration and enthusiasm."
0:34:47 > 0:34:50One evening, in 1934,
0:34:50 > 0:34:53Walt sent his entire staff out for an early dinner,
0:34:53 > 0:34:57but told them to hurry back to the Hyperion sound stage
0:34:57 > 0:35:00for an important company meeting.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03The room was buzzing by the time Walt took the stage.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09Disney is lit on the sound stage...
0:35:10 > 0:35:13..and he then proceeds to act out -
0:35:13 > 0:35:16alone, just him - a one-man show,
0:35:16 > 0:35:20the story of Snow White.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24What he did was to go through the whole movie, as he saw it,
0:35:24 > 0:35:26acting out all of the parts,
0:35:26 > 0:35:28impersonating all of the characters.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Going through all the emotions, all the ups and downs.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33The Queen, the Princess,
0:35:33 > 0:35:35the seven dwarves.
0:35:35 > 0:35:36Even the animals.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42What Disney was proposing had never been done.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44Never even been tried.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48A feature-length story-driven cartoon.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Snow White would have to captivate its audience
0:35:54 > 0:35:57in a way no cartoon ever had before.
0:36:03 > 0:36:04In the shorter cartoons
0:36:04 > 0:36:06you can make people laugh,
0:36:06 > 0:36:09and the gag is the basic component of these things.
0:36:09 > 0:36:10He'd get people to laugh.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15But Walt Disney, now, is asking another question.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18"Can you make people cry?"
0:36:18 > 0:36:20"Can you make people cry over a drawing?"
0:36:23 > 0:36:25One key, Disney believed,
0:36:25 > 0:36:28was to infuse his animated film with a natural realism.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34He brought live animals into the studio
0:36:34 > 0:36:37so his artists could study their movements.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40He had his animators throw heavy objects
0:36:40 > 0:36:44through plate glass windows just to analyse the shattering effects.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51Disney hired a teenage dancer
0:36:51 > 0:36:54to act the part of Snow White
0:36:54 > 0:36:58so his animators could study how she looked when she leaned over,
0:36:58 > 0:37:01or laughed, or smiled.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04So they could see the movement of her dress as she danced.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12They would bring in actors,
0:37:12 > 0:37:16and they would have them impersonate these characters
0:37:16 > 0:37:17in front of the animators
0:37:17 > 0:37:21who would try to capture certain qualities of their movements.
0:37:23 > 0:37:24They would even film them
0:37:24 > 0:37:28to try to get a sense of personality of movement, of realism.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37What he was after was something different.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42Making thought and emotion visible
0:37:42 > 0:37:43in a way that seems natural,
0:37:43 > 0:37:45and not artificial.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55Disney really kind of took the art of animation
0:37:55 > 0:37:58and pushed it towards the animator as an actor
0:37:58 > 0:38:00and about performance.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03He wanted his animators to take acting classes,
0:38:03 > 0:38:05studying their facial muscles,
0:38:05 > 0:38:07how you say certain words.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09How is your lips shaped
0:38:09 > 0:38:13when you say "vee", or "oh", or "ooh"?
0:38:13 > 0:38:15How does it affect your eyes?
0:38:18 > 0:38:20Walt's stubborn insistence
0:38:20 > 0:38:22on getting the story right,
0:38:22 > 0:38:24on innovation,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26and on attention to detail
0:38:26 > 0:38:31meant the pace of production at Hyperion was glacial.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34To draw each of these characters,
0:38:34 > 0:38:36to draw these backgrounds,
0:38:36 > 0:38:40to do it in a way that transcends anything that had been done before
0:38:40 > 0:38:43is...excruciating.
0:38:43 > 0:38:44It's painful.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46It's tormenting.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55We were the crew that did most of the Snow White drawings
0:38:55 > 0:38:58and we'd sometimes take a whole day for a close-up of Snow White,
0:38:58 > 0:39:01that's how intricate the drawing was.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03It was so precise.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05It was like making watches, you know?
0:39:05 > 0:39:07It was just such fine detail, you know?
0:39:07 > 0:39:10One little line would throw the whole thing off.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13The production process did not change.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17Key animators would draw the main characters in Snow White.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24In-betweeners would draw the movements between the key frames.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30The ink-and-paint artists
0:39:30 > 0:39:32would add colour to the drawings
0:39:32 > 0:39:34and transfer them to the transparent sheets,
0:39:34 > 0:39:36or cells, to go to camera.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40At 24 frames per second,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43and often multiple cells per frame,
0:39:43 > 0:39:44Snow White would require
0:39:44 > 0:39:47more than 200,000 separate drawings.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52Making the film required an army of people
0:39:52 > 0:39:56and I'm not sure that's Disney thought of all of them as "talent".
0:39:56 > 0:39:59There are real workers here who are doing the grot work.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01Supper!
0:40:01 > 0:40:05THEY SHOUT OVER ONE ANOTHER
0:40:06 > 0:40:11As the production dragged into its second, and then its third year,
0:40:11 > 0:40:14Walt's demands began to look dangerous.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16He repeatedly pushed deadlines
0:40:16 > 0:40:19and, by the start of 1937,
0:40:19 > 0:40:22with the premiere set for that December,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25the studio was behind. Way behind.
0:40:28 > 0:40:30Ten months to the premiere date,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33and not a single animation cell had been shot on film.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37With little regard for the consequences,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41Walt insisted that Snow White could not be rushed,
0:40:41 > 0:40:43and could not be done on the cheap.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Walt kept upping the ante...
0:40:51 > 0:40:55which meant Roy had to raise Walt's original budget number
0:40:55 > 0:40:57six times over.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06The trade papers were beginning to write stories about the delays.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09People were calling Snow White "Disney's folly".
0:41:16 > 0:41:18I was working a 12-hour day,
0:41:18 > 0:41:22where you'd come in at eight and go home at eight
0:41:22 > 0:41:26and we really were cleaning cells, and patching cells,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29fixing mistakes and things like that.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31And there were a lot.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33And the Queen was...
0:41:33 > 0:41:36She had the kind of paint
0:41:36 > 0:41:38that was kind of sticky.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42And so those things would come back from camera
0:41:42 > 0:41:45and we'd have to clean them up
0:41:45 > 0:41:48and patch them, and send them back to camera.
0:41:50 > 0:41:52I worked my tail off.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56I was put in charge of the clean-up and in-betweens.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59That's where it was lagging.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01We went in at seven instead of at eight.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05And we went to dinner,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08and we came back, and usually worked till almost ten.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15The ink-and-paint girls, you know,
0:42:15 > 0:42:16some of them were losing their eyesight.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18It was hell of a thing.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20They were just slaves that were doing it,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22but they believed in this thing so much
0:42:22 > 0:42:24they're willing to drop dead on the job.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27The animators finished in early November,
0:42:27 > 0:42:33but the last cells weren't painted until November 27th.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35Rumours were flying around Hollywood
0:42:35 > 0:42:37that there would be no print of the film ready
0:42:37 > 0:42:39for the December 21st premiere.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43But he would confound them all.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51Blase Hollywood, accustomed to gala openings,
0:42:51 > 0:42:54turns out for the most spectacular of them all.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57The world premiere of the 1.5 million fairy-tale fantasy
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Replicas from the feature cartoon
0:43:03 > 0:43:06thrilled thousands who turned out for a glimpse
0:43:06 > 0:43:08of lovely Marlene Dietrich, with Doug Fairbanks Jr,
0:43:08 > 0:43:10and a parade of stars.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13Shirley Temple is just as enthralled
0:43:13 > 0:43:16as are the grown-up stars and moviegoers
0:43:16 > 0:43:19with the seven fantastic dwarves.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21Walt was in a state of high anxiety.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25He had no idea how the audience was going to respond.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29He didn't know if it would really work,
0:43:29 > 0:43:33and one part of him was almost agonising over,
0:43:33 > 0:43:37"Well, if people don't buy this, this will just fall flat
0:43:37 > 0:43:38"and then I will be done."
0:43:49 > 0:43:51Audience members gasped
0:43:51 > 0:43:53at the opening shots of the Queen's Castle.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Slave in the magic mirror,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08come from the farthest space.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12Through wind and darkness, I summon thee.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14Speak!
0:44:16 > 0:44:21They howled with laughter at the dwarves' antics.
0:44:21 > 0:44:23THEY SNIFF IN SYNC
0:44:23 > 0:44:25THEY SIGH
0:44:25 > 0:44:27Soup!
0:44:27 > 0:44:29Hooray!
0:44:30 > 0:44:34THEY SHOUT OVER ONE ANOTHER
0:44:40 > 0:44:44THEY SHOUT OVER ONE ANOTHER
0:44:44 > 0:44:46Ah-ah-ah! Just a minute!
0:44:48 > 0:44:51The heart of a pig!
0:44:51 > 0:44:52And I've been tricked.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59They hissed disapproval at the Evil Queen...
0:45:01 > 0:45:04..and still, Walt was anxious.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07Can't let the wish grow cold.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12Oh, I feel strange.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17He sat gripping Lillian's hand for nearly 75 minutes,
0:45:17 > 0:45:19nervously anticipating the scene
0:45:19 > 0:45:22that would put the power of his personal vision
0:45:22 > 0:45:24to the ultimate test.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31SHE CACKLES
0:45:31 > 0:45:33THUNDER CRACKS
0:45:33 > 0:45:36The fairest in the land!
0:45:43 > 0:45:44When it arrived,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47the apparent death of Snow White,
0:45:47 > 0:45:49the theatre was hushed.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05HE SOBS
0:46:05 > 0:46:07The audience started weeping...
0:46:08 > 0:46:10..and that's when Walt knew.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12That's when they all knew.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16The audience had suspended its disbelief
0:46:16 > 0:46:18so thoroughly,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22so believed in the reality
0:46:22 > 0:46:25of the situation and of the dwarves
0:46:25 > 0:46:27that they were crying.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33That was really the triumph of the film.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50When the curtain came down,
0:46:50 > 0:46:52the audience rose from their seats
0:46:52 > 0:46:55and broke into a thunderous ovation.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05"I could not help but feel,"
0:47:05 > 0:47:07one rival movie producer gushed,
0:47:07 > 0:47:11"that I was in the midst of motion picture history."
0:47:30 > 0:47:31Now a celebrity
0:47:31 > 0:47:33from London to New York,
0:47:33 > 0:47:35Disney had finally achieved
0:47:35 > 0:47:37everything he had dreamt of.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41But at home, he was still just plain Dad.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47Walt made a point to drive his two young daughters to school every day.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51Chased them around the house
0:47:51 > 0:47:52cackling like the Wicked Witch...
0:47:54 > 0:47:56..and read them bedtime stories.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01There's no question, he adored them.
0:48:01 > 0:48:02Absolutely adored them.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07He was a man who had a lively sense of play
0:48:07 > 0:48:09that he never lost from the time he was a child.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13He was very domestic.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15Very nurturing in a way that,
0:48:15 > 0:48:17usually, in that day and age,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20was associated more with Mother's role.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25Lillian was a bit of... Aloof,
0:48:25 > 0:48:27a bit reserved, a bit cool -
0:48:27 > 0:48:29even with her children -
0:48:29 > 0:48:31and Walt was just the opposite,
0:48:31 > 0:48:33he was overflowing with enthusiasm.
0:48:36 > 0:48:37I think, in a way,
0:48:37 > 0:48:42he was reacting against his own childhood.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45Disney often said, "I want to spoil my children terribly,
0:48:45 > 0:48:46"I just want to spoil them."
0:48:49 > 0:48:53Walt Disney had been a player in the movie business
0:48:53 > 0:48:55for more than 15 years
0:48:55 > 0:48:56and a celebrity for nearly ten...
0:48:58 > 0:49:01..but the acclaimed film-maker
0:49:01 > 0:49:02still did not think of himself
0:49:02 > 0:49:05as a Hollywood insider.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07He complained that other major film producers
0:49:07 > 0:49:10refused to acknowledge animation
0:49:10 > 0:49:11as serious cinema,
0:49:11 > 0:49:13and he wasn't wrong.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
0:49:17 > 0:49:19announced the ten nominees
0:49:19 > 0:49:22for the best picture of 1938,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was not on the list.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29Instead, Disney was given a special Oscar
0:49:29 > 0:49:33for his pioneering work in feature-length cartoons.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35I hear the boys and girls
0:49:35 > 0:49:37in the whole world are going to be very happy
0:49:37 > 0:49:40when they find out the daddy of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
0:49:40 > 0:49:42Mickey Mouse, Ferdinand and all the others,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45is going to get this beautiful statue.
0:49:47 > 0:49:48Isn't it bright and shiny?
0:49:48 > 0:49:50Oh, it's beautiful.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52Aren't you proud of it, Mr Disney?
0:49:52 > 0:49:54I'm so proud, I think I'll bust.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03Stung by Hollywood's consolation prize,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06Walt determined to push the bar even higher
0:50:06 > 0:50:08and create what he hoped
0:50:08 > 0:50:11would be genuine works of art.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14Walt Disney once exploded during a story session.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18He pounded the table and he said, "We're not making cartoons here!"
0:50:18 > 0:50:20"We're not making cartoons."
0:50:22 > 0:50:26Walt Disney had made this separation
0:50:26 > 0:50:28between Mickey Mouse
0:50:28 > 0:50:31and some of the early Silly Symphonies.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35"They're cartoons, but now we're not making cartoons.
0:50:35 > 0:50:37"we're making art."
0:50:37 > 0:50:40His animators were already in the early stages
0:50:40 > 0:50:42of creating two new characters,
0:50:42 > 0:50:44a boy puppet and a young deer...
0:50:48 > 0:50:51..but Walt was far more interested
0:50:51 > 0:50:53in an enticing new experiment
0:50:53 > 0:50:55going on right down the hall.
0:51:00 > 0:51:02STRING MUSIC PLAYS
0:51:02 > 0:51:06CYMBALS CLASH
0:51:11 > 0:51:13The project had begun as a cartoon short
0:51:13 > 0:51:17based on a symphony entitled The Sorcerer's Apprentice
0:51:17 > 0:51:19starring Mickey Mouse,
0:51:19 > 0:51:21with the backing of an orchestra,
0:51:21 > 0:51:23conducted by the celebrated
0:51:23 > 0:51:24Leopold Stokowski.
0:51:25 > 0:51:33CLASSICAL MUSIC CONTINUES
0:51:37 > 0:51:40This was the opportunity Walt was looking for.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43He decided to expand it
0:51:43 > 0:51:48into a feature-length film, Fantasia.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52He and Stokowski selected eight separate classical symphonies,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55and Walt and his team began thinking about imagery to match.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01The Disney studio was crawling with musicians,
0:52:01 > 0:52:04dancers, even famous scientists -
0:52:04 > 0:52:07like the astronomer Edwin Hubble -
0:52:07 > 0:52:09and composers, like Igor Stravinsky.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13So, these experts are coming and going
0:52:13 > 0:52:16and there's a ballet company in the next room dancing
0:52:16 > 0:52:19and here's Hubble talking about theories of deep space,
0:52:19 > 0:52:20and where the cosmos came from.
0:52:20 > 0:52:22There's a dinosaur expert
0:52:22 > 0:52:26and it is this cultural kind of petri dish
0:52:26 > 0:52:28of people together working and collaborating,
0:52:28 > 0:52:30creating Fantasia, and he loves it.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38He's dealt with realism and realistic emotions,
0:52:38 > 0:52:43but now he's trying to get to emotion in a different way.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45Circumventing realism
0:52:45 > 0:52:48to try to see if you can reach emotion
0:52:48 > 0:52:51directly through abstraction.
0:52:51 > 0:52:56He's saying, "I want to try what heroes of art do.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00"I want the great artists of the time to join in here.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04"I want to create art that lasts centuries."
0:53:04 > 0:53:06# Like a bolt
0:53:06 > 0:53:09# Out of the blue
0:53:10 > 0:53:12# Fate steps in
0:53:12 > 0:53:16# And sees you through... #
0:53:16 > 0:53:19By the time the studio was ready to launch Pinocchio,
0:53:19 > 0:53:23in New York City, in February of 1940,
0:53:23 > 0:53:25Walt's push for new heights
0:53:25 > 0:53:26of creativity was paying off.
0:53:26 > 0:53:33# ..your dreams come true. #
0:53:33 > 0:53:36# Take the straight and narrow path
0:53:36 > 0:53:38# And if you start to slide
0:53:38 > 0:53:40# Give a little whistle! Yoo-hoo! #
0:53:40 > 0:53:42His animators were developing new techniques
0:53:42 > 0:53:46that, once again, broke through the boundaries of what was possible.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49# And always let your conscience be your guide! #
0:53:49 > 0:53:52OBJECTS CLATTER
0:53:58 > 0:54:01Little puppet made of pine, wake.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05The gift of life is thine.
0:54:09 > 0:54:10Father...
0:54:10 > 0:54:13For the first time in the field of animation,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16Disney proclaimed, audiences will see, in Pinocchio,
0:54:16 > 0:54:21underwater effects that look like super special marine photography.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25Can you tell me where we can find Monstro?
0:54:25 > 0:54:28Gee, they're scared.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32You really have to stop yourself and say, "This was all blank paper.
0:54:32 > 0:54:36"This all began as blank paper, it doesn't exist."
0:54:36 > 0:54:39We believe its water and we believe those characters are real
0:54:39 > 0:54:42and that's the summit of the animators' art.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45That's the pinnacle of what we call personality animation,
0:54:45 > 0:54:49which is creating a completely artificial world that we accept.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51Father...
0:54:54 > 0:54:56Mmm.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00Pinocchio has richness and dimensions
0:55:00 > 0:55:03that other animated cartoons don't have.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07I mean, he's swallowed by a whale, for Christ's sake.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24He is in peril throughout the movie.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29Hey, whopper mouth, open up.
0:55:29 > 0:55:30I've got to get in there!
0:55:30 > 0:55:32And, at the same time,
0:55:32 > 0:55:34there's Jiminy Cricket...
0:55:34 > 0:55:37you know, who is delightful and charming,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40and takes some of the sting off this really...
0:55:40 > 0:55:41That's a pretty dark movie.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44WAILING
0:55:47 > 0:55:50MULE BRAYS
0:55:52 > 0:55:54OBJECTS SMASH AND CLATTER
0:56:02 > 0:56:04Oh, what's happened?
0:56:04 > 0:56:05I hope I'm not too late.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09What'll I do?
0:56:09 > 0:56:12Pinocchio is just a wooden boy
0:56:12 > 0:56:14who is trying to be human.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16One would think that that means he can make mistakes.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20That he would be allowed to have the faults of being a boy.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24'Prove yourself brave,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27'truthful and unselfish
0:56:27 > 0:56:31'and someday you will be a real boy.'
0:56:31 > 0:56:33That's what the goal is.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36I want to feel my life most fully.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41And then, once I feel my life,
0:56:41 > 0:56:46I will have a chance to feel the big truths.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49The things that give us sustenance.
0:56:49 > 0:56:51I'm alive, see?
0:56:52 > 0:56:53And I'm...
0:56:55 > 0:56:56I'm...
0:56:56 > 0:56:58I'm real.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00I'm a real boy!
0:57:00 > 0:57:02You're alive!
0:57:02 > 0:57:04And you are a real boy!
0:57:04 > 0:57:08- Yay! Whoopee! - A real, live boy!
0:57:08 > 0:57:11This calls for a celebration!
0:57:11 > 0:57:13Audiences across the country
0:57:13 > 0:57:16walked away from Pinocchio emotionally drained
0:57:16 > 0:57:19and enormously satisfied.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21The critics raved.
0:57:21 > 0:57:23"Walt Disney has created something
0:57:23 > 0:57:25"that will be counted in our favour,
0:57:25 > 0:57:27"in all our favour,
0:57:27 > 0:57:28"when this generation
0:57:28 > 0:57:31"is being appraised by the generations of the future,"
0:57:31 > 0:57:34the New York Times movie critic wrote.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36Well, this is practically where I came in.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42"For it will be said that no generation
0:57:42 > 0:57:45"which produced a Snow White and a Pinocchio
0:57:45 > 0:57:47"could have been altogether bad."
0:57:47 > 0:57:52# Dreams come true... #