0:00:02 > 0:00:05Bambi, quick, the thicket!
0:00:08 > 0:00:10GUNFIRE
0:00:10 > 0:00:11Faster!
0:00:11 > 0:00:16'Every time Walt walked down a hallway, he would give a loud cough.'
0:00:16 > 0:00:17Keep running!
0:00:17 > 0:00:20It was a warning sign so we would know that the boss was in the area.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22GUNSHOT
0:00:22 > 0:00:26'In Bambi, there's a line, "When man is in the forest,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29'"there was danger, you have to be worried."
0:00:29 > 0:00:32'We'd hear Walt coughing, coming down the hall.'
0:00:32 > 0:00:34One of the guys would say, "Man is in the forest."
0:00:34 > 0:00:36And you'd all get ready for Walt.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41Oh, he'd walk through the door and, you know, pins would drop.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44You couldn't hear anything.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47His personal power walked right with him.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49There was no joking around.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51He would sit down, he'd say, "OK, guys, what you got?"
0:00:51 > 0:00:54And I would say, "I've got a great idea," and Walt would say,
0:00:54 > 0:00:56"We'll tell you if you have a great idea.
0:00:56 > 0:00:57"You have an idea."
0:00:57 > 0:00:58Supper!
0:00:58 > 0:01:00SHE BANGS POT
0:01:00 > 0:01:03From the earliest days, Disney had pushed the boundaries of what
0:01:03 > 0:01:06was possible in feature length animation.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10Snow White invented the genre,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14telling a complete story for the first time.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16- ALL:- Soup! Hurray!
0:01:18 > 0:01:20THEY CHATTER
0:01:22 > 0:01:24Hello!
0:01:24 > 0:01:27Pinocchio's ground-breaking underwater effects took
0:01:27 > 0:01:29animation to a new level.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Can you tell me where we can find Monstro?
0:01:33 > 0:01:35Gee.
0:01:35 > 0:01:36They're scared.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Bambi went beyond the cartoon and into the realms of the
0:01:47 > 0:01:50realistic portrayal of nature.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52In all its beauty and peril.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07By the time he was 40, Walt Disney had established himself as
0:02:07 > 0:02:10a household name in families across the world.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14His studios were a hive of creativity.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20But in mainstream Hollywood, Walt had still not achieved the
0:02:20 > 0:02:23recognition he believed he deserved.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Even as his studio was starting work on Bambi,
0:02:28 > 0:02:30he was determined to change all that.
0:02:31 > 0:02:32Whatever it took.
0:02:41 > 0:02:47MUSIC: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach
0:02:53 > 0:02:56In 1940, Disney tried something new.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59Fantasia is pure abstraction.
0:02:59 > 0:03:05No characters, no nothing that is recognisable in the natural world.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Which gets the movie off in a very interesting vein.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32MUSIC: The Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky
0:03:34 > 0:03:37'Fantasia is wildly ambitious.'
0:03:43 > 0:03:47You can feel it in every scene, but it's very uneven.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57'When the movie worked, it's spectacular.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02'When it didn't work, it's sort of dumb.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09'The critical reaction was
0:04:09 > 0:04:10'extremely divided.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'Some people thought Disney had
0:04:12 > 0:04:14'pulled off this alliance of
0:04:14 > 0:04:19'visual art and music, and created something new and compelling.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26'Other critics thought that it was a disaster,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29'and they slammed the movie very, very hard
0:04:29 > 0:04:34'for dragging classical music traditions down into the dusts.'
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Walt Disney made his reputation in the intellectual community as
0:04:41 > 0:04:43being unpretentious.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48And when he makes Fantasia, guess what.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50He's pretentious.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53He didn't handle criticism very well, ever.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58And the criticism over Fantasia I think really rankled.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05'And what it did was to encourage a kind of anti-intellectualism
0:05:05 > 0:05:09'that was always there with Disney, but I think increasingly
0:05:09 > 0:05:12'he drifts in the direction of, "These are eggheads,
0:05:12 > 0:05:17'"they don't know anything about ordinary people," and, "to hell with them."'
0:05:25 > 0:05:31For 12 years Walt Disney had stood atop of the animated feature industry,
0:05:31 > 0:05:35but his expedition into cartoons as an art form was a disaster.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41His trademark insistence on creative ambition above all else had
0:05:41 > 0:05:45once again brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50And his decision to move the entire organisation into expensive
0:05:50 > 0:05:54new studios in Burbank was threatening the very
0:05:54 > 0:05:56creativity on which his company thrived.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02There was something unmistakably soul-destroying at the heart
0:06:02 > 0:06:05of Walt's new workplace utopia.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09People were segregated by task as at an industrial plant.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Company hierarchy was more rigid,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16more obvious and more carefully policed by Disney administrators.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22When animator Don Lusk started doing friends a favour,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25by picking up the slack on lower-level jobs like
0:06:25 > 0:06:30clean-up and in-between, somebody above took note.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34I came into the room on a Monday morning,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38and all that was in there was a desk.
0:06:38 > 0:06:39The rug was gone.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43The cold closet was gone.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46My easy foldout chair was gone.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Everything was gone excepting...
0:06:49 > 0:06:51my desk and a chair.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55I called up and I said, "What the hell's going on?"
0:06:55 > 0:06:58They said, well, "I'm not animating,
0:06:58 > 0:07:01"so you don't get a rug on your floor."
0:07:01 > 0:07:04The salaries were all over the place, you know, I mean, there were
0:07:04 > 0:07:09people making 200 and 300 a week and people making 12 a week.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15I think Walt Disney's attitude was, "The master animators, that's one
0:07:15 > 0:07:18'"thing, but doing in-between work?
0:07:18 > 0:07:20'"Why am I going to pay them top dollar?
0:07:20 > 0:07:22'"They're not artists."'
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Workers at the bottom of the Disney ladder were starting to grumble,
0:07:29 > 0:07:33and now Roy, Walt's brother and business partner,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36had taken the company public to finance its massive debt,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40everyone knew the boss was making five or ten times more than
0:07:40 > 0:07:43the highest paid members of his creative team.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47And more than 100 times that of the women working in ink and paint.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54Disney, who still insisted that all his employees call him Walt,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57was oblivious to the complaints at his new studio.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Disney didn't see the problem and certainly didn't want to hear about it.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08He was incensed when he learnt that the Screen Cartoonist's Guild
0:08:08 > 0:08:11was trying to organise his shop.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16He was certain he had the right to run his own company as he saw fit.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22In February of 1941, Walt decided to make his case, personally,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25to the men and women working for him.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30He gathered the staff in the only auditorium at the studio big
0:08:30 > 0:08:34enough to hold all 1,200 of his employees.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40'Some people think that we have class distinction in this place.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43'They wonder why some get better seats in the theatre than others.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48'They wonder why some men get spaces in the parking lot and others don't.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54'I have always felt, and always will feel,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57'that the men who contribute the most to the organisation should,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00'out of respect alone, enjoy some privileges.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05'If you're not progressing as you should,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09'instead of grumbling and growling, do something about it.'
0:09:09 > 0:09:10MURMURING
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Much of the staff left the auditorium infuriated.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21This speech recruited more members for the Screen Cartoonist's Guild
0:09:21 > 0:09:25than a year of campaigning, reported one left-wing magazine.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33When Disney sacked his top animator, Art Babbitt,
0:09:33 > 0:09:38citing as cause, "union activities," they decided to go on strike.
0:09:38 > 0:09:39APPLAUSE
0:09:41 > 0:09:47On May 29, 1941, nearly half of his art department walked out and
0:09:47 > 0:09:49took up positions on a picket line.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52When he drove up to his studio gate,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55the picketers were already on the march.
0:09:57 > 0:10:03Walt Disney was forced to wend his way through more than 200 of his striking workers.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07'Walt Disney could deal with anything creative.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09'He could yell and scream.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13'That's where he wanted his energies to be devoted.'
0:10:15 > 0:10:19But he didn't want to be devoted to this and he couldn't understand it.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30The strike demonstrations got bigger in the first weeks,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35and louder, and so did the threat to the already shaky studio.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Disney's last two feature films had both lost money,
0:10:40 > 0:10:42and investors were fleeing.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48Walter Disney needed a box office hit soon.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51And his own workers seemed intent on derailing
0:10:51 > 0:10:55the studio's only two hopes - Dumbo and Bambi.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00"The entire situation is a catastrophe," he wrote to a friend.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06"The spirit that played such an important part
0:11:06 > 0:11:10"in the building of the cartoon medium has been destroyed.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15"I have a case of the DDs - disillusionment and discouragement."
0:11:23 > 0:11:25The next day, Disney left town
0:11:25 > 0:11:29for a ten-week working tour of South America
0:11:29 > 0:11:31and left the headaches to Roy.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39By the time Walt finally returned at the end of October,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Roy had resolved the strike.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47The workers had been granted almost everything they had asked for.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49The Disney art department was back on track.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57But to Walt, the studio would never feel like family again.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04The gal I married was a secretary in personnel.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10She was called up to Walt's office to help on the files
0:12:10 > 0:12:15and she would go through and find people that were out on strike.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20And they were moved from here to this...this file.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23Walt came in and said, "How's it going?"
0:12:25 > 0:12:28She just said, "What are we doing this for?"
0:12:29 > 0:12:36And he said, "Well, these are the people that are true to Disney.
0:12:36 > 0:12:42"These are the people who, at one time or one day, will not be here."
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Just a few months after the bruising strike,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05World War II arrived at the Disney Studios,
0:13:05 > 0:13:10much of which was commandeered as a base for anti-aircraft troops.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Walt kept up a happy front, especially for his two daughters.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19But things were not great on the Disney lot.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22By the summer of 1942,
0:13:22 > 0:13:26funding for feature film production had dried up.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30The company was limping along on revenue generated
0:13:30 > 0:13:33by government contracts for propaganda and training films.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45SIGHS
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Winter sure is long, isn't it?
0:13:48 > 0:13:50It seems long.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54But it won't last for ever.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58Walt was counting on a big box office hit
0:13:58 > 0:14:01to revive his faltering studio,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04and he believed Bambi could fill that bill.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07He had nurtured the film for nearly five years,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11kept the project alive through the worst of the strike.
0:14:11 > 0:14:12Bambi?
0:14:12 > 0:14:14Bambi, come here.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Look.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20New spring grass.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27When it was finally released in August of 1942,
0:14:27 > 0:14:31Bambi stood out as the most ambitious feature-length film
0:14:31 > 0:14:33in the history of the studio.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37The first time a cartoon had attempted
0:14:37 > 0:14:39to portray the world as it really is.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Bambi, quick, the thicket!
0:14:50 > 0:14:52GUNSHOT
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Faster! Faster, Bambi!
0:14:56 > 0:14:57Don't look back.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Keep running.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Keep running!
0:15:04 > 0:15:06GUNSHOT
0:15:13 > 0:15:15We made it!
0:15:15 > 0:15:17We made it, Mother!
0:15:18 > 0:15:19We...
0:15:20 > 0:15:22Mother!
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Mother!
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Mother, where are you?
0:15:42 > 0:15:43Mother!
0:15:48 > 0:15:49Mother!
0:15:51 > 0:15:53'Bambi is a triumph for Disney
0:15:53 > 0:15:55'in the sense that it probably
0:15:55 > 0:15:57'extends realistic animation'
0:15:57 > 0:16:00as far as it had gone up to that point.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07'But by the time the film came out,
0:16:07 > 0:16:09'it was almost as if Disney,
0:16:09 > 0:16:14'in the course of a couple of years, had become passe.'
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Bambi did not make back its costs in its initial run.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24Disney could tell his investors, as he could tell himself,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27that the war was to blame for the deficit.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31But that failure, coming so close on the heels of the strike,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34made it impossible for him to deny the obvious.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37He had invested too much
0:16:37 > 0:16:39in animated features -
0:16:39 > 0:16:41money, energy,
0:16:41 > 0:16:43effort, his own heart.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46And what did he have to show for it?
0:16:46 > 0:16:49A crippled company filled with people who had turned on him,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51a mountain of debt,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54scorchings from the political press,
0:16:54 > 0:16:56the art world, film critics.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58'One of the things that was lost
0:16:58 > 0:17:01'was the great period of Disney experimentation.'
0:17:01 > 0:17:03The first five Disney features
0:17:03 > 0:17:05is known in the business as the Big Five.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07# Hi-ho, hi-ho... #
0:17:07 > 0:17:10'The Big Five was Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12'Bambi and Dumbo.'
0:17:12 > 0:17:14# Hi-ho, hi-ho... #
0:17:15 > 0:17:18'Now, if you look at those films individually,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20'they don't look anything like one another.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30'When you talk about the Disney style,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32'there was no Disney style back then.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38'Pinocchio looks nothing like Bambi.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42'Bambi looks nothing like Dumbo.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51'The paradise that Disney had at Hyperion
0:17:51 > 0:17:56'and into the early days of the Burbank studio is gone.'
0:18:02 > 0:18:06Disney decided to break away from the European fairy-tale
0:18:06 > 0:18:09as the foundation of his narratives.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Instead, he turned to a piece of American folklore,
0:18:13 > 0:18:15the Uncle Remus stories.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19He also went back to the techniques that had got him started
0:18:19 > 0:18:22in the business 20 years earlier -
0:18:22 > 0:18:25mixing live action sequences with animation.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Disney took a cost-conscious approach on Song Of The South,
0:18:31 > 0:18:33and for good reason.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36His bankers were no longer willing to risk their money
0:18:36 > 0:18:40on the Disney Studio's full-length animated features,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42even after the war was over.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47Many of the first generation of Disney animators had left Burbank.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53By Walt's reckoning, the studio now had only one reliable
0:18:53 > 0:18:57and undiminished asset from its prewar glory days -
0:18:57 > 0:19:02his own instincts about what story to choose and how to tell it.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07Disney had been thinking about
0:19:07 > 0:19:10the Joel Chandler Harris stories for years.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14He had optioned them during his 1939 spending spree,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16following Snow White.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21The Uncle Remus stories were uncomplicated.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23The politics were not.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28Harris had set the action on a plantation in the Deep South
0:19:28 > 0:19:29just after the Civil War,
0:19:29 > 0:19:33which meant Disney's adaptation would have to negotiate
0:19:33 > 0:19:36the questions of slavery and race in America.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Walt Disney has never been, up until this point,
0:19:40 > 0:19:42really concerned about social issues.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45And to present the black body in the South
0:19:45 > 0:19:48the way he wanted to, through a folk tale
0:19:48 > 0:19:51which was going to rely very heavily on stereotype,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54he was going to need to vet that from some source.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Disney solicited opinions from
0:19:57 > 0:20:00well-known African-American intellectuals.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02One scholar told Disney
0:20:02 > 0:20:06he could do wonders in transforming public opinion,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09but only if he avoided the most hurtful stereotypes,
0:20:09 > 0:20:11like scenes of former slaves
0:20:11 > 0:20:15belting out happy songs on Southern plantations.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Disney didn't like what he was hearing,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22so he decided to trust his own instincts.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26As usual, when Disney got advice, he often didn't pay much attention
0:20:26 > 0:20:30to it, he just sort of went ahead with how he envisioned things.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Disney chose to celebrate opening night of Song Of The South
0:20:37 > 0:20:39in Atlanta, Georgia.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45The actors who played the major white roles were all there.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51But not James Baskett who played Uncle Remus.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54Georgia law barred the movie star
0:20:54 > 0:20:57from entering the segregated theatre.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02# Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
0:21:02 > 0:21:06# My, oh, my, what a wonderful day!
0:21:06 > 0:21:10# Plenty of sunshine heading my way
0:21:10 > 0:21:15# Zip-a-dee-doo-dah Zip-a-dee-ay... #
0:21:15 > 0:21:20It is as if Walt has divorced himself from social contexts.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22'It's sort of stunning.'
0:21:22 > 0:21:25# It's the same old thing Want to get a bite of something
0:21:25 > 0:21:28# For that hungry look, look up... #
0:21:28 > 0:21:30Critics were split.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33"The whole film is beautifully produced," wrote one.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36"The plantation is traditional Deep South,
0:21:36 > 0:21:41"a dream place of magnolia blossoms and darkies singing all day long.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44"Don't let the children miss it."
0:21:44 > 0:21:47# Havin' trouble with the weevil... #
0:21:49 > 0:21:51I sure is sorry, Miss Sally.
0:21:52 > 0:21:53No, it's my fault.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57I should have known you couldn't stop telling your stories.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00I don't like to say this, Uncle Remus,
0:22:00 > 0:22:04but from now on I want you to stay away from Johnny.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06Do you understand?
0:22:06 > 0:22:08Completely away.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13Others, like the usually friendly New York Times, hit Disney hard.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19"The master and slave relation is so lovingly regarded in your yarn
0:22:19 > 0:22:21"that one might almost imagine
0:22:21 > 0:22:24"that you figure Abe Lincoln made a mistake.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30"The truth was, Uncle Remus's tongue lashing
0:22:30 > 0:22:33"would have been a real lashing at the very least."
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Disney was utterly dismayed
0:22:38 > 0:22:42by the negative reaction to Song Of The South.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46He very much believed in the narratives that it was offering.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50He believed that these were American stories finally getting
0:22:50 > 0:22:55an opportunity to be on the big screen and in a feature film.
0:22:55 > 0:23:00And so Walt is sort of shocked and disheartened
0:23:00 > 0:23:02by the responses that he's getting.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Walt Disney beat a hasty retreat from the political battlefield.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13He had no stomach for an ongoing fight over ideology,
0:23:13 > 0:23:14and no interest.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18He just wanted to get back to work.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25By 1948, Disney was producing more than ever.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27But he was literally all over the map
0:23:27 > 0:23:30in search of the studio's next big thing.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35He travelled to England to launch a series of live-action films,
0:23:35 > 0:23:38starting with the pirate story, Treasure Island.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43He spent a week holed up in a hotel room in New York watching television
0:23:43 > 0:23:47to see if there was anything to be done in the new medium.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50He took his daughter Sharon on a trip to Alaska,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54scene of his first attempt at making a nature documentary - Seal Island.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02- SEAL ISLAND NARRATOR:- Yes, here they are at last, right on schedule,
0:24:02 > 0:24:06swimming and diving playfully as though glad their journey is over.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09But they don't seem in any great hurry to go ashore.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11'He has to diversify, he has no money.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14'It was really cheap to shoot, you know, the seals don't go on strike.'
0:24:14 > 0:24:18- SEAL ISLAND NARRATOR:- ..Having a final fling of single blessedness.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21Seal Island won an Academy Award
0:24:21 > 0:24:25and launched Disney's new and profitable line
0:24:25 > 0:24:27of nature documentaries -
0:24:27 > 0:24:29True Life Adventures.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33But Walt missed the excitement of feature animation,
0:24:33 > 0:24:37and by 1949 he was ready to start anew.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48He put his studio to work on a new animated feature - Cinderella.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52But once production on the new film was up and running,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Disney was uncharacteristically distant
0:24:55 > 0:24:57from his studio's signature undertaking.
0:24:59 > 0:25:00That old Snow White feeling
0:25:00 > 0:25:04of excitement and new possibilities eluded him.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09He seemed wary of fully investing himself in the film
0:25:09 > 0:25:11and left most of the hard work to his staff.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Walt Disney is at a low ebb.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23He said, "I realise that I am never going to make
0:25:23 > 0:25:25"anything as good as Snow White."
0:25:25 > 0:25:29When you think of Walt Disney as the guy who was always looking at
0:25:29 > 0:25:33the next horizon, the guy who was always trying to break a new path,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36the guy who's lived for excellence...
0:25:38 > 0:25:42..and then he can say, not only to himself, but publicly,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45"I'm never going to make anything as good as Snow White."
0:25:46 > 0:25:48You want to hear a man in crisis?
0:25:48 > 0:25:50That's a man in crisis.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58HORN BLARES
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Finally, in the autumn of 1948,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05he followed doctor's orders and took a break.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10He went on vacation to a railroad convention in Illinois.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15The break rekindled his enthusiasm for life.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17By the time they arrived in Chicago,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20a new vision was forming in his mind.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26Disney arrived home with a new obsession -
0:26:26 > 0:26:29having his own large-scale model train.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33And he ordered one built at the studio in Burbank.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39He made it his business to stop by the studio machine shop most days
0:26:39 > 0:26:41just to check in on the progress.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47He was soon spending three or four hours at a time in the shop
0:26:47 > 0:26:49and then more hours in the evening.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51And then all day on Saturday.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55The head machinist had assigned Disney
0:26:55 > 0:26:59his own bench and tool set by then and put him to work.
0:27:01 > 0:27:06Walt Disney was building these trains with his own hands.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Manual labour.
0:27:08 > 0:27:15The great Walt Disney was now devoting his energies to toy trains.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19When a film critic from the New York Times visited
0:27:19 > 0:27:22during production on Cinderella,
0:27:22 > 0:27:26he found Disney, as he wrote, "wholly, almost weirdly concerned
0:27:26 > 0:27:29"with a miniature railroad engine and his cars."
0:27:30 > 0:27:34All of his zest for invention, for creating fantasies,
0:27:34 > 0:27:36seemed to go into this plaything.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46When Walt's oft-neglected progeny Cinderella finally premiered
0:27:46 > 0:27:48at the beginning of 1950,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52critics hailed it as the long-awaited return
0:27:52 > 0:27:55of the classic Disney form and a must-see.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01Now, let's see, dear. Your size and the shade of your eyes.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Mm-hm. Something simple.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06But daring too.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Oh! Just leave it to me - what a gown this will be!
0:28:10 > 0:28:14Bibbidi-bop, bibbidi-bop! Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Oh, it's a beautiful dress!
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Roy optimistically told Walt that Cinderella would gross
0:28:23 > 0:28:265 or 6 million after those first reviews.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28It made nearly 8 million.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Why, it's like a dream!
0:28:30 > 0:28:34- A wonderful dream come true! - Yes, my child...
0:28:34 > 0:28:39Walt was happy to have the financial cushion the film provided his studio
0:28:39 > 0:28:41and happy to have the good reviews.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46But he saw all the movie's imperfections and every corner cut.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52It was no Snow White, as far as he was concerned.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56His interest remained elsewhere.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04Hey, I'm coming through.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11In early 1952, Lillian Disney could sense something big brewing.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15It was one of those moments, she would say,
0:29:15 > 0:29:19"When Walt's imagination was going to take off
0:29:19 > 0:29:22"into the wild blue yonder and everything will explode."
0:29:26 > 0:29:30Walt, Lillian noted, was liquidating long-held family assets.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34Her husband sold their Palm Springs vacation home
0:29:34 > 0:29:38and borrowed 100,000 against his life insurance policy.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43He even sold rights to his own name to Walt Disney Productions.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47Then he started an entirely new company
0:29:47 > 0:29:50for an entirely new enterprise.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00He gets a little building at the back part of the studio lot
0:30:00 > 0:30:06and he creates this organisation called WED, which were his initials.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08Walter Elias Disney.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16Walt Disney had one very specific vision in mind,
0:30:16 > 0:30:20and he had already drawn up plans for building this new project
0:30:20 > 0:30:23on a vacant lot he owned next to his studio.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27Actually, Disney had been kicking around the idea for years.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31When he had his girls and they were very young,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34he wanted to take them to places they would have fun.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37But every time he'd go to see a carnival or something else,
0:30:37 > 0:30:41the men were all filthy, dirty looking, and the place was filthy.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46And he said, "I want a place where people can take the family
0:30:46 > 0:30:48"and have a good time."
0:30:50 > 0:30:54Disney first dubbed the park "Mickey Mouse Village",
0:30:54 > 0:30:57but then hit on "Disneyland."
0:30:57 > 0:31:01By the end of 1952, the plans for Disneyland
0:31:01 > 0:31:04had outgrown the little eight-acre lot next to his studio.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09He started culling talent from the Disney production team
0:31:09 > 0:31:11and sending them to WED.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13"I want you to work on Disneyland",
0:31:13 > 0:31:16he told one slightly confused layout artist.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18"And you're going to like it."
0:31:19 > 0:31:22Roy thinks it's a nutty idea.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24An amusement park? You know...
0:31:24 > 0:31:26And an amusement park that's going to cost
0:31:26 > 0:31:28tens of millions of dollars, and...
0:31:28 > 0:31:30You know, it's not going to work.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41'Amusement parks were carnivalesque places.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46'These were places where you went to have your sensations stimulated
0:31:46 > 0:31:48'by very, very fast rides...
0:31:52 > 0:31:55'..by carnival barkers inviting you in to see
0:31:55 > 0:31:58'Tom Thumb or the giant lady.'
0:32:02 > 0:32:06These were places where you went to have the rules not apply.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15When Walt told Mrs Disney that he was going to start a park...
0:32:18 > 0:32:20'..she said, "Why would you want to do that?
0:32:20 > 0:32:22'"They're not safe,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25'"the people in them are not people you want to be around."'
0:32:28 > 0:32:31Walt said, "Mine's not going to be like that."
0:32:34 > 0:32:36Disney's newest notion was not unlike
0:32:36 > 0:32:39his very first commercially successful idea.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45Just as he had inserted the real Alice into a cartoon world,
0:32:45 > 0:32:49Walt thought he could put real people inside a new adventure.
0:32:49 > 0:32:51Live, and three-dimensional.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56Disney has this great idea for building Disneyland.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59Now, one problem - where's the money going to come from?
0:33:01 > 0:33:03So, you see this is the result of being a good boy for 30 years.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07- Santa finally came across.- Aww! - See the little throttle in there?
0:33:07 > 0:33:08See that thing there?
0:33:08 > 0:33:10And this up here, this is the...
0:33:10 > 0:33:12- WHISTLE BLOWS - ..whistle.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Disney had been looking for the best way to exploit
0:33:15 > 0:33:18the new medium of television since the late 1940s.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22He had even taken it for a test drive in 1950,
0:33:22 > 0:33:26hosting a one-off Christmas special, One Hour In Wonderland,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29to promote one of his films.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33The Disney programme drew 90% of the viewing audience,
0:33:33 > 0:33:35and gushing reviews.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39"Walt Disney can take over television any time he likes",
0:33:39 > 0:33:41the New York Times suggested.
0:33:42 > 0:33:43Bibbidi!
0:33:43 > 0:33:45Bobbidi!
0:33:45 > 0:33:47- ALL:- Boo!
0:33:48 > 0:33:51The three major networks had been asking Disney
0:33:51 > 0:33:53for more shows ever since.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56And by the summer of 1953,
0:33:56 > 0:33:58Walt was hot to make a deal.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01Roy travelled to New York to make an offer
0:34:01 > 0:34:04to each of the major television networks.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07The Disneys were willing to produce a weekly show,
0:34:07 > 0:34:09but for a price.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12The network that got the show would have to provide much
0:34:12 > 0:34:15of the 5 million the brothers needed
0:34:15 > 0:34:17for the construction of Disneyland.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21American Motors - builders of Nash automobiles,
0:34:21 > 0:34:23Kelvinator home appliances,
0:34:23 > 0:34:25and Hudson Motor Cars...
0:34:28 > 0:34:31..present Walt Disney's Disneyland.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36# When you wish upon a star
0:34:36 > 0:34:39# Makes no difference who you are... #
0:34:43 > 0:34:45Each week, as you enter this timeless land,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48one of these many worlds will open to you.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51Shooting out from here, like the four cardinal points...
0:34:51 > 0:34:54The Disneyland TV show featured a different
0:34:54 > 0:34:56hour-long offering every week,
0:34:56 > 0:34:59each show mapping on to one of the four realms
0:34:59 > 0:35:01of the theme part Walt was building.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05They are...Adventureland...
0:35:06 > 0:35:08..Tomorrowland...
0:35:10 > 0:35:12..Fantasyland...
0:35:13 > 0:35:16..and Frontierland.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18It was a Frontierland offering,
0:35:18 > 0:35:22Tall Tales And True From The Legendary Past
0:35:22 > 0:35:24that became the talk of the playground.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27Now, in our TV series from Frontierland,
0:35:27 > 0:35:31we're going to tell about these real people who became legend.
0:35:31 > 0:35:32Like Davy Crockett...
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Davy Crockett aired on three separate Wednesdays
0:35:35 > 0:35:40from December of 1954 to February of 1955.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46'Davy Crockett was homespun,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49'plain-spoken, tough,'
0:35:49 > 0:35:50enterprising.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54He was the rugged individual
0:35:54 > 0:35:56'who triumphed over everything.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00'He really embodied a nostalgic,
0:36:00 > 0:36:05'idealised view of American male values.'
0:36:06 > 0:36:09'Davy Crockett is incredibly anti-authoritarian'
0:36:09 > 0:36:13in a way no other Western hero for kids were
0:36:13 > 0:36:14at that time.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18When Davy Crockett arrives at Andrew Jackson's camp,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21'first thing he does is disobey orders.'
0:36:21 > 0:36:23Excuse me, General.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25- Well, what do you want?- Well, nothing much.
0:36:25 > 0:36:26Dropped in to say goodbye.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30Goodbye? Where do you think you're going?
0:36:30 > 0:36:33- Home.- You're going after Red Stick with the rest of my command.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35This war isn't over yet.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37I ain't quitting the war. Me and my neighbours will be back directly.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40You see, General, we only volunteered for 60 days,
0:36:40 > 0:36:42and that's long since up.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44Catching Red Stick's lot will take up the rest of the year.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47We got to see our families is took care of before we start out
0:36:47 > 0:36:49on anything like that.
0:36:49 > 0:36:50Well, Major...
0:36:50 > 0:36:53Desertion is a serious crime in the army, Crockett.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56We ain't quitting the war. I told you we was coming back.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59You're confined to this camp. That's an order.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01My missus would worry about me.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03Sorry, General.
0:37:03 > 0:37:07# Off through the woods we're a-marching along
0:37:07 > 0:37:08# Making up yarns and... #
0:37:08 > 0:37:10Hey, Ma. Pa's home. Pa.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12Pa's back. Pa's home.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17- Oh, Davy, you're back! - Hello, Pa.- Hi, Pa.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22The ratings just went through the roof. And as the serialised segments came on,
0:37:22 > 0:37:24they got bigger and bigger and bigger.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28By the time the final episode of Davy Crockett aired,
0:37:28 > 0:37:32a quarter of the entire American population was tuned in.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47Back in Disneyland, the theme park Davy Crockett was helping to fund,
0:37:47 > 0:37:49work was progressing apace.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Walt was down in Anaheim almost every day.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02He would walk every inch of the construction site, barking orders.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08"Move that gazebo, it's blocking the view of the castle."
0:38:08 > 0:38:09"Can we make that lake bigger?"
0:38:09 > 0:38:11"Move the train wreck 50ft."
0:38:11 > 0:38:14"That tree's too close to the walkway.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16"How about moving it?"
0:38:16 > 0:38:18Never mind it weighed 15 tons.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25'Walt is interested in every blade of grass.
0:38:25 > 0:38:27'He's interested in every leaf on a tree.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30'He's interested in where everything is placed.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34'There's not an attraction that Walt Disney isn't deeply involved in.'
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Disney's constant demands
0:38:41 > 0:38:44stretched the entire operation to its limits.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47As did his stubborn insistence on getting Disneyland
0:38:47 > 0:38:50up and running in a hurry.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Six weeks from his announced opening date,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56panic was starting to set in.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59The entrance plaza was not yet landscaped.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02Main Street was unpaved,
0:39:02 > 0:39:04the castle unfinished.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07The Jungle Cruise boats were moving,
0:39:07 > 0:39:10but the robotic animals had yet to be installed.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13As opening day approached,
0:39:13 > 0:39:16fewer than half of the planned attractions
0:39:16 > 0:39:18were ready to receive visitors,
0:39:18 > 0:39:22and members of the WED staff were pleading to push back the opening.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26Walt was uninterested in the naysayers.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28He just kept pushing harder.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34The construction crew tripled in the final weeks
0:39:34 > 0:39:36to 2,500 men,
0:39:36 > 0:39:40many of whom were working 16 hours a day.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43Costs climbed to more than 17 million,
0:39:43 > 0:39:46more than three times the estimate made
0:39:46 > 0:39:48when construction began.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51'So many things were finished at the last minute.'
0:39:51 > 0:39:54There was a plumbers' strike in Orange County
0:39:54 > 0:39:58which was settled about a day before Disneyland opened.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06'So Walt had the choice of finishing the bathrooms or the drinking fountains.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10'And of course he chose the bathrooms.'
0:40:14 > 0:40:16The park was abustle the day before the opening.
0:40:18 > 0:40:24ABC was setting its cameras and running rehearsals for the next day's broadcast,
0:40:24 > 0:40:29which was planned as the biggest and most ambitious live telecast ever.
0:40:29 > 0:40:34One work crew was frantically trying to dig out the 900lb mechanical elephant
0:40:34 > 0:40:37that was sinking into the jungle river.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41Another was adding lead weights to the front of the train engine
0:40:41 > 0:40:43to make sure it didn't tip backwards.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Painters were settling in for an all-nighter.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Walt himself put on a mask and helped spray-paint
0:40:51 > 0:40:55backdrops for the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea exhibit.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00He was still at Disneyland at three o'clock in the morning,
0:41:00 > 0:41:02walking the grounds barking orders.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06"We need new murals for the trains. Get me an artist."
0:41:17 > 0:41:23July 17 1955 dawned unusually hot in Anaheim, California.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29The temperature was already nearing 38 Celsius when word came
0:41:29 > 0:41:32that traffic into the park was backed up for seven miles on
0:41:32 > 0:41:34Harbor Boulevard.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41When the gates opened that afternoon, people flooded in.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44Many of them waving counterfeit tickets.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51You are now in the press room of Disneyland,
0:41:51 > 0:41:54which is equipped to service over 1,000 members of the worldwide
0:41:54 > 0:41:57press here to cover this truly great event.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00And to start the proceedings we take you to the entrance of Disneyland
0:42:00 > 0:42:03and your host, Art Linkletter.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06Well, this job in the next hour and a half's going to be a delight.
0:42:06 > 0:42:07I feel like...
0:42:07 > 0:42:11Well, I feel like Santa Claus with a 17 million bundle of gift
0:42:11 > 0:42:16packages all wrapped in whimsy and sent your way over television
0:42:16 > 0:42:19with the help of 29 cameras,
0:42:19 > 0:42:22dozens of crews and literally miles and miles of cable.
0:42:22 > 0:42:27Now, of course, this is not so much a show as it is a special event.
0:42:27 > 0:42:28Hello, Walt!
0:42:30 > 0:42:33- Hello, Governor!- Hi, Art.
0:42:33 > 0:42:34Hi!
0:42:35 > 0:42:37- How did the run go?- Oh, fine, fine.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40The Governor headed round through Frontierland and then,
0:42:40 > 0:42:42Fred there, he took her round.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44I picked her up and brought her in...
0:42:44 > 0:42:47'They have dozens of cameras all through the park,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51'and the hope is that they will go from this scene to that and
0:42:51 > 0:42:54'here to there and show all parts of the park.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58'And about half of it worked and half of it didn't.'
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Technology, of course, in the TV age in that period was very crude.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05It was live TV and there were a lot of screw-ups.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08Sure, Bob Cummings up in the pirate ship, we're back to you, boy.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12MUSIC PLAYS
0:43:12 > 0:43:14SPEECH INDISTINCT
0:43:18 > 0:43:20Oh, you're waiting for me? Oh, thank you.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24Everybody is waving at Bob Cummings over here, so I guess I'm back on.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31Ladies and gentlemen, it's Bob Cummings again back with you,
0:43:31 > 0:43:34and like the Peter Pan fly-through...
0:43:42 > 0:43:45I'd like to read these few words of dedication.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48"A vista into a world of wondrous ideas.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50"Signifying man's achievements..."
0:43:51 > 0:43:53I thought I got a signal.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56Newspaper reporters crawled all over the park that day,
0:43:56 > 0:44:00filling their notebooks with mishaps and misadventures for
0:44:00 > 0:44:02their next day's stories.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Walt didn't care. His daughter Diane said she had never seen him happier.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22Disneyland was thrown open to the public the day after the gala
0:44:22 > 0:44:25opening, and people began lining up at two o'clock that morning
0:44:25 > 0:44:28for the chance to be the first ones through the gate.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34The park drew a million visitors in its first ten weeks alone.
0:44:37 > 0:44:41Americans were enticed to this new vacation destination by
0:44:41 > 0:44:43a simple promise -
0:44:43 > 0:44:48a day's escape from the cares and concerns of everyday life.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59'What people find there is a perfection that you can't
0:44:59 > 0:45:00'find in real life.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05'It's odd to say that something's better than real,
0:45:05 > 0:45:08'because after all what's better than real?'
0:45:08 > 0:45:11But Walt Disney was the man who helped discover things that
0:45:11 > 0:45:13are better than real.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18There were a handful of early critics.
0:45:18 > 0:45:24"The whole world, the universe and all man striving for dominion over self and nature,"
0:45:24 > 0:45:29wrote a journalist, "have been reduced to a sickening blend of cheap formulas packaged to sell.
0:45:31 > 0:45:37"Life is bright-coloured, clean, safe, mediocre, inoffensive."
0:45:40 > 0:45:44Walt Disney wanted bright and clean and safe.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46He loved the place.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53By 1960 Walt Disney stood atop one of the world's most
0:45:53 > 0:45:56profitable entertainment enterprises.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59The steady stream of revenue from Disneyland meant Walt was
0:45:59 > 0:46:05free from interference from his bankers for the first time in his 40-year career.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09But by now, whether making improvements on his theme
0:46:09 > 0:46:12park or overseeing his TV shows and the half a dozen
0:46:12 > 0:46:15movies his studio was producing every year,
0:46:15 > 0:46:19he was always thinking about protecting his legacy.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24"Disney is something we've built up in the public over the years,"
0:46:24 > 0:46:26he explained to one young writer.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28"Disney stands for something."
0:46:31 > 0:46:36- ANNOUNCER:- Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse present the Mickey Mouse Club.
0:46:36 > 0:46:37# M-I-C-K-EY
0:46:37 > 0:46:39# M-O-U-S-E
0:46:39 > 0:46:41- # Mickey Mouse! - # Quack, quack, quack!
0:46:41 > 0:46:43- # Mickey Mouse! - # Quack, quack, quack!
0:46:43 > 0:46:45# Forever let us hold our banner high
0:46:45 > 0:46:47# High, high, high! #
0:46:47 > 0:46:52'He starts to internalise that sense of he's standing for something more.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54'And it's not shareholders.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57'Those are not who he feels responsible to.'
0:46:57 > 0:47:01- ALL:- Yay, Mickey! Yay, Mickey Mouse!
0:47:01 > 0:47:03'As he solidifies as a brand,'
0:47:03 > 0:47:05you don't have that risk-taking
0:47:05 > 0:47:09that you felt in the early years of his career.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12One more thing we want you always to remember...
0:47:12 > 0:47:16- ALL:- # M-I-C... #
0:47:16 > 0:47:18See you real soon.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23- ALL:- # K-E-Y... #
0:47:23 > 0:47:26Why? Because we like you.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28'It is entertainment
0:47:28 > 0:47:30'that is bounded by
0:47:30 > 0:47:32'Walt's ethics and his aesthetics,
0:47:32 > 0:47:36'and his perception of what a family audience wanted and needed.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38You're going to see the happy ending.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41You're going to see a film or a theme park, or a place to go,
0:47:41 > 0:47:42where it shows the hope
0:47:42 > 0:47:45of the human spirit excelling
0:47:45 > 0:47:46and winning at the end of the day,
0:47:46 > 0:47:48cos that's who he was.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56Disney made no apologies for his work,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59whatever his private misgivings.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01He would sometimes say,
0:48:01 > 0:48:03with more than a little revisionist history,
0:48:03 > 0:48:06that he had never thought of his movies as art,
0:48:06 > 0:48:07but as show business,
0:48:07 > 0:48:08and could point
0:48:08 > 0:48:10to his huge box office take
0:48:10 > 0:48:12as proof that he was serving
0:48:12 > 0:48:13an appreciative public.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17At the age of 61,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19he had won more Academy Awards
0:48:19 > 0:48:22than any other film producer in history,
0:48:22 > 0:48:26but it irked him that he had never won even a nomination
0:48:26 > 0:48:28for the most coveted prize -
0:48:28 > 0:48:30the Oscar for Best Picture.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33In 1963,
0:48:33 > 0:48:36his increasing engagement in one particular film
0:48:36 > 0:48:38in the Disney pipeline
0:48:38 > 0:48:41started to create a buzz around Burbank.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46Mary Poppins was based on a favourite children's novel
0:48:46 > 0:48:48of Disney's daughters
0:48:48 > 0:48:52and a project Walt had started thinking about 20 years earlier,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56back in that long-vanished era of limitless possibility,
0:48:56 > 0:48:58after the worldwide success of Snow White.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03And memories of that formative era seemed to be tugging at him.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07There was no animation in Mary Poppins.
0:49:07 > 0:49:09I'll never forget, one time,
0:49:09 > 0:49:12we were going over a scene and Walt said,
0:49:12 > 0:49:15"By the way, Ron, would you look up Song of the South
0:49:15 > 0:49:19"and reel two, 100 feet into it?
0:49:19 > 0:49:20"Put it in the projection room,
0:49:20 > 0:49:23"I would like to run it for the guys."
0:49:23 > 0:49:26They looked at each other, "What the hell is this all about?"
0:49:26 > 0:49:27Then we went into the room
0:49:27 > 0:49:30and it was live action and animation,
0:49:30 > 0:49:32and he got up and left.
0:49:32 > 0:49:33Didn't say a word.
0:49:35 > 0:49:36Then, about three weeks later,
0:49:36 > 0:49:38the same thing happened.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40"Ron, will you put that reel up again?"
0:49:40 > 0:49:42And the lights came on,
0:49:42 > 0:49:45and that's when he told the boys,
0:49:45 > 0:49:47"I have an idea for animation in this."
0:49:47 > 0:49:49MUSIC PLAYS
0:50:02 > 0:50:04'He's basically a story man.'
0:50:04 > 0:50:08He wanted the song moving story, developing story,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11pushing story and that was very, very important to him.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13# The children must be moulded
0:50:13 > 0:50:17# Shaped and taught that life's a looming battle
0:50:17 > 0:50:18# To be faced and fought... #
0:50:18 > 0:50:20'Mary Poppins is not a children's story,
0:50:20 > 0:50:25'it's a story about a dysfunctional family that was not paying attention
0:50:25 > 0:50:28'to the most important thing they had and that was their children.'
0:50:28 > 0:50:32And Walt knew that and that's what the story was.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35# It's time they learned to walk in your footsteps
0:50:35 > 0:50:36# My footsteps
0:50:36 > 0:50:39# To tread your straight and narrow path with pride
0:50:39 > 0:50:40# With pride
0:50:40 > 0:50:44# Tomorrow, just as you suggest pressed and dressed
0:50:44 > 0:50:46# Jane and Michael will be at your side. #
0:50:48 > 0:50:51Splendid, you've hit the nail right on the... At my side?
0:50:51 > 0:50:52Where are we going?
0:50:53 > 0:50:56- To the bank, of course, exactly as you proposed.- I proposed?- Of course.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59Now, if you'll excuse me, tomorrow's an important day for
0:50:59 > 0:51:02the children, I shall see they have a proper night's sleep.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08Mary Poppins opened in the summer of 1964 and became
0:51:08 > 0:51:11a box-office smash hit.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14The film was Walt Disney's most deliberate refashioning
0:51:14 > 0:51:20of the hard-hearted father story, a miraculous parental transformation.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23# With tuppence for paper and strings
0:51:23 > 0:51:26# You can have your own set of wings
0:51:26 > 0:51:32# With your feet on the ground, you're a bird in flight
0:51:32 > 0:51:35# With your fist holding tight
0:51:35 > 0:51:37# To the string of your kite
0:51:37 > 0:51:40# Oh, oh, oh
0:51:40 > 0:51:44# Let's go fly a kite
0:51:44 > 0:51:47# Up to the highest height... #
0:51:47 > 0:51:50"You have made a great many pictures that have touched the hearts
0:51:50 > 0:51:54"of the world," wrote legendary producer Samuel Goldwyn.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59"But you have never made one so completely the fulfilment of
0:51:59 > 0:52:02"everything a great motion picture should be."
0:52:03 > 0:52:08He is able to produce a film on his terms, that has a narrative,
0:52:08 > 0:52:10that is very much about family.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14'About the healing of the family.'
0:52:14 > 0:52:16# Up to the highest height... #
0:52:17 > 0:52:20'So he's staying true to what he believes personally,
0:52:20 > 0:52:23'that has woven itself into all of his films.'
0:52:25 > 0:52:29Mary Poppins was nominated for 13 Oscars,
0:52:29 > 0:52:34including Walt Disney's first and only nomination for Best Picture.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37Mary Poppins is validation for Walt Disney.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44'He's finally being embraced by those whose validation he's always sought.'
0:52:44 > 0:52:49# Oh, let's go
0:52:49 > 0:52:50# Fly a kite. #
0:52:52 > 0:52:54CHEERING
0:52:54 > 0:52:58Mary Poppins premiered into a very different America than had
0:52:58 > 0:53:01Mickey Mouse, Snow White and Pinocchio.
0:53:04 > 0:53:09American teenagers were discovering The Beatles and Bob Dylan
0:53:09 > 0:53:11and James Brown
0:53:11 > 0:53:14and beginning to worry about a growing war in
0:53:14 > 0:53:15a place called Vietnam.
0:53:18 > 0:53:19CLAMOUR
0:53:19 > 0:53:21The entire country, meanwhile,
0:53:21 > 0:53:26was convulsed by momentous new civil-rights laws.
0:53:26 > 0:53:30Riots in New York and Los Angeles and segregationist
0:53:30 > 0:53:33intimidation in the Deep South were beamed into television sets
0:53:33 > 0:53:36in living rooms across the country.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41'The gap is growing wider and wider between Disney's version of
0:53:41 > 0:53:44'America and what's really going on in the country,'
0:53:44 > 0:53:47which is all of these fissures being exposed.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54# Oh, beautiful for spacious skies... #
0:53:54 > 0:53:58Walt's defenders pointed to his movies as sanctuaries of
0:53:58 > 0:54:02decency and health in the jungle of sex and sadism created by
0:54:02 > 0:54:04Hollywood producers.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08How lovely it is. Makes you feel proud, doesn't it?
0:54:08 > 0:54:09Hi, down there.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13Oh, no! Look out!
0:54:14 > 0:54:20Critics slammed him. "Genuine feeling is ignored," said one.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23"The imagination of children bludgeoned with mediocrity."
0:54:29 > 0:54:33In 1965, word started to get around that Walt Disney was buying up
0:54:33 > 0:54:36enormous tracts of land in central Florida.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41By the time Disney was ready to go public,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44the company already owned 27,000 acres,
0:54:44 > 0:54:48giving him a building site bigger than the island of Manhattan.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53Welcome to a little bit of Florida here in California.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56This is where the early planning is taking place for our
0:54:56 > 0:55:00so-called Disney World project.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03On October the 27th 1966,
0:55:03 > 0:55:07Walt Disney spent the day on the studio sound stage shooting
0:55:07 > 0:55:11his part in a promotional film about his new pet project.
0:55:12 > 0:55:18The most exciting, by far the most important part of our Florida
0:55:18 > 0:55:21project, in fact, the heart of everything we will be doing in
0:55:21 > 0:55:25Disney World, will be our experimental prototype city of tomorrow.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30We call it Epcot.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35The effort exhausted the 64-year-old so badly,
0:55:35 > 0:55:37he needed oxygen between takes.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47He didn't look good. He didn't feel good.
0:55:49 > 0:55:50He just seemed
0:55:50 > 0:55:53to be almost permanently grumpy.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58The word round the lot was, "Well, he's not feeling too well."
0:56:01 > 0:56:06The diagnosis was cancer. The prognosis was bad.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11Doctors told him he had two years at most.
0:56:14 > 0:56:19On the night of December the 14th 1966, Walt sent
0:56:19 > 0:56:24a worried Lillian home from his hospital bedside to get some rest.
0:56:24 > 0:56:26He promised her he was feeling stronger.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32He asked Roy to stay behind, who sat at the bedside while his kid
0:56:32 > 0:56:37brother, flat on his back, pointed up to the ceiling tiles trying to
0:56:37 > 0:56:42explain the vision of Disney World and Epcot that shimmered before him.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44Trying to make Roy see it as he did.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49"Now there is where the highway will run," he explained.
0:56:49 > 0:56:51"And there is the route for the monorail."
0:56:53 > 0:56:57Walt's vision was never built. After his death,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00the project was abandoned and turned into an attraction.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08- ARCHIVE:- 'Walt Disney is dead tonight at the age of 65.'
0:57:08 > 0:57:12'..had undergone surgery last month for removal of part of his left lung after...'
0:57:12 > 0:57:15'..29 Oscars, four Emmys, the Irving Thalberg Award...'
0:57:15 > 0:57:17'Walt Disney, Hollywood's prince of fantasy...'
0:57:17 > 0:57:21Walt Disney's death was front-page news the next day,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24across the country and around the world.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29'Of his success, Disney has said there is no magic formula.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33'Children all over the world have one thing in common, love of laughter.'
0:57:33 > 0:57:39In the year after he died, nearly 7 million people visited Disneyland.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42Tens of millions around the world bought Disney licensed merchandise
0:57:42 > 0:57:45or tuned into Walt's television show.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50Hundreds of millions saw one of Walt Disney's movies.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02'Walt Disney represented more than just a guy.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05'He was an ethos, he was a way of approaching life.'
0:58:05 > 0:58:08And whether you hated him or loved him, there was no-one that
0:58:08 > 0:58:11could argue with his effect on 20th-century culture.
0:58:20 > 0:58:24'He's either the man who ruined American culture and brought
0:58:24 > 0:58:29'all of this fakeness into our lives or he's the man who inspired
0:58:29 > 0:58:33'us and gave us hours and hours of entertainment.'