“I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I’ve ever known,” said Walt Disney. At least he can’t be accused of infidelity. At 25, Disney made two good resolutions: to get married and to grow a moustache, to become a credible adult – it is true that clean-shaven bachelors can inspire suspicion. But was this good father really that exemplary? The biography devoted to him by Olivier Cotte, which has just been published by Perrin, paints the portrait of an infantile, moody and chauvinistic man, a cross between Peter Pan and Uncle Sam, about whom there is much to criticise.
Born in 1901, little Walt grew up on a farm in Missouri. After serving in France with the Red Cross during the First World War, he started out early in drawing and animation, first as a salaried advertising executive, then on his own as an artist-entrepreneur. Contrary to what a golden legend might have us believe, his beginnings were very difficult: living only on canned beans, this bad manager juggled between bankruptcies and the betrayals of his colleagues. In 1928, touched by grace, he created Mortimer Mouse, renamed Mickey. Universal didn’t want him. Another failure in sight? No: while no one believed it, the mouse’s first film was a triumph. For the record, let’s remember that Mickey shocked people – this macho man was said to have made inappropriate gestures towards Minnie! Disney quickly civilized his favorite character.
The 1930s were a golden age for Disney (notably with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), despite a few scandals: in 1938, he showed Leni Riefenstahl around his studio, to whom he wanted to show the progress of Fantasy. If his anti-Semitism is a malicious rumor, we can point out a certain naivety in Disney: by subscribing to popular culture, he will keep avant-garde inclinations throughout his life, which will put him in far-fetched situations, like between 1944 and 1946 when he had a film project with Salvador Dali (Destiny) which ultimately never saw the light of day… In a less surrealist manner, Disney joined the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals in 1944, where he sat alongside the most conservative fringe of Hollywood.
Angry and unbearable after five scotches
Willingly megalomaniac, this great patriot would drive the point home in 1955 by opening Disneyland. Thus he presented his project: “Disneyland will be dedicated to the ideals, dreams and concrete facts that created America.” The inauguration was celebrated by Ronald Reagan, former president of the Screen Actors Guild who was then entering politics and must have seen in the park a good soft power. From there to say that Disneyland is a Puy du Fou of cartoons and Walt Disney a popcorn version of Philippe de Villiers…
A sportsman (he played golf, skiing and especially polo), Disney suffered from health problems from his forties onwards – it must be said that he was subject to severe professional stress and never went to bed before 2 or even 3 in the morning. Can we trust a man whose favourite dessert is… tapioca pudding? Disney’s colleagues present him as angry, fond of scatological humour and downright unbearable after five scotches. He himself, crazy about demagogic pathos, admits that he is “not a literary person” and that he “likes to have tears in his eyes”. It is amusing to remember here that Disney films were often displeasing when they were released: in 1942, Bambi gets thrashed; in 1959, the bitter failure of The Sleeping Beauty sinks the studio’s finances. Walt Disney last experienced success in 1964 with Mary PoppinsWell received, the musical comedy with five Oscars brought in 50 million dollars where it had cost 5. On this, Disney entertained a few last delirious fantasies (buying Ellis Island!) before dying in 1966, at only 65 years old.
Our era of leisure and the cult of the child king should have favored the sustainability of the Disney empire. This is not the case: in 1984, it recorded a record loss of 64 million dollars. The company bounced back again and this time for good thanks to co-productions with Pixar and the acquisitions of Lucasfilm and Marvel, which brought in Star Wars and superheroes in his arsenal of films and merchandise. In 2024, our children and grandchildren are living more than ever in the dreams of the mustachioed Missourian.
Walt Disneyby Olivier Cotte. Perrin, 389 p., €24.
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