- Paperback: 750 pages
- Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd (1 Jun 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1845136748
- ISBN-13: 978-1845136741
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 5.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 322,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
The best book yet about Disney smart, compendious and uncynical Sunday Times Astonishingly thorough, numbly narrated Observer Wonderful, exhaustive book is as good an account of this man as we re ever likely to get Scotsman --na
Product Description
His classic films illuminated everyone’s childhood. The theme parks are on every tourist itinerary. The movie empire is one of Hollywood’s biggest. Walt Disney is one of the few men who unquestionably changed our culture. And Neal Gabler is the first author to have had complete access to the Disney Archives, enabling him to write the definitive biography of this remarkable man. Gabler charts Disney’s journey from running a fledgling studio with short cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, to the reinvention of animation with full-length films like Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi and Dumbo. Chronicling Walt’s profligacy and expansionism, as well as his obsessive perfectionism when working on the briefest of sequences in Fantasia, Gabler describes how it was left to Walt’s brother Roy to keep the business solvent. The successes speak for themselves - Disney then moved beyond animation with huge hits like Mary Poppins, and mixed utopianism and merchandising to conceive the world’s first modern theme park, Disneyland. In addition to the towering achievements, Gabler shows the dark side of Walt Disney - ruthless towards long-serving staff, cavalier with contracts, neglectful of his family – but also the vulnerability, born of loneliness and ill health, in an admirably balanced portrait.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As an amateur cartoonist who loves biographies, I went online and bought Neal Gabler's biography of Walt Disney as soon as I say it reviewed in the Sunday Times. I was not disappointed.
This is a massive piece of work, spanning not only the entire period of Disney's life but also the history of animated cartoon development and, in the background, the evolution of Hollywood itself.
What was so fascinating about this book for me however, was the minute detail that Gabler goes into about Disney's early life in small-town America (which he tried to recreate in the design of Disneyland) and the long and difficult process that turned Disney from a struggling cartoonist into an American icon who, as Gabler suggests, might be considered the most successful artist of the twentieth century.
This is not to say that Gabler holds Disney up on any pedestal to be a saint - far from it. Disney's obsessive drive for perfection, his addiction to detail and his passion for micro-management are all on view. But, in many ways, this makes him a more human and accessible character than the "Uncle Walt" image he so carefully cultivated in public life.
For anyone who wants "a thumping good read" to have on their bedside table (the sheer number of pages makes this book far too heavy to carry off on holiday with you!) I would heartily recommend this as a long-running nightime story.
This is a massive piece of work, spanning not only the entire period of Disney's life but also the history of animated cartoon development and, in the background, the evolution of Hollywood itself.
What was so fascinating about this book for me however, was the minute detail that Gabler goes into about Disney's early life in small-town America (which he tried to recreate in the design of Disneyland) and the long and difficult process that turned Disney from a struggling cartoonist into an American icon who, as Gabler suggests, might be considered the most successful artist of the twentieth century.
This is not to say that Gabler holds Disney up on any pedestal to be a saint - far from it. Disney's obsessive drive for perfection, his addiction to detail and his passion for micro-management are all on view. But, in many ways, this makes him a more human and accessible character than the "Uncle Walt" image he so carefully cultivated in public life.
For anyone who wants "a thumping good read" to have on their bedside table (the sheer number of pages makes this book far too heavy to carry off on holiday with you!) I would heartily recommend this as a long-running nightime story.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
'Walt Disney' has become such a brand name, it's hard to properly grasp that there was a man from an ordinary background with that name, who created all that we associate with the name 'Disney' or 'Disney animation' today. It's also easy to fail to realise that animation - cartoons - did not have to look the way they do or be the way they are... aspects of character animation, copied and adapted by others, were in many ways pioneered by Walt Disney and the employees he inspired. The main pleasure of this book for me was in realising how much one person can achieve in shaping popular culture and in bringing the fruit of many imaginations to life.
It is a very long book, and one that I took breaks from and returned to. The author perhaps indulges in a little too much retrospective armchair psychology in making claims as to Walt Disney's intentions and motivations, but every biographer comes at their subject from a standpoint at at least Gabler makes his views clear enough that you can agree with or reject them.
It is a very long book, and one that I took breaks from and returned to. The author perhaps indulges in a little too much retrospective armchair psychology in making claims as to Walt Disney's intentions and motivations, but every biographer comes at their subject from a standpoint at at least Gabler makes his views clear enough that you can agree with or reject them.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Having read a few books about the life of Walt Disney,I can say that Walt Disney:The Biography by Neal Gabler is the most detailed and thorough study of the great man I have read. It isn't a book that can be read quickly as it is well over 600 pages but it is always interesting and extremely well researched.
As you would expect,all aspects of Disney's extraordinary life are covered from his very humble beginnings to him becoming possibly the most famous person on earth. We discover how his father was very strict and this is perhaps why Disney was a loner despite being married for over 40 years and having two daughters,one of them adopted. This book describes in vivid detail the constant struggles that he had trying to get money to finance his projects and it should be mentioned just how important his brother Roy was as he worked incredibly hard behind the scenes. Even at the height of Disney's fame he still wanted more money,not for himself but purely to follow his ambitions and dreams.
The darker side of the man is covered. He could be a tryrant,a bully and cruel to his staff. He would fire someone only to re-instate them a couple of weeks later. He did this to "keep them on their toes" and he was also a control freak and a man that had to have the final word even if he was wrong. But it must never be forgotten that he was also a genius with an incredible sense of what the public wanted and his drive and vision were astonishing. He was accused of being a Communist hater which he certainly was and also being anti-Semitic which he definitely wasn't. It was his sheer determination to achieve perfection that kept him at the studio more than at his home. Hobbies came and went and it was obvious that he would never be able to switch off from the world he had created.
It came as no surprise that he lived a relatively short life. He was a chain smoker, a born worrier and quite simply a man that could never really relax. For all of his faults though he could be very kind and demanded that his workers were paid bonuses even though his company were in financial dire straits. After the strike at the Disney studios in the 1940s he felt betrayed and lost interest in animation but gathered himself to make his company even stronger.
This excellent biography showcases just what a true icon Walt Disney was. He produced the first cartoon with sound,the first cartoon in colour and the first feature length animated movie with 'Snow White'. He had the vision to create Disneyland and who knows what else he would have achieved if he had lived longer. Imagine a world without the input he had on popular culture. It is hard to believe that any one man could have given so much pleasure to so many millions of people. For me the true strength of this book is the way it shows that all he ever wanted was to please the public and he demanded the very best from his staff. This is a recommended biography and a truly superb job has been done by Neal Gabler. All that is left to say is thank you Walt Disney,thank you genius.
As you would expect,all aspects of Disney's extraordinary life are covered from his very humble beginnings to him becoming possibly the most famous person on earth. We discover how his father was very strict and this is perhaps why Disney was a loner despite being married for over 40 years and having two daughters,one of them adopted. This book describes in vivid detail the constant struggles that he had trying to get money to finance his projects and it should be mentioned just how important his brother Roy was as he worked incredibly hard behind the scenes. Even at the height of Disney's fame he still wanted more money,not for himself but purely to follow his ambitions and dreams.
The darker side of the man is covered. He could be a tryrant,a bully and cruel to his staff. He would fire someone only to re-instate them a couple of weeks later. He did this to "keep them on their toes" and he was also a control freak and a man that had to have the final word even if he was wrong. But it must never be forgotten that he was also a genius with an incredible sense of what the public wanted and his drive and vision were astonishing. He was accused of being a Communist hater which he certainly was and also being anti-Semitic which he definitely wasn't. It was his sheer determination to achieve perfection that kept him at the studio more than at his home. Hobbies came and went and it was obvious that he would never be able to switch off from the world he had created.
It came as no surprise that he lived a relatively short life. He was a chain smoker, a born worrier and quite simply a man that could never really relax. For all of his faults though he could be very kind and demanded that his workers were paid bonuses even though his company were in financial dire straits. After the strike at the Disney studios in the 1940s he felt betrayed and lost interest in animation but gathered himself to make his company even stronger.
This excellent biography showcases just what a true icon Walt Disney was. He produced the first cartoon with sound,the first cartoon in colour and the first feature length animated movie with 'Snow White'. He had the vision to create Disneyland and who knows what else he would have achieved if he had lived longer. Imagine a world without the input he had on popular culture. It is hard to believe that any one man could have given so much pleasure to so many millions of people. For me the true strength of this book is the way it shows that all he ever wanted was to please the public and he demanded the very best from his staff. This is a recommended biography and a truly superb job has been done by Neal Gabler. All that is left to say is thank you Walt Disney,thank you genius.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Incredible Read
As a blossoming Disney fan, this was as fantastic a read as you could ever want. In-depth, easy to read and full of information that will only deepen a fan's appreciation of the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Nate Fisher
excellent
everything was in perfect order, it is a very interesting excellent book. Also good handling and delivery. Keep up the good works!
Published 7 months ago by oort
Walt Disney
A very very very long book, the author goes into minute detail about every little thing. I would start and return to this book as it did tend to get very boring in parts. Read more
Published on 16 Sep 2009 by Mark Evans
Makes me want to go to Disneyland again!
Walt Disney is one of those figures that everyone knows without really knowing at all, and one of the things I learned from this biography is that even the people in his life who... Read more
Published on 28 Dec 2008 by C. Ball
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