BUILDING A COMPANY

THOMAS

ISBN 10: 0786884169 / ISBN 13: 9780786884162

Published by HYPERION, 1998

About this Item

Without Roy, the world might never have known Walt. While his younger brother dreamed, drew, and imagined, Roy stayed in the shadows, forging an empire. A brilliant financier and businessman, he helped turn his brother?s dreams into reality, building the company that bears Walt?s name. Closer than the Warners or the Gershwins, Roy and Walt?s lifelong partnership had its stormy moments, but neither of them ever wavered from their joint goal of producing high-quality family entertainment. While Walt?s pen gave birth to Mickey Mouse, Roy founded the Buena Vista Distribution Company, brought Disneyland to a fledgling medium called television, and pioneered a merchandising business that would put Mickey on store shelves from Brooklyn to Beijing. Even after Walt?s death, Roy tirelessly devoted his energies to completing the theme park his brother had begun in Florida. When it was completed, Roy named it Walt Disney World, so that people would "know that this was Walt?s dream." Now in its first paperback edition, Building a Company, a fully authorized look at the other Disney genius, features exclusive interviews, notes, letters, and photographs. It illuminates what is the greatest story behind all Disney stories: the Disney brothers? unique relationship. 580 gr.

Seller Inventory # 9780786884162LEA10233

Bibliographic Details

• Title: BUILDING A COMPANY
• Publisher: HYPERION
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786884169
• ISBN 13: 9780786884162
• Binding: Blanda
• Illustrator: No Aplica
• Edition: 0.
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Nuevo
• Weight: 580 grams
• Book Type: Libro

About this title

Synopsis

A look at the life of the brother of Walt Disney reveals the stormy relationship between the two siblings, Roy's business savvy, and his dedication to realizing his brother's dream of creating a theme park

Review

One night, at a Los Angeles dinner gala, Walt Disney gave a rare public statement about his older brother, Roy: "We started the business here in 1923, and if it hadn't been for my big brother, I swear I'd've been in jail several times for checks bouncing. I never knew what was in the bank. He kept me on the straight and narrow."

Although Walt wasn't quite that ignorant of the numbers, it's true that Roy handled most of the finances for the Disney empire. It was Roy who kept the studio running in the early years, Roy who put together the financing deals for Disneyland, Roy who oversaw the completion of Walt Disney World in Florida after his brother's death in 1966.

Building a Company provides plenty of anecdotal details about the Disney entertainment empire's rise to power. Don't look for juicy scandal, though: Bob Thomas's fully authorized (and, ultimately, Disney-financed) biography steers clear of any controversies, such as Disney's attempts to get out of a contract with ABC in the late '50s, before they can cause a blight on the success story. Useful primarily to those interested in the details of business and entertainment history.