Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empires - Hardcover

Thomas, Bob

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786862009 ISBN 13: 9780786862009

Publisher: Disney Editions, 1998

Synopsis

Without Roy, the world might never have known Walt. As his younger brother Walt Disney dreamed, drew, and imagined, Roy O. Disney stayed in the shadows, forming an empire. A brilliant financier and businessman, Roy helped turn Walt Disney's dreams into reality, building the company that bears his brother'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 shelves from Brooklyn to Beijing.
After Walt's death in 1966, Roy postponed his retirement and tirelessly devoted his energies to completing the theme park Walt had begun in Florida. When it was finished, Roy named it Walt Disney World, "so people will know that this was Walt's dream."
Building a Company is a fully authorized look at the other Disney genius, featuring never-before-published interviews, notes, letters, and photographs.

About this title

About the Author

Bob Thomas has been the Hollywood correspondent for the Associated Press for more than 50 years.

Reviews

Roy Disney was born in 1893, a full eight years before his brother Walt. Despite the age gap, the brothers were from the beginning almost inseparable. Roy joined the Navy during WWI, but following his discharge discovered he had tuberculosis. His search for a suitable climate for recovery brought him to California, where he was soon joined by Walt, who had already set up his first cartoon film company, Laugh-O-Gram. With Walt supplying the vision, Roy was brought onboard to handle the finances. Together they established the Walt Disney Company; by himself, Walt came up with a signature character named Mortimer Mouse, who made his debut as Mickey in the film Plane Crazy. Once he reappeared in his first talkie, Steamboat Willie, an American cartoon icon was born. Thomas (Walt Disney: An American Original) depicts the business acumen of Roy in such matters as licensing, the forming of the original Mickey Mouse Clubs and the retention of TV rights of Disney products as early as the 1930s. Thomas covers as well Roy's part in the company's going public; its financial restructuring after WWII; the production of feature films like Fantasia; and the creation of Disneyland, leading to the Florida land-buy necessary for DisneyWorld, which opened just before Roy's death in 1971. This is a highly entertaining book that will interest a business readership in addition to fans of Disney. 16 pages of b&w photos, not seen by PW. (July) FYI: Hyperion, a Disney company, appears to have taken its name from the first location of the Walt Disney Studios, 2719 Hyperion Avenue in downtown L.A.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An unrevealing, workmanlike biography of Walt Disneys older brother, Roy, the financial brains behind Disneys success. With only a high school diploma and a handful of years as a bank teller, Roy Disney helped transform Disney from a storefront operation into one of Americas preeminent corporations. While Walt was the visionary and the driving creative force (he conceived of everything from feature-length animated films to Disneyland), Roy was responsible for finding the money to pay for it all. It was Roy who had to attend to the bottom line that his brother so scorned, who had to negotiate all the complex deals and loans, who had to pursue the legions of copyright violators and manage the far-flung sales force. His genial, plainspoken midwestern demeanor camouflaged a tough, canny deal-maker and a keen mind for detail. It was Roy, for example, who as far back as the 1930s insisted on holding onto television rights. Considering their differing temperaments and responsibilities, it isnt surprising that the brothers did not always see eye to eye. The studio tended to divide into Walts ``boys'' and Roys ``boys''; there were periods when the brothers quarreled bitterly and communicated only in memos. But they always patched up their differences, and after Walts death, Roy postponed his retirement to fulfill his brothers vision for CalArts and Walt Disney World. Published by Hyperion, a division of Disney, this authorized account has the (inevitably?) sanitized air of a self-serving corporate history about it. Thomas (Clown Prince of Hollywood, 1990, etc.) never manages to get a real feel for his subject and, perhaps because he wrote a biography of Walt, tends to let him dominate throughout. The storys moral: Genius is seldom solitary and is usually in need of money. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Thomas is a veteran Hollywood reporter who has written nearly two dozen celebrity biographies, taking advantage of lifelong friendships he formed with many of the stars he covered. Walt Disney and his work have been the subject of several of Thomas' earlier books, including one written for children. Now Thomas profiles "the other Disney." Roy O. Disney was Walt's older brother and his opposite in many ways. The two frequently quarreled, but Roy is credited with possessing a business and financial savvy to match Walt's creative genius. Roy died in 1971, five years after Walt, and it is he who turned the fantasy of Walt Disney World into reality. Thomas extensively used the Disney archives and conducted interviews with family, friends, and coworkers of Roy to complete this portrait; but he also relied on interviews he conducted earlier with both brothers when he was working on Walt's biography. David Rouse

Thomas (Disney's Art of Animation, LJ 11/15/91) offers both a family history of Walt and older brother Roy, the financial genius behind the Disney enterprises, and a business history of those enterprises. Beginning with the family's English and Irish origins, he moves smoothly from the years of hard farm work and often failed business starts in the Midwest through Walt's earliest animation attempts, dealings with often unscrupulous promoters and distributors, and move West to his teaming up with Roy and their progress from Mickey Mouse to Disneyland. While some of the story may be familiar, details about financial dealings such as those with Bank of America (an early and substantial backer) add another dimension to the Disney saga. Well written and full of insights into the personal lives of both Roy and Walt, this book is recommended for public libraries.AJoseph Toschik, Half Moon Bay P.L., CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Disney Editions
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786862009
• ISBN 13: 9780786862009
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352