"Dollars, like fertilizer, make things grow", says the man who went on from Mickey Mouse and Snow White to vast enterprises to entertain kids from 6 to 60
In the world of children, he is the rich uncle-the casual, ordinary-looking man with the graying mustache and the baggy eyes who shows up from time to time, does funny tricks and gives wonderful presents, and then goes away until the next time. He makes everybody laugh, and everybody wonders about him-because like any proper rich uncle, he presents a fascinating mystery. Among other things, he is probably the best-known artist in the world, but he hasn’t drawn a picture since 1928. He is a hugely successful businessman, but he can’t be bothered with financial details and isn’t even an officer in his own company. He is a Hollywood rajah who looks, talks, and lives like the owner of Midwest hardware store.
Walter Elias Disney, 61 years old, has been hailed as the father of a new art form; he has also been damned as a maudlin sentimentalist who, in the words of one critic, “vulgarizes everything he touches.” Lounging behind a coffee table in his Oscar-bedecked office last week, Disney made it clear that he intends to keep right on being Walt Disney. His face creased in the habitually exaggerated grin of the movie animator who has spent years studying facial expressions in his mirror, Disney sketched his idea of his job: “Our part in things is to build along the lines we are known for, with happy family stories and comedies. I’ve never thought of this as art. It’s part of show business.”
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