ONE can seldom pretend to state width any degree of certainty as to what will happen in twelve forthcoming
months, but there are two things that I can say with absolute certainty about Walt Disney in 1935. The man himself will remain completely unspoiled whatever happens, for it is not in his nature to "put on side," to be affected by the superlative tribute he receives by every post from every country in the world, or to pose as anything other than a man who is doing a job of work to the best of his ability and is getting a thrill out of doing it.
And the other certainty is that the quality of the Disney cartoons will not decrease by one single iota, but will, on the contrary, continue to improve. At first thought, that may seem an extraordinary thing to claim as a certainty. But I know Disney intimately, and I know his methods equally well. The only thing in life about which he is an absolute fanatic is maintaining or improving the quality of his pictures. If he has made a picture and then decides that it does not measure up to the standard he has set himself, he destroys it at once. He is shrewd enough to take his loss there and then, realising that by keeping faith with his immense public he will profit in the end. And remember, that it is his own money which is spent on producing his films: he has no shareholders.
Mr. Disney contemplates spending no less than $5o,ooo on one feature during 1935 — Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He will toss that money away calmly and unhesitatingly if he is not satisfied with the film when it is made.
It is by the rigid employment of such methods, unnecessarily drastic though they may seem to some of you, that Walt Disney has reached his present pinnacle.
That pinnacle is typified by several facts — the number of Royal Command performances of Disney features there have been; the election of Walt Disney to honorary membership by the leading art associations in various countries; the six hundred manufacturers who have arranged for Mickey Mouse to grace their products; and, not lesist by any means, the several thousand letters of gratitude that reach Walt from laughter-loving folk in all stations of life and in all nations.
Last year the Art Workers Guild of London, the membership of which includes such eminent men as Bernard Shaw, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Laurence Binyon, The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, and Rex Whistler, to mention only a few, was so impressed with Disney's art that it elected him to honorary membership. France has given him one of its highest honours; so has Brazil, and his native America.
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