Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince [Hardcover]

Marc Eliot (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1993

Probing the genius of Walt Disney, a new biography of the American icon explores his long association with J. Edgar Hoover, his troubled personal life, and much more. By the author of Down Thunder Road. National ad/promo. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book is called the first truly unauthorized biography, and in the case of Disney, unauthorized is important because all previous "authorized" biographies had to pass the scrutiny of Disney Studios. Without manuscript approval, the Disney archives were off-limits to Eliot ( Down Thunder Road: The Making of Bruce Springsteen , LJ 8/92), although their contents could be gleaned from other works on his subject. This volume includes interviews--both anonymous and attributed--with former Disney animators. The darker side of Disney includes his cooperation with the House Un-American Activities Committee and the FBI, as well as "Uncle Walt's" strong antiunion campaigns. His troubled personal life is explored both as biography and as the source of his creative expressions. While not without flaws, this book is essential for any library that wants to provide an alternative to the sanitized versions of Dinsey's life.
- Sherle Abramson, Williamsburg Regional Lib., Va.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Muckraking, unauthorized biography of Disney that nonetheless paints such a rending picture of his childhood and young manhood that one forgives most of his later lapses. Eliot (Down Thunder Road, 1991, etc.) thinks that Disney was a great artist--which may account for what turns out to be a largely sympathetic biography of the filmmaker's dark side. Disney's fundamentalist father, Elias, was such a monster to his sons, whom he beat mercilessly, that Walt came to believe he wasn't his father's child--nor would Walt's mother protect him from Elias's savagery. These trials, and especially the anxiety about his parentage, became the template for Disney's later cartoon stories, Eliot says, and account in part for the mogul's endless troubles with his stable of animators, whom he underpaid and refused to give any power to. Nor would Disney grant Mickey Mouse's real creator, fellow animator Ub Iwerks, his proper credit, though Iwerks was Disney's oldest friend aside from the filmmaker's brother, Roy. On his marriage night, Disney found himself impotent, Eliot says, a state that later recurred during times of stress, which were exacerbated by a drinking problem and bouts of depression. Meanwhile, Disney's father had instilled in the boy a hatred of Jews, and Walt never curbed his tongue about Jews among his animators--and especially not when talking about fellow studio heads. He felt cut out of the real money in Hollywood since he could only produce movies with his own money while other studios monopolized distribution and exhibition. Following WW II, Disney helped organize resistance to the studio monopolies and in many ways brought about the downfall of the studio system. Earlier, he had become an informant for the FBI--according to Eliot, Disney wanted J. Edgar Hoover to investigate whether he really was the son of his alleged father--and, here, the author draws from some 500 pages of Disney's reports to the Bureau. Very readable, actually quite laudable, work. (Sixteen pages of photographs--not seen) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 305 pages
• Publisher: Birch Lane Pr; 2nd prt. edition (July 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155972174X
• ISBN-13: 978-1559721745
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #893,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #66 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( D ) > Disney, Walt

More About the Author

Marc Eliot is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen books on popular culture, among them the highly acclaimed biography Cary Grant, the award-winning Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince, and most recently American Rebel: The Life of Clint Eastwood, plus the music biographies Down Thunder Road: The Making of Bruce Springsteen, To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles, and Death of a Rebel about Phil Ochs. He has been featured in many documentaries about film and music and has written on the media and popular culture for numerous publications. He divides his time among New York City; Woodstock, New York; and Los Angeles. Visit him at marceliot.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good info and an enjoyable read !, January 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince (Hardcover)

If your wanting to learn about the life of Walt Disney, this is one of the two books you MUST read. The other being "Walt Disney: An American Original". This book does an excellent job of walking through the great Mr. Disney's life from the eyes of many people other than those close to his family. It provides very interesting insights into Disney's experiences with the more unpleasant aspects of building a business legacy, such as breaking into the Hollywood community, labor unions, personal hardships, family and business squabbles, friendships gained and lost, and of course...many of his activities as a special industry contact agent for the FBI. But this book never turns into a "mud-slinging" read. It strikes a very good balance of pointing out Disney's unique qualities, good and bad. Although Disney is somewhat of an enigma, this book makes us appreciate that he was, after all, just a man. I would have liked to see the book go on for another 50+ pages with more info on the last 10 years of his life, as the book did seem to rush through those years. But that does not detract from the enjoyment of this book. For more insights into Disney's last years (1970+), I recommend the book "Prince of the Magic Kingdom: Michael Eisner".

26 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Riveting Account of a Troubled Genius, January 14, 2004

By 

Kara "fiction fan" (Minneapolis MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince (Hardcover)

I love the World That Walt Built beyond all reason. I've studied Disney corporate history, I own stock in the company, and I read anything about it I can lay my hands on.

That said, I know how difficult it is to get a true account of Walt Disney. The company has offered up his image of sainthood for years, making it increasingly difficult to get past that glossed perfection. Disney will do anything to protect its image (understandably so) and this applies lavishly to whitewashing Walt.

I found this book a very moving account of a man brutally abused as a kid, who went through life striving through his unique genius to create and secure the childhood he never had. The book charts Walt's many heights of seeing his various visions to fruition, and the subsequent depression once a dream is realized--the cycle of creativity for us all. And if the book dwells on his considerable darkness, well, there's plenty of room for that. Something needs to balance out the company's, and other writers' God-hype about Walt. His shadow is laid out compassionately in these pages, and Walt Disney stands all the taller for it.

22 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Once upon a time..., December 1, 1999

By 

Mark van Hout - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince (Paperback)

...there was a shy boy who loved to draw and turned out to be one of the greatest icons of the Twentieth Century. This is the story of Walt Disney told by Marc Eliot. The book tells us about Disney's youth, his relationship with his parents and later his wife (Lillian) and children. It also tells how he started his company and how important his brother Roy turned out to be for Walt's achievements, because Walt Disney wasn't a businessman, but an artist who, ironically, couldn't draw so good himself. I don't claim that Walt Disney had no drawingtalent, but I regard that his greatest "gift" were his fantastic ideas (e.g. about what a story/tale successful makes)and his perseverance. Anyhow, Eliot has written a credible book which is fun and easy to read, although he emphasizes the "negative" trait of Walt's character, but Eliot doesn't judge Disney on that, that's something the reader should do. I found this book refreshing and it made me eager to learn more about a true genius, Walt Disney.