Walt before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919-1928 [Hardcover]

Timothy S. Susanin (Author), Diane Disney Miller (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2011

For ten years before the creation of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney struggled with, failed at, and eventually mastered the art and business of animation. Most biographies of his career begin in 1928, when Steamboat Willie was released. That first Disney Studio cartoon with synchronized sound made its main character--Mickey Mouse-an icon for generations.

But Steamboat Willie was neither Disney's first cartoon nor Mickey Mouse's first appearance. Prior to this groundbreaking achievement, Walt Disney worked in a variety of venues and studios, refining what would become known as the Disney style. In Walt Before Mickey, 1919-1928, Timothy Susanin creates a portrait of the artist from age seventeen to the cusp of his international renown.

After serving in the Red Cross in France after World War I, Walt Disney worked for advertising and commercial art in Kansas City. Walt used these experiences to create four studios-Kaycee Studios, Laugh-O-gram Films, Disney Brothers Studio, and Walt Disney Studio. Using company documents, private correspondence between Walt and his brother Roy, contemporary newspaper accounts, and new interviews with Disney's associates, Susanin traces Disney's path. The author shows Disney to be a complicated, resourceful man, especially during his early career. Walt Before Mickey, a critical biography of a man at a crucial juncture, provides the "missing decade" that started Walt Disney's career and gave him the skills to become a name known worldwide.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

The untold story of ten critical, formative years in the great producer's life

About the Author

Timothy S. Susanin is the general counsel of a Fortune 500 company. He is a former federal prosecutor, Navy JAG, and television legal commentator. He lives in Villanova, Pennsylvania, with his wife and their three children.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (April 7, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604739606
• ISBN-13: 978-1604739602
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #423,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( D ) > Disney, Walt

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly Detailed Look at Walt Disney's First Creative Endeavors!, May 27, 2011

By 

George H. Taylor Jr. - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walt before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919-1928 (Hardcover)

About The Author

Currently, Timothy S. Susanin acts as the general counsel for a Fortune 500 Company. Previously, he served the Federal Government and the NAVY JAG as counsel. Obviously, Susanini is no stranger to laborious and meticulous research. Walt Before Mickey is proof of that.

The Review

By far, this is one of the most comprehensive books about any single period of Walt Disney's life. The author presents a detailed look at a very short time in Walt Disney's career when he was working professionally before the creation of Mickey Mouse. Walt Before Mickey starts with a short look at Walt's life and moves through his first jobs in Kansas City until the formation Kaycee Studios, his first studio, in 1921. The majority of the book recounts Walt's time in other Kansas City studios, the Laugh-O-Gram years and the formation of the Disney Bros. Studios in Los Angeles. As expected, the book does end before the creation of Mickey Mouse.

There are several themes throughout most Disney biographies: consistent and early failure paired with an unchallenged sense of destiny; bringing together the best people; and managing people with visionary leadership. Walt Before Mickey spends a indulgent amount of time describing such events. I have read the major biographies on Walt Disney and I am always shocked by the nexus of animation that occurred and grew out of Kansas City. Most biographers agree that the landscape of animation would be vastly different without Disney pulling together artists from his local Kansas City environs.

The strength of this book could be considered its weakness; we see an almost daily look at Walt's life. We meet all of the characters that worked with, influenced or helped a young Walt Disney as artist. It is rendered as more than a litany of names and census information yet we are accorded quite a bit of detail about everyone he worked with. The author delved deep and researched when these people married, moved and passed away. This book will prove too much for enthusiasts not vested in Walt's career.

Is it more than we need to know?

Any researcher or librarian will tell you how important the bibliography, index and notes sections are when vetting a research title. 125 of the 340 pages in this book are allocated to the research side of Susanin's endeavors. This is a boon to all future researchers. Susanin has uncovered dates and times that were previously unknown and there is never any doubt to the efficacy of the research. You might feel bogged down when you read about an individual restaurant owner--where he lived, when he married and when he died--but the information has finally been collected, preserved and presented.

This is a book that I really enjoyed; Susanin has a comfortable style that blends rote facts and figures into a pleasing narrative. I offer the admonition that this work is pretty geeky. When you have a book dedicated to a ten-year period, you are going to bring to light a lot of information.

Who Should Read This?

Obviously, devotees of Walt Disney and his career will love this book. Anyone looking to piece together a compendious view of the fledgling studios or the people that propelled Walt will find a mass of information. Fans of Michael Barrier, Didier Ghez, John Canemaker and Charles Solomon will find the research and writing enthralling. This is a book that goes deep and pulls no punches about Walt and the choices he made in Kansas City and the early days in Los Angeles. If you have an interest in scholarly research about Disney, then this is a book you need to own.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Disney History book of 2011, April 22, 2011

By 

Didier Ghez - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Walt before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919-1928 (Hardcover)

The men and women who surrounded Walt in the '20s come to life as never before thanks to Tim Susanin. Meticulously researched and easy to read, Walt Before Mickey is bound to shape the history of Walt's early days for years to come. If you are a serious Disney historian, this is a "must-have."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walt Before Mickey, September 1, 2011

By 

Disneyphile - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Walt before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919-1928 (Hardcover)

Excellent background on Walt Disney's early years. I've read several biographies of Disney and this book, apart from others, does an excellent job of providing details on those very early years. Heavily annotated.