Kevin J.

Crosby

Like father, like son 1

30 August 2001

Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago on December 5, 1901, the year in which the occupancy of the White
House passed to that damned cowboy the exuberant, ebullient Teddy Roosevelt. 2 On the surface, his early years
presented little that was particularly noteworthy. The events of his youth were fairly typical for a midwestern boy
in the 1900s, and seemingly they could have happened to anyone. 3 Named in honor of his father and the local
Congregational minister who baptized him, Walt was the fourth son of Elias and Flora [Call] Disney. 4 He had
three older brothersHerbert (born December 8, 1888), Raymond (born December 30, 1890), and Roy (born June
24, 1893)and a younger sister, Ruth (born December 6, 1903). 5 But as so often is the case, Disney seems to have
learned his behavior from his father. 6
Disneys father was an itinerant neer-do-well. 7 The impassively stern and excessively frugal Elias purchased a
farm in Marceline, [Missouri], 8[in] 1906,when Walt was five years old. 9 [Elias] brother, Robert, owned
several hundred acres near Marceline, and several other relatives lived nearby. 10 Within a few months the two
older brothers, Herbert and Raymond, ran off back to Chicago and by all accounts never were brought back into
Walts life or any of his business ventures. Meanwhile, the young Walt was enchanted by the farm, especially its
animals, both wild and domesticated, by the local railroad, and by the town of Marceline. 11
It has been assumed that Disney embraced the animals around the farm because of lack of companionship in his
family. The forbidding Elias was an active advocate of corporal punishment who never allowed his sons an
allowance or any type of plaything. i Roy was much older and too busy working on the farm, while mother Flora,
exhausted by chores and broken in spirit by her despotic husband, ii ha no time for her young son [ See especially Richard
Schickel, The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1968), pp. 48-54; and Leonard
Mosley, Disneys World (New York: Stein & Day, 1985), pp. 27-32 ]. Walt never learned to play the games of a boy; instead he

anthropomorphized pigsand other creatures into his personal friends. iii His best friend was probably Porker,
the sow he would jump astride and ride. 12 Walt later said:
I guess I really loved that pig. . . . She had an acute sense of fun and mischief. . . . Do you remember the
Foolish Pig in Three Little Pigs? Porker was the model for him [ Leonard Mosley, Disneys World (Lanham, MD:
Scarborough House, 1990), p. 30 ].13

Although Walt would later romanticize this period,the times were actually brutally hard for the family. 14
Because of his endless chores, Disney may have viewed the raw, natural earth as a challenge that drove him to
tame, transform, and order the land to create something productive and useful.
In the summer of 1910, with Walt on the threshold of his impressionable teens, the family moved to Kansas
City. Psychologically immured within his successive failures, father Elias became even more tyrannical, resulting
in his two sons contributing most of the work toward running his extensive newspaper route. Though Roy and
Walt were dragged out of their beds at 3:30 in the morning all year round to deliver newspapers, they received no
wages or allowances.15 [Wal] finally began ordering papers for himself, without his fathers knowledge, in order to
retain such small earnings as he could make. He also got a job in a candy store during the noon recess from school
and apparently kept it, too, secret from his father. 16
Roy Disney recalled a story that his father once told him about his boyhood love for fiddle-playing.
Because Eliass parents didnt approve, he had gone off into the woods and practiced and then sneaked into
the local dance hall to play with other local musicians. At some point his parents got wind of this, however,
and went to the dance hall themselves. They found their son playing the fiddle, and Grandma went up and
grabbed it away from him and busted it to hell over his head, took him by the ear, and marched him home,
Roy related. The devil was in the fiddle, was their notion. Dancing was just evil. However mortified
Elias must have been by this incident, he nonetheless carried many of the same attitudes into his own
adulthood [Roy Disney, interview by Richard Hubler, 17 Nov 1967, 2. See Bob Thomas, Walt Disney: An American Original (New
York, 1976), p. 32; and Walt Disney, interview by Peter Martin and Diane Disney Miller (1956) for the facts of Elias Disneys life].17

[Often] parents were less interested in looking after children than in getting cheap labor to help them with their vast tracts of
land. In some cases children were exploited as badly in houses on the prairie as in the mills of the industrial East.
Evelyn Toynton, Growing Up in America: 1830-1860 (Connecticut: Millbrook Press, 1995), p. 45.
ii
Mothers may be unable to protect children because they themselves are abused and intimidated by tyrannical and domineering
men.
David Finkelhor, Sexual Interactions (Free Press, 1988), p. 59.
iii
This book is no place to go into the psychology of anthropomorphism.
Adrian Bailey, Walt Disneys World of Fantasy (New York: Everest House, 1982), p. 34.

Walt Disneys adolescent years were ruled by a repressive, increasingly cruel father who was incapable of love
and affection.18 He thought nothing of taking a switch to his boys to administer the corrective beatings that
became a part of their daily routine. At the slightest provocation, Elias Disney would march them to the woodshed
and dispense his brutal punishments. 19 Eliass rigid self-righteousness, extreme conservatism, i and suppression of
emotion was mirrored in the strict moral climate of Kansas City during the years the Disneys lived there, 191017.20 Recreation Superintendent Fred McClure and Board of Public Welfare investigator Fred R. Johnson
diligently regulated all types of amusement to dispel any transgressions from a puritanical, sexually repressive
policy of social control.21
In the fluid world of the early twentieth century, where social institutions and moral values were in a state of
transition, however, Eliass worldview was becoming increasingly antiquated. It even encouraged certain selfdestructive tendencies. Walt came to believe that his father was deceived in his various business ventures, for
instance, because he thought everyone was as honest as he was. Eliass hidebound moralism led him to refuse to
use fertilizer on his crops, since putting fertilizer on plants was like putting whiskey in a manhe felt better for a
little while, but then he was worse than before. Such attitudes produced a kind of naivet about the world, a
characteristic that stayed with Elias until late in life [ Don Taylor, interview by David R. Smith, 6 Aug 1971, 2].
Not surprisingly, Eliass severe attitudes gave rise to a child-rearing philosophy of spare the rod and spoil the
child. 22
What the law regards as child abuse, some parents consider discipline. 23 Their dictum, Spare the rod
and spoil the child, may start out with good intentions; but often, that philosophy gets out of hand, and
they spank to an extreme. Children who have been treated harshly cannot help being affected by the hostile
actions of their parents, and when they grow up and have their own children, they find it difficult to be
tolerant; so they respond by being aggressive. Studies by Dr. Shervert Frazier, a psychiatrist at Harvard
Medical School, found some years ago that repeated brutalization as a small child by parents or parent
substitutes turned up in the backgrounds of some people who later killed a relative or family member. ii Dr.
Frazier also found out several other things. One was that the murderers experienced long periods of
loneliness during childhood. Another was that they lacked the ability to play games. Moreover, the
murderers had low feelings of their worth and experienced a good deal of humiliation as children.
Other factors besides being abused as a child play a part, too. One is poor marital adjustment.
According to social-work specialists at the University of Texas at Austin, child abusers tend to be young
parents with marital problems who are psychologically immature [ News release, University of Texas at Austin, 3 March
1980].24
In a landmark 1971 study of the personality characteristics of American priests, psychologist
Eugene Kennedynoted that 57 percent of the 218 priests in his sample had not passed through all
the stages of growth leading to mature behavior and were somehow arrested in their psychological
development. He noted that their lack of maturity involved not just sexual feelings but a poor sense
of personal identity and command of interpersonal relationships. 25 [One result is that] Roman Catholic priests in the United States are dying from AIDS-related illnesses at a rate four times higher
than the general population, and the cause is often concealed on their death certificates, The Kansas
City Star reported [30 January 2000]. 26 When priests [do] tell their superiors, the cases generally are
handled quietly.27
I think this speaks to a failure on the part of the church, said Auxiliary Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton of the Archdiocese of Detroit. Gay priests and heterosexual priests didnt know how to
handle their sexuality, their sexual drive. And so they would handle it in ways that were not
healthy. 28
The Rev. John Keenan, who runs Trinity House, an outpatient clinic in Chicago for priests, said
he believes most priests with AIDS contracted the disease through same-sex relations. He said he
treated one priest who had infected eight other priests. 29
Priest sexual misconduct is a bigger problem than church leaders like to admit. Approximately
3,000 priests, or one in 15 nationwide, are probably guilty of misconduct. Neither clerical celibacy
nor gay priests are major causes of the problem; 30most abusers of boys and young men are in fact
i

He voted consistently for Eugene Debs and subscribed to the Appeal to Reason.
Mike Wallace, Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory (Philadelphia: Temple University Press,
1996), p. 136.
ii
Children will rise against parents and have them put to death. *
Matthew 10.21-22 & Mark 13.12-13, The Bible, Revised Standard Version (New York: American Bible Society, 1970).
*
Jesus was a realist.
Jesus, the realist; U.S. Catholic Church confronts sexual abuse scandal, Commonweal, 17 Dec 1993, 120(22).

married men. 31 [But] pedophile priestsget more mercy from the courts than Protestant clergy and
much more than lay people. 32 Allegations have been lodged against [more than] 400 priests since
1982.33 Instead of going to jail, most priests are sent to one of three church-run treatment centers in
the country.34 There is a vast backlog ofcases. Even where every attempt has been made to
remove guilty priests, more casessurface. 35
The medical literature suggests that during a career of abuse some victimizers may have as
many as 200 or even 300 victims. Others may have fewer victims. 36 [While] fear ke[eps] victims of
sex abusefrom coming forward, 37abuse mayoccur[] at such an early age that the memory is
largely sensory and precognitive. 38 The youngest homicide I ever had was only 54 days old. That
little guy was sexually assaulted and murdered by his father, [recalled King Countys Chief Medical
Investigator, Jerry Webster]. 39
Pope John Paul II said in Denver in August [1993] that he shared the concerns of U.S. bishops
for the pain and suffering caused by the sexual sins of some priests. 40 [On 11 March 2000, he]
apologized for everything the Catholic Church has ever done. Among the wrongdoings specified by
the pope were the Churchs shabby (and sometimes lethal) treatment of Jews and other ethnic
groups, and its position toward women, who are all too often humiliated and emarginated. Among
the misdeeds left unspecified were the Churchs role in the freakish overpopulation of the planet, and
the distended anuses of all those alter boys.41
Alcohol or drug abuse is another consideration [Ibid.].42
Verbal abuse, rejection, or neglect can be just as devastating to a child as a blow. Dr. El Newberger,
director of the Family Development Clinic at the Childrens Hospital Medical Center in Boston, 43 [stated]:
Parents should never resort to physical force. i There are positive, loving ways to teach acceptable behavior.
Sparing the rod does not mean spoiling the child. We as a society can help prevent child abuse by rejecting
violence as a method for resolving human conflict. We have everything to gain by raising the next
generation in peace [News release, Childrens Hospital Medical Center, Boston, 20 April 1983 ].44
If you have a child (and it is naughty), do not strike it. In older times if a child was naughty the
parents did not strike it, but made the child fast. When he is quite hungry he will reflect upon his
disobedience. If you hit him you will merely put more naughtiness into him. It is also said that
women (mothers, etc.) should not lecture the children, that they merely make the children bad by
admonishing them. Thus it would be, those who admonish us declare. Likewise, if your husband
says (scolds) anything to the children, do not take their part for then they will become very bad
indeed. That is why you should not take their part. 45 If you wish to take the childrens part,take
good care of them and think of the best means of letting your children get to know you. When you
are bringing up children, do not imagine that you are taking their part if you just speak about loving
them. Let them see it for themselves. Let them see (what love is) by seeing you give things away to
the poor. Then they will see your good deeds and then they will know whether you have been telling
the truth or not. 46
He ran his household with an iron fist and did not shrink from imposing his authority by physical punishment.
Old-fashioned to the core, he disciplined all his children, particularly his youngest son. 47 As a cousin said, Elias
was very strict with Walt, and he administered frequent beatings [ Martin/Miller interview, Reel 5, 41; and Alice Disney Allen,
interview by David R. Smith, 5 Oct 1972, notes].
Walts encounter with his fathers rigid moral and political principles triggered a highly ambivalent response.
Full of love and resentment in equal proportions, eager both to please and to escape Elias, the sensitive boy
developed a deep-seated tension over paternal authority. In almost a litera sense, it haunted him. In his recurring
nightmare of forgetting to deliver some of the newspapers on his Kansas City route, his dad would be waiting up
at that corner to punish him for laxness. Ward Kimball, a Disney Studio animator and close friend, felt that his
boss never got over his fathers strictness, which in Kimballs view negatively influenced Walts relation to other
people. Yet Diane Miller recalled that her father talked of Elias constantly and often with great affection. He
i

Violence in America has hit children hard: In 1995, a child died of neglect or abuse every seven hours. *
Marian Wright Edelman (Childrens Defense Fund), in Michael Ryan, How to stand for children, The Seattle Times/Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, 9 Feb 1997, Parade, p. 8.
*
According to the 1995 Report of The United States Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, at least 2,000 children each
year, more than five per day, die at the hands of parents or caretakers. And of those who do not die from abuse and neglect
each year, 18,000 children are left permanently disabled and 142,000 are seriously injured.
Jan Collins Stucker and Jan L. Warner, Child-abuse statistics are astounding, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 28 Aug
1995.

loved his dad. He thought he was tough . . . But he loved that old man [Diane Disney Miller, interview by Richard Hubler,
11 June 1968, Reel 11, 22; and Ward Kimball, interview by Richard Hubler, 4 June 1968, 5 ].48, i
This complex confrontation with Elias and his world surfaced again and again in Walts psyche. Throughout
his life he was eager to discuss his father. On the one hand, his comments were filled with affection and
admiration for the old mans virtuesthe commitment to his familys welfare, the gritty work ethic, the respect for
education and good citizenship. On the other hand, however, resentment of the elder Disneys authoritarianism
would bubble out with little prompting. Walt often told how Elias tried to force him to learn the fiddle so he would
always be able to earn some money as a musician. The boy had no talent for it; he had trouble with holding his
right arm in the correct position for bowing. But his father insisted, and he used to slap the hell out of me to get
that elbow down. When Walt helped with the carpentry as the family added space to their house, Elias frequently
exploded. Walt recalled this episode some forty years later: My dad was an impatient person. But he knew what
he wanted to do and expected you to know just what he wanted to do . . . [and if I faltered] hed get mad, you see.
And hed start after me. And my dad was the kind of guy whod pick up anything near him . . . Hed pick up a
saw and try to hit you with the broad side of the saw. Hed pick up a hammer, you know, and hit you with the
handle. The boy finally had enough of such treatment and walked off the construction job in anger [ Martin/Miller
interview, Reel 3, 61-62, 57].
Eliass physical intimidation seems to have left deep scars on his sons emotional makeup. 49 Walt Disney was
a bundle of contradictions. 50 His personality is an enigma to anyone forced to rely on reminiscences and published
accounts. At times, Walt almost seems to have been a human Rorschach test: everyone who worked with him saw
something different in him. 51 The personal Disney will always be difficult to define (he was a very complicated
man, in his collaborators unanimous opinion). Some accused him of being a harsh speculator, or just a manager
unable to draw. With his employees, he was often impenetrable, distant and brusque, and considered those who left
or who opposed his will to be traitors. 52

Like any farm boy, he had learned about sex at an early age. 53 Disney openly admitted that during his
adolescent years girls wer of no interest; in fact they were simply a nuisance. He is reported to have commented,
I was normal, but girls bored me. They still do. Their interests are just different [ Father Goose, Time, 27 Dec 1954, 64,
p. 44]. This attitude may well have been formed by the nearly total lack of affection in his family. Only with his
brother Roy is there any evidence of companionship and attachment. 54
Roy Disney, eight years his senior, was his confidant and mentor. 55 Often Walt would fall asleep huddled close
to his older brother, wondering aloud if the man who beat them could really be their father and why their mother
never stepped in to stop the abuse.56 When we were kids, Disney told one of his associates many years later,
Roy and I slept in the same bed. I used to wetthe bed and Ive been pissing up Roys leg ever since. 57
Other times, during the day, to see if [Wal] bore any resemblance to his mother, he would sneak into her
bedroom, put on her clothes and make up his face and then stand in front of the mirror. 58 There was no time for
frivolous attention to girls. 59
Walt experienced genuine disillusionment during his Red Cross duty. When they disembarked in France, the
contingent of young ambulance drivers was indoctrinated about the danger of picking up venereal disease. Those
horrible slides made a strong impact on Disney, and prompted him to say even forty years later, Thats when you
begin to hate women [Martin/Miller interview, Reel 4, 11, Reel 5, 31 ].60
Following[his] brief stintat the end of World War I, young Walt 61met and began a collaborationwith
the shyUbbe Iwwerks, who at Disneys suggestion slightly shortened his name to Ub Iwerks. 62 The two eighteenyear-olds established Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists in January 1920 (the original name was Disney-Iwerks,
but they decided that sounded like an optical company). 63 By working onshorts, Disney learned the basic
techniques of moving pictures and animation. 64 Within weeks of mastering the camera, Disney began making
original animated films in the family garage after work [at the Kansas City Film Ad Company]. 65 Eventually, Walt
became convinced he was good enough to compete with Kansas City Ad. Using the name Laugh-O-Grams, 66a
twenty-one-year-old Walt, with Ubs approval, took the remaining assets of Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists and
officially merged them with Laugh-O-Grams. 67 After completing a set of cartoons, he sold them to the Newman
Theater under the title of Newman Laugh-O-Grams [ Katherine and Richard Greene, The Man Behind the Magic: The Story of
Walt Disney (New York: Viking/Penguin, 1991), p. 35 ].68 Unfortunately, in the middle of production, Disney completely ran
out of money. When he called Roy in California to describe his troubles, Roy told him, Kid, I think you should get

Why can a period of our life be felt as very sad, and yet be sweet and beautiful in remembrance?
Frederik van Eeden, A Study of Dreams, in Proceedings from Social Psychology Research, 1913, 26, in Charles T. Tart,
ed., Altered States of Consciousness, 3rd ed. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1969, 1972, 1990), p. 181.

out of there [Bob Thomas, Disneys Art of Animation (New York: Hyperion, 1991), p. 34 ].69 [Walts] feelings of failure led him to
borrow a page out of Eliass manual of real life, and he decided to skip town. 70, i
When Walt first came to Hollywood he had no intention of continuing to make animated cartoons. 71 Walt
intended to be a movie director in one of the big studios. It was only after his money ran outthat he was forced
to return to the one thing that previously had paid his bills. 72 Walt had onefilm, Alices Wonderland, and when
he sent it off to a cartoon distributor he was surprised to receive, in return, a contract for twelve more films. 73 [Ub
was] lured from Kansas City on the promise of a partnership, but as Dave Handput it, They were partners, but
Walt was the boss. 74 The two partners 75[had produced] a steady stream of films with titles like [Alice and the
Dog Catcher,76] Alice and the Wild West Show, Alice Cans the Cannibals, Alice Chops the Suey, and Alice Foils
the Pirates.77 Although crude, the Alice films clearly revealed Disneys major talent, that is, his apt blending of
live and animated action and his uncanny ability to recognize and exploit the potential of a technological advance.
Roys marriage to longtime sweetheart Edna Francis, and Walts resultant loss of his roommate and cook,
served as the catalyst for Walt to look around for a wife. 78 At first, Walt simply refused to believe Roy would
actually go through with the wedding and break up the teamuntil Roys childhood sweetheart, Edna Francis,
arrived in Hollywood with her mother. He then took his brothers decision as an act of abandonment, convinced
that nothing could ever be the same between them. His rage manifested itself in a series of personal criticisms
directed at his brother. For the first time, he complained of Roys general sloppiness around the apartment and
constantly harped on him about his lack of personal hygiene. His uncleanliness, Walt told him, was a sure sign of
his godlessness.
Ironically, before Roy had broken the news of his impending marriage, cleanliness was not something for which
Walt had shown much of an affinity. He had thought nothing of lifting the lid off the corner garbage can, bending
over and putting his face into the trash. He would become fascinated by the patterns the crawling maggots ii made
as they swarmed over the rotted food. He would draw the designs onto a small pad to use in some future cartoon.
For a while, looking to avoid a sense of loneliness and loss, Walt even considered moving in with his animator,
Ub Iwerks. But he dropped this idea when he began spending greater amounts of time at Lillian Bounds
workstation in the painting department, volunteering tips on how to improve her inking. One night, while 79
working overtime, he leaned over the desk as she was taking dictation and kissed her [ See Thomas, American Original, pp.
77-78; Diane Miller and Lillian Disney, Martin/Miller interview, Reel 8, 44-49, 50-52, 65-67; and Lillian Disney, interview by Steven Watts, 18 Aug
1993].80

The next day, he asked Roy, who managed their budding animation business, for a $120 advance$40 to buy
the new suit he would need to wear at his wedding and the rest for a ring. Roy was so happy, he insisted they save
money and purchase the ring from the same illegal fence who had sold him Ednas. The next day, Walt proposed,
Lillian accepted, and they immediately set a date. 81, iii
In April 1925 she served as the maid of honor for Edna Francis when she wed Roy Disney, and a few months
later, on July 13, she and Walt were married at her brothers house in Lewiston, [Idaho] [ Ibid.].82 Her mother was
the only other member of either family to attend. Walt did not invite his parentsor Roy, whom he still resented
for marrying Edna. After the ceremony, the newlyweds boarded a train for Los Angeles. 83
Both Mosley and Schickel report that Disney developed a toothache on his wedding night aboard a Pullman
train and spent time not with his bride but with a porter polishing passengers shoes [ Mosley, Disneys World, 1985, p. 89;
and Schickel, Disney Version, p. 110].84 Upon arriving in L.A., the honeymoon couple transferred to a steamer bound for
Seattle. It wasnt until they got to Washington that Walt relaxed enough to be able to consummate his marriage.
But the next day, he cut short their honeymoon, claiming an emergency at the studio required his immediate
return. 85
At about the same time as their marriages, Walt and Roy decided to draw out their meager savings to build a
new, spacious studio.86 When the facility was completed, 87he calmly informed him the name of the business was
being changed from the Disney Brothers Studios to the Walt Disney Studios, iv claiming a single name was more
i

Pa always had ants in his pants, said Walt Disneys brother Roy about their father Elias Disney. He could never stay in one
place long enough to warm a seat [Leonard Mosley, Disneys World (Lanham, MD: Scarborough House, 1990), p. 24 ].
Michael D. Cole, People to Know: Walt Disney: Creator of Mickey Mouse (Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publ., Inc., 1996), p. 9.
ii
Maggots pour digestive enzymes into soft tissue, breaking it down into a fluid that they then suck into their gut, absorbing the
nutrients.
David C. Houston, To the vultures belong the spoils; In New World rain forests, scavenging specialists win the carrion
sweepstakes, Natural History, Sep 1994, 103(9), p. 36.
iii
Walt always used to say I was such a bad secretary he had to marry me.
Lillian Disney, quoted in Amy Boothe Green and Howard E. Green, Remembering Walt: Favorite Memories of Walt Disney
(New York: Hyperion, 1999), p. 11.
iv
In 1926, three years after launching Disney Brothers Studio, the companys name was changed to Walt Disney Studios. Later,
in 1929, the company became Walt Disney Productions.

appealing. Roy shrugged his shoulders, his standard signature of wordless compliance. Unlike Walt, he had no
taste for fame.88 It was from this point that Roy was forced to take a backseat while Walt took charge. 89

The Mouse i
As a cartoon character, Mickey Mouse is approaching Social Security age. 90 As an expression, Mickey Mouse
remains as current as the news. But it has a different meaning from the one it had when the character was born. 91
Mickey Finn (
) n. Slang. An alcoholic beverage that is surreptitiously altered to induce diarrhea
or stupefy, render unconscious or otherwise incapacitate the person who drinks it. ii [Origin unknown.]
Mickey Mouse adj. 1.a. Slang. Unimportant; trivial: Its a Mickey Mouse operation compared to what
goes on in Lyons or Paris (Jack Higgins). b. Slang. Irritatingly petty: the schools Mickey Mouse
requirements for graduation. 2. Slang. Intellectually unchallenging; simple: His Mickey Mouse
assignments soon bored the students. 3. Music. a. Blandly sentimental. Used of popular compositions and
performers. b. Relating to a soundtrack that accompanies the action in an unsubtle, melodramatic way
suggestive of music written for animated films [ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 3rd ed.].92
U.S. Military Slang. Anything that is unnecessary or unimportant [ The Barnhart Dictionary of New English].93
On a train trip from New York to Los Angeles, Walt reminisced about a pet mouse he had keptand began to
sketch a perky rodent with pointed snout and round belly 94he called Mortimer Mouse. Lillian made a face.
Not Mortimer, she said. Its too formal. How about Mickey? 95 According to Dave Iwerks, Ubs son,when
Walt arrived back in Hollywood,he had only the vaguest idea of a new character. He and Ub put their ideas
down on character sheets. Walt brought in his own proposed sketch of a mouse, which Iwerks rejected because it
looked too much like Walt. Walt then confessed he had indeed used his own face as a model. 96
Taking several drawings of Oswald Rabbit, iii Ub changed the ears a bit, rounded the eyes and turned him into
Mickey.97 Basically, ear shapes distinguished one round character from another; remove the pointed ears and add
two oblong ones and Felix, 98the most popular toon star of the 1920s, 99becameOswald; substitute two round
circles, and Oswald begatMickey.
Walt knew instinctivelythe tyranny of the circle. 100 Walt grinned when he realized just how easy it was going
to be simply to steal a character like Oswald. 101 And, having learned firsthand the way the movie business
operated, that was exactly what he did. 102
In an almost arrogant fashion, Disney adopted, then reworked, some of the most endearing and classical
fairy tales of all time. Grist for a mighty mill, Schickel described it, in the ineffable Hollywood term.
Disney, Schickel said, treated these classics as properties to do with as the proprietor of the machine
would [Gary Kinnaman, Angels Dark and Light (Ann Arbor, MI: Vine Books, 1994), pp. 144-145].103

Ron Grover, The Disney Touch: Disney, ABC & the Quest for the Worlds Greatest Media Empire, Revised ed. (Chicago,
Irwin Professional Publ., 1997), p. 2.
i
Mickey Mouse . . . Mikki Hiiri . . . Miki Kuchi . . . Miguel Ratoncito . . . Topolino . . . Mikke Mus . . . Musse Pigg . . .
Camondongo Mickey . . . El Ratn Mickey . . . El Ratn Miguelito[Michael Maus *Michel SourisMikki Maus Michel
Souris Mik-kii Ma-u-su ].
David Bain and Bruce Harris, eds., Mickey Mouse: Fifty Happy Years (New York: Harmony Books, 1977), p. 7.
*
Richard Schickel, The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney, 3rd ed. (Chicago: Elephant
Paperbacks, 1968, 1985, 1997), p. 166.

Herbert E. Nass, Esq., Wills of the Rich & Famous: A Fascinating Look at the Rich, Often Surprising Legacies of Yesterdays
Celebrities (New York: Warner Books, 1991), p. 179.

Douglass Gomery, Disneys Business History: A Reinterpretation, in Eric Smoodin, ed., Disney Discourse: Producing the
Magic Kingdom (New York: Routledge, 1994), p. 74.

Robert De Roos, The Magic Worlds of Walt Disney, National Geographic, Aug 1963, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 48.
ii
Make her drink a Mickey Finn.
Charles Strouse (music) and Martin Charnin (lyrics), Its The Hard-Knock Life, Annie (Edwin H. Morris & Co. and
Charles Strouse, 1977), based on Little Orphan Annie.
iii
There was nothing unique about Oswald the Rabbit. He was a typical cartoon character of the period, only recognizable as a
rabbit inasmuch as he was less like any other creature known to man.
Robert D. Field, The Art of Walt Disney (New York: Macmillan Co., 1942), p. 30.

Plane Crazy i and Gallopin Gaucho, the first Mickey Mouse catoons, appeared in 1928 to polite but
unenthusiastic audiences.104 The problem was that they were silent movies. 105 In late 1927, just before Mickeys
debut, the first talkie, The Jazz Singer, opened in New York. Disney immediately jumped on the new technologies
for sound effects and music. 106, ii
Music is undoubtedly the most important additionmade to the picture. It can do more to bring a
production to life, to give it integrity, sytle, emphasis, meaning, and unity than any other single
ingredient. 107 Music can build tension n commonplace scenes or ease it in ones that have become visually
too frightening. 108 A song that catches the exact mood or the sequence and expresses it in a fresh and
memorable way will do wonders for the film. 109
Good sound effects will add life and excitement to a film, whereas drab, ordinary sounds will quicly
drain what life might be in the action. 110 Many times it is necessary to run the recorded track through some
of the sound equipment, to reverberate it, or take out the lows, or speed it up, or combine it with other
sounds.111
Occasionally the sound effects man is asked to come up with a sound for something that cannot possibly
make a sound of its own: for instance, 112the sound for a giant magnet. This actually was intended for a
ride at Walt Disney World, but Marc Davis, who had helped develop the ride, knew from his years of
animation training that the key factor in making the whole idea work was to have just the right sound. He
called Jim [Macdonald] out of retirement to find it. The fascinating thing is that Jim went right to objects
that make no sound! That is, no sound the human ear can detect. A heavy-duty soldering iron ooperating
on 60 cycles held close to the microphone gave off a very low, rhythmic hum. A de-magnetizer used for
taking static electricity out of scissors before cutting tape gave off another sound that barely could be
recorded, and, finally, Jim got a large cymbal and gently brushed a tiny piece of cotton against its edge. No
sound could be detected on the stage, but the tape machine was picking up strange vibrations. These three
sounds were taken to the dubbing panel in the theater, where the tracks were mixed and switched and
altered, and raised in volume until the sound could be heard by human ears. It was a slow, pulsing,
indefinable sound, and it started to make everyone there sick. 113 But Jim continued to play with his sounds,
feeling like a mad inventor, until he had them at the provocative stage just short of producing illness and
just past recognition of it as a sound at all. It was more of a feeling, and it felt like a magnet should
sound!114
In March 1928, work began on Steamboat Willie,115, iii[with] Disney himself serv[ing] asthe preadolescent,
high-pitched voice of Mickey;116its creation shrouded in secrecy behind the closed doors of Iwerks tiny office. A
wall of distrust now stood between the soon-to-depart animators and those who had chosen to stay. Among those
who remained loyal, Walt trusted only Iwerks. With ever greater frequency, Iwerks was assigned to bring to
animated life the characters Walt had in mind, a job that ultimately became the expression of what was truly the
character of Walts mind. 117
Steamboat Willie, inspired by the title of a recent Buster Keaton success Steamboat Bill, Jr.,118premiered just
months before the economic collapse of the late twenties that signaled the onset of the Great Depression. 119 As the
Great Depression gripped the nation, Americans attended the movies in droves, finding in them escape and
enjoyment. 120 Wall Streets tumble produced a resurgence of dozens of civic-minded organizations, supported by
i

[In Plane Crazy, Mickey Mouse] lecherously lusted after his girlfriend Minnie Mouse and refused to ease off when she
rejected his advances.
Kathy Merlock Jackson, Walt Disney: A Bio-Bibliography (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993), p. 16.
ii
Disneys approach to sound was as painstakingly precise as his approach to animation. He did not just want to add sound, as
was being done in some cartoons, he wanted to synchronize the sound with the action. But of course animated drawings dont
make any sound, so a method of synchronizing sound with the movements of animated characters had to be developed.
David Tietyen, The Musical World of Walt Disney (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Publ., 1990), p. 13.
iii
The first recording session for Steamboat Willie was a disaster, because the conductor failed to appreciate the importance of
following to the letter the precise tempo markings, but once that was grasped, soundtrack and cartoon action fitted as snugly as
a Mickey glove. * Indeed, to this day the technique of precise co-ordination of musical soundtrack to the movement on the
screen is called, in movie slang, Mickey Mousing.
Neil Sinyard, The Best of Disney (New York: Portland House, 1988), p. 18.
*
Steamboat Willie was not the first cartoon with a soundtrack. The Fleischer brothers had made some experimental sound
cartoons a few years earlier, and at least one sound cartoonPaul Terrys Aesops Fable called Suppertimehad been released
in 1928, shortly before Steamboat Willie. But as a contemporary review put it, Steamboat Willie was the first animated
cartoon made especially for sound production, and as such it illustrates the perfection of synchronization that is possible when
pictures are constructed especially for sound accompaniment [Daily Review [New York], 19 Nov 1928].
J. Michael Barrier, Building a Better Mouse: Fifty Years of Animation (Washington: Library of Congress, 1978), p. 4.

many in the federal government who believed the countrys financial decline was the inevitable result of its moral
one.121
In 1910, [Thomas Alva] Edison i formed the first motion picture alliance, which came to be known as
the Trust. Its purpose was to protect the public (and his own financial interests) from the kind of
immoral trash produced by what he termed the Jewish profiteers, who not only ran the 122new centurys
first novelty, street-corner nickelodeons, amusement parlors that first appeared on New Yorks Lower East
Side;123but made their own movies to show in them.
The Trust was publicly dedicated to the preservation of the industrys moral integrity and privately
devoted to protecting Edisons monopoly. Not only were nickelodeon operators and filmmakers denied
membership in the Trust, but they were prevented from buying raw film stock and projection equipment, all
of which Edison held patents on and absolutely controlled.
In response, an independent group of mostly immigrant Jewish filmmakers, led by Carl Laemmle,
formed their own distribution organization, or exchange, as they called it. They organized an effective, if
illegal, underground to import foreign raw film stock and equipment that allowed them to keep making
movies
By 1912, the films of Laemmle and his partners had become more popular than those of the Trust.
Edison, frustrated by his inability to wipe out his competition, resorted to hiring goon squads. They
smashed the nickelodeon arcades and set block-long fires in the neighborhoods that housed them. All the
while Edison justified his actions in the name of preserving the nations morals.
The mob tactics of the Trust caused the independents to put as much distance between themselves and
Edison as possible. One by one, they migrated west, until they reached California. 124 They put on the
screen what sold the most. The public was willing to pay to see films filled with sex and violence, and
Hollywood was more than happy to make them.
By the early twenties, all that remained of Edisons Trust was the issue it had raised regarding the moral
content of motion pictures. The federal government kept a close watch on Hollywood, the new capital of the
film industry, to make sure the movies it produced remained socially acceptable.
However, Hollywoods moguls had no idea what was meant by socially acceptable films. They didnt
know if their movies were moral or immoral and couldnt have cared less; 125which, of course, was
precisely the problem. 126 By 1924, there were those who were adamantly opposed to any sort of regulation
of film. Charlie Chaplin spoke for many that year when he came out against what he termed the [Motion
Picture Producers and Distributors of Americas] brand of Presbyterian censorship.
Still, for the next several years, as the country prospered, the movie industry and the government
coexisted in relative peace, until the financial collapse of Wall Street brought renewed pressure on the
government from the most powerful interests in the private sector to regulate the moral content of motion
pictures. 127 In 1929, needing a hot issue to boost his newspapers sagging circulations, William Randolph
Hearst ran a series of editorials demanding the revival of federal censorship to regulate the growing
immorality of motion pictures. No friend of either Jews or the film industry, he considered newsreels, ii
shown in effect free along with the features, a threat to his newspapers.
Hearsts campaign received much support in Congress, where the definition of movie morality had
expanded through the years to include not only sexual provocation but political subversion. 128 What
Hollywood desperately needed was a new hero who not only extolled the right virtues but understood what
they were in the first place. What Hollywood got, as if on cue, was Walt Disneys Steamboat Willie.129
i

One distasteful episode in Edisons professional life: In 1888, he electrocuted dozens of cats and dogs by getting them to walk
onto a sheet of tin which was supplied with one thousand volts of electricity. He bought animals from schoolboys, no questions
asked, for twenty-five cents eachresulting in fewer pets in West Orange, New Jersey. It was part of Edisons scare campaign
against alternating currentwhich was being championed by a rival, George Westinghouse.
Edisons lab helpfully volunteered to research how much current was needed to cause death in a human. He began zapping
calves and horses to death. Despite Edisons tireless research, however, the electric chair that it inspired was anything but
painless and humane. When the authorities tried to westinghouse Charles McElvaine in 1892, he wouldnt die. He writhed
in pain as they jolted him first for twenty-two seconds, finally for seventy-two seconds, until smoke came from his head and
body and he finally died. The New York Times called it an awful spectacle, far worse than hanging.
Jack Mingo, The Juicy Parts: Things Your History Teacher Never Told You About the 20th Centurys Most Famous People
(New York: Perigee, 1996), pp. 75, 76.
ii
Mickey appeared opposite newsreels showing not only such domestic idols as Henry Ford, Joe DiMiggio, and Lou Gehrig, but
also such international celebrities as Madame Chiang Kai-shek. The mouse, then, acted as a constant element in two bills that
represented fictional China and the documentary one; thus, Mickey was at home on bills presenting all manners of heroes,
certainly benefiting from their status but also undoubtedly contributing to it.
Eric Smoodin, Animating Culture: Hollywood Cartoons from the Sound Era (Oxford: Roundhouse Publ., 1993), p. 67.

There was a certain irony in this, since Disney appears to have sharedsome of the anti-Semitism that was
common to his generation and place of origin. His studio was notably lacking in Jewish employees, and at
least once he presented a fairly vicious caricature of the Jew on screen. 130 [Walt] didnt trust Jews or blacks,
equating both groups with Communism. 131 Roosevelt called this the Century of the Common Man, he
told associates. Balls! Its the century of the Communist cutthroat, the fag, and the whore! 132
Disney[s]political conservatism 133he supported Barry Goldwater i in 1964 and contributed to the
campaign funds of several conservative Republican candidates for office, ii among them George Murphy and
Ronald Reagan 134, iiiwas the result of a street fight. As he told it, his family was strongly Republican in its
leaning, while most of the neighborhood was persuaded toward the Democrats. One day on the way home
from school, he was ganged up on, beaten and forced to submit to what can be described only as a quasisexual assault by some Democratic kids. 135 From that day on, he had never been able even to rationally
consider the possibility of voting for anyone but a Republican.
What is odd about Disneys recital of the incident is that he had told his daughter that his father had
been a socialist. 136 [But] even if his story were pure fantasy, it is an interesting one, expressing a need to
create an intense and deep-rooted emotional justification for his political views. 137
The original Mickey was a rambunctious, even slightly sadistic fellow.iv In a remarkable sequence, exploiting
the exciting new development of sound, Mickey and Minnie pummel, squeeze, and twist the animals on board to
produce a rousing chorus of Turkey in the Straw. They honk a duck with a tight embrace, crank a goats tail,
tweak a pigs nipples, v bang a cows teeth as a stand-in xylophone, and play bagpipe on her udder. 138
The similarity of cow udders to human erogenous zones (female breasts in function, male genitalia in
body location) was capitalized upon often in[early] cartoons. 139 Later, the Hays Office was to insist that
Disney cows be udderless and, indeed, it was actively suggested that they find some suitable form of
apparel. 140
During the 1930s, Mickey was gradually relegated to the role of Mr. Niceguy.141 Although he had started out as
a troublemaker with a mean streak, he was now settling into the role as the boy next door. Where he used to
engage in questionable antics, such as using a crane to pick Minnie up by her panties in Steamboat Willie, he was
now expected to act with the moral integrity benefitting a symbol of America. 142 Christopher Finch, in his
semiofficial pictorial history of Disneys work, comments: The Mickey Mouse who hit the movie houses in the
late twenties was not quite the well-behaved character most of us are familiar with today. He was mischievous, to
say the least, and even displayed a streak of cruelty [ Christopher Finch, The art [sic] of Walt Disney (New York: H.N. Abrams,
1975)].143 Time magazine in 1954 described the original rodent as a skinny little squeaker with matchstick legs,
shoe button eyes and a long, pointy nose. His teeth were sharp and fierce when he laughed, more like a real
mouses than they are today. Mickeys disposition, too, matched his teeth; he was cocky and cruel, at best a fresh
and bratty kid, at worst a diminutive and sadistic monster [ Schickel, Disney Version, p. 129]. Mickey not only became

Barry Goldwater may have been the father of modern conservatism, buthe was for gay rights and abortion rights and most
everything else opposed by the Christian Coalition wing of his party.
Chuck Raasch (Gannett News Service), Though he lost in a landslide, Goldwaters legacy is immense, The Seattle Times,
30 May 1998, 121(129), p. A3.
ii
Walt and Roy supported Richard Nixon * and other Red-hunters of the 1950s with campaign donations.
Bob Thomas, Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire (New York: Hyperian,
1998), p. 267.
*
At Disneyworld [sic] in Florida,President ["Tricky Dick" Nixon] told an audience of editors on national TV, I am not a
crook."
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, All the President's Men (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974, 1975), p. 365.
iii
When the Screen Actors Guilds board of directors in 1981 refused to give then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan its lifetime
achievement award, it was primarily for the chief execs anti-labor actions, but some members still had bitter feelings about his
anti-Communist stance and cooperation with the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the Blacklist.
Ted Johnson, Little union unity on subject of Commies, Variety, 9-15 Sep 1996, 364(6), p. 124.
iv
The life and ventures of Mickey Mouse have been closely bound up with my own personal and professional life.
Walt Disney, quoted in Charles Solomon, The Disney That Never Was: The Stories and Art from Five Decades of
Unproduced Animation (New York: Hyperion, 1995), p. 31.
v
A segment in which he plays the song by turning the mother pig over and poking her teats as if they were accordion buttons
was later cutso the film would not offend anyone when it was shown on television.
Karl F. Cohen, Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America (Jefferson, NC: McFarland
& Co., Inc., 1997), p. 10.

rounder i and cuter over the years ii but also quickly became well-behaved, iii for Disney soon recognized that
audiences were unwilling to accept a transgressive cartoon mouse-hero. Mickey should be on a pedestal; Donald
Duck iv would soon become the repository of mischief and anger. 144
Q. Why were Donald Duck comic books once banned in Finland?
A. Authorities thought it unwise to show children a hero who ran around without any pants on. 145
The Chilean novelist Ariel Dorfmancriticized the Donald Duck cartoons set in foreign lands for their
disrespectful attitude toward the Third World. And Disney ha[s] been accused of promulgating loose
morals: according to the Wall Street Journal, a youth committee in Helsinki once persuaded the city council
to cancel library subscriptions to Donald Duck comics because Donald and Daisy were unmarried; because
the parentage of Hewey, Dewey, and Louiethe three mischievous nephewswas unknown; v and because
Donalds short sailor suit left his rear exposed. Even on the occasion of his birthday [9 June 1984], Donald
Duck did not escape criticism: That spring the National Coalition on Television Violence issued a report
ranking his cartoons among the most violent on television and singling out for special condemnation the
frequent spankings he administered to his nephews. 146 I was particularly disturbed by the Donald Duck
and his nephews cartoons which promote spanking as the appropriate and only way to discipline children,
wrote Thomas Radecki, M.D.147
Donald Duck should be thankful he isnot a real bird at Walt Disney Worlds Island zoological
park. After a two-month investigation by the Florida game and freshwater commission, the state
attorneys office and the Federal Governmentfiled suit against the company and five employees for
alleged cruelty to animals. 148 Game officials, alerted to the situationby an anonymous phone tip,
were horrified to discover 18 dehydrated black vultures and one carcass stuffed into a small airless
shed without adequate food or water; employees admitted that the shed once held more than 70
birds.149 The company was charged with 16 counts of animal cruelty in 1989. 150 Among the charges:
firing rifles at hawks, beating vultures to death with sticks, and disturbing the nests and eggs of
egrets. 151
A well-behaved and groomed mouse could not include comicality among his qualities. It was necessary to
surround him with less respectable co-stars, capable of producing laughter. 152 But Mickey remained a large-eared
alter-ego of his creator, in voice, facial appearance, and most notably in subtle psychic traits. 153, vi Like the man
who created him, Mickey had become more conservative, better behaved, no longer irascible. He was also less lovable.154
The indifference and violence of Walts youth shaped the adult man whose only passion was ceaseless work and
who never stopped trying to create an idyllic, if illusory, eternal childhood free of anything threatening, including
forces that contribute to growth. 155 In short, [h]e, like Mickey, never gr[e]w up although we, alas, do grow old. 156
Inevitably, it was Iwerks who would most feel the stings of the self-described King Bees intense desire to take all
of the creative credit. More than once during the development of Mickey Mouse, Roy took Walt aside to urge him
to give proper credit to Iwerks. 157
The character was always drawn by Ub Iwerks. 158 For many years, the general moviegoing public was
under the impression that Walt Disney did all the work on his pictures. Unlike other animation studios,
i

This baby roundness had a subliminal effect that made him appealing.
John Cawley and Jim Korkis, Cartoon Superstars (Las Vegas, NV: Pioneer Book, Inc., 1990), p. 122.
ii
Mickey and Minnie Mouse of the 1930s have the look of pot-bellied rodents. Early Mickey and Minnie Mouse are in
direct contrast to their latter day counter-parts who are pink faced, more humanoid, and minus the tail. The pie eyes were filled
with black circles.
Michael Stern, Sterns Guide to Disney Collectibles, 2nd series (Paducah, KY: Collector Books, 1991), p. 10.
iii
By 1940, the former tweaker of pigs nipples gets a kick in the ass for insubordination (as the Sorcerers Apprentice in
Fantasia). By 1953, his last cartoon, he has gone fishing and cannot even subdue a squirting clam.
Stephen Jay Gould, The Pandas Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History (New York: W.W. Norton, 1980), p. 98.
iv
Who were Donalds parents? No one even knows their names.
Walt Disneys The Life of Donald Duck (Bedford, MA: Applewood Books, 1941, 1994), p. 3.
v
Evidence that the kids have a father! Dear Donald, writes cousin Della (she was Dumbella in the film), I am sending
your angel nephews Louie, Huey, and Dewey to stay with you while their father is in the hospital. A giant firecracker exploded
under his chair . . . the little darlings are so playful. . . .
Marcia Blitz, Donald Duck (New York: Harmony Books, 1979), p. 174.
vi
Mickeys our problem child.
Walt Disney, quoted in Roy Pikard, The Hollywood Studios (London: Frederick Muller Ltd., 1978), p. 240; and in Blitz,
Donald Duck, p. 13.

10

Disney films carried no screen credits. 159 Walt Disney ceased doing any of the actual drawing for his films
in 1924, instead concentrating on the production and business aspects of his enterprise. 160 Walt Disney is
creditedas being the father of classic American animation, but the body of work created with this
technique was the business of entire studios of artists, filmmakers, businessmen, and technicians. 161
By way of reply, Walt would angrily remind Roy that his job was just to watch the books.
And the situation didnt improve after November 18, 1928, when Steamboat Willie opened at the Colony
Theater as the curtain-raiser for the feature talkie Gang War.162, i The overnight success of Mickeys debut turned
Walt Disney into Hollywoods newest boy wonder. The press elevated his singular achievementmaking cartoons
talkto those of Henry Ford ii and Charles Lindbergh. 163, iii Mickeys soaring popularity,164with a supporting cast
that included his girlfriend Minnie and his dog Pluto, 165, iveclipsed not only his closest animated rivals, Felix the
Cat v and Oswald, but such human performers as Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, vi Al Jolson, and even the once
untouchable Charlie Chaplin, 166one of the celebrities Walt Disney used to model the mouse. 167
In 1931 and 1932, Mickey Mouse became a fixture in department stores across the country. Mickey Mouse
items began to be grouped together in toy departments, and given their own separate displays [ Letter from Carl Sollmann
to Roy O. Disney, Borgfelt Files, the Walt Disney Archives, 27 Aug 1931 ]. And Mickey Mouse became the prominent figure in
store windows targeted at the young consumer. 168 The variety of toys and other merchandise licensed to carry the
image of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters grew rapidly to almost incalculable proportions. 169
From the birth of Mickey, the Walt Disney Studio stayed in high gear, producing along with the mouse
cartoons vii the Silly Symphonies, The Skeleton Dance, The Three Little Pigs, and many others. 170
These cartoons get their tremendous appeal from the perfect rhythm, in comedy tempo . . . It is not
mere synchronization; it is more than that; it is a rhythmic, swinging, lilting thing, with what musicians
call the proper accent-structure. 171
As with the 1928 introduction of sound, it is difficult these days to appreciate what a novelty three-color
Technicolor was in 1932 172[when] Technicolor began marketing a new color process, three-color Technicolor, 173
which improved upon their earlier two-strip process by adding a blue component to what had previously been
only a red and green system. 174, viii Technicolor offered Walt Disney the exclusive rights to its three-color process for
i

An individual film worked as part of a much larger system, one that included not only the entire bill but also, among other
things, the popular journalism that brought discussions of movies to the public. Further, in making use of this narrative system,
the cinema asserted the importance of the mode of representation (showing an entire bill of related films) rather than just the
object of representation (star, story, mise-en-scne, editing, etc.). By studying the entire bill, we can begin to construct a
history of going to the movies, and of what it must have been like to watch them.
Smoodin, Animating Culture, p. 46.
ii
In July 1933 Ford was awarded the Nazi governments highest awardthe Grand Cross of the German Eaglewhich he
chose to receive in a low-key ceremony. According to Trading with the Enemy by Charles Higham, in 1940 Ford refused to
build aircraft engines for England and instead continued building trucks used by the German army. They also arranged to ship
tires to Germany despite shortages. A German Ford plant publication read, At the beginning of this year we vowed to give
our best and utmost for final victory, in unshakable faithfulness to our fhrer.
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 48.
iii
Lindberghfelt, like the Nazis, that the [alleged] superiority of the northern European civilization was being threatened by
other races.
Ibidem, p. 128.
iv
You have to pity poor Pluto, unable to speak and therefore banished to a role of domesticated servitude.
David Koenig, Mouse Under Glass: Secrets of Disney Animation & Theme Parks (Irvine, CA: Bonaventure Press, 1997), p.
108.
v
Felix the Cat / the wonderful, wonderful cat / whenever he gets in a fix he reaches into his bag of tricks *
Quoted in Anna Woolverton, Lift & separate (Pop Paralysis), The Stranger, 10-16 July 1997, 6(42), p. 56.
*
The mischievous and altogether complacent Felix created by Pat Sullivanjoined the armed forces. Since the malevolent
and unprovoked attack of December 7, 1941, on our beloved land, this capricious little fellowturned grim and war-like
without losing his typically American sense of humor.
Combat Insignia Stamps of the United States Army & Navy Air Corps , in War Insignia Stamp Album, Vol. 1-4, 1942-44
(Hollywood: Postamp Publ. Co.).
vi
Harold Lloyds production of My Favorite Spy,according to the Post, served up the combination of the interrupted-bridalnight and trap-the-enemy-agents motifs.
Smoodin, Animating Culture, p. 69.
vii
Dressed inred shorts and yellow shoes,his trademark, Mickey Mouseappear[ed] in three feature-length films and 120
cartoons, as well as dozens of TV shows and millions of T-shirts.
Grover, Disney Touch, p. 2.
viii
The film stock was itself black and white; it was the filtering prism in the camera which allowed each strip to record only
blue, green, or red portions of the spectrum. In the lab the color matrices were struck from these black-and-white negatives via

11

cartoons from 1932 to 1935. i The first three-color Technicolor shorts to be produced and released were Disneys
Silly Symphonies. Disney won Academy Awards for both Flowers and Trees and The Three Little Pigs.175, ii
Shortly after The Three Little Pigs opened, the leaders of several Jewish organizations met with Disney
to express their concerns about a scene in which the Big Bad Wolf disguised himself as a Hebrew peddler to
trick one of the pigs into opening his door. iii Although he agreed to remove the offensive scenethe peddler
in robe, beard, and glasses became a nondescript door-to-door salesman in future releasesWalt insisted to
friends that he hadnt intended anything more than a spoof of Carl Laemmles many unsuccessful attempts
to blow down the Disney studios house.176
A turning point in Mickeys career arrived in 1935 with the release of The Band Concert. It was the first full
color Mickey Mouse cartoon. 177 In dozens of interviews, Walt never mentioned Iwerks role. Instead, early on, he
began referring to Mickey as his child. 178, iv By denying Iwerks credit for his role in Mickeys birth, Walt may
have been displaying more than just excessive ego. He may actually have been trying to assuage any of the
lingering childhood fear and uncertainty he carried concerning his own heritage.
Back in 1918, when Walt had wanted to enlist in the military like his brother, the local recruiter, skeptical of
his age, asked to see his birth certificate. Walt wrote to Chicagos Cook County Hall of Records requesting a copy.
A week later, he received a document stating that the Hall of Records had no birth certificate for any Walt Disney
born on or around December 5, 1901.
Walt then wrote to his preacher, asking for any documents in the church that could verify his birth. The
preacher wrote back that to the best of his recollection, Walt had been born at home. Therefore, no hospital or
church records would exist. Walt wrote to the Department of Vital Statistics, whose response only added to the
mysterythere was an official record of birth for a Walter Disney, to one Elis [sic] and Flora Disney. However,
that birth was recorded for January 8, 1891. If that were true, Walt would be 27 years old, which was, of course,
impossible.
Finally, Walt asked his parents. When they couldnt produce the birth certificate, he showed them the
information hed received. His father insisted there was a terrible mistake. But all of this disturbed Walt, whose
early fantasies that Elias couldnt have been his father suddenly returned with a more ominous resonance. This
doubt would eat away at his soul the rest of his days and find its way into the themes of his greatest movies: the
stepchild abandoned in the woods in Snow White;v the puppet who longs to be Gepettos real boy in Pinocchio;vi the
Technicolors exclusive process. For more on the precess, see Bordwell, Staiger, Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1985), pp. 353-357. should be noted that, unlike Technicolors live-action cameras,
Disneys color animation camera contained only one strip of film, but for each image three sequential, rather than simultaneous,
frames were exposed on the film stock. The red, green, and blue filters rotated in the camera and the lab separated them into
the three required matrices. For more on Technicolor and Disneys early collaboration, see [Smoodins] A Studio Built of
Bricks: Disney and Technicolor, Film Reader, 1985, 6, pp. 33-40.
c.f. Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 240.
i
However, when MGM requested the three strip process for their shorts, Disney agreed to limit the exclusive to one year rather
than incur the wrath of Louis B. Meyer.
Richard W. Haines, Technicolor Movies: The History of Dye Transfer (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 1993), p. 19.
ii
He and his work were honored with 39 Academy Awards, and hundreds of other awards and tributes.
Mark Weber, Subverting the Disney legacy; How Michael Eisner has transformed the Magic Kingdom (Culture War
Profile), The Journal of Historical Review (IHR.org), Sep/Oct 1998, 17(5).
iii
A trick or a treat? When Mickey comes calling.
Andrew Ross, The Celebration Chronicles: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Property Value in Disneys New Town (New
York, Ballantine Books, 1999), p. 304.
iv
Mickeyweighs less than 14 lbs. Born infected with the AIDS virus, he was abandoned by his addict mother at birth. His
huge, watchful eyes seem to fill half his face; his legs dangle like matchsticks. For ten months after he was born, Mickey
languished at ahospital.
All you need is love, John Lennon promised. Sometimes thats true. Then again, there are children like Mickey who need
more.
Richard Lacayo, Nobodys children; In the world of adoption, where healthy white infants are hotly pursued, a burgeoning
group of special-needs kids is left behind, Time, 9 Oct 1989, 134(15), p. 91.
v
Schlchtern is a pause on the German Fairytale Road, which zigzags through the rolling green hills northeast of Frankfurt that
were home to the brothers Grimm, Snow White, Red Riding Hood and Repunzel.
Sally Macdonald, To Germany; Well come, but we have something to tell you, The Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligence,
23 Aug 1998, 16(34), p. L1.
vi
Noted film reviewer Roger Ebert thinks Pinocchio is plausible to the average kidunlike Disneys The Little Mermaid.
Kids may not understand falling in love with a prince, says Ebert in one of his reviews, but they understand not listening to
your father and being a bad boy and running away and getting into trouble [ Microsoft Cinemania 95 (Redmond, WA: Microsoft,
1995), compact disc].*

12

little creature who loses his mother in Bambi;i the Sorcerers apprentice in fearful servitude in Fantasia;ii the baby
elephant separated from his mother in Dumbo.iii All have in common their main characters quests to find their
real parents. 179
Ub Iwerks left Disney in early 1930 to start his own studio 180funded by Patrick Powers. 181 [Walt] thought
about why Iwerks, the man he once considered his best friend, had betrayed him. The fact that he had claimed
credit for much of Iwerks genius evidently didnt occur to him. As the time passed,Walts mood darkened.
Unable to sleep, he stared at the ceilinguntil dawn. He skipped meals, preferringscotch and soda while Lillian
dined alone. 182 He stayed in his office most days, brooding silently as he looked out his window, unable to focus on
anything having to do with making movies. At night, he argued with Lillian over the slightest issueswhat she
made for dinner, if the sheets were changed, what she woreafter which he would lock himself in the study and
weep uncontrollably.
At the age of 29, Walt felt more like 59. Undoubtedly, he had been left emotionally drained by the pressure to
save his company and Iwerks defection. However, what finally pushed him over the edge was something
altogether different. 183 Lillian insisted they start planning a family. It was a subject she raised often in their first
five years of marriage. But Walt, vehemently opposed to becoming a father, would point to the uncertainty of their
finances as the reason they shouldnt have children yet. This time, however, Lillian let Walt know that she felt at
her age, 27, it was time she had a baby, and no excuse was going to change her mind. But Walt had long believed
he was physically incapable of impregnating a woman. Indeed, throughout their marriage, Lillian had insisted he
submit to every treatment available to increase what had been diagnosed as an unusually low sperm count. 184
Disney submitted to injections of liver extract directly into his thyroid gland and to having his genitals packed in
ice for hours at a time. 185 Yet the doctors reports made no mentionif they were even aware of his recurring
impotencethat might have anything to do with his difficulties.
Walt suffered a relapse of the impotency that had plagued him during their honeymoon. At Lillians insistence,
he underwent a full medical workup. Recognizing the delicate state of his emotions, the doctor recommended
immediate hospitalization, a suggestion Lillian rejected. The only alternative, he said, was a complete break for
her husband from the pressures of the studio. 186
Walt and Lillian embarked on a trip through the Americas. From there, they boarded a cruise ship bound for
Cuba, then Panama. After traversing the Panama Canal, Walt chartered a yacht for the return along the Pacific
coast. By the time they returned to Hollywood two months later, it seemed the old Walt was back. Indeed, his
mood had begun to noticeably shift during the long days at sea. He told Lillian he agreed they should try to have a
babyhe even publicly expressed his joy at the prospect of becoming a father, telling friends how much he hoped
Lillian would have a son.
And, in fact, one of the treatments apparently worked. Lillian got pregnant. As her delivery date neared,
Walt increased his already considerable drinking, his chronic cough worsened and his smoking increased to three
packs a day. In addition, his bouts with insomnia extended to weeks at a time, the facial tics and eye twitches he
periodically suffered returned with renewed intensity and he compulsively washed his hands several times an hour.
Perucci Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible: A Scriptural Critique of the Magic Kingdom (Camp Hill, PA: Horizon Books,
1996), p. 23.
*
In Pinocchio, number of instance of violence or other unfavorable behavior, as cited by Playboy:
(a) 19. (b) 31. (c) 43.
Disney Tragedy Trivia Quiz, in Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 47.
i
Walt Disney Pictures and its Touchstone sibling have made killing off their lovablecharacters practically a house style.
Bob Medich, Bambi syndrome (The Movie Monitor), Premiere, March 1990, 3(7), p. 22.
ii
The sorcerers apprentice, first of all, does not encounter any different demands than those he would have met with
following the difficult path of art. From beginning to end, moreover, the sorcerers apprentice must get used to this rigor
(supposing that it does not correspond to his own most intimate imperative). Secrecy, in this realm where he ventures, is no
less necessary to his strange thought processes than it is to the transports of eroticism (the total world of myth, the world of
being, is separated from the disconnected world by those very limits that separate the sacred from the profane). Secret
society is, in fact, the name of the social reality composed of these processes. But this romantic expression must not be
understood, as it ordinarily is, in the vulgar sense of conspiratorial society. For the secret has to do with the constitutive
reality of existence that is seductive, not with some act that is contrary to the security of the State. Myth is born in ritual acts
concealed from society, but the violent dynamic belonging to it has no other object than the return to a lost totality. Even if it
is true that the repercussions are critical and transform the face of the world,its political repercussion can only be the result
of existence. That such projects are vague isnecessary.
Georges Bataille, The sorcerers apprentice, in Dennis Hollier, ed., and Betsy Wing, trans., The College of Sociology (193739) (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988), p. 23.
iii
Former president Harry Trumanwisecracked to reporters that he took his wife on all the rides except Dumbo the Flying
Elephant, because of its Republican symbolism [Trumans Join Disneyland Fun, Los Angeles Examiner, 3 Nov 1957].
Steven Watts, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997), p.
388.

13

On December 19, 1933, Lillian gave birth to an eight-pound, two-ounce girl, whom the couple christened
Diane Marie Disney. When Lillian and her new baby were ready to leave the hospital, Walt surprised her by
driving them to their new home. 187

Snow WhiteUrgent: Dont eat any apples.

Details to follow. 188
In 1934, 189[Walt] set a meeting with Joseph Rosenberg, [United Artists] financial advisor and studio liaison
at the Bank of America. 190 The banks chairman personally approved Rosenbergs recommendation to establish
Disneys line of credit.
As a result, Walt was able to formally commence the studios next major undertaking, a project he boasted to
the trades had never been attempted before in the entire history of film: a feature-length animated motion
picture. 191 In the fall,he brought his animators together and outlined the scenario of Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves,192[which] became the biggest hit of 1938, earning $8 million upon initial release. For a brief time it
stood as the highest grossing film of all time. (Gone With the Wind took away that honor in 1939.) 193
Snow White was not the first feature-length animated film, as has sometimes been claimed. That
distinction belongs to Quirino Cristianis The Apostle (Argentina, 1917). Lotte Reiniger had completed
her silhouette feature, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, in Germany in 1926. 194 But Snow White was
the first American feature; the first feature made by a studio, rather than an independent filmmaker; the first
Technicolor feature. 195
Based on a well-known fairy tale, the story of Snow White, 196the little princess who runs away from her
wicked stepmother and seeks refuge with sevenmen in a woodland cottage, 197seemedperfectfor a[n]animated film.198
Animation is a complex thing. Sometimes it can get very dull. There are twenty-four frames a second
in a cartoon. One frame can take fifteen minutes to draw, and it appears on the screen for only a fraction of
a second.199 So to relieve the monotony, wed do things like, well, on Snow White wed draw porno things.
That happened all the time. Here was this beautiful, saccharine-sweet girl in the story, and after making so
many drawings of her during the day, our impulse was to draw her naked with one of the dwarfs standing
there with a giant erection. A lot of those drawings found their way out of the studio. During the war I
think every guy on the assembly line at Lockheed had a copy of a booklet somebody put together. It was
called Snow White and the Seven Truckdrivers. Snow White is sitting on a little chair with her dress up,
and the dwarves are all standing in a line with their cocks out. The cocks of the dwarves varied in size.
Old Grumpy had one that looked about three feet long. 200 (Animators often drewpornographic nudes
Fred Moores specialty.201, i)
Yet for all its winsomeness and charm, thedwarves of Snow White are deeply rooted in mystic lore. 202 In
appearance and feelings, they roughly resembled human beings. But magical powers endowed them with special
skills and wisdom far beyond those of human mortals. Inhabiting the dark and secret places of the earth, dwarves
could appear and disappear with bewildering rapidity.
These mischievous and sometimes malicious beings teased farm animals and abducted children ii and beautiful
maidens. They stole bread and corn. They became the omnipotent lords of the mine where they labored forother
dwarves.
Mythology suggest that the kind of toilin dwarves depicted in Snow White either came to life as dark maggots
crawling from the decaying flesh of the slain giant Ymir or from the scarlet billows of the seas formed by the same
giants blood [Marshall Cavendish, Man, Myth and Magic, Vol. 3, (New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1995), pp. 734-737 ].203

Everyone at the Studio wanted a Fred Moore drawing, especially a sketch of one of his girlsa charming little breed of
females.
Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (New York: Hyperion, 1981), p. 121.
ii
The elves once took a child away from its mother, and left in its place a changeling withstaring eyes, who did nothing but
eat and drink.
The Elves (III), Household Stories from the Collection of the Bros. Grimm, Lucy Crane, trans. (New York: Dover Publ.,
Inc., 1886, 1963), p. 174.

14

The palpitating scene where the Wicked Witch i tempts Snow White with the poisoned apple, ii and the
penultimate drama of Snow White being awakened in her glass coffin by Prince Charmings kiss, 204[explained
animator Fred Moore, is] just too brilliant for words. 205 Snow Whites struggle against her frightful stepmother
became a vivid metaphor identifying the fears of a nation about to enter a world war where the dark forces of evil
seemed to threaten Americas very existence. 206, iii
I live with a genius, Lillian Disneysdescription of domestic life with her famous husband, was
advertised on the cover of McCalls in February 1953. Right next to it sat another blaring headline, which
created a neat ideological tableau. The dramatic title of the second article, Stalin and His Three Wives: A
Private-Life Expos, promised a lurid account of the evil Communist dictators private licentiousness
[Lillian Disney, I Live with a Genius, McCalls, Feb 1953, pp. 38-41].207
[Walt] scheduled three iv daily eight-hour shifts, so that production could continue around the clock, seven days
a week. He planned to remain at the studio for as much of that time as possible. Part of the reason he preferred his
office couch to his own bed wathe arrival of a second daughter, Sharon Mae. 208, v In 1936,it was widely
reported that Lillian had given birth to a second child. Few people outside the immediate family ever had any
personal contact with Lillian and would therefore have no way of knowing she hadnt given birth. In truth, she
hadnt even been pregnant. The whole story was a lie intended to cover up the fact that the Disneys new baby was
adopted.
Walts inability to impregnate Lillian had pushed their tenuous relationship closer to the edge. Eventually, she
threatened to file for divorce. To save his marriage, Walt agreed to her ultimatum that they either adopt a baby or
go their separate ways. The act of adoption intensified Walts childhood fear that he himself might have been
secretly adopted, made worse by Lillians insistence they pretend the child was their own. 209
Sharons arrival in his household made little impact on Walt, who 210often, whether deliberately or not,
professed not to recognize her or remember her name. Whos that? he once loudly asked Lilly during [a church]
service, indicating Sharon singing hymns in the middle of the pew.
Sharon! Your daughter! she indignantly whispered back. 211

In the 30s and 40s, animatorsdeveloped animated films in the form of full-length feature entertainment. 212
While Disney was building up his empire, there was an attempt by Max and Dave Fleischer vi to reach a wide
audience with their own own full-length animated cartoons. 213 With Gullivers Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to
Town (1940), the brothers attempted to carry their success over to feature films. 214 After receiving the commission
from Paramount to make a feature, 215Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels was not an inspired choice.216 Dave
Fleischer boasted in interviews that Gullivers Travels contain no horror stuffno evil spirits or creatures to
i

The word witchhistorically was used to designate wise women, herbalists, midwives, and other powerful women.
Jennifer Baumgardner, Bold type: Witchy woman, Ms., March/April 1995, V(5), p. 73.
ii
Are you afraid of poison?*
Snow White, Bros. Grimm, p. 219; see also Little Snow White, Grimms Fairy Tales (Chicago: Follett Publ. Co., 1968),
p. 233; Snowdrop, Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (New York: Viking Press, 1979), p. 16; and Snow-White and the
Seven Dwarves, The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm, Randall Jarrell, trans., Vol. II (New York: Farrar, Straus &
Giroux, 1973), p. 268.
*
In the Grimm version Snow White is a lot dumber, allowing the evil queen to attempt a hit three times!
Melanie McFarland, Cartoon cover-ups; Todays animated films offer suger-coated versions of harsh fairy tales, The Seattle
Times, 16 Nov 1997, p. M1.
iii
Even Steven Spielbergs Gremlins,* 1984, are entranced by Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho.
Sinyard, Best of Disney, p. 38.
*
Described as elves of bad luck, gremlins were blamed for the technical problems that vexed RAF pilots at the beginning of the
war.
Charles Solomon, Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation, Revised ed. (New York: Wings Books, 1989, 1994), p. 127.

Once, like all pixies, the gremlins lived in hollow banks beside rivers and deep pools. Then some of them moved to crags
near the seashore and lived on pancakes made of yellow tide-foam [Battle of Europe, Its Them, Time, 14 Sep 1942, p. 37].
Shale, Donald Duck Joins Up, p. 79.
iv
Good things always come in threes.
Cat and Mouse in Partnership, Bros. Grimm, p. 38; see also Cat and Mouse In Partnership, Grimms Fairy Tales, p. 49.
v
Of course, I know all about the bees and the birds. I even know about the genes and the chromosomes.
Margaret Erskine, Case with Three Husbands (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1967, 1983), p. 96.
vi
During the twenties and early thirties, Fleischer had some of the most talented, and most promising, men in the animation
field working for him.
Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons , Revised ed. (New York: Plume, 1980,
1987), p. 83.

15

scare the youngsters. Weve profited by past screen fantasies which many parents refused to permit their children
to see for fear theyd be scared to deatha thinly veiled jab at the scarier scenes of the Wicked Witch in
[Disneys] Snow White [and the Seven Dwarves] that had alarmed some parents. One of the greatest weaknesses
in the Gulliver script is the absence of real heroes and villains and, hence, of any substantial dramatic conflict. 217
Villains are ususally the most fun of all characters to develop, because they make everything else
happen. They are the instigators, and, as Chaplin has pointed out, always more colorful than the hero. 218
Almost any story becomes innocuous if all the evil is eliminated, but we do not necessarily gain strength
merely by being frightened. We try to find a character that will hold an audience and entertain an audience,
even if it is a chilling trype of entertainment. 219
After the release of Gulliver, the Fleischer brothers were faced with the problem of keeping the newly
expanded staff occupied;220the Fleischers [had also] managed to hire back some of their former animators who
had gone to work for Disney.221 They needed something to replace the Betty Boop series, which ended in 1939, and
the Color Classics, which finally limped to a halt the next year. 222
In the early 1930s, the Fleischers and Paramount sought to construct a new star, Betty Boop, through female
heterosexual desire tout court, without any connection to class issues, as in Disney films, and with barely any
relation to the cartoon narrative. Early in her career, Betty Boop functioned as much as a brand name as a
performer.223 Two of the most memorable Betty shorts are set to songs by Cab Calloway. In Minnie the Moocher
(1932), Betty runs away from home after a fight with her parents, who insist that she eat some noxious porridge. 224
Snow White (1933), which uses only the barest bones of the original fairy tale, is even stranger than Minnie the
Moocher. 225 Snow White i is a bizarre film, but an enormously entertaining one that provides a textbook
example of the Fleischer studios unique, utterly animated style. Every element in the frame moveseven
normally inanimate things, like the icicles that sing a greeting to Betty. Objects grow and shed limbs as needed;
shapes casually metamorphose.226
Betty Boop dolls, soap, candy, scarves, tea sets, tablets, flipbooks, etc.,appeared in stores. 227 There was even a
Betty Boop and Bimbo Club, although it failed to achieve the success of Disneys Mickey Mouse Club. 228
By 1932, Mickey Mouse Clubs had over one million members across the United States. 229 The concept
was born in 1931, a few years after Mickey Mouse began to conquer the world with his cartoons and
merchandise. With the guidance of the DisneysWalt and Roytheater owners across the nation began
organizing Mickey Mouse Clubs. 230 By 1937,The Mouse had become something of a political figure. 231
All over the world there were Mickey Mouse clubs,whose members carried a Mickey Mouse emblem,
took a Mickey Mouse oath, sang a Mickey Mouse song and used a Mickey Mouse handshake. 232
On October 3, 1955, The Mickey Mouse Club reached the air on ABC 233[and] ran through
1959.234 (When Annette [Funicello] grew too old for her ears ii (and her sweaters) the Mickey Mouse Club
was finished. 235) Before long, children all over America were singing the shows familiar theme: Whos
the leader of the club thats made for you and me? M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E [ Thomas, American Original, p.
275].236 It was an immediate hit in the ratings, 237[but] unlike its newfangled successorsSesame Street
and the Electric Companythe Mouse Club did not attempt to teach mechanical skills like reading,
writing, and spelling. The educational emphasis was morality, as Walt Disney and those who worked for
him, perceived it. What the Club wanted to instill was nothing less than a philosophy of life. 238
Careerism, which means, in essence, the desire to be, rather than a desire to do,239may be
observed, in embryo, at the service academies, wherecareers have their start. Taking in young
men and women at an age when their characters cannot have fully formed, deliberately intending (as
no private college does) to reshape their personalities, the academies most often succeed in imbuing
their graduates with the passion to worship what Maureen Mylandercalled the God of Class
Standing [Maureen Mylander, The Generals: Making It Military Style (New York: Dial, 1974), p. 45].240
In this light, the Mickey Mouse Club was no less an important instrument of national policy than the
flagrant propaganda iii of Pravda.241
i

In Snow White,cocaine is referred to in the song Saint James Infirmary Blues sung by Cab Calloway. While the drug
references were simply a point of departure for clever surreal visuals and in no way supported drug use, it is hard to imagine
films like these being shown on television today execpt in a documentary about the evils of drugs.
Cohen, Forbidden Animation, p. 14.
ii
Whenever a Mouseketeer lost a pair of ears, Disney took fifty dollars out of the kids next paycheck.
Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 1.
iii
The word propaganda is difficult to define precisely,k though any definition, writes the editor of Language In Uniform: A
Reader on Propaganda, should contain the key words emotion and persuasion [Nick Aaron Ford, Language In Uniform: A Reader
on Propaganda (New York: Odyssey Press, 1967) ]. Activity is demanded; if propaganda does not result in some action, then it is not

16

The latest incarnation of The Mickey Mouse Club, which ended a seven-year run in 1996, was a
stepping stone for [The Mice 242] on their way to larger careers in the latter stages of the 1990s. Among
those who were once Mouseketeers are Keri Russell of Felicity, singer Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling of
Young Hercules, and Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez of the singing group N Sync. 243
Unhappily, Betty fell victim to the smarmy Production Code of the mid-1930, said to have been adopted in
response to the success of Mae West, another sexy Paramount star. A collar, sleeves and a demurely lowered
hemline were added to Bettys short, strapless dress; the garter vanished from her leg. The irresistible flapper
became a respectable bachelorette/hausfrau. 244
Attempts were made at pairing Betty with various characters from newspaper strips, 245[but] none of them
worked well enough to warrant afilm. By the time the series ended in 1939, nothing remained of Bettys risqu
lan. Since the early 1980s, Ms. Boop has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, but the vision of the character is
derived from her earlier, frisky phase, rather than the later, domestic one.
One comic strip character made his debut in a Betty Boop film became the star of his own cartoon series.
Popeye made his first appearance on the screen in 1933, when he joined Betty for a hula in Popeye the Sailor. 246
The animation of the Popeye films is more solid and less plastic than that in the Betty shorts, although Olives
limbs often seem as rubbery as anything in Minnie the Moocher. (Chuck Jones remarked that anyone who made
love to Olive would have a hard time getting untangled.) Quirks in the designs of the characters, such as Popeyes
prognathous jaw and outsized forearms, did not lend themselves to realistic animation. The artists continued to fill
the screen with motion. 247 The Popeye cartoons proved so successful that by 1938 some polls showed the Sailor
Man had become more popular than Mickey Mouse.248
During 1940-41, they created three new cartoon series, none of which proved particularly successful. 249 Dave
Fleischer [later] insisted that he had been reluctant to embark on their next series, [Superman]. 250

On December 5, 1936, Disneys thirty-fifth birthday, at Roys urging the studios animators gave a party for
Walt. It was held after hours in the studios soundstage. 251 To protest being forced to pay homage, a couple of the
animators got together and made a reel of the studios world-famous mouse consummating his relationship with
Minnie, i their pointed metaphor for the way they felt they were being treated by Disney expressed in the act Mickey
performed on his girlfriend. When the lights came up, Walt stood, applauded, praised the footage, and asked
which talented animators were responsible for such fine work. The men responsible quickly raised their hands,
and the smile immediately fell from Disneys face. Youre fired, he said to them, and left the party without
saying another word.
After that, the staff kept their socializing to a minimum, wary of the tightening grip of what some staffers now
referred to as Waltalitarianism, fearing a single misinterpreted word to anyone could result in immediate
termination. 252 When someone did, o occasion, slip in Walts presence and use a four-letter word 253even so
much as a damn or hell, [said Mousketeer Cubby OBrien] 254in mixed company, the result was always
immediate dismissal, no matter what type of professional inconvenience the firing caused. 255 Disney [also]
enforced a stringent dress code at his studio and anyone breaking it was subject to immediate dismissal. 256 He was
easily irritated and short-tempered; he could be brusque with associates. 257
Disney had no idea that his employees were unhappy. He considered them to be like members of his family and
couldnt fathom that they could be unhappy with his management style and the studios low pay structure. 258
The pressure to complete his film and assume the role of real-life father again caused Walts nervous condition
to flare up. His facial tics returned worse than ever, 259his hair started falling out in clumps, 260and his smoking,
which hed reduced, went back up to three packs a day.261 His trademark hacking cough seemed more prevalent. 262
Seeing Disney light one [Chesterfield 263] cigarette from another while emitting a hacking cough, [Ward Kimball]
confronted him: I used to say to him, Walt, why dont you give up smoking? Hed always answer, A guy has to
have one vice, doesnt he? The animator also revealed the guarded secret that by the late 1940s Disney had
begun drinking rather heavily after the workday had ended. At the studio, he reported, Starting at five oclock
every day, a lot of people would say, Ive got to get to Walt before he uncorks the bottle, because you cant really
successful. Propaganda also carries with it the idea of group activity. Individuals do not seem to propagandize; governments
and organizations (such as movie studios) do.
Richard Shale, Donald Duck Joins Up: The Walt Disney Studio During World War II (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press,
1976, 1982), p. 12.
i
Minnie Mouse did not add blouses and dresses to her wardrobe until 1940 or 1941, but her anatomy was so plain that it would
be misleading to say she was seen topless. In some of Minnies early films (ca. 1929) Ub Iwerks placed two circles where
breasts might be on a mouse-woman. They look like two large white circles on a black shirt. For the next decade her upper
torso was solid black, just like Mickeys body.
Cohen, Forbidden Animation, p. 24.

17

get the decision you want after that time. Nor did Kimball shy away from discussing topics that others would
never have mentioned. While Disneys affinity of outhouse humor had never been a secret, Kimball noticed that
this tendency seemed to come from a peculiar preoccupation with excrement and defecation. In typically
unvarnished language, he said that Disney would often talk about turds . . . Hed go on and on, and you kind of
looked at him and wondered, when is he going to get to the punch line? There wasnt any punch line . . . Instead
of considering defecation a normal biological function and a private matter better left undiscussed, he saw nothing
wrong with talking about it for half an hour. Kimball was also fascinated by another notable Disney traitan
aversion to sexuality. He noticed that his boss always steered away from anything smacking of sex, whether it was
dirty jokes, romantic scenarios in his films, or flirting. Both of these characteristics, Kimball concluded after many
conversations and a good deal of thought, were psychological hang ups . . . [which were] a rebellion against the
dominating moralism of his parents, while his aversion to sex represented its internalization. Moreover, Kimball
believed, both were ways to keep people at a distance, the former through embarrassment and the latter through
avoidance of any kind of intimate relationship [ Ward Kimball, The Wonderful World of Walt Disney, in Walter Wagner, ed., You Must
Remember This (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1975), pp. 278, 270; and Kimball, Hubler interview, 24-25, 41, 9-13 ].264
The failure of his home life may explain why Walt took it so personally whenever his studio children
misbehaved. One such incident occurred upon Snow Whites 265premiere[] in Hollywood on 21 December
1937.266 As a way to express his thanks to the staff for all their hard work, Walt offered a free thank-you weekend
at Narco Lake in Northern California. Every employee who had worked on the film was invited. 267 Whattook
place closely resembled a Roman orgy. After nearly four years of high-pressure performance, the mostly single
young men and women were ready to release a little steam. 268 Under the full moon, passions unbridled as quickly
as belts and buckles could be undone. By midnight, models, inkers, painters, secretaries and assistants eagerly
hopped among the tents and cabins of one animator after another, until by dawn, most everyone wound up the
night with a naked group skinny-dip. 269 Everybody got drunk [Disney animator, quoted in Mosley, Disneys World, 1985, p.
166].270
Walt was outraged. Early Saturday morning, without saying a word, he packed his car and, with Lillian and
children in tow, drove back to Los Angeles. He never again made any reference to the incident at Narco Lake, and
nobody ever dared bring it up in his presence. 271 He planned dozens of dismissals,[but] Roy convinced him that
the studio couldnt afford to lose that many animators. 272

Whos Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

As the twenties dissolved into the thirties, 273organized labor had begun the movement to unionize
Hollywoods workers. Organized crime, attracted to the film industrys high cash flow, wanted a piec of the
American dream as well. Ironically, because of Disneys great popularity and presumed wealth, coupled with his
independent and therefore vulnerable status, both the unions and the mob placed his studio among their prime
targets. Before long, like a couple of big bad wolves, they too would come huffing and puffing, to blow down
Disneys door.274, i
The two things Disney shared with the Major Hollywood studios were his assumption he could arbitrarily bend
the rules of employment, including the temporary suspension of salary payouts, and, not surprisingly, his resolute
opposition to unionism, a growing problem of the industry.275 Roy E. Disney, Walts nephew, once asked Bill Peet,
a longtime Disney employee, how the studio managed to secure and keep so many talented artists in the 1930s.
The irascible old story man gave him a mischievous look, narrowed his eyes, and graveled a one-word answer:
Poverty. 276
The onset of the Depression had revitalized Hollywood labors interest in formal organization. As early as
1927, Louis B. Mayer had sensed the potential threat of the labor unions. 277 Mayers Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Scienceswasless interested in increasing salaries and improving working conditions than
establishing a united management front. So much so that in 1931the heads of the major studios imposed an
industry-wide 50 percent pay cut on al salaried writers. Similar reductions for actors, directors, technicians, and
laborers soon followed.278
At approximately the same time, Chicagos notorious Al Capone tried to establish his own beachhead in
Hollywood. Capone had long admired the exploits of his cousin, Charles Lucky Luciano, who along with
Benjamin Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky had effectively infiltrated every economic strata working in
Hollywood.279

Nibble, nibble, like a mouse, / who is nibbling at my house?

Hansel and Grethel, Bros. Grimm, p. 89; see also Hansel and Gretel, Juniper Tree, Vol. I, p. 160.

18

Meyer Lansky was a thinking mans mobster, the accountant for the mob. Able to remember masses
of complex numberswithout committing them to paperbuilt a reputation for himself as untouchable by
the law.280 And perhaps Lansky deserves this treatment, as a true American legend. 281, i On the Lower East
Side of Manhattan, 282he learn[ed] the art of gambling and team[ed] up with his brawny counterpart
Lucky Luciano.283 Lansky, according to gangland folklore, was also the inventor of money laundering. 284
I was appalled at what I discovered when I availed myself of the Freedom of Information Act and
reviewed transcripts of numerous tapped phone conversations [Albert] Einstein had with actress
Mary Astor and with organized crime potentate Meyer Lansky. These tapes, made in the 1930s with
an electronic bug placed in the Princeton phone booth from which Einstein did all his extra curricular business, reveal an Einstein who was tyrannical, sadistic and venal, a cutthroat, ferociously
vindictive intellectual parasite who blithely stole credit for the work of others. 285
In addition, John Rosselli, a former protg of the Chicago kingpin, had established a major Los Angeles-based
gambling network.
Capones many mob operations included the formation of a nationwide bootlegging network whose best and
most profitable market was Hollywood. 286 Capone planned to use his trademark methods of muscle and, if
necessary, murder to take over one or more studios. However, before he had a chance to make his move, he was
arrested and convicted of income-tax evasion, ii which effectively ended his grand strategy to dominate Hollywood.
While Capone was in prison, Frank Nitti took over his turf. Nitti, like his predecessor, believed the mobs
future lay in Hollywood. However, his plan was far more subtle, built upon a strategy of infiltrating the film
industrys unions. To that end he enlisted the special services of his old friend and mob associate, one time hit man
Willie Bioff.
Bioffs most recent specialty was the intimidation of local Chicago theater and nightclub owners who failed to
accommodate mob-controlled unions. Along with his partner George Browne, the head of the Chicago local union
of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), Bioff and Browne were made as a reward
for helping Nitti and the mob gain a stranglehold on every theater and nightclub in Chicago.
Then, as if on cue, the Majors 1931 imposition of across-the-board salary reductions caused the Hollywood
local branch of IATSE to threaten retaliation with a formal industry-wide job action. In response Nitti promptly
dispatched Browne and Bioff to Hollywood.iii It didnt seem to bother anyone that Browne, Bioff, and Nitti, like
Capone, Siegel, Luciano, Meyer, and Rosselli before them, not only were known to be members of organized crime
but made no secret of their association. The heads of studios welcomed anyone to their side in the ongoing battle to
keep salaries and benefits as low as possible. iv And Fran Nitti promised Hollywoods leaders Browne and Bioff
would do just that.
While the Majors and the mob together worked to oppose unions and industry laborers, the Disney studio
remained, for the moment, out of this particular confrontation. Walts troubles were far more fundamental than the
distribution of profits. Profits were something to which he aspired. 287
The solution to Walts difficulties came from 288the merchandising of Mickey Mouse; 289before long he was
the merchandising king of America. 290 [But] even the influx of money from the merchandising proved insufficient
to offset operating expenses. To meet the rapidly growing payroll and the escalating costs involved with the
production of quality animation, it soon became necessary to put the studio through yet another belt-tightening.
Never wanting to appear the bad guy, Walt charged his resident attorney, Gunther Lessing, with explaining the
economic facts of life to the staff.291 One of Lessings primary Laws of the Jungle was an allegiance to the
politics of opportunism: the principle of personal gain over political idealism. 292
i

On first blush it made no sense that Meyer Lanskywho controlled a vast international empire of banks, gambling casinos,
and an international narcotics smuggling network, and whose political partners included presidents, vice presidents and
members of congresswould devote so much attention and money to the governorship of Washington, even if his son did live
in the state.
William J. Chambliss, On the Take: From Petty Crooks to Presidents, 2nd ed. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press,
1978, 1988), p. 152.
ii
Capone was convicted in 1930 of not paying taxes due on $1 million.
Gay Nemeti (Knight-Ridder Newspapers), Many have learned their lesson: It doesnt pay to mess with the IRS, The Seattle
Times, 14 April 1998, p. E2.
iii
Willie Bioff and George Brownedidnt like upstarts such as the Screen Cartoonists Guild operating outside their control.
Jack Kinney, Walt Disney and Assorted Other Characters: An Unauthorized Account of the Early Years at Disneys (New
York: Harmony Books, 1988), p. 138.
iv
Motion picture executives received services in return for their large payments to Browne, Bioff, and the Nitti syndicate.
Denise Hartsough, Crime Pays: The Studios Labor Deals in the 1930s, in Velvet Light Trap, March 1989, 23, in Janet
Staiger, ed., The Studio System (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995), p. 239.

19

In 1940, just a year after Walt and Roy had triumphantly moved into their new Burbank studios, dubbed The
House That Snow White Built, their staff formally sought affiliation with the newly formed independent
Animators Guild. Outraged, Walt turned toGunther Lessing. 293 Years before, Walt had accompanied Lessing to
American Nazi party meetings and rallies. 294, i
Since 1933 Hitler had become the principal target of Soviet Russia. The Bolsheviks, fearing German
military power, desperately attempted to enlist the support of the noncommunist world against the Nazis. 295
Fascism, the communists shouted, represented a danger to everybody, communist and noncommunist. All
must work together.296
It was in Manchuria that Hitlerism was born. 297 In analyzing the origins of the German form of
fascism, [Erich] Fromm described the powerlessness experienced especially by the middle class after
World War I and after the depression of 1929. The vast majority of the population was seized with
the feeling of individual insignificance and powerlessness which [is] described as typical for
monopolistic capitalism in general [ Erich Fromm, Escape from freedom (New York: Rinehart & Co., Inc., 1941) ].
This class was not only economically, but also psychologically, insecure; it had lost its previous
centers of authority.298 Many thousands of Americans joined the communist movement during these
early days of the fight against fascism. 299
[But] in August, 1939, the entire world was shocked: Hitler and Stalin had signed a nonaggression pact!
Here was Moscow making an agreement with that Fascist beast, Hitler, whom it had denounced in bitter
terms. 300
Obviously Hitler had to be dealt with iiblack Americans felt the need to fight him as passionately as
whitesbut anyone with eyes, ears, and a sense of justice knew that segregation at home was also an evil
that had to [be] wiped out.iii Yet the country seemed oblivious to this obvious truth. 301
The Hitler party is a party of imperialists, and of the most rapacious and predatory imperialists in
the world at that. 302 Hitlerian racismthrusts its organic roots into the productive water of the deep
Christian lake [Georges Bataille, Hitler and the Teutonic Order, 24 Jan 1939].303 It is essential to criticize false
ideologies. Poisonous weeds must be uprooted. We allow poisonous weeds to grow in order to
educate the masses by negative examples, to root out the poisonous weeds and use them for
fertilizers. 304 Weeds growing in our grass is to be expected, 305[but] weeds that have gone to seed
should be put near the center of 306a good active compost pile 307where the heat is most intense, 308
allow[ing] the pile to thermal kill the weed seeds. 309 While cognizance of the dangers posed by
the invaders is relatively recent, the aliens presence among us is decidedly old; 310the war against
pests is a continuing one that man must fight to ensure his survival. 311
According to one of [Disney] animators, Arthur Babbitt, 312In the immediate years before we entered the
war, there was a small but fiercely loyal, I suppose legal, following of the Nazi party. You could buy a copy of
Mein Kampf iv on any newsstand in Hollywood. Nobody asked me to go to any meetings, but I did, out of
curiosity.313 On more than one occasion, I observed Walt Disney and Gunther Lessing there, along with a lot of
i

[FBI Agent Jack Levine] found pervasive discrimination [within the FBI], including a supervisor who said there was nothing
subversive about the American Nazi Party, because all they are against is Jews.
Anthony Summers, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover (New York:G.P.Putnams Sons, 1993), p. 57.
ii
One former army associate claimed that, in the army, Hitler was never promoted past lance corporal because of alleged
pederastic practices. He also claimed that while in Munich, Hitler was guilty of offenses under Article 175 of the German
military code which deals with pederasty.
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 174.
iii
During the 1970s Congress launched the first systematic investigation into Americas intelligence community, including the
FBI. The disturbing FBI abuses of power unearthed by these investigationsdubbed the Hoover horrors by some of the
pressprompted the Justice Department to open its own investigation into the Hoover FBIs private war against [Martin
Luther King, Jr.]
Gerald D. McKnight, The Last Crusade: Martin Luther King, Jr., the FBI, and the Poor Peoples Campaign (Boulder, CO:
Westview Press, 1998), p. 5.
iv
As [Henry] Ford stirred up a furor in the United States, he excited a frhrer in Germany. Ford was already greatly admired by
the German people because of his industrial innovations, and, for Adolph Hitler, his anti-Semitism added to his allure. Ford is
the only American praised in Hitlers Mein Kampf,* and portions of it were lifted directly from Fords Dearborn Independent
articles.
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 47.
*
[The] second edition substitutes only very few for a single great man, Ford.
cf. Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf, Ralph Manheim, trans. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1925, 1999), p. 639

20

other prominent Nazi-afflicted [sic] Hollywood personalities. Disney was going to meetings all the time. was
invited to the homes of several prominent actors and musicians, all of whom were actively working for the
American Nazi party. 314
In the middle of the 1930s,[Walt] political simplicity caused him to make the most remarkable
statements. In what appears to have been a speech that was adapted as a magazine article in 1933, Disneys
comments on the world political scene make amazing reading. In it he promised that Mickey Mouse would
never do anything to hurt or frighten a childalready a few earnest souls were decrying the violence of his
adventuresand then went on to point out quite sensibly that The Mouse was not a creation aimed
specifically at children. 315 The Mickey audience is made up of parts of people; of that deathless, precious,
ageless, absolutely primitive remnant of something in every world-wracked human being. 316
However, there were still some people who had somehow resisted The Mouses charm, which grieved
Disney. Mr. A. Hitler, the Nazi old thing, says Mickeys silly. Imagine that! Well, Mickey is going to save
Mr. A. Hitler from drowning or something some day. Just wait and see if he doesnt. Then wont Mr. A.
Hitler be ashamed! i
So much for geopolitics as viewed from Disneys land. ii (What Hitlers propagandists had actually said
was that The Mouse was the most miserable ideal ever revealed . . . mice are dirty. 317, iii Although Hitler
could not stand Mickey Mouse,iv Mussolini loved himas did their great foe F.D. Roosevelt.) 318
As part of Lessings antiunion activities, he persuaded Walt to become an official Hollywood informant for the
FBI.v Walt, however, was no stranger to J. Edgar Hooverthe director had made many previous attempts to
recruit the budding studio lord. Back on July 16, 1936, Hoover had sent him a letter that ended with the
paragraph: I am indeed pleased that we can be of service to you in affording you a means of absolute identity
throughout your lifetime . . .
On November 10, 1940, Walt struck the following deal: In exchange for the bureaus continuing assistance in
her personal search to find out the truth of his parentage, Walt agreed to assist in Hoovers crusade against the
spread of communism in Hollywood by becoming an official informant for the FBI. Ironically, just months after
Walt struck the deal, Elias passed away.319 Elias Disney died a rather lonely old man. His wife succumbed to a
terrible accident in 1938a new gas furnace malfunctioned, sending deadly fumes throughout the Los Angeles
house given to them by their two moviemaking sonsand he never recovered. 320 When Elias himself died, in
1941, Walt received a telegram while he was in South America on an extended business trip. After a moment of
hesitation, he decided not to return for the funeral [ Martin/Miller interview, Reel 11, 15; and William Cattrell, interview with Steven
Watts, 19 Aug 1993].321

Disney tried [another full-length animated adventure]with Fantasia, a project which not only received
enormous critical acclaim but also gave Walt his first taste of public rage and controversy. 322 Music purists were
outraged, 323and some family and church groups worried that[it might] even promote black magic. 324 In an
extraordinary vitriolic review, Dorothy Thompson of the New York Herald wrote: Nazism is the abuse of power,
the perverted betrayal of the best instincts, the genius of a race turned into black magical destruction, and so is
Fantasia. 325
i

Ironically, Mickey Mouse was the secret password for D-Day.

Cawley and Korkis, Cartoon Superstars, p. 127.
ii
When it comes to diplomacy, Mickey believes in realpolitik.*
Peter Schweizer and Rochelle Schweizer, Disney: The Mouse Betrayed; Greed, Corruption, and Children at Risk (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publ., Inc., 1998), p. 258.
*
realpolitik: politics based on practical and material factors rather than on theoretical or ethical objectives.
Websters New Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Co., 1977).
iii
Mickey is a clean mouse, Walt Disney liked to say, but these days not everyone thinks so.
Carl Hiaasen, Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World (New York: Ballantine Books, 1998), p. 12.
iv
Why are the blonde youth of Germany wearing the emblem of this vile scum, Mickey Mouse? *
Adolph Hitler, quoted in Thomas, Building a Company, p. 84.
*
Down with Mickey Mickey Mouse! Wear the Swastika Cross!
Nazi propagandists (Hitler) quoted in Maus II by Art Spiegelman, in Jack Rosenthal, Mickey Mousing, The New York
Times Magazine, 2 Aug 1998, CXLI(49,046), p. 12; See also The Living Age (Boston), Oct 1931, p. 183, in Shale, Donald
Duck Joins Up, p. 12.
v
Under Lessings tutelage, Disney discovered how the passions and power of political activism could be used as weapons for
personal gain. And later on, for revenge.
Marc Eliot, Walt Disney: Hollywoods Dark Prince (New York: Carol Publ., 1993), p. 121.

21

Fantasia is scientifically engineered to induce sleep. 326 Various fairies and wood nymphs yawn.
Dinosaurs yawn. Mickey yawns. The Sorcerer yawns. A cherub yawns. Ostriches yawn. A hippo
yawns twice. From The Nutcracker Suites drowsy-eyed fish to Chernobogs big stretch after a hard
day of demonizing, its one character after another waking up and going back to sleep again. 327
After the films 1969 rerelease proved a cult hit among college-age kids looking for a
hallucinogenic experience, 328psychedelic posters and other ad materialscalled it The Ultimate
Experience, while the promotional kit quoted one underground review: Disneys Fantasia: A Head
Classic: Representation of sound as color does resemble tripping on STD, LSD, THC and various
other letters in the alphabet. 329
On May 28, 1941, the Screen Cartoonists Guild, Local 852, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of
Painters, Paperhangers, and Decorators of America (a branch of the AFL) struck at the Disney Studio. 330 On May
29,a picket line appeared at the studio, 331[with] some five hundred picketers. 332 The strike was bitter and
acrimonious, shattering the benign image the Disney Studio had presented the world. 333 Cries of fink, scab, and
other epithets were hurled against nonstrikers, who retaliated by calling strikers Commies. It was a mess . . .
Long friendships between ins and outs were destroyed. The hostility was brutal. Strikers let air out of tires or
took screwdrivers and scratched the cars as they drove through the gate. There were fightseven some shots were
fired [Johnston interview; Jack Hannah, interview by David R. Smith, 8 July 1975, note to p. 29; and Jack Kinney, Walt Disney and Assorted
Other Characters: An Unauthorized Account of the Early Years at Disneys (New York: Harmony Books, 1988), pp. 137-138 ].334 A nonstriker
reportedly poured a circle off gasoline around a group of strikers and threatened to drop a lighted cigarette on it. 335
A photograph showed striking cartoonists carrying placards ranging from the purely informativeDisney
Studio On Striketo the more creative1 Genius against 1200 Guinea Pigs. 336 Former Disney animator, story
writer, and director Jack Kinney has written that Gunther Lessingwas hung in effigy. 337 A group of shirtless,
hooded male strikers paraded with a guillotine and a dummy made up to resemble Gunther Lessing, Disneys hated
studio attorney. In a parody of the French Revolution, according to one observer, the gleeful dissidents kept
cutting Gunther Lessings head off over and over. 338 There was a mass exodus of talent.339
Disney was shocked. He decided that Communists had infiltrated his studio and were attempting to take over
the industry.340 He took photos of those who marched in the picket lineand turned the photos over to the FBI and
the House Un-American Activities Committee. 341 (He subsequently appeared before the House Committee on UnAmerican Activities and denounced [the Cartoonists Guild representative Herb] Sorrell and layout artist Dave
Hilberman. 342)
Disney wasnt above intimidating the union bosses and their rank and file animators. 343 In response to the
strike, Walt offered a twenty-six page reply, saying in part:
This business is ready to go ahead. Dont forget thisits the law of the universe that the strong shall
survive and the weak must fall by the way; and I dont give a [expletive deleted] what idealistic plan is
cooked up, nothing can change that [ Richard Holliss and Brian Sibley, The Disney Studio Story (New York: Crown Publ., 1988),
pp. 43-44].344
According to the leader of the strikers, Walt hired about fifty private police to stand guard at the studio gate and
rough up anyone who harassed strike-breakers. i After several shoving incidents, the Burbank police ordered this
force inside the studio fence to avoid further violence. 345
Disneys animatorssa[id] that Walt Disney was authoritarian and played favorites. 346 He allegedly called a
press conference and publicly auditioned his loyal band of ever-faithful females who worked for the studio. In one
of the most bizarre moments of his career, ii Disney encouraged his girls to show up in skimpy bathing suits for his
i

[When Henry] Fords workers pressed for unionization, which Ford decided was some sort of Jewish takeover plot,he fought
back by hiring a band of thugs known as the Ford Service. Anyone caught doing wrong, such as talking to union
organizers, was beaten and fired. *
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 48.
*
The German Freikorpsmenwere officers who refused to disarm after World War I, but instead returned to Germany and
organized private armies to battle the rebellious working class of their own nation. They went on, in the thirties, to become the
core of Hitlers SA and, in some cases, key functionaries in the Third Reich.
Barbara Ehrenreich, The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed (New York: Pantheon Books,
1981, 1990), p. 252.
ii
Career stems from the French word carriere (road or racecourse). As a noun it means a fast course or ones lifework (the
course it takes). As a verb career means to rush along at high speed, as on a racecourse.
When a car on that racecourse enters a curve, however, it may start to careen. This term derives from carina (Latin for
keel of a ship). As a verb careen means to lean or tilt.
The Verbal Edge, Readers Digest, Sep 1996, 149(893), p. 13.

22

personal perusal. On that day dozens of the studios hopeful Hollywood honeys displayed their charms to their
leering boss and equally leering press [Marc Eliot, Walt Disney: Hollywoods Dark Prince (New York: Carol Publ., 1993), p. 139].347
On June 20,Disneys The Reluctant Dragon,348a collection of shorts strung together to make a feature, 349
premiered at the Pantages Theater. The strikers, angered by the films depiction of life at the studio as one big
happy family, turned out en masse to picket the opening, carrying derisive signs and posters. The strike had caused
Walts chronic nervous condition to erupt once again, reducing him to a walking collection of tics and phobias.
His hand-washing alone became so obsessive he sometimes visited his private studio bathroom as often as 30 times
an hour. His temper grew shorter, and his willingness to reason with the strikers evaporated. Spontaneous
outbursts continued to punctuate his meetings. At home, screaming matches with Lillian could be heard by
passersby and neighbors. 350
Jack Kinney, who remained at the Burbank studio to work on Dumbo, has written that during the strike
negotiations, the studio decided that it would be best to get Walt out of town [ Kinney, Assorted Other Characters, p. 139].351
Frustrated and angry and unwilling to compromise, Walt accepted the U.S. governments invitation for a goodwill
tour of South America, 352hop[ing] it would offset some bad PR Walt had been getting. 353 He took along
animators and story men, and the trip resulted in two lively features, Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros.354, i
When Walt Disney came back from South America, the strike had been settled by government conciliation
which made the studio a union shop. 355 He becamefurious.356 Bitterness remained on both sides, and the
intimacy and trust Walt had shared with his animators was gone forever.
On the afternoon of December 7, 1941, a few hours after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, the United
States Army moved into the Disney Studio. For eight months, it was used as a supply depot. 357
Those who opposed the countrys involvement in the war iias did Waltwere thought to be sympathetic to the
Axis powers.iii There were even those who began seeing secret signals in Walts work, including a swastika in
the final panel of a June 16, 1940, Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip. 358
Its not subliminal iv when in The Little Mermaid, a minister gets an erection while presiding over a
wedding ceremony, [Robert Knight, director of the Cultural Studies for the Family Research Councils],
says. Its right there in living color. And all one has to do is look at the jacket. The castle in the
background contains a large phallusmuch too realistic for anything subliminal. As a matter of fact,
Disney has redesigned that cover [Robert Knight, Family Research Council, 1996, interview on file with Perucci Ferraiuolo].359
A woman from the Midwest even went after Disney, claiming the image traumatized her children. 360
Another Disney film, [Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, also] got this sort of treatment. 361 As first animated,
Betty Boopdropped her top in one frame, supposedly done as an homage to her creator, Max Fleischer,
who was notorious for sneaking X-rated shots into some Betty Boop cartoons. 362, v As Baby Herman storms
off the set in disgust, he walks under a womans dress. In the home video or laser disc version, we can see
that his hand goes up under the dress as he passes. When he emerges, a finger is extended as he brings his
hand down. He has a wicked smile on his face, and his tongue hangs out, suggesting the dirty old baby is
quite pleased with himself. 363 Mischievous animators [also]dropped in a few frames of Jessica topless
too fast to be perceived by viewers but nonetheless visible if the film was slowed down. 364 Most sensational
was a sequence in which Jessica is thrown from a cab. Dur ing a twirl, her skirt hikes up, revealingthat
shes not wearing any underwear.365 (The Hidden Image Craze was born. 366, vi)
i

Were three caballeros / Three gay caballeros / They say we are birds of a feather /Ay, caramba!
Were Three Caballeros, title song, in Julianne Burton-Carvagal, Surprise Package: Looking Southward with Disney,
in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 131.
ii
Round-the-clock marchers picketed the White House, urging that the United States stay out of the European war. The
picketers were suddenly disbanded on June 21, 1941. The next daythe Germans attacked Soviet Russia.
Hoover, Masters of Deceit, p. 73.
iii
After Pearl Harbor, memories of [Charles Lindbergs] obdurate opposition to American intervention in the war against Hitler
caused millions to see him as a Nazi,a defeatist, perhaps even a traitor.
Geoffrey C. Ward, Fallen eagle; A big biography and a daughters memoir look to the roots of Charles Lindbergs difficult
personality, The New York Times, 27 Sep 1998, CXLVIII(51,293), p. 14.
iv
As if the shape of [Mickeys] ears werent subliminal advertising enough.
Dished by the Mouse (Insult of the Week), Entertainment Weekly, 11 Sep 1998, 449, p. 137.
v
For connoisseurs of censored images, the laser discincludes a scence cut from the video release of the film, showing a frame
of Betty Boop with bare breasts.
Cohen, Forbidden Animation, p. 112.
vi
Baptists are always on the lookout for hidden messages and filthy subliminal images in Disney cartoons. These same upright
citizens no doubt spend thousands of hours every year sifting through kinky websites for drawings done by artists affiliated with
Disney.
Dan Savage, Sexy mamas, kiddie porn (Savage Love), The Stranger, 29 June - 5 July 2000, 9(41), p. 85.

23

Further reports say that in The Lion King,ias Simba plops down on the ground, rising wisps of dust
swirl around and are said to form the letters S-E-X. 367 [Some] also claim to have found a hidden verbal
message in Alladin[s] [side audio channels]: Just before the hero whisks Princess Jasmine onto his magic
carpet, he supposedly murmurs, Good teenagers, take off your clothes. (Most people, though, simply hear
the words Scat, good tiger, take off and go.) 368, ii
Asked if animators try to get away with including subtle extras, one said, Whenever we can. 369, iii
[Some] Disney animatorssay there are some hidden images that do make their way into animated films. 370
Tom Sito, a straight-talking animator, 371[said] hes a bit surprised about the controversy over hidden
images in The Lion King. The scene he thought would draw the most objection from critics was not the
one with a subliminal message in the clouds, but a later scene in which the cubs Simba and Nala play
together. Hes basically straddling her, if you know what I mean. 372
Knight quotes a Disney spokesperson who admits, Yes, weve made sure[characters] were
sexualized. Knight adds:
Theres really no reason to do that in a movie for children, but Disney knows that pubescent kids
start noticing that kind of stuff. And I do see it as part of a larger agenda. 373 That agenda is the
sexualization ofchildren [Ibid.].374, iv
Sexually laced, suggestive, subliminal and/or morally questionable animated features like The Lion
King, Alladin, The Little Mermaid and others have virtually ripped the heart out of the once-lauded Magic
Kingdom. To many, the Disney corporation became the mouse that roared, but with new and astounding
revelations about theDisney attitude, it appears that Uncle Walts family haven has become troubled with
an agenda that includes sexual immorality[and] violence. 375
Soon after Walts departure, Roy agreed to submit to binding arbitration. 376 When news of the settlement
reached Walt in South America, he becamefurious. 377
Shortly after his return from South America, Walt received a call from Hoover regarding a secret journey
recently completed by a contingency of agents to a remote village on the southern tip of Spain. There, Hoover told
Walt, the bureau had traced the origins of the woman who might well have been Walts actual mother. This news,
coming when it did, finally and completely unnerved Walt.
The previous winterthe same year Walt became an official FBI informanttwo well-dressed Americans in
wide-brimmed hats and pin-striped suits had gone on a mission to Mojacar on the Mediterranean coast. Upon
arrival, they asked Jacinto Alarcon, the mayor of the village, for assistance in locating the town priest. Their stated
objective: to obtain a baptismal certificate for a baby born in or around 1890 to one Seora Isabelle Zamora.
According to Barcelonan journalist Paco Flores, the son of Mojacars official archivist, the two men were from
the FBI.378 The story is told that at the end of the past century there lived here a very attractive washerwoman
called Isabelle Zamora Ascensio, known to the villagers as as La Bitcha. She was very popular with the men of the
village and became pregnant by one.
It is believed that the father of Seora Zamoras baby was the already married Dr. Jos Guirao, who conducted
the boys christening himself, naming him Jos Guirao as well. Dr. Guirao died shortly after the birth of his son,
after which Seora Zamora decided to leave Spain and journey by boat to America. 379
According to Barcelonan historian Carlos Almendros, who spent 10 years researching the family origins of
Walt Disney, Zamora arrived on the East Coast and then journeyed to California, where she was eventually taken in
by Franciscan missionaries. In 1890, Elias Disney took leave of his wife and children, this time to take part in the
second wave of the California gold rush. Failing to find his fortune, Elias returned home in 1891. His arrival
occurred only weeks before the unexplained listing of the birth of Walter Disney in the records of the Illinois
Department of Vital Statistics.
i

In The Lion King, number of major characters who violently attack their co-stars:
(a) 7. (b) 9. (c) 11.
Disney Tragedy Trivia Quiz, in Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 47.
ii
New lyrics [to the opening song] appeared in the videocassette release of Alladin.
Henry A. Giroux, The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publ.,
Inc., 1999), p. 105.
iii
[Reverend Donald] Wildmon claims that [in Clock Cleaners] Donald [Duck] says, Fuck you to the clock when it comes to
life and begins to taunt him.
Cohen, Forbidden Animation, p. 114.
iv
Jack Zipers, a leading theorist on fairy tales, claims that Disneys animated films reproduce a type of gender stereotyping . . .
that has an adverse effect on children, in contrast to what parents think. . . . Parents think theyre essentially harmlessand
theyre not harmless [June Casagrande, The Disney Agenda, Creative Loafing, 17-23 March 1994, pp. 6-7].
Ibidem, p. 103.

24

Elias journey to California places him there at exactly the time of Zamoras arrival. One unproven theory
posits that Elias, who fancied himself a ladies man, began an affair with Zamora. Because he was prominent in
the fundamentalist church, divorcing Flora, the mother of his three children, was impossible. Instead, he brought
Zamora back to Chicago, where he supported her until his preacher, perhaps discovering Elias indiscretion,
expelled him from the church in Missouri. This would explain Elias sudden uprooting of his family to the
Midwest.
As for the 10-year age discrepancy, midwifes are known to be careless about paperwork, and the official record
could be inaccurate. Furthermore, the page in which the entry appears could have been recopied and erroneously
reentered in the 1891 sequence.
Whatever the case, someone else besides Walt gave credence to the fears hed held for so long about his
parentage. In 1966, one year after Walts death, another contingency of investigators came to Mojacar in search of
any documents linking Isabel Zamora Ascensio to Walt Disney. Most locals believe this team actually came from
the Disney studio and that they finally did uncover the boys long-missing baptismal certificate to prove that her
son by the doctor, Jose Guirao, was not Waltand to ensure no outside claims could be made by Zamoras
descendants against the estate of Walt Disney.380

When You Wish Upon a Star

Disney did not prosper during the Second World War; 381the outbreak of the war in Europe cut off Disneys
highly profitable foreign market. 382 During the war years, Disney turned to making war films for the Department
of Defense.383
The animated training film, pioneered by Max Fleischer during World War I, played a vital role in the
education of the men and women in the various branches of the armed services. Animated shorts were often
a more effective means of instruction than live-action films or illustrated lectures, because the trainees
watched them more attentively.384
The studio produced Chicken Little, an anti-Nazi film showing the evils of mass hysteria; Education for Death,
depicting how German youth were converted into Nazis; and Defense Against Invasion, promoting immunization
against disease.385 [Victory Through Air Power] expounded the strategic bombing theories of Major Alexander de
Seversky.386 The plot of Der Fuehrers Face i focuses on [Donald Ducks] miserable existence as a Nazi. 387 The
film was translated into several languages, and copies were dropped behind German lines. 388 In Donald Gets
Drafted,he went through theharrowing experiences with which millions of men could sympathize. There on
the screen was Donald Duck submitting to an assembly line physical, getting measured for an ill-fitting uniform,
quivering before a monster of a drill instructor, and marching until his feet were ready to fall off. 389
Disneys World War II propaganda films are never shown [on television]. Disney refuses to let the
public see these films with strong anti-German and anti-Japanese messages. The Spirit of 43, Education
for Death: The Making of a Nazi (1943), Victory Through Air Power (1943), Reason and Emotion (1943)
and other films from the period are important historical documents. While they are not appropriate as
family entertainment, they do belong on shows covering the history of the war. They are remarkable and
and powerful films and capture the patriotic zeal of the United States during a time of crises. 390
So vital was the Disney war work that drafted employees were sent back to the studio in uniform to resume
their work.391 One area of the war effort for which Walt Disney got little publicity and credit at home was
nevertheless a tremendous morale-builder in the battle zone. It was the role of Disney artists in creating insignias
for military units. 392 Soldiers carried the cartoon-figure emblems of his creations on their uniforms and their war
planes. 393 The use of corps insignia was originated through the necessity of distinguishing planes at times of poor
visibility. Later, it developed that pride in organization, or the Spirit of the Corps, was equal in importance to the
necessity of identification. 394
Although the Walt Disney Studios ha[d] been deluged with requests for insignia from fighting organizations
seeking whimsical interpretation of their military functions, the first isolated request, and the one which started
the rain, arrived from Cadet Stanley in June of 1939, who was then stationed with the Fighting Seven
squadron of the new navy carrier U.S.S. Wasp at San Diego, California.
Then, in March 1940, request Number Two came from Lieutenant E. S. Caldwell of the office of the Chief of
Naval Operations in Washington. The first American motor torpedo boats, known as the mosquito fleet, were in
i

Realizing that the whole country was singing what Oscar Hammerstein II called the great psychological song of the war,
Disney executives changed the title from Donald Duck In Nutzi Land to Der Fuehrers Face.
Shale, Donald Duck Joins Up, p. 63.

25

need of insignia. The request was honored,and a nasty looking mosquito riding on a torpedo soon adorned the
hull of each of the tiny craft. One of these stunned the Japanese Fleet as it rode off Formosa in the early weeks of
the war following the attack on Pearl Harbor and buzzed away unseathed leaving destruction and consternation in
its wake.395
In the 1940s military propaganda, the film bill constructed a space where much might be displayed, but
only one thing, finally, was on view: a national consensus accepting hardship and responsibility in order to
achieve an American-made peace. To control this view, the Screen Magazine appealed to two forms of
power: that of medicine and science, and that of a controlling male gaze. Both together constituted systems
of rank, hierarchy, collective good, and discipline, and also informed audiences how to think about class,
gender, religion, technology, leisure, and home.
While rarely thematicthat is, covering a single issuethe magazines used the various combinations of
newsreel, special segment, and cartoon to fix attention on one of several core issues. Some of the
magazines constructed a scientific discourse that assured audiences of both the benevolence of the United
States government and the superiority of its technology. Others insisted that biology determined behavior,
making the military hierarchy seem natural and therefore beyond questioning. 396 Mainstream magazines
like Popular Science and The Saturday Review 397disseminated instructions for the proper attitudes toward
such issues as gender, race, class, and labor.
The Walt Disney thereby created varied only slightly from journal to journal, from Time magazine, for
instance, to Business Week. But the private discourse about Disney, produced by the United States
government, demonstrated all of the contradictions inherent in the governments project of promoting
capitalism and democracy at home and abroad. State Department documents detail Disneys work for the
U.S. government in South America during the 1940s, as a representative of the Good Neighbor policy and
of North American industry. But it was largely this progovernment work in South America and the increase
in the global influence of the Disney product that made the FBI cautiously suspicious of the cartoon
producer.398
The powerful influence of the Cold War pervadedthe Disney Studio in the 1950s. 399 It was a time of fear and
suspicion,loyalty oaths and anti-communism crusaders. 400 J. Edgar Hoover,[who had] provided a spoken
prologue to Spy Smasher (1942),401[was] eager to pursue his red-hunting expeditions[by] cultivat[ing] many
figures in Hollywood. In 1954, according to a memo in Disneys FBI file, the entertainer offered the agency
complete access to the facilities to Disneyland for use in connection with official matters and for recreational
purpose. 402
The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation a Disney fan? To be sure. But Hoover was more. 403
J. Edgar Hoovers name is a stain on the [FBI Headquarters] building, [Senator Harry Reid]
said [3 February 1998] from the Senate floor. No other public official did so much to undermine
civil liberties as did J. Edgar Hoover. 404 Thousands of American citizens were persecuted by the
FBI, directly or indirectly, while Edgar fostered the notion that the Communists were somehow
responsible for all manner of American social problemsfrom changing sexual standards to juvenile
delinquency.405
He was reportedly Disneys boss. Disney had been among the earliest and most forceful of the film
communitys anti-communists, 406us[ing] the Red Scare 407the witch hunts led by Senator Joseph
McCarthy (R., Wis.)408, ito break the cartoonists union, a collaborator in what became the Hollywood
Blacklist.409
Nationally, the purge began in Hollywood, when the House Un-American Activities Committee [HUAC]
staged its assault on the film industry.410, ii The hearings were a circus, with throngs of giggling women
mobbing friendly witnesses, such as Gary Cooper, Robert Taylor and Walt Disney, who testified that
Communists at his studio were trying to use Mickey Mouse to spread Communist propaganda. 411 In his
testimony,Disney discusse[d] the effect that he believe[d] communistshad on his employees, who had
recently unionized and gone on strike: 412It was a Communist group trying to take over my artists and
i

Today McCarthyism is a word in the dictionary: the use of indiscriminate, often unfounded accusations, sen sationalism,
inquisitorial investigative methods.
Anthony Summers, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1993), p.
178.
ii
The committee was not a court of law, but a government body with its own set of rules. Members were not required to show a
witness the evidence against him, or to prove that heir accusations were grounded in fact.
Cohen, Forbidden Animation, p. 166.

26

they did take them over [House Committee on Un-American Activities, Hearings Regarding

the Communist Infiltration of the

Motion Picture Industry, 80th Congress, 1st session (Washington, 1947), 282. Disney testified on 24 Oct 1947 ].413

Unfriendly witnesses and those who opposed the hearings, such as John Huston, Katharine Hepburn,
Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, were vilified. The Hollywood Ten, a group of artists who refused on
principle to say whether they had ever been members of the Communist Party, were jailed for contempt of
Congress. They would emerge to find their careers ruined, because, to butter up the committee, Hollywoods
film bosses had declared them blacklisted. 414
The blacklist made all too literal the clich about the authorless anonymity of the average Hollywood
film. After the first HUAC hearing (in 1947) and particularly after the first trials (in 1951) a number of
film-makers were forced to work anonymously.415
For its part, the FBI approved Disney as a SAC contact, a largely honorary designation given to friendly
community leaders who were willing to talk with the agencys special agent in charge for their region [ Walt Disneys
FBI file: see document 94-4-4667-2 (16 Dec 1954) for information on Disneys designation as an SAC contact].416
People come up to me and say, How dare you say those terrible things about Uncle Walt? says
[cartoonist and producer Bill] Melendez. 417 But he was a real rat. He sold out. 418 From October, 1940,
[Disney] had been a loyal and dedicated domestic spy for [Hoovers] FBI [ Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 169].419
Hoover sent Disney a formal letter of congratulations in 1956 after he received the Milestone Award from the
Screen Producers Guild, and Disney replied with a note of thanks. There was little additional contact until 1961,
when the agent in charge of the FBIs Los Angeles office presented Disney with a copy of Hoovers book, Masters
of Deceit [Disneys file: see 94-4-4667-6 (9 Nov 1956) and 54-4-4667-7 (26 Nov 1954) for Hoover and Disneys exchange of letters on the
Milestone Award].420
Masters of Deceit was not written by Edgar, nor was it his idea. The book grew out of a suggestion by
Assistant Director William Sullivan, was written by four or five Bureau agents assigned to the job and was
polished up by Fern Stukenbroeker, an agent with a Ph.D. who worked in Crime Records. 421 Masters of
Deceit was published in 1958 by Henry Holt, a publishing firm owned by Clinton Murchison, the Texas
oilman who put Hoover and Tolson up each summer at his hotel in La Jolla, [California]. 422 Even though
the book was written on government time by government employees, Hoover and his associates split the
money among themselves.423 The books actual writers made nothing, which certainly bothered their boss,
William C. Sullivan, who later said, We used to joke at the bureau, Masters of Deceit, written by the
Master of Deceit who never even read it. 424
The filmmaker posted a brief letter of appreciation to Hoover, in which he expressed his appreciation as a citizen
for what you have done and the fight which you are continually waging for the protection of our way of life. 425
For decades, despite evidence that was obvious to everybody else, Hoover claimed there was no such
thing as organized crime. He refused to allow the FBIs resources to be used to fight the Mob, instead
going after communists and petty criminals. Why? According to author Anthony Summers in Official
and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover, it was because the Mob had very explicit photos of
Hoover and [Clyde] Tolson having sex,i and information about an arrest of Hoover in New Orleans on a
morals charge in the 1920s. 426 The conflicting pressures of dealing with his sexual confusion in private
while posturing as J. Edgar Hoover, masculine, all-American hero, in public would eventually drive the
F.B.I. director to seek medical help. 427 [Though when] police investigated a child porn and gay-teen
prostitution ring in Los Angeles in 1969, at a time when Hoover and Tolson were visiting the area on
another of their inspection tours, 428the cops were surprised to hear from several different teen boys that
they had been picked up by Hoover and Tolson in an FBI limousine. According to one fifteen-year-old,
Hoover lectured him about his long hair before having sex with him. Fifteen men were indicted in that
investigation, but not Hoover, Tolson, or any of the rings other celebrity clients. 429
To this day, there is a general dislike of Hoover within the homosexual (male and female) population,
the common perception being that he and Tolson were hypocritical in this regard [ Leigh W. Rutledge, The Gay

Book of Lists (Boston: Alyson Publ., 1987), pp. 48-49; Dennis Altman, The Homosexualization of America (Boston: Beacon Press, 1982),
p. 130; Vern L. Bullough, Homosexuality: A History (New York: Garland STPM Press, 1979), p. 139; Austin American Statesman, 24 Sep
1989, p. A6; and Richard Gid Powers, Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover (New York: Free Press, 1987), p. 172 ].430 From

1953 to his death in 1972 he personally directed an illegal nationwide surveillance program of homosexual
rights groups [Austin American Statesman, 24 Sep 1989, p. A6],431[though] a number of Hoovers friends were also
homosexual, most notably the late Roy Cohn [ Sidney Zion, The Autobiography of Roy Cohn (Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, Inc.),
i

In an unheard-of three years, Tolson advanced all the way to assistant director.
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 216.

27

pp. 9, 11-12; and Ovid Demaris, The Director: An Oral Biography of J. Edgar Hoover (New York: Harpers Magazine Press, 1975), p.
159].432

But Disneys sympathy for Hoovers anticommunism did not keep the FBI from circulating in-house memos
casting a suspicious eye on his attendance atgatherings hosted by leftist groups under surveillance in the 1940s
[Disneys file: see 62-60527-25 (26 July 1951), 62-68527-42803 (May 10, 1955), and 62-102561-58 (14 Dec 1956) for the FBIs concern about
Disneys attendance at leftist gatherings in the 1940s].433
For the FBI, surveillance meant targeting an individual and then keeping tabs on his/her activities. In
the process of collecting this information, however, the FBI also gathered intelligence on everyone who
came into contact with the surveillance suspect [John T. Elliff, The Scope and Basis of FBI Data Collection, in Stephen
Gillers and Pat Watters, eds., Investigating the FBI (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1973), p. 258 ].434
Justice may be blind, but she has very sophisticated listening devices. 435, i Having the feeling that
youre being watched is very common among cartoon characters! 436, ii In the past no government
had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance, 437[but] the governments ears are
bigger than ever.438 You cant even have a conversation without wondering whos listening: 439 you
never know who might be watching. 440 BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU. 441 Big Brother
doesnt just come in the form of a totalitarian state, it also comes with a smiley face. 442 When politics
is cloaked in the image of innocence, there is more at stake than simple deception. 443
Hoover authorized the promiscuous use of wiretaps around the country.444 Since Hoover ran the FBI like his
own private fiefdom within the executive branch, operationally the director was accountable to no one in the
chain of command but himself. 445 However, whenever he had to give testimony in front of Congress, he
would have all but onethe tap on the Communist Party headquartersturned off for the day so he could
truthfully testify that the FBI was doing no illegal wiretapping. 446
Nor did it keep Disney from satirizing the agency as bureaucratic bunglers in his films That Darn Cat and Moon
Pilot in the 1960s [Walt Disneys FBI file: see documents 94-4-4667-3 (16 March 1956), 94-4667-13 (17 April 1957), and 94-4-4667-20 (22
Oct 1957) on the FBIs annoyance with That Darn Cat and Moon Pilot].447
That Darn Cat! iiimakes the most out of every situation. 448 In the story, adapted from the book
Undercover Cat iv by the Gordons, a slippery Siamese named D.C.picks up the only clue. 449 Since D.C.
cant tell the F.B.I. where hes been, 450the Federal Security agent places a transmitter bug under D.C.s
collar.451 The FBI [wa]s ready to give up, 452but like Wile E. Coyote in his cartoon war with the
Roadrunner, the police ke[pt] looking for the Acme box containing the magic solution. 453 (A couple of FBI
men [we]re depicted as inept buffoons. After Hoover personally intervened, Walt changed the script of the
movie so that the FBI agentwas made a generic government security agent instead. 454) [Moon Pilots]
nonsense involves the United States space program 455[and a] mysterious girl who turns out to be an
alien. 456 The FBI and the air force clash head on, with endless confusion about what should be kept secret
from whom, and who is in charge of what. 457 (The attentive viewer will note that the federal agents
portrayed in this film are not from the FBI. 458)
Many of Disneys[productions] contained interesting commentaries. 459 Mickeys Orphans (1931), for
instance, opened with a mysterious hooded feline figure leaving a basket of kittens on the protagonists
porch. 460 Moving Day (1936) followed the adventures of Disneys animated characters when they were
evicted from their home by the sheriff because of nonpayment of rent. 461 Who Killed Cock Robin? (1935)
burlesqued corrupt public authority.462 The Spider and the Fly (1931)revolves arounda large, devouring
i

In 1985,American officials belatedly discovered tens of thousands of microscopic listening devices embedded in [the]
concrete walls[of] the chancery building of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
Alessandra Stanley (The New York Times), Embassys walls with ears to be rebuilt, The Seattle Times, 4 May 1997, 15(18),
p. A5.
ii
Toons, however, have the ability to conjure up doppelgngers, temporary, mentally protected doubles that do their most
dangerous stunts.
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 179.
iii
Working on the 97 Disney remake of the studios mid-60s Hayley Mills kitty comedy, That Darn Cat, was a toxic
experience. Why in the hell am I doing this? [Christina] Ricci remembered thinking to herself at the time. I hate this. I
was so miserable doing that movie, she moaned during avisit to Seattle. (Shes so not-proud of Cat that she leaves it
off her resume.)
Soren Andersen, Grown-up Ricci drops sweetheart role in The Opposite Sex, [Tacoma] News Tribune, 12 June 1998,
116(64), SoundLife, p. 12.
iv
The Curse of Cats. Legend has it that Walt Disney hated cats.
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 108.

28

spider and a collection of flies who resist their fate. i As the spider moves in to wreak havoc, the diminutive
flies fight back in highly imaginative ways.463 The darkly sadistic movie The Mad Doctor (1933) focuses on
the potential horror of science and technology as it exposes a crazy physician who performs medical
experiments by using a power saw to gather body parts from victims. 464 Moreover, the plot line of The
Absent-Minded Professor is very reminiscent ofwartime experiencethe hasty night flight to Washington by the simple, rustic inventor who comes bearing a creation of priceless worth to his government; the
rebuff of man and work by uncomprehending bureaucrats, and finally the triumphant moment when the true
value of his creation is incontrovertibly proved and the former skeptics tumble over themselves to do him
honor.465

Nightmare on Main Street 466

As 1948 began, 467Rosenberg met with Walt and urged him to accept an offer byHoward Hughes, ii who
wanted to buy the 16-millimeter nontheatrical, nonbroadcast rights of the Disney studios entire back inventory for
classroom and community-organization rentals.
The tall, eccentric Texas billionaire had enjoyed moderate success as a producer of several features before
abandoning Hollywood in th thirties to concentrate on aircraft production. In 1948, Hughes decided to reenter the
motion picture business by purchasing a controlling interest in the RK studio.468
The initial meeting between Hughes and Disney was quite friendly. The two had known each other casually for
many years, and while never close they shared a kinship based on their many similarities. Both were
approximately the same age; both were Middle Americans, Disney raised in Kansas, Hughes in Texas; and both
headed large, complex businesses. Both suffered from a variety of facial tics including, most noticeably, rapid eyetwitching; both chain-smoked; and both were arch right-wingers who had taken active roles in the crusade against
communism.
Disney found Hughess offer,469a million-dollar, interest-free loan, 470irresistible.471 With this new influx of
cash, Disney hoped to redirect his studio toward live-action features.
It had becoming [sic] increasingly clear to everyone, including Walt, that where once the Disney studio had
been the undisputed leader in its field, the cartoons of its competitors were now being hailed as the best in the
business. The smart-aleck cynicism of Warner Bros.s Loony Tunes iii not only borrowed Disneys original
concept of Silly Symphonies but modernized it. While the style of Disneys cartoons remained fixed in the chilly
clasp of their prewar Fundamentalist vernacular, Warnerss offered the kind of warm, streetwise Yiddish humor
postwar America lovingly embraced. Loony Tunes were clever social satires generously overlaid with sexual
innuendo, its characters always winking knowingly at the audience rather than innocently batting their eyes.
Bugs Bunny,iv Warners number-one animated star, was a rabbit in the heat of his pubescence. Mickeys
fundamental roundnesseyes, ears, face, bodyrecalled maternal security in the comfort of their breastlike
shape.v In contrast, Bugss ears were phallic attitudinizersthat never failed to rise to the occasion. In the years
immediately following the war, Loony Tunes, created by several former Disney staffers, most notably Fritz
Freleng, far more accurately reflected the mood of the country than Silly Symphonies, and as such became the
most popular American theatrical cartoon shorts.
However, the success of Loony Tunes didnt seem to matter very much to Walt. In truth, he had lost interest
in animation. 472 The engine of Walts imagination now ran down a different track. 473 He enjoyed starting each day
i

Killing off a bunch of flies must have seemed like childs play to Walt.
John Canemaker, Paper Dreams: The Art & Artists of Disney Storyboards (New York: Hyperion, 1999), p. 38.
ii
Hughes was unhappy about his homosexual leanings. Later in life he overcompensated for this with a domineering, manly
personality and a voracious pursuit of women, often several at the same time.
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 262.
iii
Warner Bros. released forty Loony Tunes and Merry Melodies in 1940, thirty-one in 1950, and twenty in 1960 [ Ted
Sennett, Warner Brothers Presents (Secauucus, NJ: Castle Books, Inc., 1971), Appendix II].
Smoodin, Animating Culture, p. 2.
iv
Porky Pig first appeared in November 1935, Elmer and Daffy Duck in 1937,Bugs Bunny in 1938,[and the Road Runner
in 1948* ].
Ibidem, p. 14.
*
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 183.

Mel Blanc did the voices of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Tweetie Pie, Sylvester, Speedy Gonzalez and scores of
others.
John Halas, The Contemporary Animator (London: Focal Press, 1990), p. 62.
v
The sexless sexiness of Disneys creations have always seemed to me queasy, perhaps in an all-American sense.
James Agee, quoted in Schickel, Disney Version, p. 275.

29

alone in his office pouring over the trades daily accounts of the latest HUAC hearings, dining while he did so on
his breakfast of choice: fresh doughnuts dunked in scotch. With the war over, the HUAC hearings 474a redhunting group of buffoons, including proudly anti-Semitic John Rankin of Mississippi and John Wood, an active
member of the Ku Klux Klan 475captivated the nation,mak[ing] villains out of victims and heroes out of
themselves.476 It was, said George Reedy, covering the committee for the United Press, the worst collection of
people that have ever been assembled in the entire history of American politics. 477
On the days [Walt] didnt bother to go to the studio at all, he would arise early in the morning, usually before
seven, put on a pair of striped overalls and engineers cap, and slip behind the controls of his beloved Carolwood
Pacific to steam around 478his Holmby Hills backyard in West Los Angeles. 479 One particular morning in the
spring of 1948,hetried to pull into focus an idea that had been on his mind. 480 What if he could actually recreate the physical world of his idealized dream? Now, he told himself, that would be one hell of an amusement
park. 481 (When Walt started planning his theme park, [Lillian] made a[] face. Amusement parks, she said, are
dirty, and the people are nasty. 482 Disneyland, [though],was never meant to be an amusement park. 483)
The idea of Disneyland is a simple one. It will be a place for people to find happiness and knowledge.
It will be a place for parents and children to share pleasant times in each others company; a place for
teachers and pupils to discover greater ways of understanding and education. Here the older generation can
recapture the nostalgia of days gone by, and the younger generation can savor the challenge of the future.
Here will be the wonders of Nature and Man for all to see and understand.
Disneyland will be based upon and dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and hard facts that have created
America. And it will be uniquely equipped to dramatize these dreams and facts and send them forth as a
source of courage and inspiration to all the world. 484
After he had circled the house half a dozen times, lost in preoccupation, the Carolwood Pacific suddenly
jumped track, slammed into the side of a ninety-foot S-Shaped tunnel he had recently installedwhich Lillian
approved only after Walt convinced her it was really a disguised fallout shelterand crashed through the livingroom wall of the house before finally coming to a halt.
Although Disney tried to blame the accident on the tunnels poor sight lines, Lillian feared the real cause was
Walts increasing dependency on sleeping pills. i She knew he sometimes used them in place of tranquilizers and
washed them down with alcohol. His drinking now started first thing in the morning and continued steadily
throughout the day. She could always tell when he added pills to his liquid diet because they visibly affected his
speech, temperament, and motor skill. 485
That June, Walt took the adolescent Sharon with him to Alaska. 486 He delighted in being both mother and
father to his adopted daughter on the trip, roles he assumed with a degree of enthusiasm nestled in the thin border
that separated his fantasies from his obsessions. He took special delight in bathing Sharon every night, ii combing
her hair, washing her underwear, carefully dressing her from head to toe before taking her out to restaurants, even
following her around as she sleepwalked, iii a strange habit of hers which, rather than concerning Walt, openly
fascinated, entertained, and apparently inspired him. Sleepwalking soon became a running gag in Goofy cartoons,
one of the few personal Disney touches added to his late-1940s cartoons. 487
Theatrical cartoons in general and Walt Disneys in particular have been implicated in a number of
discourses about power, behavior, and social control. A 1948 article in The Saturday Review of Literature
warned that in postwar cartoons, the once cute and fuzzy animals had become masks for human characters
so violent and crude that they couldnt even be put on the screen in their natural form [ Raymond Spottiswoode,
Children in Wonderland, The Saturday Review, 13 Nov 1948, p. 5 ].488 Beneath all the charm of the sweet little creatures
of Disneylurks the law of the jungle: envy, ruthlessness, cruelty, terror, blackmail, exploitation of the
weak.489
i

Magical formulas to induce sleep were usually employed by those wishing to burglarize[a] house. *
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 53.
*
Thenthe old woman dropped some sleeping stuff into their wine.
The Robber Bridegroom, Bros. Grimm, p. 177.
ii
Marc Eliot, in his 1993 book, Walt Disney: Americas [sic] Dark Prince,portray[ed] Disney as a raving alcoholic,
incestual father and Nazi.
Greg Burkman (special to the Times), The man behind the magic; A balanced look at Walt Disney and how he delivered the
American dream, The Seattle Times, 11 Jan 1998, 16(2), p. M2.
iii
Many sleep experts believe sleepwalking and sleeptalking are related to night terrorsand bedwetting since they all occur
during the same sleep transition.
Judith Palfrey, M.D., Irving Schulman, M.D., Samuel L. Katz, M.D., and Maria I. New, M.D., eds., The Disney
Encyclopedia of Baby and Child Care, Vol II: A to Z Encyclopedia of Child Health and Illness (New York: Hyperion, 1995), p.
238.

30

Because of Roys unwillingness to support Disneyland Park with studio funds, Walt financed his newly created
WED Enterprises i 1952. 490 Disney put together a secret team, from those he considered his most talented art
directors, that included Richard Irvine, Harper Goff, Bill Martin, Bud Washo, Herb Ryman, and Marvin A. Davis.
They set up operation in an abandoned warehouse in Glendale, which Walt believed no outsider could penetrate.
There they worked with Walt on the design of the parks layout. As his general director for the project, Disney
recruited C.V. Wood, the former head of the Stanford Research Institute. 491
Disney and his crew established some basic criteria for the design of Disneyland: a single entrance/ 492exit
[Making Money in Never-Never Land, Florida Trend, Dec 1981 ];493a coherent, orderly, sequenced layout within which
elements would complement each other rather than compete for attention; wide leisurely walkways; extensive
landscaping; plenty of food and entertainment; attractions unique to Disney; and efficient, high-capacity
operations; and a largestaff.494
Disneys production of the animated film Peter Pan (1953) probably sowed some seeds for the design of
Disneyland. Perpetual boy Peters mystical Never Never Land is an isolated island where no one grows up
and where one adventure leads into the next. 495 The fact is [though], as [John Ronald Reuel] Tolkien
related,children are never meant to be Peter Pan; they are meant to grow up, not necessarily thereby
losing their innocence and wonder but in danger mainly from grown-ups, from people into whose charge
they are delivered. This is an awful, inescapable fact. 496
Children were once birds and they lived in a big park on Bird Island. People who wanted
children wrote a letter to the raven Solomon, expressing their wishes, and the raven Solomon sent
them a little bird which on the way changed into a little boy or girl. This was how Peter Pan
obtained his parents. He lay in a cradle with feather bedding, his parents and relatives admired,
caressed, and amused him. It was nice, warm, and cosy. But when evening came and the tall, dark
shadows of trees on Bird Island were outlined outside the window, uneasiness and longing overcame
him. One time he overheard his parents wondering what hed become when he grew up. The
thought that at some time hed become a grownup, that hed wear stiff clothes which would constrain
his body, spectacles, and whiskers like his father, that hed walk around with a cane and a briefcase,
that like his father hed carry out numerous funny, useless acts and utter thousands of meaningless
and pointless phrases, horrified him so much that he decided to run away and go back to Bird Island,
so as never to grow up.497 Immediately after his disappearance, his parents sent an order for another
child and it was already occupying Peters place. 498
There is little doubt that the popularity of fairies in Disney films has changed public attitudes about
them. 499 Disney used so many fairy-like creatures in his films, characters that so closely resemble the mystic
myth of fairies that the coincidence cannot be ignored or easily explained away. And since fairies also took
on the properties and personalities of witches, especially concerning levitation and methods of flight i and
Disney films were big on witches iiit is conceivable that a more malevolent force was at play in the
strategy and concept of his films. 500
Fairies, not unlike Tink, 501as Pan called herin the original play (not created by Disney), 502were
thought to have existed since ancient times when they were said to have visited and negatively affected
newborn babies in their cradles. 503, iii
They have a more than fleeting interest in fertility and are extremely friendly toward lovers. They
consider themselves brimming with wisdom, but they are self-indulgent in the extreme. They will steal
babies from their cradles, replacing them with animal-like creatures. All the while they masquerade as
angelic helpers, do-gooders and beautiful rays of light [ Holliss and Sibley, Studio Story, p. 64].504 [But] in
explaining who angels really are and what they do, author Terry Laweffectively dispel[s] several myths
about angels:505
i

There is some evidence that atropineone of the chief active ingredients in hemlock, foxglove, deadly nightshade, and jimson
weedinduces the illusion of flying; and indeed such plants seem to have been the principal constituents of the unguents selfadministered to the genital mucosa by witches in the Middle Ageswho, rather than actually flying,were in fact atropine
tripping.
Carl Sagan, The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence (New York: Ballantine Books,
1977), p. 214.
ii
If it looks like a pirate or a witch,youre probably pretty close to Disneyland.
P.S. (Across the Nation/Daily Briefing), The Seattle Times, 8 Sep 1998, 121(215), p. A6.
iii
Guest: How many times does Tinker Bell go down in a night? [Interview with Robby Beeman, who says he was fired for responding,
I didnt know she was that kind of girl.]
David Koenig, More Mouse Tales: A Closer Peek Backstage at Disneyland (Irvine, CA: Bonaventure Press, 1999), p. 153.

31

Michael, the only [angel] specifically called archangel in the Bible, apparently has an assignment
as a military leader. This probably makes him head of the warrior angels. Michael stands up for
Gods people and opposes God enemies, but always under the authority of God. Gabriel, whom
most people believe is an archangel, although he is never called that in the Bible, is Gods leading or
highest-ranking messenger [Terry Law, The Truth about Angels (Orlando, FL: Creation House, 1994), pp. 117-121].506
One reviewer implied that Disney was little more than a copycat animator. Having mutilated Alice in
Wonderland, he now murders Pete Pan, and I hate the assumed innocence with which he does it
[Ibid.].507, i
With the design plans underway, Disneyland became an obsession to which Disney devoted nearly all of his
attention. 508 Initial funds were obtained by leasing agreements withcorporations and refreshment purveyors, 509
[and Disney] turned to television for both financial sponsorship and promotion. Spurned by both CBS and NBC,
Disney found the fledgling American Broadcasting Company more receptive, especially to his promise to produce a
weekly hour-long television program for seven years, titled Disneyland, i return for ABCs financial investment
in the park. 510, ii (The ABC network was the original partner in Disneyland, underwriting part of its cost in
exchange for one-third ownership of the parklater purchased back by Disneyand the weekly television show.
Ironically enough, in 1995 the Disney company acquired ABC.) 511
The summer of 1954 saw the uprooting of orange treesin Anaheim, [California], and in the fallDis neyland iii hit the airwaves and promptly climbed to the top of the Nielsen ratings. Construction took place inside a
permanent [twelve- to 20-foot-high earthen berm 512] built to isolate the park from intrusions from the outside world
and to seal in a world of controlled illusion, fantasy, and perfectly engineered harmony; 513where electronics,
plastics, and psychology are harnessed forescape from the fetters of adulthood. 514 He also made the city agree
that no high-rises could ever be built that could be seen from inside the park. 515
Opening day, 17 July 1955, 516televised live on ABC in an unprecedented broadcast hosted by three of Walts
old-guard conservative Hollywood allies: Robert Cummings, Art Linkletter, and Ronald Reagan, 517was far from
carefree and controlled. 518 Unlike the perfect control and organization later evident in the Disney parks, the birth
of Disneyland was chaotic.519 One journalist bemoaned the collapse of his own fantasies: Walts dream is a
nightmare . . . [Randy Bright, Disneyland, Inside Story (New York: Abrams, 1987), pp. 104-107 ].520 Marc Eliot, Walt Disneys biographer, recalls that theopeningwas such a disaster that veteran Disney staff afterwards referred to it as
Black Sunday. 521
But Disney learned quickly from those early problems. 522 Outsiders who had been contracted to provide
security, crowd control, operation of parking lots, and custodial services were found not to have the proper
attitude toward the Disneyland guests. 523, iv All were soon replaced with staff hired by the park and trained in
Disneyland University. 524
The freshmen hosts and hostesses first enroll in Walt Disney Tradition I, a complete orientation on the
philosophy and history of Disney family entertainment. Disney University calls it attitudinizing, oldtimers call it brainwash v at the Mouse House. 525 Even after graduation from the U of D, the standards are
constantly drilled into the troops through counseling and supervision. 526
Known in the ineffable jargon of the park as people specialists,[staff] train[]in the modern American arts
formsof the frozen smile and the canned answer delivered with enough spontaneity to make it seem
unprogrammed: 527, vi
i

The ultimate Disney brat,one suspects he may have done away with his parents himself.
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 159.
ii
There were only three stations in those days, two in some cities.
Dick Clark, quoted on Later, NBC, 9 March 2000.
iii
Disneyland, hosted byWalt Disney,certif[ied] that we were a fun-loving, innocent people who deserved to be on top of
the world.
Todd Gitlin, The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America is Wracked by Culture Wars (New York: Metropolitan Books,
1995), p. 64.
iv
At Disneyland and Disneyworld [sic], every person who comes onto the property (the set) is called a guest. Moreover,
should you ever write the word at Disney, heaven help you if you dont capitalize the G.
Tom Peters and Nancy Austin, A Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Difference (New York: Warner Books, 1986), p. 47.
v
The word derives from two Chinese words meaning to wash the brain and implies the use of physical and/or psycholocigcal
duress.
Brainwashing, in James P. Chaplin, Dictionary of Psychology, Revised ed. (New York: Laurel, 1968, 1975).
vi
Ulitmatelyspeech issue[s] from the larynx without involving the higher brain centers at all.
George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), Nineteen Eighty-Four (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949, 1992), Appendix: The
Principles of Newspeak, p. 322.

32

The Disney hospitality voice is a formidable thing; the unstoppable friendliness of its tenor, pitch, and
intonation is designed to disarm the skepticism of everyone it encounters. Finely calibrated at Disney
University,this voice is the official greeter of consumer capitalist America, as distinctly authoritative a
form of English speech as the pukka curtness of a British colonial administrator might have been for an
earlier time. 528
As a result, the people specialists tend to present a rathe standardized appearance. 529
Disney Corporate Culture (
) n. Of or pertaining to the Disney organization,
as a: philosophy underlying all business decisions; b: the commitment of top leadership and management to
that philosophy; c: the actions taken by individual cast members that reinforce that image [ Adapted from John
Van Maanen, The Smile Factory: Work at Disneyland, in Peter J. Frost, Larry F. Moore, Meryl Reis Louis, Craig C. Lundberg, and Joanne
Martin, eds., Reframing Organizational Culture (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1991), pp. 67, 65 ].530

Even the cops at Disneyland are a new breedgenerally moonlighting as schoolteachers, with physical-education
instructors predominant among them. 531, i
Disneylands shaky start was fleeting, 532[but] with phenomenal success it mirror[ed] the desires of its
guests regarding the shape of the future. 533 On 1 May 1987 guest number 242,831,300 entered the gates of a
Disney park, thus matching total park attendance with the population of the United States. 534 By 1990, 35 years
after its opening, Disneyland Park retain[ed] its stellar position as the second top attraction in terms of attendance
in the United States, drawing over 14 million visitors. 535, ii
Disneyland Park is a prototypical theme park, where control is the overriding element not only in the design
but in the experiencing of the park. Total control of space, movement, and mood create a succession of visual
stereotypes so profound in effect that they quickly achieve the status of national popular images. 536
Control has been the signature ingredient of all the companys phenomenally successful them parks;
every thrill, every gasp, eversurprise was the product of clockwork orchestration. 537 Captivation is the
mission of a Disney film, a Disney theme park, a Disney merchandise store, a Disney anything.538
There is one basic product which is never stocked in the Disney store: parents. 539, iii Rather than
undermining unchallenged patriarchal authority, this ommission reinforces it. 540, iv Disneys is a
universe of uncles and grand-uncles, nephews and cousins; the male-female relationship is that of
eternal fiancs.541
Charm, captivate, and conquerthats how the empire advances. 542 Arrogant, demanding, aloof,
confident, efficient, powerful, successful and profitabledescribe Disney, [reported Prince County
executive Jim Mullen in Public Management].543
The ultimate exercise of power is, [of course],the ability to control, at the most fundamental
level, the future lives of unborn generations by engineering their biological life process in advance,
making them a partial hostage of their own architecturally designed blueprints. I use the word
partial because, like many others, I believe that environment is a major contributing factor in
determining ones life course. It is also true, however, that ones genetic makeup plays a role in
helping to shape ones destiny. Genetic engineering, then, represents the power of authorship, albeit
limited authorship. Being able to engineer even minor changes in the physical and behavioral
characteristics of future generations represents a new era in human history. 544 Genetic testing will
become the future standard of medical care. Life insurers will also need access to genetic
i

Its Mickey Mouse on steroids.

Stephen M. Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992), p. 394.
ii
The old woman, although her behavior was so kind, was a wicked witch, who lay in wait for children, and had built the little
house on purpose to entice them.
Hansel and Grethel, Household Stories from the Collection of the Bros. Grimm, Lucy Crane, trans. (New York: Dover
Publ., Inc., 1886, 1963), p. 90; see also Hansel and Gretel, Grimms Fairy Tales, p. 145; Hansel and Gretel, Brothers
Grimm, p. 24; and Hansel and Gretel, The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm, Randall Jarrell, trans., Vol. I (New
York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1973), p. 161.
iii
Mr. and Mrs. Mouse are dead.
Tamara Paris, Last Days; The week in review, The Stranger, 11-17 May 2000, 9(34), p. 7.
iv
See Para leer al Pato Donald (Valparaiso: Ediciones Univeritarias, 1971), translated into English by David Kunzle with the
added subtitle Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic (New York: International General, 1975), Chapter 1, Uncle, Buy me a
Contraceptive, especially pp. 33-34. Other writers have also noted the gender imbalance. Richard Schickel, in The Disney
Version,notes the absense of the mother, a theme that is implicit in almost all the Disney features.
cf. Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 243.

33

information if the insurance industry is to survive intact and if coverage is to remain affordable. 545
What botherscivil libertariansis the potential for abuse of genetic information and the adequacy
of current privacy safeguards. 546 Human genetic engineering raises the very real spectre of a
distopian future where the haves and the have-nots are increasingly divided and separated by genetic
endowment, genetic discrimination is widely practiced, and traditional notions of democracy and
equality give way to the creation of a genetocracy based on ones genetic qualifications. 547
As Disneyland took shape during the Eisenhower fifties, Disneys Norman Rockwell view of historywas
designed to soothe park visitors by leaping across two world wars and a depression to more distant and hazy times.
Colonial America, the American West, and the turn-of-the-century Victorian echoes of Main Street USA were
meant to tap nostalgia and sneak past whaetever grim realities attended these times and places.
The phrase Disney realism was meant to be ironic, although it is not so in a simple way. 548 A Disney
imagineer iexplains how the process works: What we created is a Disney Realism, sort of utopian in nature,
where we program out all the negative, unwanted elements and program in the positive elements [ The Disney Theme
Show: From Disneyland to Walt Disney World, A Pocket History of the First Twenty Years (Walt Disney Productions, 1976), I, p. 31].549 Disney
people clearly know they were not telling the truth. 550, ii The Disney people do not consider this retrospective
tidying up an abuse of the pastthey freely and disarmingly admit its falsification, 551but they also insist they are
bringing out deeper truths. 552
When it was new in the late 1950s, observers as varied as Vice President Richard Nixon and science fiction
writer Ray Bradbury praised its meticulous design as the way society ought to bea contrast to the spontaneous
sprawl of southern California and the untidiness of eastern cities. 553 Tourists at Disneyland [are] greeted by a huge
sign proclaiming thetheme park The Happiest Place on Earth. 554 As the familiar saying goes, You come to
Disneyland, you check your brain at the gate. 555
Everything about the park, including the behavior of the guests, is engineered to promote a spirit of
optimism, a belief in progressive improvement toward perfection. Elements within the park achieve mythic,
religious significance as treasured icons protecting us against infusion or assault by evil in any form, including our
own faults. Beginning with the assassination of John Kennedy in 1963, events have continually cast doubt on
Americas faith in its providential role as the leader in the quest toward the perfectibility of man. Individually,
Americans have been faced with progressively worsening social and urban problems, a government lacking moral
integrity, a chaotic and competitive working world, and the severing of the family unit. Paradoxically, self-doubt
and loss of faith have not rendered Disneyland obsolete but have instead engendered the sanctification of the park
as a Mecca, a holy city, where the values of hope, goodness, perfection, and order are protected and can be instilled
in its guest pilgrims. Disney management is aware of the parks power to transmit confidence. John Hench,
reflecting on his 50-year career with Disney, has stated, Actually, what were selling throughout the Park is
reassurance. We offer adventures in which you survive a kind of personal challenge. . . . We let your survival
instincts triumph over adversity. A trip to Disneyland is an exercise in reassurance about oneself and ones ability
to maybe even handle the real challenges of life [ Bright, Disneyland, p. 237].556
It is amazingly easy to lose a child (or two) at the theme park, 557[but] lost children do not usually pose
much of a problem.558 The security forces inside the park are far more careful than the happy appearance of
things indicates. 559
By the entry through the railroad station, guests are transported to Main Street, U.S.A., an ideal midwestern
town at the turn of the [twentieth] century. Of all the Disneyland attractions, Main Street has generated the most
comment. 560
In the summer of 1955,[Walt] moved into an apartment directly above the fire station adjacent to
Main Streets City Hall. At times, he loved to walk along Main Street, talk with the visitors and tousle the

Imagineering * is the companys practice of combining technical know-how with creative ideas to develop new rides,
services, and even places.
Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disneys Brave New Town (New York: Henry Holt &
Co.: Marian Wood, 1999), p. 51.
*
Like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Imagineering has become a purely Disney word.
Disney Imagineers, Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real (New York: Hyperion,
1996), p. 11.
ii
To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it
becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality
and all the while to take account of the reality which one deniesall this is indispensably necessary.
Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, p. 223.

34

hair of the children. However, he passed most days locked inside the apartment, where he would often
stand by the window with tears streaming down his face as people walked the boulevard of his dreams.
After a while, the apartment became the source of unfounded rumors among employees of the park that
later spread back to Burbankthat it was Walts new love nest for endless assignations with lady friends.
The lavender, red and pink flocked wallpaper, offset by thick red rugs and Victorian furniture, gave the
impression of nothing so much as the anteroom of a New Orleans whorehouse.
That wasnt, however, what Walt had had in mind. The faux gas lamps, thick upholstery, heavy drapes,
china trinkets, windup phonograph and working fireplace were all exact duplicates, as he remembered
them, of the living room of the Disney family farmhouse in Marceline. 561, i
The obviousness of false fronts, ii the inability to explore interiors beyond the commercial stores located on the
ground floors within the facade result in an atmosphere of theater, a feeling of presence within a movie set. The
visitor is obliged to move in one direction. 562 While Disney embraced the totality of planning and the creation of
pervasive visual symbols,he chose to glorify the ordinary, small-town origins of the common citizen rather than
to contrive an aristocratic, elegant realm suitable for a ruling class. 563 But just like Chicagos White City iii in the
[nineteenth] century, the darkest aspect of Main Street is its enshrinement of Anglo-American imagery to the total
exclusion of immigrant and ethnic infusions. Main Street, U.S.A., exudes prosperity, shuns pluralism, and is
haven for white America. It has a railroad, an emporium, and a city hall, but no church or school. The values
depicted are those of civil rule and commercialism, not spiritual aspiration, mental enrichment, or personal
growth. It is a popular culture sanitized of it most creative and energetic elements, static in time, and reserved for
the financially comfortable. Americas prejudices and monetary ambitions are endorsed and encouraged.
Once the central plaza at the end of Main Street is reached, 564people on foot[are] drawn[to] Sleeping
Beautys Castlethe likes of which has seldom been seen in any Midwestern town. 565
Disneyagain proved that he could promote Satanism, witchcraft and demonic mythology as well as
anyone with another of his fairy tale adaptionsSleeping Beauty,iv a reluctant heroine who lies in
enchanted sleep for a century until her prince arrives and revives her with a kiss. 566 The strength of the
story lay in its romance, but [there is]little romance in a stranger kissing a coma victim. 567
It would be important to keep people moving in the park, and Disney had an expression which voiced his
philosophy in this regard: Youve got to have a wiene at the end of every street 568weenie[being] the term
he always used to describe something that attracted and held the interest of his visitors. 569 A visitorfollow[ing] a
clockwise route from this central featurefind[s] himself, first of all, in Adventureland, next in Frontierland, then
in Fantasyland, and finally in Tomorrowland v (other possibilities, such as Holiday Land and Lilliputian Land,
i

Walt was looking out the window of his apartment, when he saw an employee from Adventureland cross Main Street in
Tahitian costume; he got right on the phone! He didnt want the illusion of Main Street U.S.A. spoiled.
Dick van Dyke, quoted in Green and Green, Remembering Disney, p. 158.
ii
We are convinced that we dont want to know what goes on behind the scenes. That would spoil the magic.
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 158.
iii
The [Worlds Columbian Exposition (i.e., White Ctiy)] was pointedly elitist in concept and execution, and its presentation of
the City Beautiful was illusory and temporary. As Frederick Douglass charged, it was indeed a whited sepulcher that
ignored the realities of urban poverty and the treatment of nonwhite races in America [Frederick Douglass, Introduction to Ida
B. Wells, ed., The Reason Why the Colored American is Not in the Worlds Columbian Exposition (Chicago: Ida B. Wells,
1893), p. 4]. It presented blacks and American Indians as quasi-ethnological entertainment or as product advertisements, as in
the case of Aunt Jemima, who first appeared at the exposition. Although it may have built a utopian city, it was designed to
promote responses on emotional and visual levels; it was not a city to be lived in and used. Built as a celebration of capitalist
enterprise, the very existence of the grand White City seemed to be a justification for ignoring the horrible effects of capitalism,
that is, the growing number of people living in poverty, unemployment, and the spread of slums in urban areas.
Judith A. Adams, The American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills (Boston: Twayne Publ.,
1991), p. 20.
iv
And a rumor went abroad in all that country of the beautiful sleeping Rosamond, for so was the princess called. *
The Sleeping Beauty, Bros. Grimm, p. 206.
*
The famous Charles Perrault version, published in 1697, hasthe Princes cannibal of a motherlong[ing] to dine on the
flesh of Beauty.
McFarland, Cartoon cover-ups, p. M1.
v
In 1955, Walt Disney opened Tomorrowland. This was a futuristic them park that hadalong with a monorail and space rides
an 80-foot, needle-nosed rocket called the Moonliner as its centerpiece. Taller than the Sleeping Beauty Castle, the
Moonliner was a dream model of a future commercial rocket that would transport businessmen and rich tourists to the moon in
the distant year of 1986. For the sake of verisimilitude, the Moonliner also had a TWA logo on its side. But the most
intriguing thing about this massive rocket was its likeness to a V2 rocket, which was no accidentDisneys Moonliner was
designed by [Nazi] Wernher von Braun. Ten years after the war ended, von Braun was not only an American citizen and a

35

were considered, then abandoned). Each of these areas would have a specific atmosphere appropriate to its
name. 570
The individual adventures, such as the Jungle Cruise, Tom Sawyer Island, Snow Whites
Adventures, the Submarine Voyage, and the Haunted Mansion, offer escapism from the ordinary. 571 It can be
suggested that the adventures, within which each rider is placed in a conveyance, either a boat or a cab, and
transported on an established route, are a form of manipulation that eliminates individuality and spontaneity.
Riders calmly surrender their freedom, however, because they are constantly stimulated without the necessity for
thinking, acting, or making choices. 572
Much of Disneylands technological wonder emanates from Disneys pioneering work in audioanimatronics. 573
The new Audio-Animatronics system was introduced dicreetly in a Disneyland attraction known as The
Enchanted Tiki Room, where audiences group themselves around a bunch of handsomely feathered birds,
[flowers, and Tiki-god statues 574]in a small jungle setting,sing[ing] and tell[ing] jokes. 575 When the musicalcomedy revue reaches its peak, the celebration is suddenly halted by a violent thunderstorm unleashed by
angered gods.576 In the newest version of this long-lived attraction, the familiar Audio-Animatronics cast of
singing birds is joined by the feathered stars of recent Disney animated features. 577 Its a fantasy and the question
of how it works is really quite insignificant, since the effect is not an especially arresting one. 578
Technicians at Disneyland[also] created extremely life-like computer-controlled humanoids capable of
moving their arms and legs, grimacing, smiling, glowering, simulating fear, joy and a wide range of other
emotions. Built of clear plastic that according to one reporter, does everything but bleed, 579imagineers
discovered, quite by acciden,[that] the plasticskinexcretes oils just as the human skin does: 580
Duraflex has a consistency much like human skin, [Imagineer Wathel] Rogers said. It flexes as well as
compresses. Rubber, for example, will flex, but wont compress correctly for our needs. 581
The robots chase girls, play music, fire pistols, and so closely resemble human forms that visitors routinely shriek
with fear, flinch and otherwise react as though they were dealing with real human beings. The purposes to which
these robots are put may seem trivial, but the technology on which they are based is highly sophisticated. 582
The sophisticated tape technique that forms the basis for its highest development was perfected as a means of
controlling the launching of space rockets. But there is no record that Disney, the Goldwater Republican, hesitated
to use such government-sponsored research for his own ends any more than he hesitated to use tax advantages to
his own ends. If anything, he probably saw it as some sort of compensation for the spiritual discomfort big
government caused him. Certainly, the irony of putting space-age technology to use in an amusement park is not
much stressed by Disneys people. Indeed, to them there is a certain implicit fitness about this meeting and
mingling of the great forces of the age, Disneyism and electronic scientism. 583 Even his use of the technique to
create mechanical men to serve as guides to exhibitions was somehow acceptable. They were only a little more
than disconcerting than a human guide who has been brainwashed and programmed by a corporate training
program and whose manner and response to stimuli is therefore almost as routinized as that of a robot. 584
But how does a human being react to a stimulus? 585
[John Broadus] Watson believed that In a system of psychology completely worked out, given
the stimuli the response can be predicted. His ultimate goal was to learn general and particular
methods by which I may control behavior. 586 Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed and my
own specific world to bring them up in and Ill guarantee to take any one at random and train him to
become any type of specialist I might selecta doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even
into a beggar-man and thief, i regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and
race of his ancestors. 587 He believed that If psychology would follow the plan I suggest, the
educator, the physician, the jurist and the business man could utilize our data in a practical way
[John Broadus Watson, Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, Psychological Review, 1913, 20, pp. 158-177 (Herrnstein and
Boring, Excerpt No. 94)].588
scientist working for the army, but also a consultant for Disney.
During this time, von Braun also appeared, with a slide rule in his pocket, on Disneys popular TV show Man in Space.
With his good looks, perfect phrases like castles in the air (which he used to describe a rotating space station), and his total,
pure commitment to space travel, von Braun won the hearts of millioins of Americans. Indeed, only a consummate charmer
could obscure such an ugly past and successfully reinvent himself as a visionary.
Charles Mudede, Blast off! How Nazis, rockets, and Disney gave birth to Seattles pointiest landmark, The Stranger, 23-29
Aug 2001, 10(49), p. 14.
i
Studies show the teen criminals of tomorrow are literally being manufactured, programmed, hardwired to behave in a certain
way.
Lori Montgomery, Young lawbreakers likely to become older criminals, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 10 April 1996.

36

I think of a childs mind as a blank book. During the first years of his life, much will be written on the
pages. The quality of that writing will affect his life profoundly. 589
In recent years Team Rodent has become even less bashful and more technologically advanced at
superimposing its own recreation-based reality. Disney-brand fun needs a script, and a script needs performing,
and a performance needs a stage. No one is fussier about the production details than Team Rodent. 590, i
It is time for our sybols of technology to changeto catch up with the quickening changes in
technology, itself.591 To most people, the term technology conjures up images of smoky steel mills or
clanking machines. Perhaps the classic symbol of technology is still the assembly line created by Henry
Forda century ago and made into a potent social icon by Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times. This symbol,
however, has always been inadequate, indeed, misleading, for technology has always been more than
factories and machines. 592 Technology includes techniques, as well as the machines that may or may not be
necessary to apply them. It includes ways to make chemical reactions occur, ways to breed fish, plant
forests, light theaters, count votes or teach history.
The old symbols of technology are even more misleading today, when the most advanced technological
processes are carried out far from assembly lines or open hearths. Indeed, in electronics, in space
technology, in most of the new industries, relative silence and clean surroundings are characteristiceven
sometimes essential. And the assembly linethe organization of armies of men to carry out simple
repetitive functionsis an anachronism. 593 In the technological systems of tomorrowfast, fluid and selfregulatingmachines will deal with the flow of physical materials; men with the flow of information and
insight. Machines will increasingly perform the routine tasks; men the intellectual and creative tasks.
Machines and men bothwill belinked together by amazingly sensitive, near-instantaneous
communications. Human work will move out of the factory and mass office into the community and
home.594
Comparing Disneyland to Las Vegas, [Julian Halevy] analyzed their effect in intellectual terms: Both these
institutions exist for the relief of tension and boredom, as tranquilizers for social anxiety, and . . . both provide
fantasy experiences in which not-so-secret longings are pseudo-satisfied. Their huge profits and mushrooming
growth suggests that as conformity and adjustment become more rigidly imposed on the American scene, the drift
to fantasy release will become a flight [ Julian Halevy, Disneyland and Las Vegas, Nation, 7 June 1958, 186, pp. 511, 513].595
Richard Schickel, in The Disney Version, recognized the manipulative aspects of Disneyland. The trick is not
to harass the visitor into spending but rather relax him to the point where the inner guardians of his frugality are
lulled into semiconsciousness. It works. Schickel is also disturbed by the all-American, conservative,
standardized look of the attendants an the early practice of barring entrance to long-haired youths or anyone
dressed in an eccentric manner. These practices demonstrate corporate fear of minority subculture groups and a
maniacal desire to keep the eccentricities of individualized expression . . . away from its door. But Schickel
finds much to admire in Disneys marvel. The sanitation effort is unparalleled, with no apparent regard for the
profit margin. 596 And there is always a small discovery, a surprise around every bend. 597
There are a dozen or more images of Mickey Mouse hidden in the details! Theyre called hidden
Mickeys. 598 According to the cast members, the hidden Mickeys started out as an inside joke by the
Imagineers. In their designs and construction work, they would hide Mickeys where they could be seen
just as plain as the nose on your face, if you knew where to look. 599 But no one kept track of them all. 600
Schickel explains Disneys ability to understand the needs of the common person: What the average, middleclass American wants and has always wanted of art and of the objects he mistakes for art, is the fake alligator that
thrills but never threatens, that may be appreciated for the cleverness with which it approximates the real thing but
that carries no psychological or poetic overtones. . . . You carry away not some dark phantom that may rise up
someday to haunt you but an appreciation of the special-effects mans skill [ Schickel, Disney Version, pp. 317, 319, 320, 322,
330-331].
The dream, then, of Disneyland Park is escapism from problems, responsibilities, and the threats of reality. 601
As Sergei Eisenstein said in a commentary on Disneys films, Disney bestows . . . precisely obliviousness, an
instant of complete and total release from everything connected with the suffering caused by the social conditions
[Jay Leyda, ed., Eisenstein on Disney (London: Methuen, 1988), p. 8 ].602 As John Bright perceptively notes, it is a little like
Christianity without Christ [John Bright, California Revolution 6: Disneys Fantasy Empire, Nation, 6 March 1967, 204, p. 299].603
i

Nazis, as we know, were obsessed with lists and inventories of everything.

Hector Feliciano (author of The Lost Museum: The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the Worlds Greatest Works of Art), quoted in
Mark D. Fefer, Inside this building is a painting that was stolen from a Jewish family by the Nazis; Why wont SAM give it
back?, Seattle Weekly, 3 Sep 1998, 23(35), p. 26.

37

Another factor influencing Disneylands success was the post-World War II baby boom. Between 1940 and
1965 the number of children under 15 years of age increased from just under 33 million to over 59 million, an
increase of nearly 80 percent.
The tremendous augmentation of disposable personal income between 1940 and 1970 was, perhaps, as much a
contributing factor to Disneylands success as the population boost. 604 While population, especially the number of
children, began to decrease dramatically after 1960, enhanced growth in disposable income made significantly
more funds available to smaller families for leisure activities. Disneyland Park has never been adversely affected
by the decrease in children after the boom of the 1950s because its strongest appeal is to adults rather than
children. Adult admissions consistently outnumber those for children at a ratio of four to one, and 50 percent of
the guests are repeaters [Kevin Wallace, The Engineering of Ease, New Yorker, 7 Sep 1963, 39, p. 106].
In part to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Disneyland, Walt Disney Company announceda billion-dollar
expansion of the Southern California attraction. Calling the 1990s the Disney Decade, Michael Eisnerdetailed
plans, including the addition of two new theme areas, Hollywoodland and Mickeys Starland; a total rehabilitation
of Tomorrowland, i with a network of skyways making possible a second-story level; and many new attractions: a
Young Indiana Jones Adventure, a Little Mermaid ride, an Alien Encounter ride, a Dick Tracys Crime
Stoppers attraction, a Toontown Trolley simulator ride, a Baby Hermans Runaway Baby Buggy ride, and a
Great Movie Ride. New live shows are in the works based on the Muppets, for which Disney acquired the
character rights in 1989, and on the Dick Tracy comic-book personalities [ Linda Deckard, New, $1 Billion Attraction Slated
for Southern California, Amusement Business, 22 Jan 1990, 1, pp. 27-28 ].605
Disneyland celebrated its 40th anniversary by burying a time capsule, reports Jay Leno. They say it will b
dug up in 50 yearsor when the last person in line at Space Mountain gets to the front, whichever comes first. 606
(You cant ride Space Mountain without standing in line. 607) The company is gung-ho on anniversaries, these
being splendid occasions for inviting battalions of reportersfor weekends of high-end gluttony and mooching. 608
Disneys publicists 609angl[e] for positive press coverage, and thats usually what they get. For every snarky jab
in the Los Angeles Times or the Washington Post, Disney enjoys miles of glowering favorable column-inches in
smalle hometown newspapers, which in the aggregate are read by far more Americans. 610

Its a Small World After All

The success of Disneylandpersuaded Disney that a second park was desirable. 611 In the summer of 1964
agents for Walt Disney began quietly to purchase parcels of swamp land and citrus groves in central Florida on the
outskirts of the then small city of Orlando. 612 In a calculated ploy to keep land prices at bargain levels and to
secure vast amounts of acreage, Disneys agents bought the parcels in small pieces under a variety of holding
companies with names like Tomahawk and Compass East [ Paul Goldberger, Mickey Mouse Teaches the Architects, The
New York Times Magazine, 22 Oct 1972, p. 96 ].613 Some thought it was Howard Hughes; others, 614the U.S. government,
behind the massive land acquisition not far from the existing Cape Canaveral complex. By October 1965 Disneys
agents had secured 27,443 acres, nearly 43 square miles, at a total cost of just over $5 million or about $200 an
acre. 615 [The] Reedy Creek [Improvement District] takes in all the land purchased by Walts secret agents. 616 Its
borders contain two shell municipalities, Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake. 617
Disney had been frustrated by the lack of space at the comparatively tiny 165-acre Disneyland Park tract,
which, although originally ringed by orange groves, soon became surrounded by 618[souvenir kiosks, cutrate car rental lots,619] fast-foo enterprises, freeways, and tacky suburban development. 620 Then come the Tshirt shops and reptile petting zoos, [says Robert Walters, executive director of Protect Historic America]. 621
Believe me, [Walt] said, if I ever build another Disneyland, I would make sure I could control the
class and the theme of the enterprises around it. 622 To insure against a similar encroachment at the Florida
site, Disney planned a massive tract that would serve as a natural buffer against other commercial interests
and development. 623 [But] the cattle ranches, orange groves, and cypress stands of old Orlando rapidly gave
way to an execrable panorama of suburban blight. 624
My concern is the things that follow Disney. The cheap motels, ii the hookers, the wall-to-wall neon,
[says a Middleburg, Virginia, merchant]. 625
If you have a Disney-clad employee going to 7-Eleven for a six-pack of beer, it deflates the value of the
Disney image, said Dan Head, who worked at Disneyland in a train conductors outfit. 626
i

Tomorrowland is rapidly becoming Yesterday Land.

David E. Sarna and George J. Febish, Mickey Mouse and Microsoft, Datamation, 15 June 1995, 41(11), p. 24(2).
ii
The word mo-tel, it is thought, was coined as early as 1926. As late as 1940, J. Edgar Hooverput the nation on alert
that motels were camps of crime and dens of vice and corruption.
Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), p. 551.

38

Citizens of central Florida became alerted to Disney sponsorship of the land purchases in Orange and Osceola
counties when Orlando Sentinal reporter Emily Bavar,in 1965, asked Walt if he was buying land in Florida for
an eastern park. Disney protested too much, citing detailed reasons why central Florida was unsuitable for a theme
park, including the rainy climate, the swamplands, the humidity, and transportation inadequacies. Bavar realized
that Disney could not be such an expert on the area unless he had intensely studied and surveyed it. 627 The secret
was revealed, but well after Disney had acquired the vast tract. On 15 November 1965, 628D Day for
Orlando,629Florida governor Haydon Burns publicly confirmed plans for the building of Walt Disney World
Resort (officially named Walt Disney World Resort, near Orlando, Florida i) [Mosley, Disneys World, 1985, pp. 281282].630 The Walt Disney World complex, 631by securing an agreement with the state of Florida to develop and
controlits own 43-square-mile fiefdom where every element is controlled and manipulated by corporate
leadership, 632operates much like an independent statethe Vatican City of leisure and entertainment. 633 The
Vatican with mouse ears, says Richard Foglesong, a Rollins College professor and longtime Disney watcher. 634
Never before or since has such outlandish dominion been given to a private corporation. Disney runs its own
utilities. It administers its own planning and zoning. It maintains its own fire department. ii It even has the
authority to levy taxes.635, iii This postindustrial infrastructure operates outside of the jurisdiction of municipal and
regional laws regarding zoning, traffic, development, power, and waste. 636
Walt Disney Worlds rise from the Florida swamps would be an unprecedented engineering feat. 637 Just to
stabilize the building sites, the Disney engineers had to drain off the swamp water, develop a system of canals for
continuous drainage, dredge out the unstable muck that seeps into[underground] caverns, pump off all the water
and muck to an offsite area, then bring in stable, nonindigenous material to compress into the sinkholes and shape
the area to the contours specified by the designers. 638
Floridas heartland is dapple with lovely tree-lined lakes, but the waters are often tea-colored from cypress bark.
For postcard purposes, tea-colored water was deemed unsuitable for Disney Worlds centerpiece, Bay Lake, so in
the early 1970s Team Rodent sprang into actionyanking out cypresses, draining the lake, scraping out the bottom
muck, replacing it with imported sand, then refilling the crater. 639
(Bay Lake fantasy: sneak in one night and dump a truckload of hungry bull gators in that lovely deepblue water.640 My conscience is all thats stopping me ivthe Magic Kingdom is not a safe place;the
alligators would be systematically hunted down andworse.) 641
The Magic Kingdom that guests see above-pavement is actually the second and third stories. 642 Underneath is a
massive tunnel. 643, v Now thats pretty massive, said Mort [Vandeleur, a former Disneyland and Disney World
cast member].644 Other things are less massive but equally importantlike trash cans. vi Youll see right away
i

Walt Disney World is not in Orlando? asked a surprised Samuel Lin. I did not know that.
Orlando seeks a home for gift rock (special to the Times), The New York Times, 14 May 1983, CXXXII(45,678), p. I:6.
ii
In a class on sexual harassment attended by the firefighters at EPCOT in 1990 or 1991, Sandi Adams (a Disney employee)
brought up the subject of sphincter viewing. These attacks didnt occur quietly in the dark corners of the Disney firehouse.
Instead, they took place in open areas. Sometimes they were even announced in advance over the public address system.
You would think that numerous cases of sexual abuse reported by half-a-dozen employees would warrant action by
management at the the happiest place on earth. You would be wrong. To date, no one has been punished for these attacks.
Instead, several of the most persistent perpetrators have been promoted.
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, pp. 121, 130, 132.
iii
The maxim, cujus est solum, ejus est usque ad coelum et ad infernos, [is] sometimes translated as he who had the soil, has it
even to the sky and the lowest depths. *
Lief H. Carter, J.D., Ph.D., Reason in Law, 3rd ed. (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown College Division, 1988), p.
126.
*
Man marks the earth with ruinhis control stops with the shore.
Lord Byron, quoted in Kim Jacklin, Cinderella Cracked (Salt Lake City, UT: Northwest Publ., Inc., 1995), p. 3.
iv
In a grisly and tragicevent, a 3-year-old Florida boy was killed by an alligator. *
Stadmueller, Wildness holds its own, p. B7.
*
His was the seventh death in more than 220 documented alligator attacks on humans since 1948.
Mike Clary (Los Angeles Times), Crocodile fears have no merit, experts say; Gators less-aggressive cousins back in Florida,
The Seattle Times, 7 Sep 1997, p. A8.
v
Almost all of the workings of Disney World are hidden from the spectator, much as productive forces are concealed in the
image of the commodity. Miles of underground corridorsutilidors in Disney parlancetransport workers, supplies,
utilities, and telecommunications to the various parts of the Total Vacation Kingdom. Staff cafeterias, laundries and dry
cleaners, costume and dressing rooms, and storage facilities arelocated underground throughout the site. Pneumatic tubes
whisk refuse away like magic to compactors. Service roads are concealed behind berms. On-site jet generators and solar
collectors power the entire park. Nurseries and greenhouses propagate a quarter of a million species of flora.
Alexander Wilson, The Betrayal of the Future: Walt Disneys EPCOT Center, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 119.
vi
Please Wastewords on [Walt Disney World] trash bins.

39

that many trash cans are custom[ized]. 645 I dont know exactly what all this cost, but someone once told me Disney
has some very expensive trash cans. The important thing, though, is that the trash cans are just one way that
everything walks the talk. 646
Disney seems to be the sole player in its industry that has figured out how to keep a theme park sparkling clean.
It turns out that the obvious is not so obviousand its a hell of a lot harder to do than we ever imagined! 647 While
Disney pollution standards are generally responsive to the protection of the environment, the sheer volume of water
needs and waste disposal have an enormous impact on Florida ecosystems. 648 The solid waste disposal system is
perhaps the most technologically intriguing utility system within Walt Disney World. The first application of the
Automatic Vacuum Collection (AVAC) system was installed in a Swedish hospital in 1961. The Disney AVAC
system is the largest in the world and the first installed in the United States. AVAC transfers garbage from
charging stations down into vertical storage sectors above discharge valves. When activated, the discharge valves
drop the waste into vacuum tubes, which whisk the garbage by means of a high-velocity air stream to the central
collection compacting plant. The air flow along the tubes reaches a velocity of approximately 60 miles per hour.
Once at the compactor, the trash is pressed into parcels, which are then transferred to Disney incinerators 649
which s[it] like evil Baal in a dark corner. 650 The AVAC system is designed to process three tons of refuse per hour
[Arthur C. Bravo, Environmental Systems at Walt Disney World, Journal of the Environmental Engineering Division: Proceedings of the
American Society of Civil Engineers, Dec 1975, 101(EE6), pp. 887-895 ].651 Once collected, this solid waste material is trucked to
a wet-area landfill outside Reedy Creek boundaries under a program conducted for the Environmental Protection
Agency [See World of Make-Believe Is Also Technological Innovator, National Engineer, May 1983].652
Floridas starstruck lawmakers 653also gave Disneys puppet government the authority to build its own
international airport and even a nuclear power plant. 654, i Walt Disney believed that nuclear power would play a
role in advancing society, and he sought permission to build a nuclear reactor. 655 In 1967, shortly after Disneys
death, the Florida Legislature passed a law granting the Disney Company the right to experiment with nuclear
fission [Robert Johnson and John Wark, The Startling Fact, New Florida, Sep 1981, p. 302].656
With our atomic projects we found ourselves deep in the field of nuclear physics. Of course, we dont
pretend to be scientistswe are story tellers. But we combine the tools of our trade with knowledge of
experts. We even created a new Science Department at the studio to handle projects of this kind. 657
As George Orwell once observed, so long as a machine is there, one is under an obligation to use it.
And so Disneys imagineers could not resist taking the logical next step. 658, ii The unit had an eccentric
research-and-development division that toiled in secrecy on all manner of ideas, from the notion of
developing a potato chip shaped like Mickey Mouse to figuring out how to launch a giant billboard into
geosynchronous orbit with the earth. Another proposal was to project Mickeys image onto the moon
using a laser powerful enough and bright enough to do the job. A former scientist in the division says the
Imagineers actually got access to secret military laser technology to see if it could do the trick. 659
Getting access to military secrets wasnt unusual, though. Disney was the first non-NASA contractor to
gain access to the agencys database. And an insider says Disney frequently made extravagant requests of
other companiesasking them to develop technologies or loan machinery with no quid pro quo. My boss
would say, Tell them were Disney. [He] expected them to give us half a million dollars worth of
equipment. We just took advantage of them in any way we could. What they got in return was a whiff of
the mouse, says the former employee.660
Reedy Creek is further empowered to have cemeteries, schools, a police department, and a criminal justice
system.661, iii The Orlando business community, as well as disinterested observers, view Mickey Mouse as a sharptoothed, gluttonous rat. 662
Disney conceived Walt Disney World to be much more than an East Coast Disneyland. This time he would
create a complete vacationland. 663 When most people think of Walt Disney World, they think of the Magic
Kingdom.664 Spread over 30,000acres, Orlandos Disney complex ha[s]separate theme parks. 665 The Magic
Kingdom ispart of the [27,433 666]-acre Vacation Kingdom that is Walt Disney Worlda massive develpment
that also includes (as of the end of 1990) EPCOT Center; the Disney-MGM Studios; River Country; Discovery
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 151.
i
Danger is foremost in our minds when we think of atomic radiation.
Heinz Haber, The Walt Disney Story of Our Friend the Atom (New York: Dell, 1956), p. 120.
ii
Think what a profit-hungry company could do if it developed and secretly spread some new disease for which it alone had the
cure. Even a mild, coldlike ailment could create a massive market for the appropriate, monopolistically controlled cure.
Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1982), p. 147.
iii
There is no Constitution at Disney[], [retired police officer Marilyn] Dortch said [a Disney] security supervisor told her.
We have our own laws.
American Civil Liberties Union, Mickey Mouse laws in the Magic Kingdom, ACLU News Wire (ACLU.org), 7 Nov 1996.

40

Island; Fort Wilderness; Wald Disney Shopping Village; Pleasure Island; Typhoon Lagoon; the Contemporary,
Polynesian, Grand Floridian, Caribbean Beach, Swan, Dolphin, Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Port Orleans Resort
Hotels; and three man-made lakes, a wildlife preserve, and thousands of acres of undeveloped scrub and swamp. 667
Walts most cherished dream, the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), i was actually the
visionary core of his eastern project. 668 As he originally proposed it in 1966,Epcot would have been a utopian
small citywhere Disney employees could live, work, play, and serve as guinea pigs. 669 Walt explained and
recorded his concept in October, 1966:
Epcot will be an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that will take its cue from the new ideas
and new technologies that areemerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a
community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing and testing and
demonstrating new materials and systems. And Epcot will be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and
imagination of American free enterprise. 670
An amusement park would just be one element in this world of illusion and dreams of tomorrow. 671 In a film
madein 1966, Disney outlined his eccentric and worrisom vision of the future:
EPCOT will be an eperimental city that would incorporate the best ideas of industry, government, and
academia worldwide, a city that caters to the people as a service function. It will be a planned, controlled
community, a showcase for American industry and research, schools, cultural and educational opportunities.
In EPCOT there will be no slum areas because we wont let them develop. There will be no landowners and
therefore no voting control. People will rent houses instead of buying them, and at modest rentals. There
will be no retirees; everyone must be employeed. One of the requirements is that people who live in EPCOT
must help to keep it alive [Quoted in Barbara Smalley, EPCOT: Disneys Dream Come True, Express, April 1983, p. 41].672
But on 15 December 1966, Walt Disney died of lung cancer, just six months before the first earth-moving
equipment arrived at the shores of Bay Lake. 673 News of Walts death made headlines around the world. Tributes
poured in from all over the world. 674 Governor-elect Ronald Reagan said, There just arent any words to express
my personal grief. The world is a poorer place now. 675 Hoover ordered Disneys name deleted from the FBIs
records as an active SAC Contact. 676 The day after Walt died, Woolie Reitherman said, From this day on it will
never be like it was, but only as each person remembers it; 677the death of Walt Disneyaccentuated the general
publics feeling that an era had come to an end. 678
Others would recall a very different Disney legacy.679 Many rank-and-file employees could not forget his
radical, right-wing anti-unionism. Others remembered his key role in bringing the House Un-American Activities
Committee crashing down on Hollywoods elite [ Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 265].680 Animators like Art Babbitt, who went to
the Supreme Court in a case against Disney,ii still rage over how they were treated. 681
Walts preoccupation with futuristic technologies at the time of his death has fueled speculation that he
arranged to have his body, upon his death, preserved for possible future resuscitation by being frozen in a
cryogenic facility.682, iii He hired researchers to look into the infant art of cryogenesis. 683 It was not until
several hours after his death that a public announcement was made stating that the body had already been
cremated and that there would be no funeral. Some veteran Disney staffers doubted that the ashes of their
boss were buried in Forest Lawn, in Glendale, California. Instead, they speculated, his body lies in a state
of cryogenesis waiting medical science to catch up with Disneys faith in technology.684 Longtime associate
Ward Kimball has responded to rumors that Walts body is frozen somewhere by commenting that Walt
was always intensely interested in things scientific, iv and he, more than any person I knew, just might have
been curious enough to agree to such an experiment [ Mosley, Disneys World, 1985, pp. 298-299 ].685, v Sick jokes
i

Some people say its acronym stands for Every Person Comes Out Tired.
Rena Bulkin, Frommers Comprehensive Travel Guide: Orlando 95 (New York: Macmillan Travel, 1994), p. 166.
ii
They fired Art more than once, but he always got back in. He took his case all the way to the Supreme Courtand won a
huge settlement.
Kinney, Assorted Other Characters, p. 139.
iii
One newspaper termed [cryogenesis] the freeze-drying of the human cadaver after death, for eventual resusitation.
Leonard Mosley, Disneys World (New York: Stein & Day, 1985), p 288.
iv
[Like] Hitler-funded eugenics.
Mary Kaye Schilling, X-Files for beginners; The conspiracyand its playersin a nutshell, Entertainment Weekly, 12 June
1998, p. 29.
v
There are, it turns out, two Walt Disneys. * First, there was the familiar mustacioed fellow we all know, the man we might call
Original Walt. Original Walt died,but in a way he did live on. As WED (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises, Inc., he was
reincarnated as a corporation.
Wallace, Mickey Mouse History, p. 134.

41

about it percolated through the studio for weeks after his death. One animator recalled a running gag at the
time that freezing was Walts attempt to make himself a warmer human being. 686
The Disney organization, led by Walts brother Roy, was meticulously faithful to Walts plans for the creation of
the Magic Kingdom and the initial resort areas. At the gala opening of Walt Disney World Resort on 23 October
1971,ithe whole Disney clan, led by Walts widow, Lilly,ii strolled down the entrance to Cinderellas Castle. 687
One of Disneys best animated fairy tales remains Cinderella,688the first animated cartoon to enjoy
world-wide success, and for many people,constitut[ing] one of the first film memories of the post-war
period, notably for those who were children when it came out. 689 While there have been over 500 different
versions of this fairy tale throughout the world, the most widely known and accepted version comes from a
seventeenth-century French rendering. 690
Succinctly, Cinderella is the story of a poor, downtrodden girl, iii who becomes the victim of a cruel stepmother 691and her two daughters, who make her slave for them while they live in luxury.iv But thanks to
her friendship with small animals, Cinderella endures her hardship with good temper. 692
Cinderella is a terrible role model for kids. She has no virtues at all. The only reason she ever
got anything is because she cried and her fairy godmother showed up and dressed her. Then she
danced with the prince once and married him. Oh, very smart, Cin. I always tell my foster kid,
You know, they dont tell you what happens after she marries the prince. It gets worse.
Cinderella should have gotten out of the house. She should have been a labor organizer. She
should have overthrown the monarchy instead of marrying into it. 693
Untrue to the original ninth-century Chinese version, though, French author, Charles Perrault, 694 came
up with the idea of the glass slipper, the pumpkin coach and the concept that Cinderella had to leave the
ball by midnight when her magic finery would revert to rags [ Cavendish, Myth and Magic, p. 484].695 He also
omitted some of the important points found in the folk-tale versions. 696 In the[] [Brothers Grimm] version, v
first published between 1812 and 1815, Cinderellas stepsisters are so desperate to marry the prince they
hack off their toes to fit into the slipper. 697
The Cinderella story is hardly a fairy tale. 698 [Said Soviet feminist Elvira Novikova]: The
shameful way our media still push the spiel about marriage being the only honorable state! Theyve
*

One Walt Disney was trying to be five Walt Disneys.

Ward Kimball, quoted in Mosley, Disneys World, p. 275.
i
A few weeks later, just five days before Christmas, Roy Disneywho had been looking forward to retirementwas dead.
Christopher Finch, The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.,
1995), p. 406.
ii
Lillian Disney,*a leading patron of the arts, died [16 December 1997] in Los Angeles after a stroke. She was 98.
Passages, The Seattle Times, 18 Dec 1997, p. A8.
*
After Walts death,she married John Truyens, a real estate developer who died in 1981.
Mickeys mom: Lillian Disney was Walts real-life love; Wife of entertainment mogul Walt Disney, People Weekly, 12 Jan
1998, 49(1), p. 117(1).

She certainly didnt waste any time getting remarried after Walt died.
Ward Kimball, The Wonderful World of Walt Disney, in Walter Wagner, ed., You Must Remember This: Oral Reminiscences of the Real Hollywood (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1975), pp. 281-282.
iii
In the eveningsshe had no bed to lie down on, but was obliged to rest on the hearth among the cinders. And as she always
looked dusty and dirty, [her step-sisters] named her Aschenputtel.
Aschenputtel, Bros. Grimm, p. 119; see also Ash Maiden, Grimms Fairy Tales, p. 18.
iv
Stepfamilies are at much higher risk than are traditional families. For example, Dr. Martin Daly and Dr. Margo Wilson,
evolutionary psychologists at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, found that the rate of infanticide was 60 times as high
and sexual abuse was about eight times as high in stepfamilies as in biologically related families. *
Dr. Stephen T. Emlen, an evolutionary biologist at Cornell University,suggested, for example, that single parents emulate
female baboons, which do not accept a new male partner unless he demonstrates parenting skills. He added, An individual
with children should realize the need to look for different traits in a future mate. Qualities such as a demonstrable interest in
children, financial generosity and a willingness to become an active participant in a ready-made family come readily to mind.
Jane E. Brody, Genetic ties may be factor in violence in stepfamilies; Evolution is being cited to explain higher rates of
infanticide, The New York Times, 10 Feb 1998, CXKLVII(51,064), pp. B9, B12.
*
Children 4 years old or younger were 40 times more likely to suffer child abuse in families with a stepparent than in families
with both genetic parents present!
John Alcock, Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach, 5th ed. (Mass: Sinauer Associates, Inc., 1993), p. 568.
v
Although they are know as historys most prolific writers of fairy tales, brothers Jacob [Ludwig Karl] and Wilhelm [Karl]
Grimm were, more accurately, folk tale collectors, the first to compile and preserve on paper centuries of stories.
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 25.

42

taken two basic images of women in our folklorethe Cinderella sweetie pie who sacrifices her life
to family, and Baba Yaga,i the wise independent witch who lives alone in the forest and is doomed to
solitude. They ask us, Who do you want to be, Snow White or Baba Yaga? The honey who must
run around bringing man his slippers . . . thats the woman theyre all pressing us to be, even after
years of our being fully employed in the work force!
You see, she continued, in this Amazonic experiment weve had here since the war, very few
women got used to their independence; the majority deplored it and transferred their fear of being
alone onto their daughters. So were still stuck with the great value of the male, who became so
precious when there was such a dearth of them. If you have a phallus youre priceless, so men
become like . . . like clothes. 699
Like Cinderella, women today are still waiting for something external to transform their lives. 700
Pioneer women, long touted as our feisty foremothers, were not, it turns out, as independent as they
might have been, in the inner, psychological sense. Like modern women, when their men were away
they were able to behave independently in order to survive, but they didnt particularly like it. They
were put off by demands of adult living. That, at least, is what a feminist history scholar, Julie
Jeffrey, discovered when she decided to investigate how those pioneer women actually felt about their
lives. One woman wrote in her diary at night (before blowing out the candle): Allway beeing
accostum to have someone to depende on, it is quite new to attend to business transactions and it
pesters me no little. Quoting extensively from letters and diaries, Jeffrey showed that the pioneer
women were eager to return to the simple jobs of domesticity as soon as their husbands came home
from slaying the Indians. It was domesticity, says Jeffrey, disappointed, that gave their lives mean ing [Julie Jeffrey, Frontier Women (New York: Hill & Wang, 1979 ].701
At about 180 feet, Cinderella Castle is nearly twice the height of Disneylands Sleeping Beauty Castle. The castle
underneath the icing ii takes its inspiration not only from the architecture of 12th- and 13th-century France,but
also from the mad Bavarian King Ludwigs fortress at Neuschwanstein and designs prepared for Disneys 1950
animated feature Cinderella.
Unlike real European castles, this one is made of steel and fiberglass; in lieu of dungeons, it has service tunnels.
Its upper reaches contain security rooms; theres even an apartment originally meant for members of the Disney
family.702
In 1991 the company learned that one of its wardrobe assistants was spying on female performers at
Cinderellas Castle. The young man would masturbate while surreptitiously videotaping the women as they
changed costumes.703, iii According to court records, the company deliberately didnt inform the women at
the castle about the investigation, and in fact permitted the secret taping to continue. 704, iv Six female
dancers from the Kids of the Kingdom chorus later sued. 705 They asserted that the dressing areashad been
plagued by Peeping Toms,vand that Disney had known about the problem. 706 Harry Parsell, a former
Disney security manager who spent twenty-one years with the company found holes in the ceiling of
womens [guest] bathrooms. 707 [Disney Security Officer James Hertogs] was unconcerned. Boys will be
boys, he said. This has been going on at Disney for twenty years. 708
i

Baba Yaga[was] an unmarried, prescient, angry old witch, sometimes aided in her craft by a Rusalka, who is a symbol of
female wisdom at its most wrathful and punitive.
Francine du Plessix Gray, Soviet Women: Walking the Tightrope (New York: Doubleday, 1989), p. 115.
ii
The royal blue turrets, gold spires, and glistening white towersare visible once again, after having been covered up with icingduring Disneys 25th Anniversary celebration.
Fodors Travel, Fodors 99 Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Orlando: Your Complete Guide to All the Magic (New
York: Fodors Travel Publ., Inc., 1998), p. 35.
iii
(So whatll it be today, Pocahontas or Cinderella underpants?)
Joanne Kaufman, Every evening; From a nightly ritual comes a deep affirmation, Parenting, in Readers Digest, May 1998,
152(913), p. 11.
iv
Police said[a distraught woman] told them she would rather have her baby dead than to be involved in pornography
movies produced by Disney.
Chuck Chynoweth, Phil Long, and Martin Mercer (Knight-Ridder Newspapers), Woman drops son out of speeding car, The
Seattle Times, 20 Feb 1998, 121(44), p. A8.
v
Disney will not release any data concerning how much of a problem it has with voyeurs. In the Walt Disney World manual,
sex crimes are prominent. Some believe its evidence of how serious the problem really is. Disneys problem goes much
deeper than a few cases, say Professor Jack Enter. Ninety-nine percent of voyeur cases never get reported. The victims dont
know they are victims.
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 116.

43

Meanwhile the kidswere beginning to smell a rat. Or at least, a Mouse. 709 As with other crimes, Disney elected to keep it covered up, 710[and] by doing so there was the potentially serious risk of bodily harm
to the girls. Voyeurism is a very serious crime, says Bill Kelly, a[n]FBI veteran who dealt with sex
crimes. It can often escalate to more sex offenses.
Professor Jack Enter agrees. Seventy percent of rapists are voyeurs. People dont understand
voyeurism. Its about power, about viewing an unwilling participant. Disney still doesnt understand
that. 711
Disney acknowledged it didnt tell the performers they were being spied upon, but the company said it
acted properly. Moreover, the company preposterously claimed the dancers had no cause to sue, because
they had a diminished expectation and . . . therefore knowingly assumed the risk of the matters alleged.
In refusing to dismiss the lawsuit, the judge said ordinary citizens would find the companys conduct
outrageous. On the eve of the trial, Disneys attorneys settled the case with the Kids of the Kingdom for
an undisclosed sum. 712
Although the corporation does not disclose the annual number of injuries to visitors,between
fifty and one hundred personal injury lawsuits are filed against Disney each year [ These figures are found
in Anastasia Toufexis, No Mickey Mousing Around, Time, 11 March 1985, p. 54 ].713 When presented with a lawsuit,
Disney is notoriously hard-nosed. Settlements are hard to come by. Disney lawyers press for
summary judgments [James Koslowski, Walts World in Litigation Land, Parks and Recreations, Jan 1985, 20(1), pp. 2833, 100]. If such attempts are denied or overruled, jury trials are overwhelmingly decided in Disneys
favor [According to estimates by lawyers on both sides, Disney wins around 85 percent of jury trials. See Stephen Adler, Snow
White for the Defense: Why Disney Doesnt Lose, American Lawyer, March 1983 ]. Clean-cut, polite Disney witnesses
testify before juries made up of people already positively disposed toward Disney, most of whom have
had a good time at the parks and many of whom have friends and relatives who are or have been
Disney employees.714
Steven Adler explores the Disney mystique inan article explaining why those who are injured
at Walt Disney World and sue rarely win. 715 (Why? Because its Disney.716) The situation with
Disney[], to put it bluntly, is that you cant sue God in heaven, said the husband of [a] plaintiff. 717
As one former Disney executive put it, Mickey Mouse may be the soul of this company, but youll
find the heart somewhere over in the legal department. 718
Litigation and rotten publicity often go hand in hand, and Team Rodent is ever-wary of both. Several
employees caught exposing themselves to tourists have been quietly fired but not turned over to the police. 719
If you are the victim of a crime on Disney propertywhether at the parks or in a hoteland call
911, you would expect to be connected with law enforcement. But instead,you are patched
through to Disney Security.720 The law does not require Disney to report crimes to the Sheriffs
Office.721 When it comes to reported cases, the only entity that is likely to know the real number is
Disney itself, and the Mouse wont share that information. 722 And even when a sex crime is
committed at Disney and a child is involved, the Mouse shies away from calling law enforcement,
particularly if a Disney employee commits the crime. 723
Goofys gendarmes still do an impressive job keeping order, though. Every now and then reality
intrudesa shoplifter, a flasher, i a fistfight between tourists, an accidental fall, a fatal heart attack on the
Space Mountain roller coaster. Such incidents are handled with astounding swiftness and discretion, the
scene usually cleared and back to normal within minutes. Team Rodents crisis squads appear ready for
every imaginable emergency.724

Disneyonce a man, now an empiremade newswhen pictures of women baring their breasts on the Splash Mountain ride
began appearing on the Internet. *
Thomas Swick ([South Florida] Sun-Sentinel), Paths already trodden, The Seattle Times, 28 Dec 1997, p. I1.
*
More than a dozen photographshave appearedleading some cheeky cyber-fans to christen the attraction Flesh
Mountain.
Marla Dickerson (Los Angeles Times), Women who bared breasts on Disney ride posted on Net, The Seattle Times, 11 Jan
1997, p. A2.

By the 1990s, the company still seemed interested in constructing surveillance as entertainment, but with a much more
limited scope.
Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 7.

44

Remember I told you about how when I was in Disneyland a kid got their head pulled off i in the
Its a Small World After All ride? ii Well anywaythat was my one true-blue vacation: the day the
world got at least one head smaller. Anaheim is not too delightful as far as cities go, and our hotel
was as Mickey Mouse as is possible (but not in the Disneyland way of being Mickey Mouse). It had
a sea-green color scheme, with seashell-shaped baubles glued to the walls. Outside, there was an oilslick slithering across the swimming pool and probably a fair amount of pee iii in there too.725
[But] because of weak state laws and shoddy inspections, danger lurks at amusement parks. 726 Among
the millions of people who use Disneyland each year, at least 16 people have been hurt since 1985, nine in
one incident. 727 Nine people reportedly have died in accidents at the park since 1955, 728 although that
tally is not confirmed by the park. 729
Disney has been criticized in books and by some employees for failing to adequately maintain its
equipmentcharges park officials deny.730 Accident[s]raise[] questions about what role states should play
in regulating the safety of theme parks. 731 Although it is home to some of the largest and most elaborate
theme parks in the country, California requires no saftey inspections. 732 Florida officialsare [also] handsoff when it comes to such behemoths as Walt Disney World. 733 State inspectors just arent a fit for rides as
complex as ours, says Greg Hale, safety director at Disney World, which hasemployees whosejob is to
ensure that accidents dont happen. 734 But [the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials]
president Jim Barber says even big parks can make mistakes. No matter how complex the rides, its still a
good idea to have some agency that has oversight, somebody who can act as a second pair of eyes. 735
At the federal level, there is no oversight of amusement parks. 736 While the Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) has the authority to investigate accidents,it doesnt regularly inspect rides.
Instead, that responsibility falls to the states, where oversight is oftentimes iffy, sometimes worse.
You have state health inspectors at these parks coming in to make sure the food is prepared properly,
but theres no one checking the rides that are hurling our kids over steel and concrete, says Kathy Dresslar
of the Childrens Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law.737 Its outrageous,
Dresslar says. The parks say theyre safe, but most of them dont release any statistics to prove it. 738 There
is financial incentive for the parks to keep injuries a secret. 739
Beyond safety inspections, advocates for more state and federal oversight argue that, without tighter
scrutiny, its too easy for parks to cover up or downplay accidents. They point to the case of safety advocate
[Kathy] Facklers 5-year-old sonwho had his foot partly torn off on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
roller coaster at Disneyland in 1998.
Fackler, [who founded SaferParks.org], says that when she tried to contact park employees and visitors
to thank them for saving her sons life, Disney officials blocked her. And when there was another accident
at Disneyland 10 months later, Disney made no mention of her sons ordeal, she says. News reports
trumpeted how it was the first serious accident at the park in four years.
Fackler is calling on parks to release data on ride injuries. In order to make informed choices, we need
information, she says, noting that she might have been more cautious with her son at Disneyland if she had
known there had been previous accidents there.
Disneyland spokesman Ray Gomez wont comment on the Fackler accident, other than to say, The
issue has been resolved. 740
Still, Disney World has received unwelcome coverage of several mishaps the past two years. In August
[1999], the Orlando Sentinel reported that a 5-year-old boy broke his leg in a fall from Epcots signature
ride, Spaceship Earth. In September 1998, the same newspaper said a 38-year-old Venezuelan doctor was
knocked unconscious while riding Disneys Space Mountain roller coaster.
i

As a kid on a small farm, my sisters and I once hatched an egg in a shoe-box incubator. After the chick dried off, I let the
fluffy little thing hop around the yard. When our dog Phoebe approached the chick, I saw only one pet meeting anotheruntil
Phoebe promptly bit the chicks head off. Hopping and chirping meant cute to my instincts, but snack to Phoebes, and I
lacked the wisdom to know the difference.
Maria T. Stadmueller, Despite our best efforts, wildness holds its own (Letter-of-the-month award, May 1997), The Seattle
Times, 15 June 1997, p. B7.
ii
Disney trie[s] to dismisslawsuit[s] by claiming that a head injury is part of the inherent risk a Disney theme park
visitor must assume.
Giroux, Mouse that Roared, p. 53.
iii
Im not the Little Mermaid, OK? The more I thought about the various bodily excretions being added to the soup, the harder
it got for me to imagine climbingin.
Jerry Large, A clean slate? Its tough with germs around, The Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2 Aug 1998, 16(31),
p. L4.

45

That same month, a malfunction on Disneys Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction sent seven people
to the hospital with back and neck pains. Two bolts broke, sending the thrill rides elevatorlike cars
plunging one floor before emergency brakes kicked in.
Disney spokeswoman Diane Ledder confirms the Tower of Terror incident but wont comment on the
other two accidents because they are either in litigation or mediation. Ledder also will not disclose how
many others have been injured. And the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the governmental body that
oversees fire and medical rescues in the Disney World area, offers little more. 741 Details about injuries could
be found on ambulance reports, but Reedy Creek administrative director Mickey Shiver says those are
confidential patient records and exempt from public records law. 742 But privacy could be strained as media
and government officials begin investigating. 743
[A 1998] Christmas Eve accident at Disneyland that killed a Duvall, [Washington], man and
injured his wife happened because a park employee misjudged how fast a ride was moving when she
lashed it to a dock, according to a coroners report. 744 The accident, at 10 a.m. on Christmas Eve
day, was apparently triggered as the ship approached the dock after a routine voyage through the
parks Rivers of America ride.
A docking rope ripped the cleata metal, anvil-shaped device used to secure ropefrom the
bow of the Columbia; it flew through the air, hitting the two tourists and entangling Disney employee Christie Carpenter at dockside, Disneyland officials said. 745 (The California Division of
Occupational Health and Safety (Cal/OSHA)look[ed] into the accident, but only because the third
victim was a Disney employee.746)i
The slow-moving ride in Frontierland is modeled and named after the first U.S. ship to
circumnavigate the globe, Disneyland spokesman John McClintock said [28 December 1998]. It is
mounted on a motorized track. An operator on board the vessel controls only its forward or reverse
motion, McClintock said. 747
In a separate incident [the same day], a 4-year-old boy was listed in fair condition when he fell off
the carousel at Disneyland. He was hospitalized at [the University of California, Irvine], Medical
Center with a concussion. 748, ii

Mickeys 10 Commandments. 749, iii

You get an introduction to Waltology 101 iv as you listen to Tony Baxter, senior vice president at Walt Disney
Imagineering and executive director of Tomorrowland. 750 When Walt Disney created Tomorrowland,he was
presenting it to a public that was kind of innocent and naive, Baxter says. The public was very open to an
innocent, dreamlike projection of the future. 751
One insider says he left Disney after a collegue told him that his ideas for a pareticular exhibit were too
sophisticated. He said, Our guests are dumb as posts. They have to have the plots of [the Disney
television show] Blossom explained to them. I realized the best I could aspire to was creating things for an
audience that was supposed to be dumb as posts. . . . They really had zero respect for the guests. Guests
are stupid. Guests are destructive. The only thing they liked about guests is that they have pockets of money.752
(Guests can be so gullible, theyll believe about anything employees tell them. 753)
In autumn of 1971, as the great mousetrap sprung open in central Florida, many Americans were
looking for a Lancelot. Sleepy Orlando awoke to a country deeply divided. 754 Make love, not war
i

In the weeks surrounding the Columbia tragedy, the Disney executives behind the cutbacks all received big, fat promotions.
The message was clear: public relations black eyes, unhappy customers, declining employee morale, none of it mattered as long
as profits and attendance remained strong [Orange County Register, 12 Dec 1998 & 15 Jan 1999 ].
Koenig, More Mouse Tales, p. 213.
ii
Ironically, the week after theaccident was Disneylands most heavily attended week of the year.
Op. cit.
iii
Mickey Mouse Slouches * toward Bethlehem by Sedulus in the New Republic looks at the practice of carefree idolatry in
Walt Disney World and considers it a result of a dysfunctional society.
Jackson, Walt Disney, p. 203.
*
The Disney Co. is no slouch at public relation.
Lisa Gubernick, The third battle of Bull Run, Forbes, 17 Oct 1994, 154(9), p. 67(4).
iv
Walt Disney never got a Ph.D., but he was, nevertheless, a passionate historian.
Wallace, Mickey Mouse History, p. 134.

46

slogans were opposed by America, love it or leave it. In the middle were millions of confused people,
threatened by those who opposed the government but increasingly wondering as the body bags returned
home if there were not something fundamentally wrong going on. 755
In 1974, Disney[] completely streamlined management, cutting back extensively on
supervision. 756 Supervisors evolved into paramilitary babysitters, who seemed to delight in catching
someone messing up.757 No matter what the situation, everything had to go SOP, Standard Operating
Procedure. Any violation, automatic reprimand. 758 Managementhire[d] supervisors from within,
usually selecting the less educated yes men. Promotion began to be based on who you knew rather
than what you knew.759
This landmark amusement park has changed very little since 1968, two years after Disneys death, when i was
cloned from Disneyland in southern California. 760 Many of the visitors to the Magic Kingdoma remarkably
orderly, clean and quiet lotwalk around with glazed eyes[in a] trancelike state. 761 Even more tranquilizing are
the interminable waits in lines that slowly, endlessly wind through intricate mazes. 762 Visual distractions always
surround Disney lines. 763 The long queuing apparatus, and thus a good deal of the emotional management of
Disney customers, depends on the efficiency of the loading and unloading process. 764 Visitors demonstrate their
craving for the Disney form of amusement with their dollars and their attendance. Furthermore, something in the
Disney experience touches our general culture deeply. Disneys worlds reflect such diverse cultural phenomena as
corporate managerial structures;an emphasis in general and professional education on visual learning and
memorization rather than mental strategies demanding individual thought; an unquestioned dependence on and
faith in technologies; and a concerted detachment from social problems.
Despite these detractions, from the beginning Walt Disney World has lured tens of millions of visitors each
year. Its appeal is a blend of superb organization and absolute cleanliness (an average piece of trash in the street
sits less than four minutes before removal 765cast members are everywhere ready to pounce on any bit of
debris)766attractions that appeal to all age groups and employ leading-edge technologies; promotion of family
togetherness with ample distractions to avoid the squabbling bound to occur with prolonged contact;the security
of a lengthy vacation without the necessity for planning or daily decision making;and perhaps most important of
all, reinforcement of corporate American values of technological progress, consumption, and hierarchical
managerial structures. These values, evident in the Magic Kingdom, are most emphatically promulgated at
EPCOT Center, the second major attraction to rise in the Florida swamps. 767
There is little doubt heads will roll at the Disney organization if the founding father ever returned and saw what
they did to his EPCOT dream. 768 Epcot the utopian city of the future was transformed into Epcot the theme park. 769
Opening 1 October 1982 at a cost of $900 million, EPCOT Center barely resembles the Experimental Prototype
Community of Tomorrow envisioned by Walt Disney. Disney had begun to plan his visionary utopia in 1958 after
studying failed utopias and visiting several model cities around the world. 770 In a television film made in October
1966, just weeks before his death, Walt articulated his conception of a special kind of new community dedicated
to finding solutions to the problems of our cities. It would always be in a state of becoming. It will never cease
to be a living blueprint of the future . . . that will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now
emerging from the creative centers of American industry. . . . EPCOT will be a showcase to the world for the
ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise [ Quoted in Richard R. Beard, Walt Disneys EPCOT Center: Creating the
New World of Tomorrow (New York: Abrams, 1982), p. 13 ]. What emerged 16 years laterhas no elements of community. 771
Far from becoming the twenty-first-century village Disney had envisioned, Epcot took on the attributes of a
permanent Worlds Fair. 772
EPCOT Center has incorporated one major element of Walts original vision: it is primarily a showcase for
American free enterprise and corporate culture. In a presentation to the Urban Land Institute in 1976, then-Disney
chairman and chief executive E. Cardon Card Walker outlined the essential industrial and corporate essence of
EPCOT as a demonstration and proving ground for prototype concepts, a place to test practical applications of
new technologies [Ibid., p. 29]. So,a century after the Worlds Columbian Exposition, where Walt Disneys father
labored in its construction, Walt Disney World unveiled a permanent worlds fair designedto glorify and
advertise American technology and industry.773, i
EPCOTs limitation is that it presents what Michael L. Smith labels decontextualized history and decon textualized technology iireductions of reality to nostalgia and magic [Michael L. Smith, Back to the Future: EPCOT, Camelot, and the History of Technology, in Bruce Sinclair, ed., New Perspectives On Technology and American Culture (Philadelphia: American
i

Technologyis used as a subterfuge to conceal the absence of real change. Conceived as a form of fashion,technology is
the maid dressed up to look like a fashion model.
Ariel Dorfman and Armand Matterlart, Paro leer al Pato Donald (Valparaiso: Ediciones Universitarins, 1971); How to Read
Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic, David Kunzle, trans. (New York: International General, 1975, 1984,
1991), p. 81.

47

Philosophical Society, 1986), p. 72 ].774

Every portrayal is unceasingly soothing and limited to glimpses of the shiny

surfaces of final products. There is no attempt to educate visitors about the intricate workings of new technologies
nor to portray their awe-inspiring scale and power in our society. To do so would be to intimidate rather than
reassure. Back in the beginning of the [twentieth] century, Dr. Martin Couney provided a much more immediate
view of technology in his Premature Baby Incubators exhibit at Coney Islands Luna Park. To present at-risk
infants, dependent on complex technologies for their survival, would be unthinkable at EPCOT Center. The
possibility of death, not to mention the pain and vulnerability of imperfect infants, i could never be allowed to
intrude on Disneys perfect, carefree world.775
This Vacation Kingdom is more than just a set of amusement parks: It is the major middle-class pilgrimage
center in the United States. 776 For the latter part of the 20th century, Walt Disney World has replaced the religious
shrine as a pilgrimage center. Just as a journey to Mecca, Canterbury, Lourdes, or Rome represents a rite of
passage ii that sanctifies a pilgrim as a member of a holy community, a visit to Walt Disney World ratifies the values
of corporate culture and allows the 20th-century pilgrim to reaffirm faith to capitalist scriptures of progress through
technology, control through managerial hierarchy, and consumerism. Since most visitors belong to the
management or technical elite, the Walt Disney World experience is a self-affirming process that, in Mike
Wallaces words, provided reassurance to this class and presents it with its own pedigree. The atmosphere of
corporate achievement and total control through management is a dream world for white-collar professionals and
technocrats. Labor problems and ecological and political considerations are nonexistent. It ratfies their world
and presents them with comforting stereotypes of corporate achievements [ Mike Wallace, Mickey Mouse: Portraying the Past
at Disney World, Radical History Review, 1985, 32, pp. 53, 51-52 ].777
Disney, the bourgeoisies eulogist and flattering mirror, has distorted history so that the dominant class
sees its rise as a natural, not social, phenomenon. 778 Thebourgeoisie impose their self-vision upon all the
attitudes and aspirations of the other social sectors, at home and abroad. The utopic ideology of the tertiary
sector is used as an emotional projection, and is posed as the only possible future. Their historic supremacy
as a class is transposed to, and reflected in, the hierarchy established within the Disney universe. 779
The form and function of Walt Disney World is a borrowing from the spiritual pilgrimage center. In the
postmodern world, play, and leisure, the mythic values of the American dream, the cult of technology have replaced
the archaic rituals and scriptures of organized religion. Anthropologist Alexander Moore recognizes the traits that
identify Walt Disney World as the new Mecca: it is a bounded place apart from ordinary settlement drawing
pilgrims from great distances; the journey requires a long separation from their ordinary lives; the entrance into
sacred precincts provides a transition experience that reaffirms or invigorates commitment to a prescribed set
of values; and pilgrims exercise a fellowship with other pilgrims from widely scattered communities [ Alexander
Moore, Walt Disney World: Bounded Ritual Space and the Playful Pilgrimage Center, Anthropological Quarterly, Oct 1980, 53, pp. 208-210 ].
While illusion, magic, and technology reign in Walt Disney World instead of religious ritual and miracles, a mythic
interpretation of American history is a sanctified object of worship. American corporate technology and
managerial control are self-avowed saviors of the modern world. In each Walt Disney World attraction, pilgrims
embark on a journey where they encounter marvelous icons and symbols that sanctify cultural myths. The themes
enshrined as myths are a placid, comfortable, small-town America of the 1890s; the inevitability of progress
through technology; the efficacy of the wilderness experience whether it be through tropical jungles, the American
West, or outer space; the triumph of technology over death and the natural world; and the sainthood of American
cultural heroes such as Lincoln, Mark Twain, Franklin, Davy Crockett, and Walt Disney. Margaret J. King agrees
in her study of the values conveyed in Disneyland and Walt Disney World. She sees each park as a temple of
consumption made possible by leisure, surplus value, technology and consumerism . . . solidly based on the (American/Protestant) values of production: the work ethic, exploration, faith in progress, industrial expansion,
technological inventiveness, pragmatism, efficiency. The parks are holy cities for the entire U.S., visited by
pilgrims, in a constant festival state [Margaret J. King, Disneyland and Walt Disney World: Traditional Values in a futuristic Form,
Journal of Popular Culture, Summer 1981, 15, pp. 120-121 ]. Alexander Moore sees the process of engagement with these
ii

By pulling meanings out of contexts and repackaging them in bounded informational packets, decontextualization makes it
difficult for people to maintain a coherent understanding about how things work. Meanings become all jumbled together.
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 31.
i
My cousin got her eye popped out with the forceps when she was born, and the nurse just sort of went Whoopsie! and
popped it back in. You cant even tell it happened.
Anna Wolverton, The odd eyeball (Pop Paralysis), The Stranger, 5-11 March 1998, 7(24), p. 63.
ii
Many writers have seen the pilgrimage as a rite of passage, embodying the three phases of separation, transition (or
liminality), and reincorporation outlined in Arnold Van Genneps classic work [ Arnold Van Gennep, Rites of Passage (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1961 ].
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 221.

48

myths to be a ritual motion [ Moore, Walt Disney World, p. 215 ].780 American well-to-do pilgrims 781are
entertainingly reassured that the values of movement up to higher income and elevated social class are sanctione
through ritual, and they are indoctrinated by means of an immersion process in the ideals of corporate culture.
The perfect world of Disney has replaced the biblical Garden of Eden as the American vision of paradise. Even
Time magazine titled an article on the success of the Disney and other theme parks If Heaven Aint a Lot Like
Disney. i Richard Corliss, the author of the article, proclaimed that all the attractions in EPCOT Center celebrate
the perfectibility of man through democracy and technology [ Richard Corliss, If Heaven Aint a Lot Like Disney, Time, 16 June
1986, 127, pp. 80, 83]. The message of Walt Disney World, as historian of technology Elting Morison tells us, is not to
worry [Elting E. Morison, What Went Wrong with Disneys Worlds Fair, American Heritage, Dec 1983, 35, p. 78 ]. The limited view
through the rosy glass of the Disney cathedral proclaims that our machines have always done well and will soon do
better. Ever since the Puritan pilgrims founded America, the nation has been striving to create a perfect world, a
City on a Hill. Our mode of construction of such a splendid realm rapidly moved from spiritual grace to
technological know-how. Thus our Celestial City both in inspiration and in fact is Walt Disney World. The
subordination of the cultural dream to the reality of an enclosed world of illusion in the swamplands of Florida is
indicative of a society that systematically refuses to view itself in the glare of reality and continues to survive only
by distorting or repressing its collective memory within the glitz of illusory, decontextualized, selective Mickey
Mouse history.782
But few people envision a utopia in which adults wear Mickey Mouse T-shirts. Beloved as it may be by the
masses,the Walt Disney Company is widely distrusted and even despised by the intelligentsia, the very people
who could be expected to embrace a new utopian concept. To them, Disney is low-brow and omnivorous. Carl
Hiaasen, the popular chronicler of Florida public sociopathic behavior, is representative. In 1998, in a scathing
pamphlet on Disney called Team Rodent, he wrote: Disney stands as by far the most powerful private entity in
Florida. It goes where it wants, does what it wants, gets what it wants. Its our exalted mother teat, and you can
hear it sucking from Tallahassee all the way to Key West. 783

A Pirates Life for Me ii

For many the Magic Kingdom has become less a playground than a venerable institution, a sort of Childhood
National Park were forgotten dreams wait to be relived. 784 Some attractionsinundate the senses with sights,
sounds, movement, and even smell. 785 (Theres Disney magic in the air. 786) At Disneyland, theming is most
successful when the narratives are highly controlled and tightly organized, as they are in the parks most
memorable ride: The Pirates of the Caribbean. The ride commences as you board a pirate long-boat amidst and
evening bayou setting complete with fireflies and riverboat shacks. 787
In the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, 788you dont know where you are or how many corridors lie
ahead 789[after] proceed[ing] through a long grottolike passageway to board a boat into a pitch-black cave. 790 As
you board the boats,a ghostly voice intones, Dead men tell no tales. 791 Elaborate scenery and hundreds of
AudioAnimatronic figures (including lifelike dogs, cats, chickens, pigs, and donkeys) depict a rambunctious pirate
raid on a Caribbean 792village;793loot[ing]and rap[ing] its women, who enjoy the process because, it is
explained, theyre all old maids. 794 A sexist display of buxom women in bondage with a sign reading Buy a

Could Jesus ever have taught people to accept oppression? All the prophets, including Jesus, were sent to root out injustice, *
but later, institutions arose that distorted the nature of religion.
Imam Khomeini, Islam and Revolution (London: KPI, 1981), p. 341.
*
Disney spokesman Tom Deegan said the company has committed additional resources to bolster security at its theme parks
in Tokyo, Paris, Florida and Southern California,and that employees have been told to be aware of changes in the work
environment and report any unusual circumstances.
Michael Fleeman (Associated Press), Targets for terrorism: U.S. cultural symbols, The Seattle Times, 27 Aug 1998, 121(204),
p. A2.

Honey, I blew up the theme park.

Imagineers, Disney Imagineering, p. 146.
ii
Number of types of deviant behavior promoted by Yo Ho (A Pirates Life of Me), the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song:
(a) 10. (b) 20. (c) 30.
Disney Tragedy Trivia Quiz, in Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 47.

49

Bride i is more offensive than cute. 795, ii (Disney delivers!796, iii) This is Disney magic at its best; 797, ivit hooks us
when were little and never lets go. 798 The Pirates inspire great loyalty 799 [with] catchy music whose relentless
yo-ho-ing can only be eradicated by Its a Small World. 800, v Finally, the ride reaches a manipulative end. 801, vi
Though the plot is pretty bloodthirsty, thisadventure may fire your imagination for the Florida Keys, where
such things used to happen all the time. 802
[In January 1997], the audio-animatrons in The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction were reprogrammed
to lust after food instead of women. 803 Gluttony will replace lust. 804, vii The boat cruise that includes scenes
of drinking, fighting, thieving buccaneers will no longer show the robotic pirates chasing terrified village
maidens for the sexist joy of it.
Instead, those maidens will be carrying trays of turkey and wine. 805 It seemsthe forces of political
correctness have caught up to the agingtheme park, 806[but] the self-proclaimed Happiest Place on Earth
still has the power to offend. 807
There is an old kinescope in the penny arcade on Main Street that serves up scenes that could reasonably
be described as child abuse.
The so-called comedy revolves around a dad, a mom and a dummy portraying a child. Dad threatens to
brain the kid with a milk bottle; Mom intervenes. Dad tries to strangle the child; Mom intervenes. Dad
throws a loaf of bread at the child, which sticks to the childs head; Mom intervenes.
By comparison, the wenches on the pirate ride dont have it so terrible.
Well, maybe they do. Despite the modifications, the new Pirates of the Caribbean will still show brides
being auctioned like slaves to the highest bidders. 808
(One very old experiential industry has traditionally operated covertly: prostitution. Many other
illegal activities also fit within the experience industry. For the most part, however, all these reveal a
paucity of imagination and a lack of technical resources that will be remedied in the future. They are
trivial compared with possibilities in a society that will, by the year 2000 or sooner, be armed with
robots, advanced computers, personality-altering drugs, brain-stimulating pleasure probes, viii and
similar technological goodies.)
The diversity of novel experiences arrayed before the consumer will be the work of experiencedesigners, who will be drawn from the ranks of the most creative people in society. The working
motto will be: If you cant serve it up real, find a vicarious substitute. If youre good, the customer
will never know the difference! This implied blurring of the line between the real and the unreal
i

When we consider a new product, we really study itnot just the surface area, but everything about it. And when we go into
that new project, we believe in it all the way.
Walt Disney, quoted in Imagineers, Disney Imagineering, p. 83.
ii
Cuteness is injected, conflict removed.
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 31.
iii
There have been waves of new women arriving on cue almost every decade for the last thirty years or so. *
Ehrenreich, Worst Years, p. 121.
*
The quantity of twins is greater still.
Dorfman and Matterlart, How to Read Donald Duck, p. 34.

The Clonus Factor.

Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 108.

Honey, I Copied the Kids

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 81.
iv
Thats because magic is spelled S-E-X.
Empty Next, KSTW, 21 March 2000.
v
Thanks to a repetitious, all-too-memorable theme song and simplistic animation, the once hypnotically charming attraction
has, for many, become a colorful new form of torture.
Koenig, More Mouse Tales, p. 49.
vi
A strange, unidentifiable gas was wafting through the final section of the attraction,[but] Disneyland never called the city
fire departments hazardous materials specialists.
David Koenig, Mouse Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland (Irvine, CA: Bonaventure Press, 1994), pp. 124, 125.
vii
?? USA Today?, widening seats due to widening butts
viii
Unscrupulous governmentsand there are many of themwith tools to control,can imagineimplant[ing]tiny
electrodes in thebrains of newborn children, electrodes capable of remotestimulation. This is a nightmarish vision. As
in all such technological nightmares, the principal task is to foresee what is possible; to educate the public in its use and
misuse; and to prevent its organizational, bureaucratic and governmental abuse. *
Sagan, Dragons of Eden, pp. 213-214.
*
Kiddie Borgs: wired, drugged, and abused.
Knute Berger, Generation Xterminate; New reasons to sleep uneasy, Seattle Weekly, 16 March 2000, 25(11), p. 9.

50

will confront the society with serious problems, but it will not prevent or even slow the emergence of
the psyche-servic industries and psych-corps. Great globe-girdling syndicates will create superDisneylands of a variety, scale, scope, and emotional power that is hard for us to imagine. 809
Like the companys theme parks, Disneys 810much-bally-hooed (and much-delayed) entry into the cruise
market, 811leaves little to chance. 812 The Disney Magic i is truly a magnificent sight. It bears an unsettling
resemblance to the Titanic, and thats no accident. 813 Disney boss Michael Eisner wanted the ship to be
reminiscent of 1930s luxury liners, so its 100 feet longer than other new megaships and has a narrower profile. 814
The first thing you see as you approach the Disney Magicis a big statue of Goofy hanging over the rear of the
ship, 815swinging from a boatswains chair while pretending to paint. 816 Etched into the steep prow is a portrait of
that renowned mariner, Mickey Mouse. 817 Even the lifeboats [are] tricked outpainted bright yellow and styled to
match the old vessels depicted in Steamboat Willie.818, ii The red-white-and-black Disney ship ([The Boss
colors 819]), which had its inaugural voyage [30 July 1998], is a $350 million bet that families will flock to cruising
with the same gusto as, for example, seniors. 820
Stuck on a boat? With Under the Sea playing around the clock? 821 The prospect of being cooped up
on a shipeven an 85,000 ton one powered by five 16-cylinder diesel engines (and pixie dust?)sound[s]
like jail.822 (Did you know maritime laws still insulate cruise lines for malpractice of its ships doctors? 823
Oddly, most attorneys say disposition of your case depends on a judges mood, 824[but] we may take small
comfort in this from Judge Dickerson: Although consumer rights . . . have expanded in recent years, 825
the cruise industry remains to a large extent insulated from the modern liabilities and responsibilities that
other purveyors of travel services are required to bear. 826)
Disney is saying its going to revolutionize family cruising. But the truth is, the revolution has already
begun, says Mike Driscoll, editor of industry newsletter Cruise Week.827 Behind the trend: baby boomers who
waited to have kids and now want to take them along on vacation, as well as dual-income younger families. 828
To ignore young families, with all their potential purchasing power, would be a dumb thing to do, says Bob
Dickinson, president of Carnival Cruise Lines. iii Morbidly, he notes that the older cruisers who long have made up
the bulk of passengers do not have a lot of years of purchasing power left, to put it delicately. 829
Disneypromises to take family cruising to another level. 830 The idea, Disney Cruise Line president Art
Rodney says, is for parents to get a vacation, too.
Its a crucial point. Even Disney executives say the lines success could hinge on whether the experience is just
as fun and relaxing for parents as for kids. 831 The size and positioning of the ships three pools show its priorities.
The biggest, shaped like Mickeys head, is for kids only. Next is one for families, flanked by a teens-only coffee bar
and an arcade. Finally, theres the adults-only pool off to the side, where kids normally would be on other ships. 832
Even the lowly bathroom, always a sore point on ships, has been revolutionized. In an industry first, most cabins
have 833side-by-side chrome and white-tiled bathrooms. 834, iv Disney has also added space-consuming tubs, rare
on ships, so toddlers wont miss pre-bedtime baths. v
Just dont expect too much Mickey Mouse.835 Mickey is there, but more subtly than at the Magic Kingdom. 836
i

Workerscame up with a new name for the Disney Magic: the Disney Tragic. Its sister ship, the Disney Wonderwas
dubbed the Disney Blunder.
Kim Masters, The Keys to the Kingdom: How Michael Eisner Lost His Grip (New York: William Morrows, 2000), p. 393.
ii
Disney insisted that the lifeboats, which international maritime law dictates be orange, instead be painted goldto match the
ships color sceme. Disney won an exception: The boats are gold.
Scott Kraft (Los Angeles Times), When you wish upon a ship. . .; Three nights aboard the new Disney Magic, The Seattle
Times/ Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11 Oct 1998, 16(39), p. K8.
iii
For cruise ships, fire and water has become an increasingly dangerous mix. Aboard Carnival Cruise Lines Ecstasy, thick
black smoke billowing from its stern *provided fuel for safety experts who have warned of the high potential for disaster at
sea.
Curtis Morgan, Fire at sea is cruise lines nightmare, Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, 20 July 1998.
*
The major portion of the fire was confined to the aft deck docking or mooring area.
Jim Scheffer (National Transportation Safety Board), quoted in Dennis OBrien, Fire-damaged cruise ship to be repaired at
Newport News, Va., Shipyard, Knight-Ridder/Tribune Businees News, 23 July 1998.
iv
Because there are always a few readers who misinterpret things, I think Id better say that this does not mean it is OK to
drink from the toilet.
Large, A clean slate?, p. L4.
v
Older babies get very dirty in the course of a day, particularly once they start feeding themselves. Its usual for half their
breakfast to wind up in their hair and in other unusual places. This means that, in addition to changing the babys clothes at
least once or twice a day, youll need to give him a regular bath.
Palfrey, Irving, Katz, and New, eds., Disney Encyclopedia, Vol I: Infant and Child DevelopmentBirth to Age Six, p. 75.

51

Few industry executives doubt Disney will succeed. 837 (More than half of the lines cruise bookings are from
Disney regulars who have never been on a ship, says Judson Green, head of Disneys theme park division.) 838 The
70% of Americans who have been to a Disney theme part (and keep going back again and again) will find the
Disney Magic has all the elements that have made Disneys parksmeccas. 839
Most powerful of the love stories that shadow that of young couples is our desire for technology. A
magnificent and invulnerable ship, beautiful and fast, is the object of desire, a ship of dreams: technology
making the new dreams possible. We know this love story well; in different forms it continues its hold on
us. And yet just beyond the usual articulation, there lies a collective fear that this romancedazzling as it
ismay be doomed, and that our scientific venture could founder. The narratives of our relationships with
technology and with wealth are usually triumphant, their anxieties rarely made explicit; but under the
surface, submerged and silenced in darker waters of our consciousness, are stories of destruction and loss.
With the knowledge that the contemporaries of the Titanics passengers saw their confidence in scientific
and materials progress decay on the battlefields of W.W.I, and located as we are in history after another
World War and a Cold War in which technolog assisted in vast destruction and created the possibility of
human annihilation, there is no reason to fear that the current technological revolution has disguised
dangers.
So it is fitting and ironic that Titanic ispeaks on one level to the fear that ill-used science, engaged to
capitalist greed, may sink us all. 840 It makes explicit the unholy alliance between the idolatry, of the works
of our own hands, capitalisms fostering of greed, and patriarchy. Rose herself points out (in an unlikely
historical anachronism) the phallic arrogance of the ships dimensions, as she asks archly of Ismay, the
director of the White Lines Shipping company that built Titanic, if he has heard Dr. Freuds comments on
mens concern with size. Ismay, unenlightened by this interpretation, later urges the captain to make
headlines by sailing as fast as possible, the ships speed then preventing its turning in time from the iceberg.
Titanic as morality tale: are we going to fast? Do obstacles lurk beneath the surface? (Rorshach-like, we
read our own meanings into the causality of death. A fourteen-year-old patient, struggling with the effects
of sexual abuse,thought the sinking was the lovers faultif the men in the crows nest hadnt been
watching Jack and Rose embrace, they would have seen the iceberg in time.) 841
Even port calls are scripted: Islanders on DisneysCastaway Cay, 842billed as the companys private
Bahamian island, 843were hired through casting calls. 844 Castaway Cay is the newly Imagineered name for the
[3-by-2-mile,845 1,000 acre 846] island, but locals know it as Gorda Cay. It was a very busy place in the 1970 and
1980s, the main draw being a secluded and unpatrolled airfield, upon which many tons ofQuaaludes iiwere
landed en route to the U.S. mainland.
During that era Gorda Cay fell under the control of an American smuggler named Frank Barber, 847a
nocturnal enterprise that owed much of its success to Barbers recruitment and bribery of a U.S. drug enforcement
agent named Jeffrey Scharlatt. 848 Shortly after their operation was exposed, a Commission of Inquiry convened in
Nassau to investigate smuggling and corruption throughout the commonwealth; Gorda Cay was listed as one of the
favorite stopovers for international dope runners.
The islands notoriety presented no serious public-relations hurdle for Disney, which merely changed the name
after buying the place.849 Ill bet a new past is being written for Castaway Caya past richly populated with
conquistadors or perhaps shipwrecked pirates, whom Disney copywriters would regard as more colorful and less
menacing than modern smugglers ofbootleg methaqualone. 850

On November 18, 1993, Bill Clinton made a special appearance at the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. It
was his day to be inducted into the popular Hall of Presidents attraction. Rising from a chair on stage, he slowly
approached the lectern and proceeded to give a four-minute speech. Mind you, it was not the real Bill Clinton but
an audio-animatron. 851 And it made Disney history. No sitting president had ever given a speech at the Hall of
Presidents. 852 After the 1993 election, Michael Eisner, iii who contributed to the Clinton campaign and is active in
i

Inaugural cruises have their allurethe romance of a maiden voyage is undeniable. Butas with new hotels or new theme
parks, there is always a shake-down period for employees and equipment.
Ship-launch delays snarl Disney and others, The Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11 Oct 1998, 16(39), p. K9.
ii
[The date rape drug Rohypnol has] been designated the Quaalude of the 90s.
David E. Smith, M.D., Donald R. Wesson, M.D., and Sarah R. Calhoun, M.P.H., Rohypnol (flunitrazepam) fact sheet,
Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, Inc., 1997.
iii
Eisner has cultivated a public image of himself as friendly, trustworthy, and even boyish. But those who know him well re gard him as treacherous and Machiavellian. David Geffen, a fellow Hollywood mogul who has known Eisner well for years,
said of him in a 1995 interview: Michael is a liar. And anyone who has dealt with him, genuinely dealt with him, knows hes

52

the Democratic Party, wrote the newly inaugurated president an invitation to join the Pantheon of Presidents. 853
Clinton eagerly accepted.854
The Hall of Presidents is a mainstay of the Magic Kingdoms Liberty Square, representing the idea of
America on the eve of independence. 855 Over the years, millions of schoolchildren and their parents have passed
through the attraction. As the curtain rises, the audience is faced by extraordinary robotic likenesses of all the
American presidents. Dressed in period costume, a spotlight shines on each leader as the roll is called. They sway
back and forth, turn from side to side, nod, and fidget. 856 At the end of the presentation, Lincoln stands up i and
offers a dramatic call for national unity.
At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we
expect some transatlantic giant to step across the ocean and crush us with a blow? No. All the armies of Europe,
Asia, and Africa combined could not by force take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge. At
what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer: If it ever reach us, it must spring up among
us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we ourselves must be its authorand its finisher. As a
nation of free men, we must live through all time or die by suicide. 857
These days [Disney] houses a division dedicated tobands that sing about suicide, Satan, 858 [rape,
killing, 859] and sex with the Virgin Mary.860 Suicide plays as prominent a role as Satan at Disneys adult
label.861
Walt Disney Chairman Michael Eisner says charges that his company promotes an anti-Christian
agenda are ridiculous. 862 Disney issued a mild, two-sentence statementafter the Southern
Baptist Convention called for its 15.7 million members to boycott[Disney] and all its products. 863
There is a lot of buzz about it, said John Furia, a screenwriter and producer who teaches in the
Cinema-Television School of the University of Southern California. But it strikes a lot of people as
Don Quixote-ish. Whos not going to let their children see Mickey Mouse? 864
Such boycott efforts seem to have had little lasting impactbecause Disney company products
and services are so widely available, often under non-Disney labels, because pre-Eisner Disney
images are still so beloved, and, more generally, because of public apathy.865
The Eisner-run Disney company has produced a number of anti-Arab motion pictures, 866
[and] in August 1996 the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee organized a
demonstration outside the Disney studios to protest the companys pattern of anti-Arab
productions. 867
A Hispanic media watchdog groupsuspended its yearlong boycott of Walt Disney Co. 868
Since the boycott against Disney and its ABC network began in April [1997], the company
has hired or promotedHispanics into directorships or vice presidencies. 869
Suicide looms so large in Disneys new music that [Hollywood Records Bob] Pfeifer even signed a band
with the name in it. Like Humble Gods, Danzig, and NY Loose, The Suicide Machines first major label
deal was with Disney.870
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people aged fifteen to twenty-four. But if that
doesnt seem to Disney like a good reason not to glorify suicide to the same kids who grew up on Goofy,
Donald, and the Little Mermaid, then it probably should come as no surprise that Hollywood Records also
cheerleeds for an even greater scourge of teen life today: Drugs. Besides shipping promotional bongs, ii the
companys bands sing about drugs. 871
As it is in so many other ways, Disney is a special case when it comes to merchandizing. 872
Though the new anti-drug campaign is the largest government merchandising effort in history, its
hard to imagine how it will be heard above the din surrounding it. 873 At almost $400 million a year
(half public funds, half pro bono freebies from media participants), 874most of the first $90 million
installment will go 875to Disney. The mouse will throw in some bonus public service
announcements on ABC, a Web site and, who knows, maybe an Epcot ride simulating the OD
experience, in exchange for a $50 million multimedia, cross-property package.
a liar.
Weber, Disney legacy.
i
The sheer energy locked up in the pneumatic and hydraulic systems of any audio-animatronics figure is considerable, and un less that energy can be precisely regulated the figure is apt to become violent. Before he was finally tamed, Mr. Lincoln
smashed his chair and threw mechanical fits that threatened the safety of the men working on him.
Finch, Art of Walt, 1995, p. 420.
ii
Look at thiscombination hooka and coffee-maker.
Alladin.

53

The idea of Disney being on the government dole is amusing enough, but it may also introduce a
new economic model to the long and tortured history of the drug war. i Where once we had
companies that laundered drug money, now we have corporations synergizing anti-drug money.876
At least for decades that is what Mr. Lincoln said. When President Clinton was added with his unprecedented
speaking part, Lincolns speech was rewritten to offer a new version of American history. 877, ii The Lincoln speech
has shifted from a vaguely McCarthyite warning against the danger within to an acknowledgment of the
centrality of race in American history; and the Hall of Presidents program has shifted from a vaguely fascistic
celebration of presidential leadership to a challenge to visitors to consider the incompleteness of freedom in
America today. 878
OK,iii so much for the rides; sorry, we mean attractions. But Disneyland has always been more than a bunch of
rides.879 The Disney genius lies in making the wait part of the attraction. Oops . . . in the Magic Kingdom, its
called the pre-show.880

Wheres Toiletland? 881, iv

Walt Disneys legend and lore, along with his penchant for perfection and cold, corporate behavior, [were]
passed on to Michael Eisner. 882 In [August] 1984, Disneys board ousted the hesitant Ron Miller, [Walts son-inlaw], and brought in Michael Eisner as chairman and Frank Wells as president. 883
Eisner and Wells created an unhappy work force. In early 1985, after three months on the job, they had
fired more than four hundred studio employees, from painters to carpenters to assistant directors. Indeed,
during their first days on the job, they embarrassingly bungled a three week walkout by two thousand cast
members at Disneyland. This strike, complete with picketing covered extensively by TV news, saw
workers plead for a small raise. Eisner and Wells responded by hiring scabs as ticket takers, ride operators,
and street sweepers, and broke the strike. The new Disney management had proved that it could (and
would) be tough with anyone who tried to spoil their leap toward corporate glory.
Sometimes Michael Eisner and Frank Wells did not rise to the task in corporate negotiations with
equals. For example, when Eisner and Wells purchased the Wrather Corporation for its valuable land next
to Disneyland, they later had to admit that they were outmaneuvered, and paid millions more than they
would have liked. But their opponent in these negotiations is rarely mentioned. Bonita Granville Wrather,
child star of the 1930s, should be credited with taking the Disney boys for more than one hundred million
dollars. The mythology of the new Disney does not have women, particularly former child stars, outwit its
male wizards. 884
Roy E. Disney took control of the new board. 885 Eisner then brought over Jeffrey Katzenberg from Paramount
Pictures. The two newcomers immediatedly went to work revamping the Disney studios entire operation. 886 The
latent Disney studio shed its exclusive family entertainment label (G rating) and establish[ed] itself as the
leading production-distribution company in the industry after itsacquistion of Miramax, 887refashion[ing]
Hollywoods most culturally conservative and family-oriented studio into one of its most culturally seditious and
anti-traditional. In doing so, they betrayed the founders legacy, degraded his values, and demeaned the companys
defining spirit.
Under Eisners direction, the Disney company has turned out motion pictures packed with graphic violence and
killing,as well as rock music albums loaded with gross obscenities. 888

We will look back on this era and the response to drugs in this country and think that was the worse thing that happened in
the McCarthy era. It is insanity run amok and there is not a sane voice in the federal government saying anything about it.
William J. Chambliss (Head of Criminology Department, Georgetown University), interview in Anthony Clarke, The Hemp
Revolution, videorecording, a Conscious Light production in association with Video Vision Productions (San Rafael, CA: Tara
Releasing, 1996).
ii
?? revisionist
iii
One of [Martin Van Burens* ] nicknames was Old Kinderhook, which led to theexpression O.K.
www.nscds.put.k12.il.us/nscds/us/apushist/vanburen/vanburen9.html, 14 April 2000.
*
Martin Van Buren was so corrupt that popular songs eulogized his willingness to sell anything he controlled for a price. As
president his control extended to the Department of Justice.
Chambliss, On the Take, p. 201.
iv
(Who knows, maybe therell be another Bathroom of the Future.)
Judy Wade, Sharon Gillenwater, and Stacy Ritz, Disneyland and Beyond: Southern California Family Attractions, 4th ed.
(Berkeley: Ulysses Press, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998), p. 59.

54

Even Commentary, the magazine of the American Jewish Committee (March 1998), was moved to lament: If
the old Disney tells us something inspiriting about who we were not so very long ago, the new and even more
hugely lucrative Disney is just another signpost marking our long, steep cultural descent. 889
Eisner turned Disney into a money-making machine. 890
The singular pursuit of money is something new at Disney. Walt Disney was like so many other
successful titans of businessBill Gates, i Sam Walton, etc.in that he concentrated on creating quality
products and knew that if he succeeded the money would come later. 891 When you believe a thing, believe
it implicitly and unquestionably [ Walt Disney, in Walt Disneys Famous Quotes, The Walt Disney Co., 1994, p. 43].892
The driving motive within the company now was no longer What would Walt have done? but What will make a
profit for the company? Now, money was money, and any way to squeeze it out was considered. 893, ii In 1991,
Disney became the first entertainment-based corporation to be placed within the Dow Jones average, signaling the
economic communitys conviction of the companys strength and longevity.
During these years, [Disney executives] did whatever they felt they could to pump up the strength of the
company, even if it seemingly flew in the face of the Disney image and reputation. 894 Undoubtedly [Eisner is]
aware that his empire is the subject of percolating distrust, hatred, and even fear. 895 Some critics suggest that the
Walt Disney Company is tantamount to the evil empire [ See, for instance, Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart, How to Read
Donald Duck, David Kunzle, trans. (New York: International General, 1975); Matt Roth, A Short History of Disney-Fascism, Jump Cut, 1996, 40,
pp. 15-20; Carl Hiaasen, Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World (New York: Ballantine, 1998); and Peter and Rochell Schweizer, Disney:
The Mouse Betrayed: Greed, Corruption, and Children at Risk (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 1998) ].896 Even [Fox Televisions Barry

Diller] began referring to the Walt Disney Company as the Evil Empire. 897, iii
Eric Smoodin, editor of Disney Discouse, a book critical of Disneys role in American culture, argues that
Disney constructs childhood so as to make it entirely compatible with consumerism [ Eric Smoodin, How to Read Walt
Disney, in Smoodin, ed., Disney Discourse: Producing the Magic Kingdom (New York: Routledge, 1994), p. 18 ]. Even more disturbing is
the widespread belief that Disneys innocence renders it unaccountable for the way it shapes childrens sense of
reality: its sanitized notions of identity, difference, and history in the seemingly apolitical cultural universe of the
magic kingdom. 898
[Disney World president Al Weiss] attributes the Mouses continuing supremacy to its emotional linkage to
guests. Its something that starts when theyre very young and goes through their whole life cycle and all the
stages of their life. 899 Disney World is the most-visited destination on the planet 900draw[ing] more than 25
million people, or one-tenth of the population of the United States, each year; 901kids who went there in the 1970s
are bringing their own kids today, perpetuating a brilliantly conceived cycle of acculturation. Every youngster who
loves a Disney theme parkand almost all of them dorepresents a potential lifetime consumer of all things
Disney, from stuffed animals to sitcoms, from Broadway musicals tohomes.902
Walt Disney once said, Id love to be part of building a school of tomorrow [ Donna Leinsing, Building a
[The Walt Disney Company]
decided to build a new town, Celebration, 904, ivlocated just a few miles south of the Magic Kingdom,
near Orlando.905 (Selling dream homes is not unlike selling dream vacations. 906) The reason for
Celebration lay all around, though to call direct attention to this fact would be unneighborly. Playing to
peoples loathing for the strip-mall landscape, its gaudy commercialism and plug-in housing tracts, was the
best tactic for selling this new town. Over time, the ads began to approximate the typical Florida
developers pitch,but even then you could still feel the subtle twist of the knife. 907 In Disney culture, the
Community of Excellence, National Forum: Phi Kappa Phi Journal, 1997, 77(1), p. 31].903

Microsoft and Disney teaming up to test software? Its a hoax, said Microsoft spokeswoman Heidi Rothauser.
Disney-Gates chain letter? Dont believe it (Monday Memo), The Seattle Times, 31 Aug 1998, 121(207), p. E1.
ii
It may not be such a small world after all: Disneylands Magic Kingdom has decided that 10-year-olds should be charged adult
admission prices.
Disneyland lowered its standard for adulthoodby two years, applying itsadult ticket price to visitors ages 10 and older.
The price previously started at age 12.
Associated Press, Disneyland extends adult price, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 12 April 2000.
iii
A Black Iron Prison. This is what the dream referred to as the Empire. Everyone dwelt in it without realizing it. The
Black Iron Prison was their world. The prison lay under attack. An organization of Christians, not regular Christians such as
those who attended church every Sunday and prayed, but secret Christians wearing light gray-colored robes, had started an
assault on the prison, and with success. Everyone who had ever lived was literally surrounded by the iron walls of the
prison; they were all inside it and none of them knew itexcept for the gray-robed secret Christians.
Philip K. Dick, Valis (New York: Vintage Books, 1991), pp. 47, 48.
iv
Celebration is Disneys effort to generate small-town values in a carefully designed small-town atmosphere. The archi tecture of the homs [sic] is old-fashioned and many have porches to promote social interation.
Douglas Frantz, Town that Disney built is hit by first violent crime, The New York Times, 13 Aug 1998, CXLVIII(51,248), p.
A10.

55

community is not about self-rule but about adhering to the rules laid down by a central authority and
legitimated through an appeal to the rewards of the marketplace, all of which have a Disney copyright. 908
Celebration School i was developed in collaboration with many of the nations leading education
visionaries and institutions, and serves as a model for other school districts across the nation [ Pippin Ross,
Celebrating Education, Disney Magazine, Fall 1997, p. 84 ].909 The schools apparent emphasis on technical over civic
competencies is, however, compatible with the pedagogical practices employeed by the Disney Corporation. ii
Emphasizing the acquisition of skills over critical, ethical thinking, these educational sites produce students
and workers trained to adapt to the world rather than to shape it. Moreover, the town of Celebration might
be ill served by the production of a body of civic-minded youth, given the towns adherence to the principles
of obedience, conformity, and passivity in the pursuit of the Disney utopia. 910 (Refusing to separate
entertainment from education, Disney challenged the assumption that entertainment has little educational
value and is simply about leisure. For Walt Disney, education was not confined to schools but implicit in the
broader realm of popular culture and its own mechanisms for the production of knowledge and values. 911)
With this strategy Disney will someday tap into the fortunes of every person on the planet, as it now does to every
American whether we know it or not. 912 Like it or not, the policies and programs of companies DO influence your
societyand youfor good or ill. 913 Todays autocrats are the megacorporations, and none exerts more influence
over our culture than Disney.914 Disney touches virtually every human being in America for profit. That is rapidly
becoming true as well in France, Spain, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Australia, China, Mexico, Brazil, and
Canada. 915
The company has a tremendous impact on the mindset and behavior of hundreds of millions around the
globe.916 Because Eisner and the others who run the motion picture and television industries are able to
shape the publics barely conscious basic assumptions about life and society, thereby profoundly influencing
the thinking and actions of millions, they wield greater power than even our elected lawmakers. 917 Precisely
because [Disneyphiles] beguilingly pose as friends, they are more insidious, and ultimately more dangerous,
than even a military threat from a foreign power.
Eisners transformation of Disney parallels, and contributes to, the cultural, social and political
transformation of the United States as a whole. Like Americas political leaders, Eisner and his Disney
colleagues reassuringly display familiar symbols and trademarks from an earlier era, exploiting reputations
and good-will painstakingly built up over decades. Those who patronize Disney are reassured that such
beloved symbols as Mickey Mouse and Snow White are still in place, just as millions of credulous
Americans are reassured about the future of the United States because such icons as the American flag and
the US Constitution are still in place. But in each case, the spirit that gave life to these venerable symbols
has been driven out by a very different onea spirit that has not yet dared to show its real face, or speak its
real name. 918, iii
Disney will devour the world the same way it devoured this country, starting first with the youth; 919 snag the
children iv and everybody else followsparent, politicians, even the press. 920
i

Mi Kid iz a Honner Studant at Sellibration Skool. *

Bumper Sticker, Summer 1998, in Ross, Celebration Chronicles, p. 144.
*
Textbooks today, many experts agree, are far easier to read, with simpler vocabulary and sentence structure, than they once
were. In other words, textbooks have been dumbed down. The result, according to a wide-ranging group including
teachers, textbook salesmen, education researchers and government officials, is a more poorly educated student population.
Sue Fischer, president of the Association of Washington Educators of Talented and Gifted, says that during the past 15
years, the reading level of texbooks has dropped by two grade levels. That is, what used to be third-grade material is now fifthgrade material.
Nancy Montgomery, Dumbed-down texts too easy, too simple, too boring, critics say, The Seattle Times, 3 March 1996, p.
A1.
ii
Teachers are called learning leaders and students are learners.
Douglas Frantz, Trouble at the happiest school on Earth; Disneys brave new town, The New York Times, 1 Aug 1999,
CXLVIII(51,601), p. WK1.
iii
(Hastur the Unspeakable (He Who Must Not Be Named). Any time the name Hastur is spoken, there is achance that
Hastur will hear and sendByakhee to slay the speaker.)
James M. Ward with Robert J. Kuntz, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Deities & Demigods, Lawrence Schick, ed. (TSR
Games, Original edition), Cthulhu Mythos (omitted in later editions), p. 45.
iv
Above the crib in little Shelby[s]roomhangs a framed single-share certificate of Walt Disney Co. stock. *
Dan Moreau, Getting kids hooked on stocks, Kiplingers Personal Finance Magazine, Aug 1995, 49(8), p. 73(3).
*
In the worlds nurseries, the hand that rocks the cradle belongs to Disney.
Time eds., Great People of the 20 Century (New York: Time Inc., 1996), p. 118.

56

The influence of Walt Disney isinescapable. The images of his characters are all around us, 921from Walt
Disney Pictures, [Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax, and Caravan Pictures; 922] from ABC, ESPN,
[Touchstone Television, Buena Vista Television,923] the Disney Channel, Arts and Entertainment, the History
Channel, and Lifetime; from Siskel and Ebert, Regis and Kathie Lee, [Bill Nye, i] and Monday Night Football;
fromTV stations,AM radio stations, andFM radio stations; from home videos, stage plays, music
publishing, book publishing, [glossy consumer magazines (including Discover),924 and] daily newspapers; from the
theme parks;from computer software, [Web sites, ii] toys, and merchandise; from baseball and hockey franchises;
from hotels, real-estate holdings, retail stores, shopping centers, housing developments, andeven a cruise line. 925
Of course the tourists ke[ep] coming. Nothing short of flamethrowers w[ill] stop[] them. If anything is more
irresistible than Jesus, its Mickey.926 (Who is more powerfulDisney or God? Its a tough call. 927) [Disney]
change[d] how peoplethought about money,928the root of all evils. 929, iii Disneydignified blind greed in
state[s] pioneered by undignified greedheads. 930, iv Bankers, lawyers, real-estate salesmen, hoteliers, restauranteurs,
farmers, citrus growerseveryone in Mickeys orb had to drastically recalibrate the concepts of growth. 931
Business leaders (and therefore politicians)watched and plotted with envy. Everyone conspired for a cut of the
Disney action. 932 (Americans are among the most self-centered folks on Earth. 933)
The end of the 1980s, 934a decade of greed, 935witnessed the phenomenal success of movie studio theme
parks with the opening of the Disney-MGM studios park. 936 The MGM Studio Tour opened in 1989. 937 (A
syndicated TV show, Ed McMahons Star Search, is recorded at Disney-MGM before an audience made up of
visitors to the studios.938) The company is also building a park adjacent to Disneyland called Disneys California
Adventure. 939 ?? In typical fashion, Disney executives arent revealing much about their plans. 940
Disneys ability to decimate you by acting in a predatory way is chilling, [MCAs President Sid Shein berg] said in a memorable interview with the Orlando Sentinel. Do you really want a little mouse to
become one large, ravenous rat? 941
Eisner promised to reinvent the Disney experienceworldwide. 942 The 15th anniversary of 943Tokyo Disneyland, opened by the ancien regime [o]n [15 April] 1983, 944was marked in bronze with the unveiling of a
statue of Mickey Mouse hand in hand with Walt Disney.945, v
In every Japanese bookstand and convenience store, pornographic magazines feature lewd photos of
girls in high-school sailor uniforms. 946 In the video-game parlors of Japan, playerscan strip the highschool uniform from a young teen until she is topless. 947 On television, one of the most popular childrens
cartoon characters [wa]s Sailor Moon, a high-school girl in uniform who fights crime and inexplicably
appears naked in her bathtub during the ending credits. 948 Clothing stores in Tokyo think nothing of
displaying provocative photographs of topless preteen girls in seductive, adult poses, and residential
mailboxes get stuffed with ads for sex services that are illustrated with graphic photos of high-school girls
performing sex acts.949 It is open to theory why Japanese men find very young girls sexually attractive. vi
i

Disney Presents Bill Nye the Science Guy *is written at the fourth-grade level because its generally agreed thats the
oldest a person can be and be excited about science, [Bill Nye] said. It turns out that over half our viewers are grownups.
So fourth grade isnt so bad for everyone.
Paul M. Eng, Cybergiant see the futureand its Jack and Jill, Business Week, 14 April 1997, p. 44.
*
Science Guy Bill Nye is suing Disney. The TV personality says the company owes him more than $500,000 for using his
likeness on attractions at Epcot Center.
People (Across the Nation/Daily Briefing), The Seattle Times, 20 Feb 2000, p. A6.
ii
Disneys Daily Blast is the Webs first subscription service targeted specifically at children. *
Mike Langberg, Disney site treats kids to Daily Blast, San Jose Mercury News, 27 July 1997, p. 2E.
*
The site is featured on the Microsoft Network (MSN) and offers pre-teenagers programs such as stories, current events, games
and comic strips.
Paul M. Eng, Cybergiant sees the futureand its Jack and Jill, Business Week, 14 April 1997, p. 44.
iii
Which is worse: the evil you know, the evil you dont know, or the evil thats been around so long no one pays attention to it
anymore?
Angela Gunn, Choose your evil (Kiss my ASCII), Seattle Weekly, 16 March 2000, 25(11), p. 19.
iv
A greedy man, even if he has much, still wishes to have more.
The Little Folks Presents, Grimms Fairy Tales, pp. 204-205.
v
If a character can get a statue made of himself, imortality is his. Statue, Statute, Status, Static.
Dorfman and Matterlart, How to Read Donald Duck, pp. 83-84.
vi
A tabloid newspaper reports that Japanese men would rather be shipwrecked on a deserted island with Attorney General Janet
Reno* than any other women. Thats just amazing, Reno said,laughing, when asked by a reporter for her reaction to the
article. The Weekly World Newssaid a recent survey of 12,500 Japanese men between the ages of 21 and 58 found that 78
percent picked Reno as their top choice when asked with whom they wanted to be stranded on an island.
People (Across the Nation/Daily Briefing), The Seattle Times, 20 Nov 1997, p. A12.

57

Experts on sexuality and womens rights say that as women have begun to assert themselves, the traditional
lack of equality between the sexes has left men intimidated by strong women, and therefore more interested
in young girls. 950 The less analytical reasonmen are fixated on young girls is that no one has stopped
them. 951
Disneyland is a potent and popular image [t]here. Disney characters have pitched countless Japanese products for
years.952 Mickey Mouse is such an omnipresent figurethat he is probably more recognizable to many Japanese
than the Emporer. 953 Youths sport Mickey Mouse T-shirts, and Cinderellas castle has served as the model for
dozens of so-called love hotels, where 954couples go to for the privacy they cannot get in their crowded
homes.955 For many Japanese, Tokyo is no longer a place to move to in order to find jobs and get ahead in the
world; instead, Tokyo has become the largest theme park, visited by people from all over Japan for enjoyment, to
have fun. Thus, the phrase Tokyo Disneyland needs to be understood in its double sense: a Disneyland in Tokyo
and Tokyo as a Disneyland. 956
Spurned by the success of its Japanese venture, Walt Disney Company decided to develop EuroDisneyland,
located in Marne-la-Valle, 20 miles east of Paris. 957 Disneyland Paris ([formerly] called EuroDisney) openedin
the spring of 1992. 958 The wine-loving French resented Disneys no-alcohol policy, while employees balked at the
companys famous Aryan-android dress code, which forbids makeup, nail polish, [flashy jewelry, blue jeans, 959 and]
facial hair. 960
Mickey Mouse can finally grow a mustache. The Walt Disney Co.has relaxed rules that barred male
employees from growing facial hair. 961 Walt Disney adopted its clean-cut code for Disneyland employees in
1957, requiring men to be clean shaven and to keep their hair short.
Though he sported a mustache himself, i the companys founder thought the prohibition was
necessary 962reportedly because he did not want the The Happiest Place on Earth to turn into the
Hippiest Place on Earth. 963 (Employees who worked for the creative side of the companywere generally
exempt.964)
After surveying some park-goers, Disney Attractions President Paul Pressler apparently decided a wellmaintained mustache is acceptable enough for folks these days, especially in a tight job market; 965[but]
the grooming code still looks down on more current facial expressionlike piercings, goatees, unnatural
dye jobs, [sideburns], beards or a stunning set of muttonchops. 966
Disneys enforcement did spark some well-publicized battles over the years. After taking over
operations of Long Beachs Queen Mary in 1989, the company fired [four 967] crew members who reportedly
refused to cut off their mustaches. 968
The appearance code was last revised in 1994, when female theme park workers were permitted to use
eye shadow and eyeliner and balding men were allowed to wear toupees. 969
Critics and commentators despaired that Disneyland Paris was a blight on native French culture, and the leftis
newspaper Libration harshly dubbed it Mousewitz. At one point the park was losing the equivalent of $1
million a day, and was reported to be on the verge of closing. 970 Today wine is served.971
Disney, hoping to expand operations into China,tapped shill-for-hire Henry Kissinger to perform damage
control in the wake of the release of Kundun, a Disney film highly critical of Chinas occupation of Tibet. 972 In late
1996, [China] sent the director of Chinas National Film Bureau, Liu Jianzhong, to Hollywood to warn Disney that
its business interests in China would be at risk if the film proceeded. 973 Disney did not pull the plug on Kundun,
but the Mouse did look for other ways to appease Beijing: 974Chinese censorship and control. 975
In December 1997,976Business Week chose Disneys board of directors as the worst in America. The
reason: Many seemed to have been handpicked not so much for their business experience as for their loyalty
to the autocratic Eisner. 977 Ruthless, [Eisner] rules Disney, and rules alone. 978
In apoll published in Esquire magazine, screenwriters dubbed Disney the studio they least like
to work for. Aljean Harmetz summarized the situation as follows: Screenwriters are venomous
about the dumb Disney executives who treat you horribly and give you pages and pages of notes
written in Pidgin English [Aljean Harmetz, Glory and Humiliation in the Screen Trade: A $1,000,000 Insult Beats a
*

Evil women in history: From Jezebel to Janet Reno.

Barts Girlfriend, The Simpsons, FOX, 2F04, 11 June 1994.

We are living in a time of great federal corruption. Since Reno serves at the pleasure of the president, you can draw your
own conclusions.
Bill OReilly (APBnews.com), Corruption in high places?, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 31 May 2000.
i
It was an old company joke that Walt Disney could not have been hired to work at Disneyland. Walt cursed vigorously, chainsmoked,dr[a]nk,and wore a mustache.
Taylor, Storming the Magic Kingdom, p. 25.

58

$300,000 Insult Any Day, Esquire, 1991, 116(1), p. 81 ].

John Gregory Dunne puts it even more succinctly:

Im not going to pass judgment, but writers who have worked for Disney call it Mouschwitz [ John
Gregory Dunne, Truth, Illusion and Very Good Insurance: Id Like to Thank the Members of the Academy . . . Ibid., p. 91].979
[The following year], ABC Newsnixed a 20/20 newsmagazine story critical of parent corporation Disney,
specifically its hiring and safety problems at the Disney World theme park in Orlando, Florida. The piece
[wa]s based on[Peter and Rochelle Schweizers] book Disney: The Mouse Betrayed.980 Penned for
conservative Washington, D.C., publisher Regnery, the book alleges, among other things, that Disney World
doesnt do enough background checking to stop sex offenders from getting hired at the park. 981 The Disneycritical workwhich contains such chapters as The Lyin King and Mickey Mouse Justicealso
includes copies of sheriffs reports at the park regarding alleged pedophiles. It also describes a rampant
Peeping Tom problem.982 [Regnery Vice President Richard] Vigilante, who claimed he was told by producer
[Rhonda] Schwartz the segment would run as soon as the overscheduled 20/20 had room for it, said he
began to have doubts when the newsmag ran a segment about dogs on Prozac. 983
([A cafe that] opened in the southern Chinese tourist town of Yangshuo 984[has] a sign in the window [that] reads
Welcome to Mickey Maos.985)
The Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong government announced[2 November 1999 plans] to build a
theme park in this bustling financial hub, an agreement that would give Asia its second Magic Kingdom. 986 The
proposed Hong Kong Disneyland, a 126-hectare theme park development at the first phase, will be constructed at
Pennys Bay on Lantau Island, a main tourist route from the Hong Kong International Airport. 987
Hong Kongs reputation as a must see tourist destination is expected to be strengthened considerably with the
opening of a Disney theme park in 2005. 988 Japanese characters are bigger hits than Mickey and Donald, but 989
Hong Kong Disneyland will no doubt enhance the international image of Hong Kong as a vibrant, cosmopolitan
city,[a Tourism Commission report] stressed. 990
Director of the Guangzhou Tourism Bureau Lie Ping said: The building of a Disneyland will not only boost
tourism in the [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] but is also a [sic] good news for Guangzhou. 991
This will mark a new era for Hong Kong, said government leader, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. 992
Hong Kong will have (Disneyland). Its a place where dreams are made, [Vice-Premier Quan Qichen] said. 993
One might argue that by now, Mickey and Minnie Mouse are not merely American but have become
international figures. Also Pinnochio, Cinderella, Dumbo. 994
As Mr. Hiaasen describes in his book, the companys literal attempt to annex American historyby building a
theme park adjacent to Civil War battlefields in Virginiawent belly up after enormous protest. 995 In November
1993, Disney executives unveiled plans for a Disneys America theme park in Haymarket, Virginia. Prince William
County officials welcomed this new proposal. 996 For many months the Walt Disney Company ha[d] been
anonymously snapping up property in the Piedmont, just as it did many years ago outside Orlando. 997 Although the
nucleus of Disneys America Project was to be six miles from the Civil War memorial, many Virginians felt it
was close enough to be a desecration. This time it wasnt Nature but American history that Disney sought to polish
up and market as a fun ride. 998 Disney officialssaid the park w[ould] feature exhibits making phenomena such as
slavery, the Civil War and the Depression fun and exciting for the whole family. 999
During the Civil War, the battlefield of Monassas, Va., where Confederate General T.J. Jackson became known
as Stonewall and 28,000 fell, was described as the very vortex of hell by one soldier. Now Monassas, about 26
miles southwest of Washington, D.C., [wa]s the vortex of a bitter clash that[] turned into the biggest historic-preservation battle in the country.1000 Opponents said Monassas was no place for a massive theme park/golf resort/subdivision. 1001
Amid the controversy, president and chief operating officer Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash.
[Jeffrey] Katzenberg wanted Wells job, but Eisner wanted someone who would defer more easily as his
second-in-command. Katzenberg was squeezed out and later sued for $250 million. Eisner had quadruple
bypass surgery; employees throughout the company who werent bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars
in salary, bonuses and stock options, joked that the doctors went to operate on his heart, opened him up and
couldnt find one.1002
Disneys America implied ownership of the countrys history, which only antagonizedcritics. 1003 Respected
historians feared Disney would commercialize what should be revered, and vulgarize what is noble in American
history. 1004 The rape of Orlando was invoked constantly as a battle cry; 1005Mickey and Minniewould be dancing on the graves of Civil War heroes.1006

59

Minnie Mouse is one of the most popular characters at Disney World. But inside that costume,Min nie
Mouse is often a man. 1007 It seems that some gay male employees at Disney World i enjoy playing the
feminine mouse, flirting with and comically embarrassing male guests. 1008 Nonetheless, the men leave with
their chests expanded, obviously taking the advances as flattery, not as sexual harassment. 1009

Heeere, Lee-zard Lee-zard Lee-zard 1010, ii

Mulan, the 36th animated feature in the studios history,1011is Disneys first foray into Chinese culture. 1012, iii
[It may also be] the studios first animated featureto use the words cross-dresser and drag show, or to feature
scenes of nose-picking and spitting. 1013 [Mulan, the story] about a Chinese girl who dresses as a man and
becomes a war hero, 1014finished second to The X-Files at the box office. 1015 She simply becomes one of the
boys. But lest the fantasy be taken too far, Disney reminds us at the conclusion of the film that Mulan is still just a
girl in search of a man, and as in so many other Disney animated films, Mulan becomes an exoticized version of
the All-American girl who manages to catch the most handsome boy on the block, square jaw and all. 1016
Kids learn from Disney films, 1017[and] some researchindicate[s] that children try to imitate what they see.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, 74 percent of children say they want to copy what
they see in movies and on television programs. 1018 [As a result], frantic parents are dragging their little girls into
hair salons 1019[because the girls] hack off their own hair to be just like Mulan. 1020 (At least its not as bad as
when little boys jumped off the roof.1021)
One cannot overstate Disneys reach, and theres no better example than Eisners superhyped 101 Dalmatians.iv
As soon as word got out that Disney was producing a live-action remake of its popular 1961 feature-length cartoon,
puppy mills across America began breeding dalmatians like rats. 1022, v Once the movie opened, thousands upon
thousands of parents went shopping for puppies to put under the Christmas tree for their small children. 1023 Less
than a year after the films release, animal shelters and Humane Societies got swamped with young dogs that had
failed to deliver the cuddliness promised by their big-screen counterparts. 1024 In the movie, the Dalmatians are cute
and fun. But at home, they shed, tend to snap and bite, and do not particularly like children. 1025 South Florida
shelters reported a 35 percent increase in the number of dalmatians, many of them facing a sad and predictable
fate. The story was the same all across the country. 1026 The parents who dashed out to buy those dog should have
known better.1027
After [the] outcry from historians and preservationists sunk its plans for [the] history theme park outside Wash ington, D.C.,the company was carefulto line up wide support for Animal Kingdom from some of the nations
leading conservationists and zoologists. 1028 In the spring of 1998, over the protests of antizoo activists, Walt Disney
World openedAnimal Kingdom, 1029the first major Disney World theme park in almost a decade. 1030

There has always been a gay presence in the Magic Kingdom. *

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, pp. 234-235.
*
Walt Disney World used to keep Gay Days in the closet,[but] its now as much a part of Disney as Mickey Mouse.
Mike Schneider (Associated Press), Gay Days part of Disney landscape, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 3 June 2000.
ii
?? Im not a lizard, Im a dragon: I dont do that tongue thing.
Mulan.
iii
Chinas state-fun Xinhua news agency reportedthat researchers have identified the hometown of the character portrayed in
Mulan, a legendary female warrior. Researchers believe that Mulanwhose surname was Weiwas born about 1,300
years ago in what today is central Henan provinces Yucheng county, Xinhua siad.
?? Daily briefing, The Seattle Times, 25 Aug 1998, p. A12.
iv
The same folks who brought you 101 Dalmations, a movie featuring adorable puppies, also brought you Pulp Fiction, a movie
featuring junkies, hit men, and bondage freaks. *
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 12.
*
The same company that released the animated film Hercules, about a mythical strong man, distributed The House of Yes, a
movie that boldly attempts to make incest look sexy.
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, pp. 8-9.
v
Davy Crockettstarted a national craze among American children for coonskin caps. *
Taylor, Storming the Magic Kingdom, p. 9.
*
Jack Russell terriers have become popular because of the television show Frasier.
Mireya Navarro (The New York Times), Movie fallout: Dalmatians now being abandoned, The Seattle Times, 14 Sep 1997, p.
A6.

Word from the Chihuahua breeders is their pups are on back order.
L.M. Boyd, Mike mailway, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 21 Sep 1998, 135(226), p. E4.

60

The 20,000-member Performing Animal Welfare Societyhas called for a boycott. 1031 People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals has [also] called for a boycott,sending letters to travel agents urging them
not to book tours.
Another group, the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, planned to picket on opening day. Joe Taksel,
managing director for the Florida group, said Disney should give up on animals given its pretty bad
record and should spend money instead on conserving natural habitats. 1032 When it comes to animals,
says [Taskel], Disney should stick to Mickey Mouse. 1033
From Dinos to Rinos, promised the advance press release. Thisfourth major theme park at Walt Disney
World Resorts sprawls across 500 acres reconfigured to look amazingly like animal reserves of Africa or Asia. 1034
Billed by Disney as five times bigger than the Magic Kingdom, that figure includes many of the open-air animal
areas.1035 In other words, its not as big as it sounds. 1036
Typical Disney: Honey, I shrunk the Serengeti!
The new park offers the formulaic payload: fast-paced, telegenic, politically correct facsimiles of adventure.
For instance, visitors are educate about threatened wildlife on aride called Countdown to Extinction.
Meanwhile, a mock safari tracks ruthless elephant poachers through the bush 1037[in] an 18-minute zip-by that
gives your camera little time to focus on anything moving faster than a rock. 1038 The Conservation Station provides
an education lite on wildlife and rain forests and has an animal E.R. that shows surgeons at work on, say, a
macaws anus. 1039 The centerpiece would be more than fifteen hundred real animals, i often with agendas of their
own.1040 Rare and wonderful creatures, native to far-off lands, will include elephants, hippos, rhinos, antelope,
lions, gorillas and much more, roaming freely 1041unless Disney starts tranking them. 1042
Live animals in theme parks, of course, have their drawbacks. 1043 Eventually, all of them will die, says Jane
Ballentine, a spokeswoman for the American zoo and Aquarium Association. Just like humans. 1044
This is not about fantasy, says entertainment chief Doug May of the parks attractions. This is a park about
reality. 1045
When we saw that McDonalds was using its McRib sandwich to cross-promote Disneys Animal
Kingdom, we thought, Isnt it odd to connect frolicking animals and a rib sandwich? R.J. Milano, an
assistant marketing V.P. at McDonalds, explained, Animal Kingdom is very much a wild experience, and
the McRib is a wild taste that allows customers to experience the fun and magic of the Animal Kingdom
without going to Orlando. Oh. 1046
The least interesting thing about Disneys Animal Kingdom is its animals, 1047but are the animals safe?1048
Even before opening, [Disney]had to deal with the public relations stain of animal deaths, starting with a 6year-old female black rhino: 1049
Rhinos browse on grasses, leaves, twigs, and shrubs, and theyre not always well-mannered eaters. It was
conceivable that an exceptionally hungry animal could slurp down a twenty-one-inch branch without chewing it. And that would have been the working theory about Disneys dead black rhinoceros, that it had
ingested the lethal stick from a pile of vegetation, cut for it as food by well-meaning handlers.
Except for one problem: The stick was found at the opposite end of the animal; specifically, in the last
segment of the long intestine, within an arms reach of the rectum. 1050 person or persons unknown had
savagely inserted the stick. 1051 [But] thered be no need for a delicate inquiry as to who, if anyone, had so
viciously violated the young pachydermwhatever happened had taken place before the rhino arrived in
Orlando.1052
Still, Team Rodent remained worried. No upbeat spin could be put on a story about a endangered
creature expiring under mysterious circumstances on company property. With memories of the abused-buzzard fiasco still tender, a wall of secrecy went up. Anyone with knowledge of the rhinos demise was
instructed to keep quiet. 1053
[An] investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture into possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act came
after at least a dozen of the animalsdied; 1054the causes of death ranged from illness to accidents. 1055 A
spokesman for the department, Jim Rogers, said the investigation was started after the agency received an
anonymous tip, but he would not say what they were looking for. 1056 Disney acknowledged that 12 animalsfour
cheetah cubs,ii two rhinos, two hippos,1057two Asian small-clawed otters, 1058 and two West African crown cranes
that were apparently hit by tour busses 1059died at or en route to the $800 million theme park. 1060 The cheetahs
i

But all those critters generate a lot of animal waste. Andsupply is outstripping the demand. Disney, at one point, was
even giving away manure, under the cutesy name Poohs Poop.
A mountain grows in Orlando; Walt Disney Worlds Animal Kingdom produced 1,680 tons of animal wast during the past 18
months, Business Week, 1 March 1999, 3618, p. 8.

61

died of kidney failure consistent with exposure to ethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze, and their deaths
remain a mystery, Disney officials said. 1061 The Orlando Sentinel disclosed that 1062thirty-one animals died in the
months before the park opened,[including several gazelles, antelope, and]two mole rats. 1063
Disney dismissed the deaths as to be expected when you have 1,000 individuals in your care, an excuse I
suspect wouldnt fly with parents if the company ever opened a day-care center. 1064, i Disney spokeswoman Diane
Ledder said the company publicized only the significant deaths. We dont make a practice of informing the media
every time an animal dies at our facilities or by the same token when one is born, Ledder said. 1065 Its not practical. Animals are born and they die. Its a fact of life. 1066

Father Knows Best

Team Rodent knows the tolerance level of its audience because it raised its audience.1067 Disney helped create
our popular taste.1068 In many ways, Disney was a Father Knows Best-style husband. 1069 [But] if Father Knows
Best, why is he so angry with Bud all the time? 1070
If father is so wonderful, why is his son angry? While life seems fine for Mom, Dad, ii Betty, and Kathy, theres
definitely something amiss with young Bud Anderson. Behind their veneer of middle-class perfection, might there
be something terribly wrong in this family? Could there be something innately wrong with the boy? Theres a feel
to Bud that emanates through the screen. Subtle at first, he has an unmistakingly dark quality. Its perhaps most
apparent in his judgment. He seems to wander into trouble, and his way of communicating is at times sneeringly
provocative. On the surface, his manners appear to be fineafter all, he was well taught. However, he has a
devious quality that makes it apparent he cant be trusted Hes constantly choosing the wrong companions, making
the wrong decisions, and having to later confess and repent to his parents and others hes offended.
Bud appears to be holding something inside. Well never know whats really going on, but there are
dimensions to this family that are not seen by the public. One clue is found in the way in which father and son
interact. Jim is angry and impatient with Bud. He often thinks the worst of him. Millions of people can identify
with family secrets. iii Often even an extended family isnt aware of toxic dynamics at work. Everything appears to
be normal and healthy, but inside the intimacies of family life, unbridled anger and abusive manipulation are alive
and at work.
While there is no compelling evidence that the Andersons are anything but an emotionally open, loving, and
healthy family, there is the matter with Bud and his unctuous personality. The family may be blind to it, but in
their midst is a young man with a flowering personality disorder, whos destined to rebel in dramatic and
flamboyant ways as a late teen. If and when that happens, 1071will they see it coming? Sadly, well never
know.1072
The days of Ward and June Cleaver are over! 1073

Lucky for Disney, UNICEF doesnt investigate hypocrisy.1074 Those who track child labor sweatshops know the
Mouse is a prime exploiter. The face of Disney the manufacturer is not a pretty one. 1075 (Sweatshops became big
news in 1996 when it was revealed that Kathie Lee Giffords designer clothes companyus[ed] child labor at
below-subsistence wages.1076 The Giffords immediately became champions against child labor. 1077)
ii

Cheetahs today are outnumbered by their enemies, they are largely defenseless, and, where unprotected, they are likely head ed for extinction. Slowly, inexorably, cheetahs have been exterminated from large portions of their former range in Africa
and the Middle East. Once plentiful in India, cheetahs have totally disappeared there, the victims of hunters and loss of
habitat.
George W. Frame and Lory Herbison Frame, Cheetahs: In a race for survival, National Geographic, May 1980, 157(5), p. 712.
i
The Baby Care Center exemplifies Disneys utopian attention to detail. Baby paraphernaliaare on sale here. There are
also special name tags for childrento wear in case one gets lost. *
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 173.
*
?? creme a la creme child-care
ii
Answering latter-day criticism that the show wasnt realistic, [Robert] Young said that adding a subplot about real-life crises
would have been like taking a beautiful painting and obliterating it with black paint.
Oscar Musibay (Associated Press), Actor Robert Young dies at 91; He was beloved for roles in Father Knows Best and as
Marcus Welby, The Seattle Times, 22 July 1998, 121(174), p. A3.
iii
Most families have secrets, and surprisingly, adoption continues to be one of the most common. Under enlightened practices,
children are told about adoption more readily than in the past. But in the interest of protecting them, many parents keep
adoptees in the dark, setting them up for possible future shock.
David Gelman and Debra Rosenberg, Family secrets; From hidden adoptions to hushed-up romances, that which you dont
know still has the power to hurt you, Newsweek, 24 Feb 1997, CXXIX(8), p. 28.

62

At a Washington, D.C., press conference, a fifteen-year-old Honduran worker named Wendy Diaz told
reporters that she made $21 a week and suffered abuse at the hands of her bosses. 1078 Diazs plight,
however, might have been worse. Had she been employed by a Disney licensee, she undoubtedly would
have received even lower pay under more dangerous working conditions. 1079 At four assembly factories
owned by Disney suppliers, workers toil in tropical heat to meet production quotas. 1080
Using children to make Disney toys i extends beyond [Haiti], Vietnam and China. 1081 (China is an attractive
place for less-scrupulous companies to manufacture their products, says Simon Greenfield. 1082) Disney licensees
use child labor to cut costs. The Eden Group, a Disney licensee in Thailand that produces a whole line of Disney
apparel called Mickey Mouse Americanwear, actually fired adult workers to bring on child laborers. 1083
From the employers point of view, hiring children makes good economic sense. Children work for less money
than adults. They are submissive and unlikely to organize or protest. 1084
Spencer Craig joined Disney in 1971 and worked in merchandising for most of this twenty-four-year
career, leaving in 1995. 1085 From a business standpoint it made sense to start using cheaper labor overseas
and to rely on licensees who would use it, says Craig. One of the decrees that came down beginning in
1984 [when Eisner came in] was that we were going to return twenty percent to shareholders. And we had
to do that. That might be okay from a total corporate outlook, but when you look at merchan dising in
particular, thats pretty tough. It used to be that if you brought back a net 6 percent increase, you got
promoted. Thats the real world of merchandising. For them to come in and say, Youre going to return
twenty percent also, it led us to use less scrupulous licensees and manufacturers. The profit motive drove
it.
Making a profit is, of course, what business is all about. 1086 And that drive for profit has pushed the Mouse into the
arms of some pretty unsavory company.
For years Disney licensees were manufacturing in a country few Americans could locate on a map. Burma
also known as Myanmar, the name given it by the ruling military juntais a poverty-stricken nation. 1087 Drug
lords have a special status in Burma. They are protected by the government. 1088 The New York Timeseditorialized: For sheer nastiness few governments compete with Burmas. It winks at heroin trafficking. It forces
citizens to provide slave labor. In other words, its a great place to make Mickey Mouse sweatshirts. 1089 When
human rights groups and labor organizations first discovered that Disney had links to Burma, they immediately
launched a protest campaign. 1090 Still, some Disney executives have not completely abandoned hopes for big
profits in Burma. 1091
Disneyseems less than interested in tackling the child labor problem. Retailers and manufacturers have been
asked by the U.S. Department of Labor to voluntarily pledge to monitor their contractors to make sure no child
labor is being used. Dozens of well-known companies have joined, including Abercrombie and Fitch, Guess,
Lands End, Lerner New York, Levi Strauss, Liz Claiborne, Nordstrom, Patagonia, Victorias Secret, the Limited,
and others. Disney has not. 1092
[Said Senator Tom Harkin]: The United States must not import any products made by child labor. Period. 1093
In America it took decades for activists, such as Jane Addams, Jacob Riis, Samuel Gompers, photographer Lewis
Hine, and many, many others, to change the countrys attitude about working children. 1094 Finally a public outcry
pushed the United States government to adopt strong labor laws that would protect the nations children. 1095

Soft people become hard criminals 1096

You might think that if there were one single crime that Disney would work aggressively to counter it would be
child molestation. But you would be wrong. 1097 Of all Disneys secrets, none is perhaps as dark and troubling as
the growing number of active pedophiles in and around the Magic Kingdom. Disney is having more problems
than anyone else, says [Detective Matt] Irwin, who has cracked several pedophile cases for the Sheriffs
Department. 1098 (He also handled the famous 1997 baby Jasmine case, in which a newborn was abandoned in a
Magic Kingdom bathroom.) 1099
i

Any item associated with The Walt Disney Company or its affiliated operations, past or present, is considered to be
Disneyana. *
Tom Tumbusch, Tormarts Illustrated Disneyana Catalog and Price Guide, Condensed Ed. (Dayton, OH: Tomart Publ.,
1989), p. 15.
*
Contrary to what most collectors of Disneyana believe, the history of Walt Disney character merchandise does not begin with
Mickey Mouse.
Cecil Munsey, Disneyana: Walt Disney Collectibles (New York: Hawthorne Books, Inc., 1974), p. 1.

63

The infant girl dubbed Princess Jasmine by nurses was in stable condition [10 November 1997], doing
well.1100 The girl apparently was only minutes old when foundin a [Tomorrowland] restroom. 1101 The
babys head was above the water with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. 1102
Madona Arcelona, a 43-year-old woman from the Philippines who has eight other children, was
identified [5 February 1998] as the woman who abandoned the newborn girl. 1103 The identity of Jasmines
mother was determined through a DNA match after some of Arcelonas relativescame forward, police
said. 1104
The babywill live with Arcelonas sister-in-law and her husband in New Jersey, a judge ruled. 1105 The
couple already have custody of the infants 16-month-old sister. 1106
While its difficult to know just who is working at Disney, copies of the companys security records reveal that
numerous employees have arrests for a variety of sex crimes. 1107 Even repeat sex-crime offenders with criminal
records have operated at Disney for years, apparently with the companys knowledge. 1108 Security checks would
undoubtedly be a good idea since a surprising number of Disney employees have serious criminal records that are
either unknown or ignored by Disney management. 1109
Detective Eric Fortinberry has a unique perspective on all of this, having both investigated sex crimes at Disney
and worked at the park itself. They probably dont want the criminal checks because it would keep employees out
that normally would get through, he says. And beyond security background checks, if Disney acted like any other
theme park in Central Florida and cooperated with local law enforcement efforts, this would most likely lead to
more arrests. Until it does the chances will remain quite low that these child molesters will be caught. 1110
When they advertise their attractions as a safe haven for children, the least they can do is make a
minimal effort to protect those children they are inviting onto their property, [former Orange County,
Florida, prosecutor] Michael Gibbons says. Right now there are so many incentives for pedophiles to work
at Disney. 1111, i
Disney World is the greatest attraction in the world for children and pedophiles, says Professor Jack Enter, a
criminology expert at North Georgia College. 1112 Disney is a magnet for pedophiles, who prowl in search of kids.
This is not a problem unique to Disney. Theme parks and many other businesses that attract kids also attract
abusers. 1113, ii
The chance to work at Disney attracts people like John Mushacke. On March 15, 1995, Orange County
Sheriffs Deputies arrested the Disney employee on three felony charges: fondling a child, possession of child
pornography, and procuring child pornography.iii Mushacke was charged with fondling a thirteen-year-old girl
repeatedly while he worked at Disney. He pled guilty to five counts. 1114, iv
People like Christopher Bradley, an Emmy award-winning Disney animator who worked on Winnie the Pooh,
also happens to be a pedophile. 1115 [Detectives] discoveredthat Pooh apparently wasnt the only image
Christopher Bradley was interested in. On his computer hard drive were 1116no less than 120graphic files
depict[ing] nude children under the age of eighteen engaging in sexual acts or poses. Detectives arrested Bradley
and charged him with 121 felony counts, including an attempted lewd act upon a child, possession of computer
pornography, and possession of child pornography. He pled guilty.1117
Christopher Labor is a sexual predator who, as an anonymous Disney employee, used his Magic Kingdom
connection to entice young boys.1118 He used Disney stuff to curry favor with [a] boy, says Irwin. He gave him

[More than] one in three girls and one in five boys are sexually abused by age 16,[and] fewer than 10 percent of child
sexual abuse cases are reported to authorities. *
Vanessa Ho, Child molesters often know victims, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 22 Oct 1997, 134(253), p. B4.
*
Incest, sexual abuse, rape, dowry burnings, infanticide or beatings of girls and women by those closest to them are turning
into a global epidemic that too few countries are taking steps to curtail, a UN report said on [31 May 2000].
Evelyn Leopold (Reuters), Violence against women becoming global epidemicUN, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 1 June 2000.
ii
Robert A. Kinnamen, 46,the husband of [a] former Nike day-care director,was arrested on child-pornography charges
after his wife brought his computer to a Nike technician for repairs and it was found to contiain at least 90 images depicting
child sex.
Man charged in child-porn case (Pacific Northwest), The Seattle Times, 14 April 1998, p. B2.
iii
Federal law defines the possession of child pornography as a crime of violence.
Bloomberg News, Mistrial in Naughton sex case; But former Infoseek exec found guilty of possessing child porn, USA Today
(USAToday.com), 16 Dec 1999.
iv
Few cases go to trial. Most suspects are middle-income white males who cringe at the prospect of having their sexual
fantasies read aloud before a jury.
Greg Miller (Los Angeles Times), Impact of Internet sex-predator stings questioned; Small percentage of victims meet
molesters online, The Seattle Times, 26 Sep 1999, p. A6.

64

hats, T-shirts, and other paraphernalia. He used his employee card to buy the gifts at a discount. Disney gifts are
good at helping to gain trust. 1119, i
The problem is that atDisney there is, once again, a lot more concern with covering up the problem than with
protecting kids. One result is that some of Disneys pedophilesunlike Labor, a transportation supervisorare
positioned in high-profile jobs dealing with children. 1120
Victor Salva was said to be blessed with a gift for getting inside the heads of children. 1121 Although Disney
herald[ed] its new director, the Mouse failed to mention that he was also a five-time felon. 1122 Salva began his
filmmaking career directing short amateur movies in the San Francisco area. 1123 [He] kept himself busy working
with children. He worked at a day-care center, was involved in Big Brothers programs, and even wrote childrens
books.1124
In late October 1995 Disneys Hollywood Pictures was screening its new motion picture, 1125Powder, the story
of a misunderstood albino teenager. 1126
Powder is eerily moving, with fine performances. Still, when colored by Salvas background, the talk of
loneliness and being misunderstood comes across as really creepy.1127 You dont have to be aware that Salva
was convicted of molesting a boyto sense the films barely latent homoeroticism. 1128
After the screening, as all the glitterati made their way out of the theater, 1129Disney Studios Chairman [Joe] Roth
was confronted by disturbing placards. Victor Salva: Writer, Director, Child Molester, read one. Support the
Victim, not the Victimizer, read another. 1130 The youngman leading protesters that night was Nathan Winters, a
one-time child actor who had been sexually abused by Victor Salva. 1131
In 1988 [Salva] confessed to having had oral sex with 12-year-oldWinters. 1132 Horrified, Rebecca [Winters,
Nathans mother], immediately pulled Nathan from the movie. Francis Ford Coppola, however, was not
sympathetic. Coppolas company had a significant financial stake in the film, and according to Rebecca Winters,
he threatened to sue her for breach of contract unless she returned Nathan to the set at once. 1133 Winters contacted
the police. Detectives interviewed Nathan, and, feeling they had sufficient probable cause, raided Salvas home.
They found two explicit videos and an album of still photos. One video had extensive footage of Salva and Nathan
engaging in oral sex. The other displayed young men taking showers. We suspected there were other victims
besides Nathan, says Sergeant Gary Primavera, who led the raid, but we could never prove it.
Salva eventually pled guilty to 1134five counts of sexual misconduct. 1135 Salva confessed to having sex with the
child while directing him in a low-budget horror film called Clownhouse. He pleaded guitly to charges of lewd
and lascivious conduct, oral copulation with a person under 14 and procuring a child for pornography. 1136 Salva
was convicted on two felony counts of lewd and lascivious conduct and having oral copulation with a person under
fourteen. He was convicted on three counts of procuring a child for pornography.1137
According to Sergeant Primavera, Victor has every characteristic of a pedophile that I know of, and Ive
worked with enough of them. Uncharacteristically, however, [t]here was no remorse. The only sadness on
Victors part was that he got caught. 1138
Victor Salva served fifteen months of a three-year sentence in state prison. 1139 When he got out of jail, Salva
sent a completed script to several studios, including Disney. Roger Birnbaum, the head of Caravan Pictures, which
develops films for Disney, read it and was so impressed that he immediately bought the script and gave Salva the
directors job. Disney even gave Salva $10 million to produce Powder.1140
Top executives at Disneyappeared startled and embarrassed by the disclosure. But they insisted Mr. Salva
had paid his debt to society.1141 He paid for his crime; he paid his debt to society, said Roger Birnbaum,
expressing no regrets about Disneys relationship with a convicted child molester. 1142 Apparently,convicted
pedophiles are allowed to keep working regardless of the risks to young actors. 1143
The Los Angeles Times, Daily Variety, CNN, and the Associated Press all ran major stories. 1144 And it hasnt
been just a few film critics raising questions about the film. Experts in pedophilia are equally disturbed by the
imagery in Powder.1145 According to Sandra Baker, executive director of the Child and Family Institute in
Sacramento, Calif., child molesters think they are more perceptive and beautiful than other people. They feel
misunderstood. Salvas having made Powder a pale, hairless, sensitive outcast fits what pedophiles can relate
to, she adds. They want their victims to be hairless usually. They dont want adult sex characteristics.
L.A. family therapist Lisa Hacker notes that when a teacher (Jeff Glodblum) tells Powder that hes never had
better sex since being touched by him, and then later strokes his bald head the conduct is very intimate and
inappropriate. 1146
i

Depending on their relationship to the children, molesters use a wide variety of tactics to lure children. A family member
might feign love and affection; a teacher, member of the clergy, police officer, or baby-sitter might use his or her position of
authority; an older friend or companion might utilize games or pornography; a stranger might try bribery, requests for
assistance, or citing an emergency.
Ira A. Lipman, How to Protect Yourself from Crime (Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1975, 1989), p. 306.

65

Disney refused to comment on the controversy surrounding the film. 1147 Despite the controversy, Disney
continues to distribute Powder, which offers a pedophiles view of the world. 1148 Disney has never issued a
statement of regret about employing Victor Salva or distributing Powder.1149
Patrick J. Naughton, an executive vice president with [Infoseek], was arrested by FBI agents [16 September
1999] 1150when the teen-age girl he had arranged to meet at a pier in Santa Monica, Calif., turned out to be an
undercover agent with law enforcement. 1151 After Naughtons arrest, the FBI released a 17-page report detailing
hisonline discussions with agents who had been posing as underage girls. 1152 In an affidavit filed in U.S. District
Court in Los Angeles, Special Agent Bruce Applin said Naughton admitted to using both the hotseattle and
sfmate screen names. 1153 hotseattle chatted for [seven months 1154] with the undercover agent[s] 1155[and] said
he was anxious to meet his online correspondent, 1156even pointing the supposed 13-year-old girl to a Web site
with a picture of his genitals. 1157 According to the [Los Angeles] Times, when agents seized his portable computer,
Naughton told them that there were sexually explicit images of children on the laptop. 1158
Officials at Infoseek, a search engine owned by Disneys Go Network, declined to comment on the
charges, although the company released a prepared statement that said Naughton is no longer an employee
of InfoSeek. 1159
Along with James Gosling and Kim Polese, Naughton led the development of what became the
Java programming language at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s, 1160and more recently [he]
oversaw the Go Network of Web sites created by Infoseek i and Walt Disney Co. His arrest was an
embarrassing blow to Disney,1161[who] has since tried to distance itself from Naughton. 1162
Although hes worshipped by a circle of software developers,[others] say Naughton, endowed
with money and power since his early twenties, became an egomaniac. (In a guest column for
Forbes magazine, Naughton once wrote: Im glad Im at the top of the food chain.) 1163 One of
Naughtons former colleagues says he had a princely attitude that made him the antithesis of a
team player.1164
The FBIinsist[s] that Naughton knowingly and willingly pursued [the girl] through a dense thicket of
disclaimers and obstaclesthat he, in other words, went to great lengths to arrange a meeting with a partner he
believed to be 13 years old. 1165 Posing as KrisLA, Applin said that he typed to Naughton that he had told the FBI
and the Los Angeles police about their planned encounter, then said he was joking. When Naughton said he was
concerned that their meeting was illegal, KrisLA chided him. You guessed it, KrisLA typed in a warning that
Naughton probably wishes he had heeded, Im an FBI secret agent. 1166
Patrick Naughton entered a guilty plea to the charge of crossing state lines to solcit [sic] sex with a minor, 1167, ii
travel[ing] from Washington to Californiafor the dominant purpose of engaging in sexual acts with what he
thought was [the] girl. 1168 In exchange for the plea, federal authorities agreed to drop other chargesof possessing
child pornography and using the Internet to have sex with a minor. 1169 Why? Because he was saved by the bell.
Or, more precisely, by the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals, which only days after Naughtons [previous] conviction
handed down a ruling that overturned parts of the [1996] Child Pornography Prevention Act. 1170, iii
Naughton [had previously been] convicted of possessing child porn by a federal jury that deadlocked on the two
other counts.1171 During the trial, 1172Naughtons lawyers got a chance to test 1173a strategy that would become
known as the fantasy defense 1174[with] a jury of six men and six womenincluding one Disney employee.1175
(Three Disney employees stood shoulder to shoulder with him to show support for [Naughton] during the court
proceedings. 1176)
Most suspects in such cases plea-bargain; instead, Naughton hired Anthony Brooklier and Donald Marks,
high-priced attorneys. 1177 From the start, Brooklier and Marks set out to convince jurors that Naughton thought he
was chatting with an adult. Their main arguments: Naughton was in a fantasy only chatroom, and he never
received a picture or phone call from KrisLA.
In traditional molestation cases, it is customary for defense attorneys to claim that the defendant didnt know he
was dealing with a minor. 1178 Naughtonclaimed on the stand that he never really thought KrisLA was only 13, a
i

Mickey Mouse bought all of Infoseek he d[idnt] own and merged his entire Internet operation into the single Walt Disney
Go.com supersiteABC, ESPN and all.
Microsoft and Walt Disney complete Mickey Mouse deals (International Review), Bangkok Post, 21 July 1999.
ii
Under a 1994 federal law, it is a federal crime to travel from one state to another with the intent to have sex with a minor.
Greg Miller (Los Angeles Times), Impact of Internet sex-predator stings questioned; Small percentage of victims meet
molesters online, The Seattle Times, 26 Sep 1999, p. A6.
iii
Two other federal appeals courtshave upheld the anti-pornography law, making it likely that the current ruling eventually
will be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Henry Weinstein and Greg Miller (Los Angeles Times), Court weakens child-porn law; Naughton to be freed while impact
studied, The Seattle Times, 18 Dec 1999, p. A1.

66

charge many jurors believed but one that he would later disavow in his plea agreement. 1179 [But] at the same time
he was arranging to meet with the girl, he also allegedly was chatting with other girls on the Internet, and he
claimed to have already met a couple of them, according to court papers. 1180
Says [Peter Gulotta, special agent for the Baltimore division of the FBI], We would be nave to think that the
first time these people got caught was the first time that they traveled to have sex with a child.
Agents are sensitive to accusations that they are entrapping their targetsthis is the most common claim by
defense attorneys in these cases (and one that Naughtonalso use[d]). The undercover cops dont initiate the
chatroom conversation or the sexual talk that follows, [Randy Aden, supervisor of the Sexual Assault Felony
Enforcement team (SAFE) for the Los Angeles bureau of the FBI], says, adding that they go out of their way to
discourage their targets. These individuals are given every opportunity to back out, he says. 1181
Most often, the undercover agents assume the names of young girls or boys. 1182 Then they sit and wait. Usually,
its only a few minutes before someone approaches them and wants to chat. The questions from the stranger read
like a script: How old are you? What do you look like? What are you wearing? And on and on, becoming more
sexually explicit with each keystroke. Many send lewd photos.
Naughton followed the formula. He told the court that he used keystroke shortcuts that are common in
chatrooms to converse with several people at a time. He would, for instance, type /old to yield the question How
old are you? or /meas to ask for measurements. Naughton would run down the list of questions in a systematic
manner during his chatroom sessions, waiting for responses. He never chatted with just one person at a time but
would have a few screens open simultaneously.1183

Well be watching 1184

I used to actually like Disney.1185 Is has been several years since I last visited a Disney theme park, but I still
catch myself humming the dreaded Its a Small World. 1186
Disney is militantly aware that its existence depends on continually convincing the public that its product is
unique and that its symbolic capital is earned and praiseworthy.1187 The Mouse wants to encourage the belief that
the company is the same one todays adults grew up with. If weve changed at all, is the Disney line, its only in
terms of size and scope. As Professor Janet Wasko, who studies Disney at the University of Oregon, points out,
Disney so deliberately promotes itself as family values and good entertainment. Disney is just taken for granted
you just assume its going to be wholesome and good. i
That squeaky-clean image is the essence of what gives Disney the most powerful brand name in
entertainment. 1188 In the popular mind, Walt Disney, the man and the company, has become synonymous with the
notion of childhood innocence. 1189 Walts virtue is all [Disney] want[s] to perpetuate. 1190, ii This carefully crafted
mystique of asexuality so pervades the popular conception of the Walt Disney Company that as early as the
1930s, some in Hollywood had nicknamed the studio Mickeys Monastery, in honor of the studios biggest
star. 1191
Reality or legend, the Disney myth istruly established today, though we mustde-mystify it. 1192 The Mouse
will go to extraordinary lengths to perpetuate this myth. The reason crimes are covered up at Disney World is to
maintain the myth that bad things dont happen in the Magic Kingdom. As weve seen, its the same reason the
company is unwilling to cooperate in efforts to nab child molesters working at Disney World. And it also explains
why Disney doesnt apprehend and fire voyeurs who peep on guests and fellow employees. Taking action means
admitting there is a problem. Keeping the myth of Disney innocence alive is crucial for the Mouses financial
success.1193
As Disney facesthe dawn of a new millennium, it is impossible to predict all the changes and advances that
will occur within the Company.1194 If theres one thing Ive learned, its not to underestimate the Mouse. 1195
Disney knows when to pull out the heavy artillery: 1196
A [federal] juryruled [8-0] that Disney, in some very un-Mouseketeer-like behavior, bullied a dying exec
into giving up millions of dollars in benefits. 1197 Jurors rejected Disneys argument that [Robert] Jahn gave
up the benefits.1198 Jahn, who died of AIDS in 1994, three weeks after signing away his stock options, life
insurance and bonuses,1199said Disney took advantage of a weakened and dying man at the worst
moment in his life. 1200
i

Before, you knew when you bought something Disney, it was safe. Not anymore.
Ken Wales (former vice president of the Disney Channel), quoted in Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 5.
ii
But he said shit and the rest of the words, and as Ive said, hed talk about turds for thirty minutes without pausing for
breath.
Kimball, Walt Disney, in Wagner, Remember This, p. 282.

67

Larry Sackey, attorney for Jahns estate,1201contended that Jahn, who had been a senior vice president
at Disney Motion Pictures and Television overseeing trailers and TV spots for the Mouse House, was
pressured on his deathbed to give up the benefits or be labeled a crook by Disney henchmen. 1202
This jury has confirmed for us what weve been arguing for six long years, that this man was coerced to
sign away his benefits on his death bed. It was a despicable act and now he can rest in peace, 1203[said]
Greg Hafif, who represented Jahns estate during a two-week trial in Los Angeles. 1204
Its a total victory, says [Sackey]. We feel its a vindication. 1205 They feel they can scare most people,
but we didnt scare. 1206 I hope this corporation gets the message. 1207
Concerns seem[] to be heightened by the preponderance of Disneyphiles. 1208 The ones were worried about
[a]re the people who believe Disney can do no wrong, Peter Rummell, the chief visionary behind Celebration
[notes].1209
Disneyitis (
) n. Condition related to the uncontrollable desire to return to the Magic
Kingdom. Subjects with this condition are known to frequent note-files, Web pages, and newsgroups. Only
known relief is a trip to the Magic Kingdom. There is no permanent cure . . . and no cure is being
researched as those afflicted dont WANT one! People who suffer from Disneyitis have also been known to
spend an unusual amount of time at their local Disney stores to temporarily relieve some of the symptoms
associated with the disease. They will also tape, watch, re-watch, and re-rewatch Disney videos, specials,
parades, vacation planners, etc. Also will subscribe to Disney Magazine, and will read every brochure on
Disney they can get their hands on. They will sport hats, coats, jackets, pants, and carry-bags with Disney
logos. Cant go more than one full year without going to the Magic Kingdom without becoming suicidal, or
worse, Homicidal! And no matter how many vacation days they take, they always seem to get ticked off at
everything one or even two days before they have to leave the Magic Kingdom and return to the rat race. 1210
Its a scary thing, said park spokesman Bob Roth. People are so fanatical about this place youve got to lock
your drawers at night. 1211
Need we stress further how closed and suffocating this world of Disney really is? 1212 When the American public wakes up to what Disney is doing, they are going to be very offended. 1213
Whether Mother Nature may ever revolt against Team Rodent remains to be seen. 1214, i
So whats the worst thing youve heard? 1215

Considering Walt Disney Worlds near-militaristic orderliness, the idea that there might be sentinels posted on the property
isnt particularly surprising. But sentinel chickens? On the grounds,flocks of public-health-department fowl are exposed to
mosquitoes and then testedfor blood-borne diseases. *
Sarah Van Boven and Peter Katel, No Mickey Mouse; Walt Disney World and Forida are beset by a dangerous mosquito. Is
your town next?, Newsweek, 8 Sep 1997, 130(10), p. 59.
*
Mosquito abatement efforts have been stepped up at Disney parks, but all are operating normally, spokesman John Dreyer
said.
Vicki Vaughan (Orlando Sentinel), Encephalitis spreads fear about Florida, The Seattle Times, 23 Oct 1990, p. B5.

68

Adams, Judith A., The American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills (Boston: Twayne Publ., 1991).
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69

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i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi, vii, viii

Hurry!1216
The Yanks Are Not Coming 1217
Good bugs eat bad bugs.1218
The world of Walt, in which every word advertises something or somebody, is under an intense compulsion to
consume. The Disney vision can hardly transcend consumerism when it is fixated upon selling itself, along with
other merchandise. 1219
Animals have always been a part of the Disney magic, but they were cartoon animals. Cute, cuddly, or scary,
they raked in a fortune for the company and didnt need care or feeding. Or they were stuffed or computer-con trolled into lifelike animation, wise beyond their food chain status. 1220

I was a reservations agent for Walt Disney World in Florida. While on the phone making reservations for a guest, I was asked
by the caller what all the commotion was in the background. I explained that our staff was having a party and that Chip and
Dale had just entered the room. By her silence, I wondered if the woman on the line was upset, so I asked her if everything
was okay. Frankly, she said in an irritated tone, I cant believe that a place like Walt Disney World would hire male
strippers!
Carol La Liberte, in All in a Days Work, Readers Digest, June 1997, 150(902), p. 169.
ii
Thanks to a 1996 law, however, its now illegal to even simulate sex with a minor.
Lolita (1998 Seattle International Film Festival Guide), The Stranger, 14-20 May 1998, 7(34), p. 33.
iii
For those of us who grew up here, the anti-Mickey burn is chronic and ulcerating. It manifests in behavior thats not always
mature, well reasoned, or even comprehensible to outsiders.
Carl Hiaasen, Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World (New York: Ballantine Books, 1998), p. 77.
iv
Audio-Animatronics overload.
One mother, in Kim Wright Wiley, Walt Disney World with Kids (Rocklin, CA: Prima Publ., 1997), p. 135.
v
Although witnessing overweight [sexa]genarians with wriggling slugs between their legs, hanging aboutinthe Nude
Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Walt Naked Disney[land], is very disturbing indeed, I was even more put-out by this [bandaid* bid].
Wm. Steven Humphrey, Nudity: Im against it! (I Love Television), The Stranger, 17-23 Sep 1998, 7(52), p. 39.
*
Bite me.
Shannon Brownlee, Of males and tails; Seeming handicaps tout a suitors worth, U.S. News & World Report, 6 July 1998,
125(1), p. 61.

(Hey, Mickey, whistle on this!)

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 9.
vi
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened
round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Matthew 18.6, Mark 9.42, & Luke 17.2, The Bible, Revised Standard Version (New York: American Bible Society, 1970).
vii
Youve promised to take your kids to Walt Disney World, and now youre wondering
Web sites gear up for last-minute vacationers (Online Travel), The Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 16 Aug 1998,
16(33), p. K6.
viii
There is a conspiracy* going on within the childrens movie industry. Influential, high-profile corporations are ruining the
minds of children across our great nation. Among the top perpetrators of this abhorrent behavior are our old friends at Walt
Disney and their inbred brothers at DreamWorks. Hiding respectively behind the demonic smirk of Mickey Mouse and the
Damien-like child fishing from a crescent moon, these Illuminati of the entertainment industry are involved with something I
can only deem vicious and perverse. This of course being the unholy use of animals behaving like people in major motion
pictures: animals grabbing peoples behinds, hitting them in the groin, flipping em off, electrocuting, farting, spitting, fighting,
and generally being bad.
Ernie Mojica, Animals are not people!, The Stranger, 25 June-1 July 1998, 7(40), p. 81.
*
A conspiracy may be a continuing one. Actors may drop out and others may drop in; the details of operation may change
from time to time; the members need not know each other or the part played by others; a member may not need to know all the
details of the plan of the operation; he must, however, know the purpose of the conspiracy and agree to become a party to a plan
to effectuate that purpose.
Craig vs. U.S., quoted in Art Bender (Tarrant County (Fort Worth) Texas County Democratic chairman and trial lawyer), You
dont have to be paranoid to suspect right-wing conspiracy, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1 April 1998, 135(78), p. A11.

The Smith Act (enacted in 1940)prohibits any conspiracy that advocates the overthow of the United States government by
force and violence.
J. Edgar Hoover, Masters of Deceit: The Story of Communism in America and How to Fight It (New York: Henry Holt &
Co., 1958), p. 75.

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Disney ha[s] advertised a Mickey Mouse doll with glow-in-the-dark eyes, an unnerving Children of the
Damned look.1221
Louis Marins indictment of Disneyland holds true for EPCOT as well:
Disneyland is an extraordinary dystopia. It displaces the spatial habitability . . . into its spectacular
representation; it reduces the dynamic organization of the places, the aleatory unity of a possible tour to a
univocal scheme allowing only the same redundant behavior [ Louis Marin, Disneyland, a Degenerate Utopia, Glymph,
1977, 1, p. 61].1222
[EPCOT] It is a future of hierarchy, continued industrialization, enforced scarcity, and a ravished planet. 1223
Walt Disney wasa man made famous by a mouse, a duck and a shameless abiltity to exploit childish
innocence on an industrial scale. 1224
All big companies are pretty much equally evil. In the case of the millions of viewers missing their ABC in five
major TV markets, the bad guy appears to be AOL, Time-Warners parent company, which waited till the start of
sweeps to abruptly cut off negotiations with Disney, ABCs parent company. You will, however, grow old and die
before you hear me say a kind word for the copyright-abusing bastards at Disney. This isnt about consumers but
about a dick-waving contest. 1225
Given his importance in the formation of mass culture, Walt Disney, as an object of critical study, has been
greatly neglected.1226 Because his image is so controlled, theres been virtually no criticism of Walt Disney,
[Marc Eliot] said. Hes like a god, an icon. Therefore, any criticism of Walt Disney is going to appear harsher or
more damning than it might be. 1227
Science fiction with benign professors and mad scientists, eerie laboratories and weird machines were in full
bloom in the 30s.1228 Gangster films, such as Little Caesar, were all over the scenes.1229
Animation style (a la Disney) remained rather constant until after World War II, when U.P.A. (United
Productions of America), 1230a splinter group from Disney,1231changed animation by simplifying it. 1232 HannaBarbera Productionstook one more step toward simplifying the animation by confining the action of the cartoon
characters to very simple movementsonly one arm, perhaps, or a leg, or the mouthinstead of the realistic fullbody animation characteristic of Disneys work. 1233
Animation schools in the USSR [we]re similar to the USAs Disney crash course, both motivated by the decline
of skills in fluid animation techniques. 1234
the cutey-cute characters of the 1930s, the violence in the animation of the 1940s and 1950s, and the
adulation of the superhero in the 1970s and 1980s. 1235
As a middle-class, small-town Mid-Westener (he always considered himself a Kansas City boy),1236
It was Iwerks who gave Mickey his early look and who almost single-handedly animated the early Micky
Mouse cartoons. The mouse was first animated in 1928 in a silent short called Plane Crazy. Because Walt Disney
was unable to sell the silent film, Disney delayed its release and preceded it Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey
Mouse short to be seen by the public and the first cartoon to feature a fully synchronized soundtrack. 1237
I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman Ive ever known. 1238
Sex is of no interest to Mickey. 1239
By 1964, when Walt Disney decided to build in Florida, 1240fraud was rampant, and the same piece of
unbuildable swamp was often sold dozens of times over.
Thus, it hardly seemed strange when a tough-talking guy named Bob Price Foster, who was Disneys in-house
lawyer, showed up in Kissimmee wearing tattered jeans and ragget T-shirts and, using his middle name as his last
name, began buying up land through five dummy corporations. He looked like a hick and sounded like a sucker.

73

In eighteen months, hed bought 27,400 acres of swampland, ranchland, hammock, and citrus groves for just about
$200 an acre.
All of this took place in the utmost secrecy; virtually no one in Orlando suspected what was going on. Then,
in October 1965, Orlando Sentinel reporter Emily Bavar snagged an interview with Walt Disney during a Disneyland press event. The more she probed, the more diligently he denied having any plans for Florida, explaining in
much-too-great detail what was wrong with it as a theme part destination. Trusting her instinct, she wrote a
speculative story that the Sentinel ran on its front page. She was right, of course. 1241
In late 1987, Disney officials began buying up sugar beet fields just south of Paris. 1242
Brainwashing . . . is an effort to put a mans mind into a fog so that he will mistake what is true for what is
untrue, what is right or what is wrong, and come to believe what did not happen actually had happened, until he
ultimately becomes a robot for themanipulator [ E. Hunter, Brainwashing (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Cudahy, 1956)].1243
Because Disney tries so hard to present itself as practically perfect in every way,it has engendered the most
vocal of supporters and the most vociferous of critics. 1244
I spoke with someone at the Department of Justice who did not want to be named. Lets call her . . . Janet
Reno.
First, this is not legal advice, Ms. Reno warned me in a husky voice. But it is illegal to possess, distribute,
or receive child pronography. 1245 Then Janetsounding distractedended our brief interview.1246
Considering the lengthseveryone else at the Department of Justice are willing to go to protect children,I
wouldnt advise you to surf kiddie porn websites. 1247
With acoustic guitar, [Roger] Waters lit into Mother, singing out plaintively, Mother should we trust the
government? The crowed shouted back No! 1248
One in five youths surveyed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington, D.C.,
said they received a sexual solicitation through the Internet in the past year, including questions about their
bodies.1249
But in the game of spy vs. spy, few players are willing to admit involvement unless caught in the act. 1250
Negotiations with Disney is not so much good-cop/bad-cop, but more like bad-cop/anti-Christ. 1251
In the fall of 1999, Disney unfairly stopped paying workers for time spent changing into or out of a costume or
uniform, and for the time spent wearing a uniform before reaching a worksite. 1252
Three people were injured on rides from September to January [2001], and a 6-year-old girl had her left finger
pulled off when it caught in a toy rifle in January. The toy guns since have been removed.
In 1998, a Washington state tourist was killed and his wife and an employee were seriously injured when a cleat
used to moor the Columbia sailing ship ride ripped loose. 1253

74

75

T.E. Breitenbach, Proverbidioms, 1980.

Adrian Bailey, Walt Disneys World of Fantasy (New York: Everest House, 1982), p. 16.
3
Steven Watts, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997), p. 11.
4
Judith A. Adams, The American Amusement Park Industry: A History of Technology and Thrills (Boston: Twayne Publ., 1991), p. 88.
5
Kathy Merlock Jackson, Walt Disney: A Bio-Bibliography (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993), p. 1.
6
Perucci Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible: A Scriptural Critique of the Magic Kingdom (Camp Hill, PA: Horizon Books, 1996), p. 15.
7
Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, Revised ed. (New York: Plume, 1980, 1987), p. 30.
2

89

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 88.

Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 7.
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 88.
12
Ibidem, pp. 88-89.
13
Michael D. Cole, People to Know: Walt Disney: Creator of Mickey Mouse (Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publ., Inc., 1996), p. 14.
10
11

1415

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 89.

Richard Schickel, The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney, 3rd ed. (Chicago: Elephant Paperbacks, 1968, 1985, 1997), p.
56.
17
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 17.
18
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 89.
19
Marc Eliot, The dark side of Uncle Walt: Walt Disney, Los Angeles Magazine, May 1993, 38(5), p. 48(8).
16

2021

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 89.

Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 19.
John Barry, Some parents may not recognize child abuse; Here are some examples, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 11 July 1995.
24
John Langone, Violence! Our Fastest-Growing Public Health Problem (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1984), pp. 138-139.
25
Elinor Burkett and Frank Bruni, A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse, and the Catholic Church (New York: Viking, 1993), p. 54.
22
23

2629
30-

The Associated Press, AIDS death rate for priests is high, newspaper reports, TheLinkup.com, 31 Jan 2000.

31

Andrew M. Greenley, How serious is the problem of sexual abuse by clergy?, America, 20 March 1993, 168(10), p. 6(5).
Clark Morphew, New book illustrates how many forces outside the church protected pedophile priests, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 21 Oct 1993.
33
Aric Press with Carolyn Friday, Nina Biddle, Todd Barrett, and Susan Miller, Priests and abuse; The sins of the fathers: The Roman Catholic Church is starting
to confront a lingering scandal, Newsweek, 16 Aug 1993, 122(7), p. 42.
34
Venise Wagner (Orange County Register), Abuse by priests: How best to heal?, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 20 Aug 1993.
32

3536

Greenley, How serious?, America, p. 6(5).

Steven Komarow, Army expands sex abuse investigation; Army: fear silenced victims, USA Today, 11 Nov 1996, 15(41), p. 3A.
38
Arthur J. Felitti, Ami Laws, and Edward A. Walker, Women abused as children, Patient Care, 15 Nov 1993, 27(18), p. 169(9).
39
Scot Auguston, Death in Seattle; A guided tour, The Stranger, 14-20 Aug 1996, 6(8), p. 12.
40
Claude Lewis, Parents teach their children not to trust priest, police, teachers any longer, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 6 Oct 1993.
41
David Schmader, Last days; The week in review, The Stranger, 16-22 March 2000, 9(26), p. 7.
42
Langone, Violence!, p. 139.
43
Ibidem, p. 141.
44
Ibidem, p. 142.
37

4546

Paul Radin, The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian: Life, Ways, Acculturation, and the Peyote Cult (New York: Dover Publ., Inc., 1920, 1963), p. 87.
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 19.
Ibidem, pp. 19-20
49
Ibidem, p. 20.
50
Ibidem, p. 272.
51
Charles Solomon, Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation, Revised ed. (New York: Wings Books, 1989, 1994), p. 56.
52
Giannalberto Bendzai, Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994), p. 69.
53
Bob Thomas, Walt Disney: An American Original (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976), p. 230.
54
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, pp. 89-90.
55
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 56.
56
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
57
Schickel, Disney Version, pp. 56-57.
58
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
59
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 90.
60
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 15.
47
48

6162

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 90.

Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 26.
64
Marc Eliot, Walt Disney: Hollywoods Dark Prince (New York: Carol Publ., 1993), p. 17.
65
Ibidem, p. 18.
63

6667

Ibidem, p. 19.
Cole, Creator of Mickey, p. 26.
69
Ibidem, p. 28.
70
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 22.
68

7173

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life (New York: Abbeville Press, 1981), p. 29.
Ibidem, p. 538.
75
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 90.
76
Amy Boothe Green and Howard E. Green, Remembering Walt: Favorite Memories of Walt Disney (New York: Hyperion, 1999), p. 9.
77
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 28.
78
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 91.
79
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
74

80

Watts, Magic Kingdom, pp. 351-352.

Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
82
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 352.
83
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
84
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 91.
85
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
81

8687
88
89
90-

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 91.

Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 91.

91

Jack Rosenthal, Mickey Mousing, The New York Times Magazine, 2 Aug 1998, CXLI (49,046), p. 12.
Mike Wallace, Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996), p. 133.
93
Len Deighton, Goodbye, Mickey Mouse (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982), p. 1.
94
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 91.
95
Mickeys mom: Lillian Disney was Walts real-life love; Wife of entertainment mogul Walt Disney, People Weekly, 12 Jan 1998, 49(1), p. 117.
96
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
97
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 13.
92

98-

100
101-

John Canemaker, Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists (New York: Hyperion, 1996), p. 4.

102

Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 38.
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, pp. 91-92.
105
Jack Mingo, The Juicy Parts: Things Your History Teacher Never Told You About the 20th Centurys Most Famous People (New York: Perigee, 1996), p.
103.
106
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 92.
103
104

107108

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (New York: Hyperion, 1981), p. 285.
Ibidem, p. 297.
110
Ibidem, p. 298.
111
Ibidem, p. 299.
112
Ibidem, p. 301.
109

113114

Op. cit.
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
116
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 92.
117
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
118
Bailey, World of Fantasy, p. 60.
119
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 47.
120
Jackson, Walt Disney, p. 19.
121
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 47.
115

122123
124
125126
127
128129
130
131132
133
134
135-

Ibidem, p. 48.
Ibidem, pp. 48-49.
Ibidem, p. 49.
Ibidem, p. 50.
Ibidem, p. 51.
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 95.
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 104.
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 58.
Ibidem, p. 157.

136

Ibidem, p. 58.
Ibidem, p. 59.
Stephen Jay Gould, The Pandas Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History (New York: W.W. Norton, 1980), p. 95.
139
Sean Griffin, Tinker Belles and Evil Queens: The Walt Disney Company from the Inside Out (New York: New York University Press, 2000), p. 8.
140
Christopher Finch, The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms (Greenwich, CT: Twin Books, 1988), p. 31.
141
Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 46.
142
Marcia Blitz, Donald Duck (New York: Harmony Books, 1979), p. 13.
143
Gould, Pandas Thumb, p. 96.
144
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 92.
145
L.M. Boyd, Mike mailway, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 19 Jan 1998, 135(16), p. E6; see also RipleysBelieve It or Not!, The Stranger, 25-31 May 2000,
9(36), p. 5.
146
John Taylor, Storming the Magic Kingdom: Wall Street, the Raiders, and the Battle for Disney (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987), p. 25.
147
Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 246.
137
138

148149

Cruelty in the Magic Kingdom, Time, 9 Oct 1989, 134(15), p. 37.

Mireya Navarro, New Disney Kingdom comes with real-life obstacles, The New York Times, CXLVII(51,129), p. A14.
151
Cruelty, Time, p. 37.
152
Bendzai, Cartoons, p. 64.
153
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 92.
154
Jerry Bowles, Forever Hold Your Banner High! The Story of the Mickey Mouse Club & What Happened to the Mouseketeers (Garden City, NY:
Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1976), p. 10.
155
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 92.
150

156

Gould, Pandas Thumb, p. 107.

Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
158
Mickey Mouse, Encyclopedia Americana (Groliers Educational Co., 1996), CD ROM.
159
Jack Kinney, Walt Disney and Assorted Other Characters: An Unauthorized Account of the Early Years at Disneys (New York: Harmony Books, 1988), p.
9.
160
Bruce D. Kurtz, ed., Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, and Walt Disney (Prestel-Verlag, Munich and Phoenix Art Museum, 1992), p. 16.
161
Kit Laybourne, The Animation Book: A Complete Guide to Animated FilmmakingFrom Flip-Books to Sound Cartoons to 3-D Animation (New York:
Three Rivers Press, 1988), p. 171.
157

162163

Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).

Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 52.
Mickey Mouse, Encyclopedia Americana.
166
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 52.
167
Walt Disneys Mickey Mouse in Color (New York: Pantheon, 1988), p. 9.
168
Richard deCordova, The Mickey in Macys Window: Childhood, Consumerism, and Disney Animation, in Eric Smoodin, ed., Disney Discourse:
Producing the Magic Kingdom (New York: Routledge, 1994), p. 205.
169
Richard Shale, Donald Duck Joins Up: The Walt Disney Studio During World War II (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1976, 1982), p. 10.
170
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 92.
171
Douglas Fairbanks Jr., quoted in Scott Eyman, The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution (1926-1930) (New York: Simon & Schuster,
1997), p. 273.
172
J. Michael Barrier, Building a Better Mouse: Fifty Years of Animation (Washington: Library of Congress, 1978), p. 9.
173
Gorham Kindem, ed., The American Movie Industry: The Business of Motion Pictures (Carbondale & Edwardsville, IL: Southern Illinois University Press,
1982), p. 150.
174
Richard Neupert, Painting a Plausible World: Disneys Color Prototypes, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 106.
175
Kindem, American Movie Industry, p. 152.
176
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 81.
177
John Cawley and Jim Korkis, Cartoon Superstars (Las Vegas, NV: Pioneer Book, Inc., 1990), p. 126.
164
165

178179
180
181184
185
186187
188
189-

Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).

Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 86.
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 103.
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
SkyTel pagers advertisement, USA Today, 11 May 1998, 16(168), p. 7B.

191

Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 82.

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 92.
193
Douglas Gomery, The Hollywood Studio System (New York: St. Martins Press, 1986), p. 144.
192

194195

Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 62; See also Charles Solomon, The Complete Kodak Animation Book (Rochester, NY: Eastman Kodak Co., 1983), p. 21.
Jackson, Walt Disney, p. 24.
197
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 21.
198
Jackson, Walt Disney, p. 24.
196

199200

Ward Kimball, The Wonderful World of Walt Disney, in Walter Wagner, ed., You Must Remember This: Oral Reminiscences of the Real Hollywood (New
York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1975), p. 269.
201
Norman M. Klein, Seven Minutes: The Life and Death of the American Animated Cartoon (London: Verso, 1993), p. 96.
202
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 21.
203
Ibidem, pp. 21-22.
204205
206
207
208209
210211
212

Leonard Mosley, Disneys World (New York: Stein & Day, 1985), p. 162.
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 103.
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 283.
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).

Mosley, Disneys World, p. 170.

John Trojanski and Louis Rockwood, Making It Move (Dayton, OH: Pflaum/Standard, 1973), p. 117.

213214
215216
217
218-

Bruno Edera, Full Length Animated Feature Films (New York: Hastings House, Publ., 1977), p. 29.
Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 80.
Ibidem, p. 82.

219

Thomas and Johnston, The Illusion of Life, p. 417.

Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 83.
221
Ibidem, p. 82.
222
Ibidem, p. 83.
223
Eric Smoodin, Animating Culture: Hollywood Cartoons from the Sound Era (Oxford: Roundhouse Publ., 1993), p. 30.
220

224226
227228

Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 77.

Ibidem, p. 75.
Keith Keller, The Mickey Mouse Club Scrapbook (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1975), p. 16.
230
Bowles, Hold Your Banner High!, p. 21.
231
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 165.
229

232

Ibidem, p. 167.
Jackson, Walt Disney, p. 58.
234
Mickey Mouse, Encyclopedia Americana.
235
Keller, Mickey Mouse Club, p. 80.
236
Cole, Creator of Mickey, p. 6.
237
Bowles, Hold Your Banner High!, p. 16.
238
Ibidem, p. 21.
233

239240

James Fallows, National Defense (New York: Vintage Books, 1982), p. 114.
Bowles, Hold Your Banner High!, p. 21.
Ex-Mousketeer Tommy Cole, quoted in Elisabeth Bumiller, Fall of a Mouseketeer; Two-year jail term for former Mouseketeer Darlene Gillespie, Good
Housekeeping, June 1999, 228(6), p. 114.
243
Janet Weeks, The mice that soared; Former members of The Micky Mouse Club, TV Guide, 8 May 1999, 47(19), p. 34(2), abstract.
241
242

244246
247
248
249250
251-

Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 77.

Ibidem, pp. 78-79.
Ibidem, p. 79.
Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 83.

252

Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 90.

Ibidem, pp. 88-89.
Ibidem, p. 235.
255
Ibidem, p. 89.
256
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 105.
257
Bob Thomas, Building a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire (New York: Hyperian, 1998), p. 267.
258
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 104.
253
254

259261

Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).

Thomas, Building a Company, p. 267.
263
Kinney, Assorted Other Characters, p. 72.
264
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 271.
265
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
266
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 93.
262

267269
270
271272
273
274
275-

Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 94.
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 52.
Ibidem, pp. 52-53.

277

Ibidem, p. 63.
Ibidem, pp. 63-64.
279
Ibidem, p. 64.
278

280283
284-

?? Robert Lacey, Little man: Meyer Lansky and the gangster life (Sound recording reviews), Publishers Weekly, 6 Jan 1992, 239(2).

285

?? Mark Leyner, Einstein calling; A genius brought down to earth, New Republic, 21 Nov 1994, 211(21).
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 64.
287
Ibidem, pp. 64-65.
288
Ibidem, p. 65.
289
Ibidem, p. 66.
290
Leonard Maltin, The Disney Films, 2nd ed. (New York: Crown Publ., 1973, 1984), p. 8.
291
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 68.
292
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 120.
286

293294
295-

Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 68.

296

J. Edgar Hoover, Masters of Deceit: The Story of Communism in America and How to Fight It (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1958), p. 71.
Emil Lengyel, Siberia (Garden City, NY: Garden City Publ. Co., Inc., 1943), p. 269.
298
Rollo May, The Meaning of Anxiety (New York: Pocket Books, 1950, 1979), p. 172.
299
Ibidem, p. 109.
300
Ibidem, p. 72.
301
Roy Wilkins with Tom Mathews, Standing Fast: The Autobiography of Roy Wilkins (New York: Penguin Books, 1984), p. 175.
302
Robert V. Daniels, ed., A Documentary History of Communism, Vol. 2 (New York: Vintage Books, 1960), p. 126.
303
Dennis Hollier, ed., The College of Sociology (1937-39), Betsy Wing, trans. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988), p. 217.
304
Daniels, History of Communism, p. 365.
305
William J. Chambliss, On the Take: From Petty Crooks to Presidents, 2nd ed. (Bloomington, ID: Indiana University Press, 1978, 1988), p. 151.
297

306309

Stu Campbell, Let it Rot! The Gardeners Guide to Composting, Updated & revised (Pownal, VT: Storey Publ., 1990), p. 33.
Kimberly Mills, Girding for the weed war, The Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 23 Aug 1998, 16(34), p. E1.
W.W. Fletcher, The Pest War (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1974), p. ix.
312
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
313
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 120.
314
Ibidem, pp. 120-121.
315
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 158.
316
Walt Disney, quoted in op. cit.
310
311

317

Ibidem, p. 159.
John Grant, Encyclopedia of Walt Disneys Animated Characters (New York: Hyperion, 1993), p. 367.
319
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
318

320321

Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 22.

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 4.
323
Ibidem, p. 5.
324
Ibidem, p. 4.
325
Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 70.
322

326328

David Koenig, Mouse Under Glass: Secrets of Disney Animation & Theme Parks (Irvine, CA: Bonaventure Press, 1997), p. 46.
Ibidem, p. 49.
330
Shale, Donald Duck Joins Up, p. 20.
331
Bob Thomas, Disneys Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Hercules (New York: Hyperion, 1992, 1997), p. 94.
332
Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, Revised ed. (New York: Plume, 1980, 1987), p. 64.
333
Thomas, Disneys Animation, p. 94.
334
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 210.
335
Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 71.
336
Smoodin, Animating Culture, p. 123.
337
Ibidem, p. 121.
338
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 209.
339
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 5.
340
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 104.
341
Ibidem, p. 105.
342
Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 71.
329

343344

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 5.

Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 210.
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 5.
347
Ibidem, pp. 5-6.
348
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
349
Smoodin, Animating Culture, p. 121.
350
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
351
Smoodin, Animating Culture, p. 131.
352
Thomas, Disneys Animation, pp. 94-95.
353
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
345
346

354355

Thomas, Disneys Animation, p. 95.

Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
357
Thomas, Disneys Animation, p. 95.
358
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
359
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 141.
360
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 205.
361
Jeff B. Copeland, Lawsuit says Disney hid sexy messages in cartoons, E! Online (EOnline.com), 5 Sep 1996.
362
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, pp. 184-185.
363
Karl F. Cohen, Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 1997), p. 111.
364
Kim Masters, The Keys to the Kingdom: How Michael Eisner Lost His Grip (New York: William Morrows, 2000), p. 226.
356

365366

Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 185.

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 141.
368
Benjamin Svetkey, Disney catches hell; Gay and subliminal messages at Mickey & Co. bring on the religious rights wrath, Entertainment Weekly, 15 Dec
1995, 305, p. 42(2).
369
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 20.
367

370371

Peter Schweizer and Rochelle Schweizer, Disney: The Mouse Betrayed; Greed, Corruption, and Children at Risk (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publ., Inc.,
1998), p. 142.
372
Ibidem, p. 143.
373374
375
376378

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 109.

Ibidem, pp. 1-2.

Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).

Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 153.
380
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
381
Gomery, Hollywood Studio System, p. 145.
382
Maltin, Of Mice and Magic, p. 63.
383
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 93.
384
Solomon, Enchanted Drawings, p. 113.
385
Thomas, American Original, p. 176.
386
Christopher Finch, Walt Disneys America (New York: Abbeville Press, Inc., 1978), p. 175.
387
Thomas, Disneys Animation, p. 133.
388
Jackson, Walt Disney, p. 39.
389
Thomas, Disneys Animation, p. 125.
390
Cohen, Forbidden Animation, p. 124.
391
Thomas, American Original, p. 178.
392
Walton Rawls, Disney Dons Dogtags: The Best of Disney Military Insignia from World War II (New York: Abbeville Publ. Group, 1992), p. 6.
393
Time eds., Great People of the 20 Century (New York: Time Inc., 1996), p. 118.
379

394-

395

Combat Insignia Stamps of the United States Army & Navy Air Corps, in War Insignia Stamp Album, Vol. 1-4, 1942-44 (Hollywood: Postamp Publ. Co.).
Smoodin, Animating Culture, p. 75.
397
Ibidem, p. 4.
398
Ibidem, p. 5.
399
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 303.
400
Susan Gilmore, The Cold War and Albert Canwell, The Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2 Aug 1998, 16(31), Pacific Magazine, p. 12.
401
Gomery, Hollywood Studio System, p. 185.
402
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 349.
403
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 65.
404
Lizette Alvarez, GOP efforts to honor Reagan hit turbulence, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 4 Feb 1998, 135(30), p. A5.
405
Anthony Summers, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover (New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1993), p. 52.
406
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 65.
407
Ted Johnson, Little union unity on subject of Commies, Variety, 9-15 Sep 1996, 364(6), p. 124.
408
Jay Robert Nash, Citizen Hoover: A Critical Study of the Life and Times of J. Edgar Hoover and His FBI (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1972), p. 89.
409
Johnson, Subject of Commies, p. 124.
396

410411

Summers, Official and Confidential, p. 161.

Testimony of Walter E. Disney before HUAC (24 Oct 1947), CNN.com, www.clinton.cnn.com/specials/cold.war/episodes/06/documents/huac/disney.html.
413
Michael Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 308.
414
Summers, Official and Confidential, p. 161.
415
Paul Kerr, My Name Is Joseph H. Lewis, in Screen, July/Oct 1983, 24:4/5, in Janet Staiger, ed., The Studio System (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press, 1995), p. 70.
416
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 349.
412

417418

Johnson, Subject of Commies, p. 124.

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 65.
420
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 349.
421
Summers, Official and Confidential, p. 186.
419

422424

Richard Gid Powers, Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover (New York: Free Press, 1987), p. 344.
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 349.
426
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 217.
427
Anthony Summers, Hidden Hoover, Vanity Fair, March 1993, 56(3), p. 203.
425

428429
430-

Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 219.

432

Mark North, Act of Treason: The Role of J. Edgar Hoover in the Assassination of President Kennedy (New York: Carol & Graf Publ., Inc., 1991), p. 24.
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 349.
434
Smoodin, Animating Culture, p. 153.
435
Edgar Argo, in Funny Times, in Quotable Quotes, Readers Digest, Oct 1994, 145(870), p. 31.
436
Tom Wilson, Ziggy, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 9 July 1998, p. C6.
437
Geroge Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), Nineteen Eighty-Four (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949, 1992), p. 214.
438
Richard Willing, Drug war fuels boom in use of wiretaps, USA Today, 8 May 1998, 16(167), p. 3A.
439
Morton Rhue, The Wave (New York: Laurel Leaf Books, 1981), p. 124.
440
Jennifer Mateyaschuk, We know where you are, and who youre talking to, Information Week, 27 July 1998, 693, p. 14.
441
Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, p. 3.
442
Henry A. Giroux, The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publ., Inc., 1999), p. 68 .
443
Ibidem, p. 124.
444
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 222.
445
Gerald D. McKnight, The Last Crusade: Martin Luther King, Jr., the FBI, and the Poor Peoples Campaign (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998), p. 135.
446
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 222.
447
Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 349.
448
Maltin, Disney Films, p. 238.
433

449450

William R. Koehler, The Wonderful World of Disney Animals (New York: Howell Book House, Inc., 1979), p. 163.
Ibidem, p. 166.
452
Maltin, Disney Films, p. 238.
453
Martin Kasindorf, LAPD cant get its paws on biker dog; Attempts to ticket owner have failed, USA Today, 1 Sep 1998, 16(246), p. 3A.
454
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 244.
455
Maltin, Disney Films, p. 197.
456
John G. West, Jr., The Disney Live-Action Reproductions (Washington: Hawthorne & Peabody, Publ., 1994), p. 156.
457
Maltin, Disney Films, p. 197.
458
West, Jr., Disney Live-Action, 157.
451

459461
462
463-

Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. 63.

Ibidem, p. 74.

464

Ibidem, p. 75.
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 300.
466
Rita Aero, Walt Disney World for Adults . . . and Families, Too! (New York: Fodors Travel Publ., Inc., 1997, 1998), p. 11.
467
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 198.
468
Ibidem, pp. 198-199.
465

469471
472
473474
475

Ibidem, p. 199.
Ibidem, pp. 199-200.
Ibidem, p. 200.
Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 121.

476

Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 200.

Mingo, Juicy Parts, p. 121.
478
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 200.
479
Disney Imagineers, Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real (New York: Hyperion, 1996), p. 114.
480
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 200.
481
Ibidem, p. 201.
482
Mickeys mom, People Weekly, 12 Jan 1998, p. 117.
483
Disneyland: The First Quarter Century (Disneyland Co., 1979).
484
Michael Broggie, Walt Disneys Railroad Story: The Small-Scale Fascination That Led to a Full-Scale Kingdom (Pasadena, CA: Pentrex, 1997), pp. 209210.
485
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 201.
477

486487

Ibidem, p. 202.
Smoodin, Animating Culture, p. 1.
489
Ariel Dorfman and Armand Matterlart, Paro leer al Pato Donald (Valparaiso: Ediciones Universitarins, 1971); How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist
Ideology in the Disney Comic, David Kunzle, trans. (New York: International General, 1975, 1984, 1991), p. 35.
490
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, pp. 93-94.
491
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 220.
492
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 94.
493
Stephen M. Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992), p. 169.
488

494495

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 94.

William Ready, Understanding Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings (New York: Paperback Library, 1969), p. 14.
Stanislaw Dygat, Disneyland (Poland:
Instytut Wydawniczy); Cloak of Illusion, David Welsh, trans. (Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press, 1969, pp.
160-161.
498
Ibidem, p. 161.
496
497

499500

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 47.

Ibidem, p. 45.
Ibidem, p. 44.
503
Ibidem, p. 45.
504
Ibidem, p. 47.
505
Ibidem, p. 48.
506
Ibidem, pp. 48-49.
507
Ibidem, pp. 44-45.
501
502

508509

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 94.

Ibidem, pp. 94-95.
511
Beth Dunlop, Building a Dream: The Art of Disney Architecture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996), p. 37.
512
David Koenig, More Mouse Tales: A Closer Peek Backstage at Disneyland (Irvine, CA: Bonaventure Press, 1999), p. 17.
513
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 95.
514
Ibidem, p. 87.
515
David Koenig, Mouse Tales: A Behind-the-Ears Look at Disneyland (Irvine, CA: Bonaventure Press, 1994), p. 19.
516
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 95.
517
Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 230.
510

518520

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 95.

Michael Skapinker, Mickey Mouse lessons for the Dome: Broken rides, profanities broadcast, wet asphaltDisneys record in launching leisure parks is
distinctly pat (Letter to the editor), Financial Times, 8 Feb 2000, p. 23.
521

522524

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 96.

Koenig, Mouse Tales, p. 62.
Tom Peters and Nancy Austin, A Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Difference (New York: Warner Books, 1986), p. 63.
527
Schickel, Disney Version, pp. 317-318.
528
Andrew Ross, The Celebration Chronicles: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Property Value in Disneys New Town (New York, Ballantine Books, 1999), p.
9.
529
Schickel, Disney Version, pp. 318-319.
530
Giroux, Mouse that Roared, p. 50.
531
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 319.
532
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 96.
533
Ibidem, p. 87.
534
Ibidem, p. 156.
525
526

535536

Ibidem, p. 97.
Carl Hiaasen, Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World (New York: Ballantine Books, 1998), p. 30.
Ibidem, p. 43.
539
Dorfman and Matterlart, How to Read Donald Duck, p. 33.
540
cf. Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 243.
541
Dorfman and Matterlart, How to Read Donald Duck, p. 33.
542
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 43.
543
Ibidem, p. 23.
544
Jeremy Rifkin, The ultimate therapy; Commercial eugenics on the eve of the biotech century, Tikkun: A Bimonthly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture &
Society, May/June 1998, 13(3), p. 38.
545
R.J. Pokorski (Swiss Re America, Fairfield, CT 06430), Genetic information and life insurance, Nature, 6 July 1995, 376(6535), abstract.
546
Bradley Graham (Washington Post), DNA sampling sparks worries; Two Marines take privacy issues to court, The Seattle Times, 14 April 1996, p. A22.
547
Rifkin, Ultimate therapy, p. 38.
548
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, pp. 59-60.
549
Wallace, Mickey Mouse History, pp. 136-137.
537
538

550
551-

Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 60.

552

Wallace, Mickey Mouse History, p. 137.

Virginia Postrel (Editor of Reason magazine), Disney reinvents the future, Forbes, 15 June 1998, 161(12), p. 108.
Grover, Disney Touch, p. 57.
555
Koenig, Mouse Tales, p. 117.
556
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 97.
553
554

557558

Bob Sehlinger, The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (New York: Macmillan, 1997), p. 141.
Stephen Birnbaum, ed., Birnbaums Walt Disney World 1997 (USA: Hyperion & Hearst Business Publ., Inc., 1997), p. 34.
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 97.
561
Eliot, Uncle Walt, p. 48(8).
559
560

562563

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 98.

Ibidem, p. 99.
Finch, Art of Walt, 1988, p. 150.
566
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, pp. 51-52.
567
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 104.
568
Finch, Art of Walt, 1988, p. 150.
569
Fodors Travel, Fodors 99 Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and Orlando: Your Complete Guide to All the Magic (New York: Fodors Travel Publ.,
Inc., 1998), p. 303.
570
Finch, Art of Walt, 1988, p. 150.
564
565

571573

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 99.

Bob Sehlinger, The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland (New York: Macmillan, 1995), p. 122.
575
Schickel, Disney Version, pp. 333-334.
576
Walt Disney Co., Walt Disney World: 20 Magical Years (Walt Disney Co., 1990), p. 45.
577
Aero, Disney World for Adults, p. 61.
578
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 334.
579
Toffler, Future Shock, pp. 210-211.
580
Schickel, Disney Version, pp. 336-337.
581
Robert De Roos, The Magic Worlds of Walt Disney, National Geographic, Aug 1963, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 67.
582
Toffler, Future Shock, p. 211.
583
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 333.
584
Ibidem, p. 334.
585
Walt Disney, quoted in Saturday Evening Post, 1954, in Watts, Magic Kingdom, p. v.
586
Robert I. Watson, Sr., and Rand B. Evans, The Great Psychologists: A History of Psychological Thought, 5th ed. (New York: HarperCollins Publ., Inc.,
1991), p. 467.
587
John Broadus Watson, Psychology as the behaviorist views it, Psychological Review, 1913, 20, pp. 158-177, in Dennis Coon, Introduction to Psychology:
Exploration and Application, 5th ed. (St. Paul: West Publ. Co., 1989), p. 9; E. Mavis Hetherington and Ross D. Parke, Child Psychology: A Contemporary
Viewpoint, 4th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1993), p. 80; Spencer A. Rathus, Psychology, 3rd ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1987), p. 430;
and Robert I. Watson, Sr., and Rand B. Evans, The Great Psychologists: A History of Psychological Thought, 5th ed. (New York: HarperCollins Publ., Inc.,
1991), p. 479.
588
Watson, Sr., and Evans, Great Psychologists, p. 467.
589
Walt Disney, quoted in Giroux, Mouse that Roared, p. 17.
590
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 19.
591
Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1970, 1988), pp. 25-26.
574

592593

Ibidem, p. 25.
Ibidem, p. 402.
595
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 100.
596
Ibidem, pp. 100-101.
597
Ibidem, p. 101.
598
Tom Connellan, Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disneys Success (Austin: Bard Press, 1996, 1997), p. 170.
594

599600
601-

Ibidem, p. 171.

603

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 101.

Ibidem, p. 102.
Ibidem, p. 104.
606
Tonight Show, NBC, in Laughter, the Best Medicine, Readers Digest, Nov 1996, 149(895), pp. 60-61.
607
Andy James, A simple guide to urban etiquette, Downtown [Seattle] Source, 30 March-5 April 1998, V(13), p. 8.
608
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 60.
609
Ibidem, p. 63.
610
Ibidem, pp. 63-64.
611
Finch, Art of Walt, 1988, p. 151.
612
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 137.
613
Ibidem, pp. 137-138.
614
Rena Bulkin, Frommers Comprehensive Travel Guide: Orlando 95 (New York: Macmillan Travel, 1994), p. 10.
615
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 137.
604
605

616617

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 26.

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 137.
619
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 36.
620
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, pp. 137-138.
621
Tim Appelo, When Mickey goes marching in, Entertainment Weekly, 15 July 1994, 231, p. 30(2).
622
Fodors Travel, Fodors 99, p. 303.
623
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 138.
618

624

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 5.

Lisa Gubernick, The third battle of Bull Run, Forbes, 17 Oct 1994, 154(9), p. 67(4).
626
P.S. (Across the Nation/Daily Briefing), The Seattle Times, 8 Sep 1998, 121(215), p. A6.
625

627628

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 138.

Bulkin, Orlando 95, p. 10.
630
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 138.
631
Ibidem, p. 139.
632
Ibidem, p. 140.
633
Bulkin, Orlando 95, p. 139.
634
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 26.
635
Ibidem, p. 27.
636
Alexander Wilson, The Betrayal of the Future: Walt Disneys EPCOT Center, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 119.
629

637638
639-

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 138.

640

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 18.

Ibidem, p. 19.
642
Jeff Kurtti, Since the World Began: Walt Disney World: The First 25 Years (New York: Hyperion, 1996), p. 29.
641

643645
646
647
648-

Tom Connellan, Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disneys Success (Austin: Bard Press, 1996, 1997), p. 64.
Ibidem, p. 65.
Peters and Austin, Passion for Excellence, p. 4.

649

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 140.

Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1946, 1980), p. 168.
651
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 140.
652
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 194.
650

653654
655-

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 27.

656

Jackson, Walt Disney, p. 101.

Walt Disney, foreword, Heinz Haber, The Walt Disney Story of Our Friend the Atom (New York: Dell, 1956), pp. 7-8.
658
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 334.
657

659660

Masters, Keys to the Kingdom, p. 197.

Lief H. Carter, J.D., Ph.D., Reason in Law, 3rd ed. (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown College Division, 1988), p. 126.
662
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 159.
663
Ibidem, p. 140.
664
Rick Perlmutter and Gayle Perlmutter, Walt Disney World for Lovers (Rocklin, CA: Prima Publ., 1996), p. 162.
665
American Automobile Association, AAA Guide to North Americas Theme Parks (Heathrow, FL:American Automobile Association,1997), p. 63.
666
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 186.
667
Ibidem, pp. 1-2.
668
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 140.
669
Richard Harris with Tamalyn Harris, 2 to 22 Days in Florida (Santa Fe, NM: John Muir Publ., 1995), p. 42.
670
Martin A. Sklar, Introduction to Richard R. Beard, Walt Disneys EPCOT: Creating the New World of Tomorrow (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1982),
p. 13.
671
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 140.
672
Wilson, Betrayal of the Future, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 118.
673
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 141.
661

674676
677
678
679-

Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 267.

Thomas and Johnston, The Illusion of Life, p. 11.
Edera, Animated Feature Films, p. 93.

680

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 66.

Klein, Seven Minutes, p. 184.
682
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 141.
683
Joe Flower, Prince of the Magic Kingdom: Michael Eisner and the Re-Making of Disney (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1991), p. 28.
681

684685

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 141.

Eliot, Dark Prince, p. 268.
687
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 141.
688
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 34.
689
Edera, Animated Feature Films, p. 37.
690
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, pp. 34-35.
691
Ibidem, p. 35.
692
Edera, Animated Feature Films, p. 166.
693
Paula Poundstone, Thanks, Mr. Clean, Mother Jones, May/June 1996, 21(3), p. 100.
686

694696

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 35.

Melanie McFarland, Cartoon cover-ups; Todays animated films offer suger-coated versions of harsh fairy tales, The Seattle Times, 16 Nov 1997, p. M1.
Jane E. Brody, Genetic ties may be factor in violence in stepfamilies; Evolution is being cited to explain higher rates of infanticide, The New York Times, 10
Feb 1998, CXKLVII(51,064), p. B9.
699
Francine du Plessix Gray, Soviet Women: Walking the Tightrope (New York: Doubleday, 1989), pp. 88-89.
700
Colette Dowling, The Cinderella Complex: Womens Hidden Fear of Independence (New York: Summit Books, 1981), p. 16.
701
Ibidem, p. 197.
702
Birnbaum, Walt Disney World, p. 98.
697
698

703
704-

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 29.

706

Ibidem, p. 30.
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 110.
Ibidem, p. 98.
709
Rick Perlmutter and Gayle Perlmutter, Walt Disney World for Couples (With or Without Kids) (Rocklin, CA: Prima Publ., 1997), p. 28.
710
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 99.
711
Ibidem, pp. 99-100.
712
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 31.
707
708

713714

Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 219.

Jackson, Walt Disney, p. 203.
716
Richard Turner and Corie Brown, Sending an SOS at ABC (Lifestyles), Newsweek, 12 May 1997, CXXIX(19), p. 54.
717
Koenig, Mouse Tales, p. 197.
718
Flower, Prince of the Magic Kingdom, p. 261.
719
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 31.
715

720722

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 90.

Ibidem, p. 87.
724
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 35.
725
Anna Woolverton, Vacation (Pop Paralysis), The Stranger, 14-20 May 1998, 7(34), p. 66.
726
Gene Sloan and Anthony DeBarros, Safety rules lax at amusement parks, USA Today (USAToday.com), 6 April 2000.
727
Rich Marosi, Brady MacDonald, and Scott Reckard (Los Angeles Times), Duvall pair hurt in Disneyland accident; Cleat flies off ship; Injuries critical, The
Seattle Times, 25 Dec 1998, p. A1.
728
Susan Byrnes, Ian Ith, Tan Vinh, and Florangela Davila, Inspections were left to Disneyland, The Seattle Times, 29 Dec 1998, p. B1.
729
Duvall man hurt at Disneyland dies from injuries, The Seattle Times, 27 Dec 1998, p. A1.
730
Christine Clarridge and Florangela Davila, Police may review Disneyland accident, The Seattle Times, 28 Dec 1998, p. B1.
723

731732
733
734735
736740
741-

Byrnes, Ith, Vinh, and Davila, Inspections, p. B1.

Sloan and DeBarros, Safety rules lax.
Gene Sloan, Fla. law: No state inspectors in big parks; Disney, Universal say they know best with complexity, USA Today (USAToday.com), 6 April 2000.
Ibidem, Safety rules lax.

742

Ibidem, No state inspectors.

Clarridge and Davila, Disneyland accident, p. B1.
744
The Associated Press, Coroner: Disney ride misjudged; Worker underestimated speed of boat, The Seattle Times, 31 Dec 1998, p. B1.
745
Dies from injuries, p. A1.
746
Clarridge and Davila, Disneyland accident, p. B1.
747
Byrnes, Ith, Vinh, and Davila, Inspections, p. B1.
748
Marosi, MacDonald, and Reckard, Cleat flies off ship, p. A1.
749
Dunlop, Building a Dream, p. 43.
743

750751

Alison Roberts (Sacramento Bee), Back to the future as Disneyland puts new spin on Tomorrowland, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 4 June 1998, Getaways, p.
16.
752
Masters, Keys to the Kingdom, p. 198.
753
Koenig, Mouse Tales, p. 119.
754
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 127.
755
Ibidem, p. 128.
756759

Koenig, Mouse Tales, p. 66.

Harris with Harris, 2 to 22 Days, pp. 52-53.
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 146.
762
Ibidem, p. 147.
763
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 208.
764
Ibidem, p. 209.
765
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 147.
766
Harris with Harris, 2 to 22 Days, p. 53.
767
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 147.
768
Ibidem, p. 141.
769
Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, Celebration, U.S.A.: Living in Disneys Brave New Town (New York: Henry Holt & Co.: Marian Wood, 1999), p. 27.
760
761

770771

Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 148.

Harris with Harris, 2 to 22 Days, p. 43.
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 148.
774
Ibidem, p. 150.
775
Ibidem, p. 151.
776
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 10.
777
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, pp. 154-155.
778
Dorfman and Matterlart, How to Read Donald Duck, p. 86.
779
Ibidem, p. 96.
780
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 155.
781
Ibidem, p. 155.
782
Ibidem, pp. 155-156.
783
Frantz and Collins, Celebration, U.S.A., p. 112.
784
Harris with Harris, 2 to 22 Days, p. 52.
785
Sehlinger, Unofficial Guide, p. 145.
772
773

786

Tim OBrien, The Amusement Park Guide: Coast to Coast Thrills, 3rd ed. (Old Saybrook, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 1991, 1997, 1999), p. 12.
Susan Willis, A Primer for Daily Life (London: Routledge, 1991), pp. 57-58.
788
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 145.
789
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 206.
790
Rena Bulkin, Frommers 97 Walt Disney World & Orlando (New York: Macmillan, 1996), p. 120.
791
Fodors Travel, Fodors 99, p. 28.
792
Bulkin, Frommers 97, p. 120.
793
Pamela S. Weiers, Birnbaums Walt Disney World Without Kids (USA: Hyperion & Hearst Business Publ., Inc., 1997), p. 95.
794
Schickel, Disney Version, p. 337.
795
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 146.
796
Bulkin, Orlando 95, p. 147.
797
Ibidem, p. 155.
798
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 13.
799
Kim Wright Wiley, Walt Disney World with Kids (Rocklin, CA: Prima Publ., 1997), p. 110.
800
Fodors Travel, Fodors 99, p. 28.
801
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 146.
802
Harris with Harris, 2 to 22 Days, p. 55.
803
Thomas Swick ([South Florida] Sun-Sentinel), Paths already trodden, The Seattle Times, 28 Dec 1997, p. I1.
787

804805
806-

The Associated Press, Disneyland pirates to lust no more, The Seattle Times, 4 Jan 1997, p. A2.

808

Jeff Kramer and Marla Jo Fisher (Orange County Register), Pirates may be PC now, but rest of Disneyland isnt; From animals to Indians, park a cultural
sensitivity minefield, The Seattle Times, 12 Jan 1997, p. A13.
809
Toffler, Future Shock, pp. 232-233.
810
Gene Sloan, Disney at Sea; When youre young at heart, Disney makes big Magic on the high seas, USA Today,31 July-2 Aug 1998, 16(225), p.2D.
811
Gene Sloan, Disney at Sea; Disney ship signals new wave in family cruising, USA Today, 31 July-2 Aug 1998, 16(225), p. 1D.
812
Sloan, Young at heart, p. 2D.
813
Scott Kraft (Los Angeles Times), When you wish upon a ship. . .; Three nights aboard the new Disney Magic, The Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
11 Oct 1998, 16(39), p. K8.
814
Sloan, Young at heart, p. 2D.
815
Sloan, Family cruising, p. 1D.
816817

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 45.

Ibidem, p. 46.
Disney representative, quoted in Susan J. Rogoski, Disney by land and sea, Town & Country, Oct 1999, 153(5233), p. 119.
820
Sloan, Family cruising, p. 1D.
818
819

821822
823-

Kraft, Wish upon a ship, p. K8.

826

Arline Bleecker (Orlando Sentinel), When a dream cruise turns nightmare; Resolving disputes is no simple matter under maritime law, Times/Seattle PostIntelligencer, 11 Oct 1998, 16(39), p. K6.
827831
832833
834
835836
837-

Sloan, Family cruising, p. 2D.

Sloan, Young at heart, p. 2D.
Rogoski, By land and sea, p. 119.
Sloan, Young at heart, p. 2D.

838

Sloan, Family cruising, p. 2D.

Sloan, Young at heart, p. 2D.
840
Rebecca Adams, M.D. (Fellow in Child Adolescent Psychiatry at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center), Titanic love (Film review), Tikkun: A
Bimonthly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture & Society, May/June 1998, 13(3), pp. 66-67.
841
Ibidem, p. 67.
842
Sloan, Young at heart, p. 2D.
843
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 46.
844
Sloan, Young at heart, p. 2D.
845
Kraft, Wish upon a ship, p. K9.
846
Kurtti, World Began, p. 185.
847
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, pp. 46-47.
839

848849
850
851855
856-

Ibidem, p. 47.
Ibidem, p. 48.
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 265.

857

Ibidem, p. 266.
Ibidem, p. 13.
859
Ibidem, p. 275.
860
Ibidem, p. 13.
861
Ibidem, p. 23.
862
Disney: Baptists claims ridiculous, The Seattle Times, 22 Nov 1997, p. A10.
858

863864

Carol Morello (Philadelphia Inquirer), Disney boycotts havent worked before; Some suggest constructive engagement, Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business
News, 23 June 1997.
865867

Mark Weber, Subverting the Disney legacy; How Michael Eisner has transformed the Magic Kingdom (Culture War Profile), The Journal of Historical
Review (IHR.org), Sep/Oct 1998, 17(5).

868869

Briefs (Nation), Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 30 March 1998, 135(76), p. A3.

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 23.
Ibidem, p. 25.
872
David Lees and Stan Berkowitz, The Movie Business (New York: Vintage Books, 1981), p. 158.
870
871

873876

Frank Rich (The New York Times), Anti-drug ad effort a pricey bit of Mickey Mouse, [Tacoma] News Tribune, 20 July 1998, 116(102), p. A6.
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 266.
878
Ibidem, p. 269.
877

879880

Roberts, New spin on Tomorrowland, p. 16.

Koenig, Mouse Tales, p. 120.
882
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 7.
883
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 172.
884
Douglass Gomery, Disneys Business History: A Reinterpretation, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 83.
881

885886
887
888-

Cole, Creator of Mickey, p. 99.

Barry R. Litman, The Motion Picture Mega-Industry (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1998), p. 22.

889

Weber, Disney legacy.

Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 7.
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 277.
892
Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson, The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999), p.
59.
890
891

893894

Griffin, Tinker Belles, p. 106.

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 17.
896
Henry A. Giroux, The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publ., Inc., 1999), p. 26.
897
Masters, Keys to the Kingdom, p. 231.
898
Giroux, Mouse that Roared, p. 89.
899
Gregg Zoroya (USA Today), Orlando overload; How much is too much at rapidly expanding theme parks?, 7 May 1999.
900
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 6.
901
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 154.
902
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, pp. 6-7.
903
Giroux, Mouse that Roared, p. 65.
904
Ibidem, pp. 66-67.
905
Ibidem, p. 67.
906
Ross, Celebration Chronicles, p. 2.
907
Ibidem, p. 4.
908
Giroux, Mouse that Roared, p. 69.
909
Ibidem, pp. 71-72.
910
Ibidem, p. 73
911
Ibidem, p. 18.
912
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 6.
913
Rosalyn Will, Alice Tepper Marlin, Benjamin Corson and Jonathan Schorsch; with Jennifer Kasmin, Nadia Malinovich, Alan Nadelhaft, and Jessica Patt,
Shopping For a Better World: A Quick and Easy Guide to Socially Responsible Supermarket Shopping (New York: Council on Economic Priorities, 1989), p.
1.
914
Frantz and Collins, Celebration, U.S.A., p. 112.
915
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 10.
895

916918

Weber, Disney legacy.

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 10.
Ibidem, pp. 10-11.
921
Cole, Creator of Mickey, p. 7.
919
920

922924

Weber, Disney legacy.

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 11.
926
Ibidem, p. 12.
927
Frank Rich, The rodent rules, The New York Times, 6 May 1998, CXLVII(51,149), p. A27.
928
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 4.
929
1 Timothy 6:10, The Bible, Revised Standard Version (New York: American Bible Society, 1973).
930
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 5.
931
Ibidem, p. 4.
932
Ibidem, p. 5.
933
Zeke Wigglesworth (San Jose Mercury News), Noisy and polluting? Well, thats their nature, The Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 23 Aug 1998,
16(34), p. K10.
934
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 178.
935
Barbara Ehrenreich, The Worst Years of Our Lives: Irreverent Notes from a Decade of Greed (New York: Pantheon Books, 1990).
936
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 178.
937
Grover, Disney Touch, p. 249.
938
Harris with Harris, 2 to 22 Days, p. 64.
939
Glen Sloan, Tomorrowland gets a $100 million face lift, USA Today, 17 April 1998, 16(152), p. 1D.
940
Cory Lancaster, Disney considers building fifth theme park in central Florida, Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, 17 May 1998.
941
Masters, Keys to the Kingdom, p. 175.
942
Wallace, Mickey Mouse History, p. 162.
943
P.S. (Around the World/Daily Briefing), The Seattle Times, 15 April 1998, 121(90), p. A14.
944
Wallace, Mickey Mouse History, p. 162.
945
P.S., The Seattle Times, 15 April 1998, p. A14.
925

946951

Michael A. Lev (Chicago Tribune), Increasingly, young girls are sex objects in Japan, The Seattle Times, 23 Feb 1997, 15(8), p. A16.
Terry Trucco, Tokyo developers bet on Goofy and sushi; But risks face Japans new Disneyland, which opens this week, The New York Times, 10 April 1983,
CXXXII(45,644), p. III:13.
953
Clyde Haberman (special to Times), English-speaking mouse thrives in Tokyo, The New York Times, 9 Sep 1983, CXXXII(45,796), p. I:16.
954
Trucco, Developers bet on Goofy, p. III:13.
955
Haberman , Mouse thrives, p. I:16.
956
Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, Images of Empire: Tokyo Disneyland and Japanese Cultural Imperialism, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 190.
957
Adams, Amusement Park Industry, p. 170.
958
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 19.
959
Frantz and Collins, Celebration, U.S.A., p. 52.
960
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 19.
961
Reuters, Disneyland workers can now wear mustaches, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 28 March 2000.
962
The Associated Press, Disney relaxes facial hair rules, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 25 March 2000.
963
E! Online, Disney lets loose with lip hair, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 28 March 2000.
964
The Associated Press, Disney relaxes.
952

965966

E! Online, Disney lets loose.

Koenig, Mouse Tales, p. 220.
968
E! Online, Disney lets loose.
969
The Associated Press, Disney relaxes.
970
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, pp. 19-20.
971
Ibidem, p. 20.
972
Mark Worth, Loose change (Media Culpa), Seattle Weekly, 30 April 1998, 23(17), p. 17.
973
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 262.
974
Ibidem, p. 263.
975
Ibidem, p. 264.
976
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 38.
977
Ibidem, pp. 38-39.
978
Masters, Keys to the Kingdom, p. 6.
979
Jon Lewis, Disney After Disney: Family Business and the Business of Family, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 88.
967

980983
984-

ABC kills anti-Disney story, E! Online (EOnline.com), 14 Oct 1998.

985

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 264.

Henry Chu (Los Angeles Times), Disney reveals its plans for park in Hong Kong, The Seattle Times, 2 Nov 1999, p. A15.
987
Hong Kong Disneylan (Backgrounder), Xinhua News Agency, 2 Nov 1999.
988
Mouse of the rising sun; Disneyland in Hong Kong, Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland, 10 Jan 2000, p. 57.
989
Jo Bowman, Disneys appeal will endure, says expert, South China Morning Post, 29 Nov 1999.
990
HK Disneyland expected to bring about intangible benefits, Xinhua News Agency, 3 Nov 1999.
991
Stella Lee, Disney will lure mainlanders, South China Morning Post, 10 Dec 1999.
992
E.P. Patanne, Disneyland goes to Hong Kong (Weekender: Travel Trade East), BusinessWorld (Phillippines), 12 Nov 1999.
993
Kong Lai-fan, Mainland to increase flow of Disneyland tourists, says Qian, South Chian Morning Post, 23 Nov 1999.
994
Sushi, Disney (Topics/Home Truths), The New York Times, 17 April 1983, CXXXII(45,651), p. IV:18.
995
Rich, Rodent rules, p. A27.
996
Mary Lou Gallagher, Taking a stand on hallow ground; Some Civil War battlefields could soon be history if steps arent taken to save them, Planning, June
1995, 61(1), p. 10(6).
997
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 21.
998
Ibidem, p. 22.
999
Los Angeles Times, Some Virginians dont want U.S. history park in their back yard, Bertino.com, 16 Jan 1994.
1000
Tim Appelo, When Mickey goes marching in, Entertainment Weekly, 15 July 1994, 231, p. 30(2).
1001
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 22.
1002
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 235.
1003
Eisner with Schwartz, Work in Progress, p. 320.
1004
Koenig, Mouse Under Glass, p. 235.
1005
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 22.
1006
Ibidem, p. 24.
986

10071008

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 233.

Karen Klugman, Jane Kuenz, Shelton Waldrep, and Susan Willis, Inside the Mouse: Work and Play at Disney World (Durham: Duke University Press,
1995), p. 16.
1010
The talking chihuahua; The it bitch (The It List), Entertainment Weekly, 26 June-3 July 1998, 438/439, p. 94.
1011
John Hartl, Mary and Mulan among latest releases, The Seattle Times, 28 Jan 1999, p. E6.
1012
Joe McDonald (The Associated Press), Mulan debuts in Shanghai after long delay, The Seattle Times, 23 Feb 1999, p. A7.
1013
Moira MacDonald, Disneys Mulan: Surprising words and scenesand visual beatury, too, The Seattle Times, 19 June 1998, p. G1.
1014
Jim Mullen, Hot sheet, Entertainment Weekly, 26 June-3 July 1998, 438/439, p. 12.
1015
Dennis Akizuki (Knight-Ridder Newspapers), Disneys Mulan resonates among Chinese Americans, The Seattle Times, 23 June 1998, p. F6.
1016
Giroux, Mouse that Roared, p. 103.
1017
Ibidem, p. 85
1018
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 149.
1009

10191021
10221024

Los Angeles Daily News, Little girls who want to look like Mulan pose a cutting dilemma, Seattle-Post Intelligencer, 5 Sep 1998, 135(213), p. C2.

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 42.

Mireya Navarro (The New York Times), Movie fallout: Dalmatians now being abandoned, The Seattle Times, 14 Sep 1997, p. A6.
1026
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 42.
1027
Ibidem, pp. 42-43.
1028
Glen Sloan, Disney goes wild, USA Today, 17 April 1998, 16(152), p. 2D.
1025

1029

Ibidem, p. 68.
Jon Nordheimer (The NewYork Times), Animal Kingdom brings a new world to Disney, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 30 April1998, 135(103), p. A15.
1031
Sloan, Disney goes wild, p. 2D.
1032
Mireya Navarro (The New York Times), Disney opens animal theme park amid criticism and government investigation, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 21 April
1998, p. E3.
1033
Tammerlin Drummond, Caution: Live animals, Time, 20 April 1998, 151(15), p. 68.
1034
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 68.
1030

10351036

Kerry Smith, Walt Disney World for Mature Travelers (New York: St. Martins Griffin, 1999), p. 212.
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, pp. 68-69.
Andrew Paxman, Orlandos battle of the beasts: Disney and U throw billions into theme park showdown, Variety, 20 April 1998, 370(10), p. 1.
1039
Richard Corliss with Tammerlin Drummond, Stocked with real creatures and fantastic images, Disneys Animal Kingdom is positivly zoo-issimo!, Time, 20
April 1998, 151(15), p. 70.
1040
Michael D. Eisner with Tony Schwartz, Work in Progress (New York: Random House, 1998), p. 402.
1037
1038

10411042

Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 69.

Glen Sloan, Disney goes wild, USA Today, 17 April 1998, 16(152), p. 2D.
Drummond, Caution, p. 69.
1045
Sloan, Disney goes wild, p. 1D.
1046
McNonsense; Strange advertising campaign by McDonalds, Time, 11 May 1998, 151(18), p. 18.
1047
Larry Wallberg, Where humans are herded and animals roam free, Wall Street Journal, 18 June 1998, CCXXXI(116), p. A16.
1048
A rocky start for a new zoo; Safety of animals at Walt Disney Worlds Animal Kingdom questioned, Time for Kids, 17 April 1998, 3(26), p. 6.
1049
Sloan, Disney goes wild, p. 2D.
1050
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 74.
1051
Ibidem, pp. 74-75.
1052
Ibidem, p. 75.
1053
Ibidem, pp. 75-76.
1043
1044

10541055

Navarro, Animal theme park, p. E1.

The Associated Press, Agency investigating Disney animal deaths, The New York Times, 9 April 1998, CXLVII(51,122), p. A23.
1057
Animal death toll at Disney theme park raised to 29 (Nation/Briefs/Washington, D.C.), Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 14 May 1998, 135(115), p. A3.
1058
Navarro, Animal theme park, p. E3.
1059
Gerry Vogenan (Knight-Ridder Newspapers), Move over, Mickey. Disney gets into real animals, The Seattle Times/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 26 April
1998, 16(17), p. K8.
1060
Death toll at Disney, p. A3.
1061
Navarro, Animal theme park, p. E3.
1056

10621063

Frantz and Collins, Celebration, U.S.A., p. 231.

Animals are worst part of Disneys Animal Kingdom, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 4 May 1998.
1065
Animal death toll, p. A3.
1066
Diane Ledder, quoted in The Associated Press, Report lists 29 animals dead at new Disney park, The New York Times, 14 May 1998, CXLVII (51,157), p.
A19.
1067
Hiaasen, Team Rodent, p. 13.
1064

10681069

Greg Burkman, Steven Watts The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life (Book Review), The Seattle Times, 11 Jan 1998, 16(2), p.
M2.
1070
Dr. Will Miller, Mental TV, Psychology Today, Dec 1996, 29(6), p. 62.
1071
Ibidem, pp. 62, 76.
1072
Ibidem, p. 76.
1073
Bob Moorehead (former* Senior Pastor, Overlake Christian church, Kirkland, Washington), quoted in Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. xi.
*
Moorehead announced his resignation [17 May 1998] as pastor.
Steve Miletich and Heath Foster, Moorehead resigns as pastor; He denies charges, but say they hurt Overlake ministry, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 18 May
1998, 135(118), p. A1.
10741075
1076-

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 245.

1080

Ibidem, p. 246.
Ibidem, p. 249.
Ibidem, p. 248.
1083
Ibidem, p. 250.
1084
Susan Kuklin, Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders Against Child Slavery (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1998), p. 6.
1085
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 250.
1086
Ibidem, p. 277.
1081
1082

10871088
1089
1090
10911092
1093
1094-

Ibidem, p. 251.
Ibidem, p. 252.
Ibidem, p. 253.
Ibidem, p. 254.
Kuklin, Crusaders Against Child Slavery, p. 63.

1095

Ibidem, p. 38.
From a dream, 1997.
1097
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 79.
1096

10981099
11001102

Ibidem, p. 85.
The Associated Press, Newborn abandoned at Disney World doing fine, The Seattle Times, 10 Nov 1997, p. A4.

11031106

Orlando Sentinel and The Associated Press, Mother who abandoned newborn at Disnew World is identified, The Seattle Times, 6 Feb 1998, p. A7.
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 93.
Ibidem, p. 114.
1109
Ibidem, p. 90.
1107
1108

11101111

Ibidem, p. 93.
Ibidem, p. 86.
1113
Ibidem, p. 77.
1114
Ibidem, p. 85.
1115
Ibidem, p. 9.
1116
Ibidem, p. 80.
1117
Ibidem, p. 85.
1112

11181120

11211122
11231124
11251126
1127
1128
1129-

Ibidem, p. 77.
Ibidem, p. 223.
Ibidem, p. 224.
Ibidem, p. 223.
Glenn Kenny, Powder (Movie reviews), Entertainment Weekly, 17 May 1996, 327, p. 70.
Ken Tucker, Powder (Move reviews), Entertainment Weekly, 10 Nov 1996, 300, p. 36.

1131

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 223.

Kenneth L. Woodward, To abuse is human, to repent is rare; Repentance and forgiveness for criminals in modern society, Newsweek, 6 Nov 1995, 126(19),
p. 78.
1132

11331134

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 225.

Director of Disney film had a 1988 conviction for child molestation, Wall Street Journal, 25 Oct 1995, CCXXVI(81), p. B5.
1136
Bernard Weintraub, A director for Disney once jailed in sex case, The New York Times, 26 Oct 1995, CXLV(50,226), p. C20.
1137
Ferraiuolo, Disney and the Bible, p. 111.
1135

11381140
1141
1142-

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 225.

Weintraub, Once jailed, p. C20.

1144

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 227.

Ibidem, p. 229.
1146
Jeffrey Wells, A question Disneyland ducked; History of child molestation clouds director Victor Salvas film Powder, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Nov 1995,
300, p. 37.
1147
John Gallagher, A fairy-tale ending; The uproar over the Disney film Powder leaves the companys profitsand its pro-gay policiesunscathed, Advocate,
28 Nov 1995, 695, p. 25.
1148
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 228.
1149
Ibidem, p. 230.
1150
The Associated Press, Infoseek exec. nabbed in sex sting; Accused of using Net to solicit teen sex, USA Today (USAToday.com), 20 Sep 1999.
1151
Keith Alexander, Arrest threatens career of Net star, USA Today (USAToday.com), 21 Sep 1999.
1152
Ian Ith, FBI sex charges denied; Naughton defense hints at conspiracy, The Seattle Times, 1 Oct 1999, p. B1.
1153
Eric Lacitis, Secrets on a computer: delete key doesnt make things clear, The Seattle Times, 26 Sep 1999, p. L1.
1154
Greg Miller (Los Angeles Times), Feds will retry Naughton on sex charges, The Seattle Times, 6 Jan 2000, p. B3.
1145

11551156
1157
1158
1159-

Alexander, Arrest threatens career.

Greg Miller (Los Angeles Times), Naughton says sex talk online was just fantasy, The Seattle Times, 10 Dec 1999, p. B6.
ABC News, Infoseek executive arrested; Faces charges of soliciting sex with minor, ABCNews.com, 19 Sep 1999.

1160

Ed Scannel and Bob Trott (InfoWorld Electric), Java developer arrested in FBI sting, International Data Group (IDG.net), 21 Sep 1999.
Bloomberg News, Mistrial in Naughton sex case; But former Infoseek exec found guilty of possessing child porn, USA Today (USAToday.com), 16 Dec
1999.
1162
Bloomberg News (Reuters), Seattles Naughton guilty on pron count, The Seattle Times, 16 Dec 1999, p. A1.
1161

11631167
1168-

Lisa Bowman (ZDNet News), Jailbait and switch, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 21 March 2000.

1169

Bloomberg News, Ex-Infoseek exec pleads guilty in sex case, USA Today (USAToday.com), 17 March 2000.
Bowman, Jailbait and switch.
1171
Dan Whitcomb (Reuters), Ex-Web executive pleads guilty to U.S. sex charge, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 17 March 2000.
1170

11721178

Bowman, Jailbait and switch.

Lisa M. Bowman (ZDNet News), Patrick Naughton back in court Monday, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 4 June 2000.
1180
Andrea Orr (Reuters), Arrest in US Online sex case shows dangers for kids, Infowar.com, 25 Sep 1999.
1183
Bowman, Jailbait and switch.
1184
John Hamer and Mariana Parks, P-I intelligence (Watch Dogs), Seattle Weekly, 12 March 1998, 23(10), p. 20.
1185
Robi Zocher (special to Times), Is Disney only Mickey Mouse?, The Seattle Times, 8 June 1997, p. C3.
1186
Kraft, Wish upon a ship, p. K8.
1187
Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves, p. 158.
1188
Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 276.
1189
Giroux, Mouse that Roared, p. 17.
1190
Kimball, Walt Disney, in Wagner, Remember This, p. 282.
1191
Griffin, Tinker Belles, p. 3.
1192
Edera, Animated Feature Films, p. 29.
1179

1193

Schweizer and Schweizer, Mouse Betrayed, p. 276.

Dave Smith and Steven Clark, Disney: The First 100 Years (New York: Hyperion, 1999), p. 191.
1195
Tim OBrien (Amusement Business), quoted in Sloan, Disney goes wild, p. 2D.
1196
Micky to the rescue?, Business Week, 6 March 2000, 3671, p. 54.
1194

11971198
1199

E! Online, Jury: Disney bullied dying exec, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 21 April 2000.
Reuters, Jury finds dying Disney exec didnt waive benefits, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 21 April 2000.

12001202
12031204
12051206
1207
1208-

E! Online, Disney bullied dying exec.

Dan Whitcomb (Reuters), Jury returns verdict in Disney exec lawsuit, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 21 April 2000.
E! Online, Disney bullied dying exec.
Gary Gentile (The Associated Press), Jurors rule in favor of Disney exec, Yahoo! News (Yahoo.com), 22 April 2000.

1209

Frantz and Collins, Celebration, U.S.A., p. 35.

Adapted from Badgers Disney Countdown Page, www.home.ici.net/customers/his/badger/nuts.html, 20 April 2000.
Koenig, Mouse Tales, p. 98.
1212
Dorfman and Matterlart, How to Read Donald Duck, p. 85.
1213
Dr. D. James Kennedy, in Ferraiulo, Disney and the Bible, back cover.
1214
Rich, Rodent rules, p. A27.
1215
Jolayne Hontz, The kids in the middle, The Seattle Times, 16 June 1998, 121(143), p. A1.
1216
Warts and all; Thanks to Disney, some not-so-sexy animals are having their time in the sun, Time, 26 May 1997, 149(21), p. 109.
1217
Hoover, Masters of Deceit, p. 72.
1218
Kurtti, World Began, p. 174.
1219
Dorfman and Matterlart, How to Read Donald Duck, p. 66.
1220
Jon Nordheimer, Disney goes live with its newest park; After a bumpy start, 1,000 animals meet the public in natural setting, The New York Times,
CXLVII(51,139), p. TR8.
1221
Eric Smoodin, ed., Disney Discourse: Producing the Magic Kingdom (New York: Routledge, 1994), p. 8.
1222
Alexander Wilson, The Betrayal of the Future: Walt Disneys EPCOT Center, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 122.
1223
Alexander Wilson, The Betrayal of the Future: Walt Disneys EPCOT Center, in Smoodin, Disney Discourse, p. 128.
1224
Clive James, Fame in the 20th Century (New York: Random House, 1993), p. 89.
1225
Angela Gunn, The past, the future (Kiss my ASCII), Seattle Weekly, 4 May 2000, 25(18), p. 25.
1226
Susan Willis, A Primer for Daily Life (London: Routledge, 1991), p. 61.
1227
Jeffrey Miller (Orange County Register), The debate over Walt Disney: Hollywoods Dark Prince continues, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 29
July 1993.
1210
1211

12281229

Mickey Mouse (New York: Abbeville Press, Inc., 1978), p. 13.

John Trojanski and Louis Rockwood, Making It Move (Dayton, OH: Pflaum/Standard, 1973), p. 119.
1231
John Halas, The Contemporary Animator (London: Focal Press, 1990), p. 44.
1232
John Trojanski and Louis Rockwood, Making It Move (Dayton, OH: Pflaum/Standard, 1973), p. 119.
1233
John Trojanski and Louis Rockwood, Making It Move (Dayton, OH: Pflaum/Standard, 1973), pp. 119-120.
1234
John Halas, The Contemporary Animator (London: Focal Press, 1990), p. 2.
1235
Shamus Culhane, Animation: From Script to Screen (New York: St. Martins Press, 1988), p. 7.
1236
Giannalberto Bendzai, Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994), pp. 69-70.
1237
Bruce D. Kurtz, ed., Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, and Walt Disney (Prestel-Verlag, Munich and Phoenix Art Museum, 1992), p. 27.
1238
Walt Disney, quoted in John Cawley and Jim Korkis, Cartoon Superstars (Las Vegas, NV: Pioneer Book, Inc., 1990), p. 126.
1239
Walt Disney, quoted in John Cawley and Jim Korkis, Cartoon Superstars (Las Vegas, NV: Pioneer Book, Inc., 1990), p. 128.
1240
Beth Dunlop, Building a Dream: The Art of Disney Architecture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996), p. 45.
1241
Beth Dunlop, Building a Dream: The Art of Disney Architecture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996), p. 45.
1242
Beth Dunlop, Building a Dream: The Art of Disney Architecture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1996), p. 147.
1243
fn. Edgar H. Schein with Inge Schneier and Curtis H. Barker, Coercive Persuation: A Socio-psychological Analysis of the Brainwashing of American
Civilian Prisoners by the Chinese Communists (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1961), p.
200.
1244
David Koenig, More Mouse Tales: A Closer Peek Backstage at Disneyland (Irvine, CA: Bonaventure Press, 1999), p. 14.
1245
Dan Savage, Sexy mamas, kiddie porn (Savage Love), The Stranger, 29 June - 5 July 2000, 9(41), p. 85.
1246
Dan Savage, Sexy mamas, kiddie porn (Savage Love), The Stranger, 29 June - 5 July 2000, 9(41), p. 85.
1247
Dan Savage, Sexy mamas, kiddie porn (Savage Love), The Stranger, 29 June - 5 July 2000, 9(41), p. 85.
1248
Winda Benedetti, Waters knows where he stands with his fans (Music Review), Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3 July 2000, 137(158), p. D4.
1249
Amy E. Nevala, Protecting children from online predators; Undercover detectives pose as kids to catch those who exploit young computer users, Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, 3 July 2000, 137(158), p. B3.
1250
Cliff Edwards (The Associated Press), High-tech world is rife with spying; Competition creates climate with few rules, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3 July
2000, 137(158), p. E4.
1251
Bill Plympton, in Mondo Plympton: The Animation of Bill Plympton, 1999, videorecording.
1252
Associated Press, Disney told: paid for dressing time, Yahoo! News, 3 April 2001.
1253
Chelsea J. Carter (Associated Press), Tree falls on Disneyland visitors, Yahoo! News, 5 May 2001.
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