It was a conversation that Neal Gabler really wasn’t looking forward to having.
For more than a year, the author of “Winchell: Gossip, Power and the Culture of Celebrity” and “An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood” had been waiting patiently to see if his request to gain access to Walt Disney Company’s archives would be granted. So that Gabler could then begin researching an epic biography of the company’s founder.
Finally, Neal received word that he would be allowed into the Disney archives. But — before that happened — Howard Green, Vice President of Studio Communications first wanted to meet with him.
“I figured that this would be the meeting where I’d be told that — in order to gain access to the archives — I’d first have to agree to allow the company to review the manuscript before it was published. Or there’d be topics that I’d have to avoid writing about,” Gabler remembered. “But — as it turns out — I couldn’t have been more wrong.”
Green actually had an entirely different agenda. For years now, he had been pushing the company to do a new biography of Walt Disney. One that would take an in-depth look at both the personal life as well as the professional achievements of the old Mousetro.
“As it turns out, Howard had already drawn up a list of four writers that he was going to approach on behalf of the company, to see if they’d willing to tackle a project of this size,” Neal continued. “Luckily, I was one of the writers on that list.”
Truth be told, all Green asked Gabler to do was ” … make sure that this is a serious book.” Which was a condition that Neal happily agreed to.
“Walt Disney: The Triumph of the
American Imagination” author Neal Gabler
Photo by Laurel Gabler
Of course, just how serious Gabler was going to get didn’t become apparent ’til this award-winning writer met with Dave Smith, the Walt Disney Company’s official archivist.
“Dave handed me this inch-thick folder and said ‘You’ll probably want to look at this. This is the material that Bob Thomas reviewed when he wrote the authorized biography back in the 1970s,’ ” Neal said. “And I then said to Dave ‘I don’t want to read just this. I want to read everything.’
And when Gabler said that he wanted to read everything, he meant everything. Starting with the deed to Walt’s grandfather’s home in Ontario, Neal methodically made his way through all of Disney’s personal papers as well as his inter-office correspondence. A process that took him nearly seven years.
Why read through all of Walt’s papers? Gabler felt that this was the very best way to get to know Disney. Really get to know the man.
“When I could, I tried to go chronologically through the material,” Neal explained. “So that I could be in the moment as Walt made discoveries and decisions.”
Photo courtesy of Google Images
Gabler also conducted dozens of interviews over the years, trying to speak with as many people as possible who had worked directly with Disney. These folks included animators, Imagineers, veteran studio staffers. Even Walt’s own daughter, Diane Disney Miller.
“Diane was one of the very last people that I spoke with while I was working on the book,” Neal said. “She was initially very reluctant to talk with me. But the folks at the Archives actually intervened on my behalf. They told Diane about the thorough job that I was doing, how I was going through all of her Dad’s papers. That seemed to impress Diane, so she finally agreed to meet with me.”
But — just as he’d been during his first meeting with Howard Green — Gabler was surprised by what happened when he sat down with Mrs. Disney Miller.
“Diane clearly loved her dad and was very protective of the man,” Neal went on, “But what really surprised me was when she said ‘You know what I hate? I hate it when people treat my father like a plaster saint.’ What Diane really wanted was a book that was honest about her dad. One that made people aware that Walt Disney was a real man with both virtues and flaws.”
Diane Disney Miller
Photo by Brad Zweerink
So — with Mrs. Disney Miller’s input and blessing — Gabler continued with his research on the life & career of Walt Disney. Which is how he eventually wound up with a pile of 15,000 notecards. With each of these cards then containing a unique piece of the puzzle.
“With all of the research that I’d done, I could have easily written a multi-volume biography of Walt Disney,” he continued. “But that wasn’t what I’d promised the folks at Knopf. More to the point, what I was really trying to do here was tell a story. Not do a complete inventory of the man’s life.”
So Neal slowly whittled away at the pile. Always trying to keep the focus on whatever it was Walt was passionate about, whatever Disney was personally invested in at that time. With his goal being a biography that was long on insight but not bogged down by detail.
“I really didn’t want to do what Richard Schickel & Marc Eliot had done with their Disney biographies. Which is go into the project with an agenda already in mind. Where I’d then have to bend & twist the material in order to conform to the story that I was trying to tell,” Gabler explained. “Me? I let the material control the story.”
Copyright 2006 Knopf Publishing
The end result was “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination,” an 880-page epic that officially goes on sale on October 31st. And having just finished reading a review copy of this book that Knopf was nice enough to send along to me, I have to say that this is the definitive Walt Disney biography. The book that Disneyana fans have been waiting for for decades now.
In two weeks or so, I’ll be posting a full-blown review of Mr. Gabler’s book here on JHM. But trust me, folks. You don’t really want to wait for this book. Go to Amazon.com and pre-order your copy of “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination” now. You can thank me later.
Anyway … Getting back to talking about Mr. Gabler’s book. After literally spending years on the Disney lot during the research phase of this project, Neal will be returning to the Burbank studio next month. Only this time around, he won’t be holed up in the archives. But — rather — Gabler will be taking part in a book signing for “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination” at the on-the-lot Disney Store.
And as for Neal’s literary follow-up project … Once Gabler completes the book tour for his Disney biography, he hopes to trade the “Happiest Place on Earth” for one of the darker aspects of U.S. history. Writing a book about hate groups in America, how they’ve effected our nation over the past 100 years.
Which is about as far away from Walt Disney as you can get, don’t you think?