HOLLYWOOD (AP) - At the time of his death last Thursday, Walt Disney’s entertainment empire was so widespread and prosperous that it seemed impossible he had known times when his studio had faced extinction.
Yet until the last decade of his life, Disney was scorned by many financial minds who considered him a poor risk, a visionary who would bring his company to the edge of insolvency to accomplish dreams.
For the first 30 years of his film enterprises, the pattern was the same: Walt got the ideas and his brother Roy got the money. But more than once the ideas outdistanced the money.
It started as early as 1923. Walt had come to Hollywood with plans of breaking into the movies. He originally wanted to be a director, but no studio wanted to hire a 22-year-old Kansas City boy with no experienee. So he decided to do the thing he knew: make cartoons.
“Where can we get the money?” he asked Roy. The older brother found a source: an uncle who made a reluctant loan of $500. They were in business.
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| Id | 2706 |
|---|---|
| Availability | Free |
| Inserted | 2016-08-13 |
