Document details

Walt Disney marshals the forces of his imagination to strike out in new directions — despite sneers of critics and 'sophisticates'

A cheerful group of men sits at a round table in the commissary, chatting, laughing and lunching. Their high spirits are not surprising. They are stockholders, and their company is doing well. Their annual report – adorned with a photograph of Mickey Mouse leading a triumphal parade in front of a white, fairy-tale castle – says, in its very first paragraph: "Consolidated net profit after taxes ... for the discal year ended Oct. 3, 1964 was $7,057,435."

At a near-by table, a tall heavy-set man is chatting away, in his slow, affably rambling fashion, about his theories of color and composition. "Purpose," he says, "determines composition. Now, for instance, if I were to paint that stockholders' meeting over there..." Then, he grins slowly. "Well, if I wanted to sell it to them... I'd sure feature the Chairman of the Board."

It's a fanciful notion, in this ease, because the affable, rambling man is somewhat in the position of the gold to the stockholders of a gold mine. It is from his amazing imagination that the "consolidated net profit after taxes" has flowed. He is Walt Disney. And he rarely bothers to go to stockholders' meetings.

[…]