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Page 18 of 28 New Horizons: The Postwar Years

Walt and Lilly

The 1950's saw a dramatic burst
of new activity in Walt's life.

With the end of the Second World War, someone watching Walt's career from the outside might have thought he was slowing down. His first films were not remarkable, and his studio seemed to be losing direction. At the same time, Walt's love of trains transformed itself into a hobby that was to fascinate him for years to come. He started building miniature trains and eventually had a ride-it-yourself steam engine on the grounds of his home -- a home that also featured a soda fountain, which entertained so many of his daughters' friends that he happily groused that he was "supplying the whole neighborhood with sodas." But of course Walt was far from heading into a life of ease and leisure. During this time he was to break into live-action films and nature films. And in 1955 he opened the attraction that was to be one of his greatest loves -- Disneyland. At the same time, his entrance into television altered Walt's life in a dramatic way. Though his name had been famous for years, now fans recognized his face from blocks away. Of course, as Diane and Sharon entered their teen years, the days of happy jaunts to the merry-go-round came to an end. Although this was a disappointment for Walt, it was just a waiting game. In time, both girls got married and set Walt forth on another road in his family life: that of grandfather.
The men and women who worked for Walt never tired of trying to figure him out. In off hours at work, on weekends, or over lunch, often the conversation centered around this man who was an enigma to many of them. His midwestern roots were far from remarkable. His education had ended with one year of high school. He didn't have any formal training in music, and he had long before conceded that his artists were better than he. And yet there was little question that Walt was the one indispensable man in the Disney organization. To be sure, his staffers were capable of producing top-notch work without him ("Dumbo," for example, was created with relatively little input from Walt). But day in and day out, most of them would concede that it was Walt's clear vision of the work that separated Disney animation and films -- and later Disneyland ? from anything being done anyplace else. And Walt knew it. His faith in himself was remarkable. When Roy or Lilly were dubious about his plans, he pushed forward anyhow. When critics complained about his work, he dismissed them. Critics are "odd creatures," he said. "I can't figure out what they want. . . . I've just never built anything for them. . . . To hell with them. . . . It's the public [that counts].". 'Nine Old Men'

Walt's key animators, his 'Nine Old Men', watch test footage in the screening room of the new Burbank Studio. They agreed that Walt's creative vision 
was the driving force behind 
their productions.

Jiminy Cricket

Jiminy Cricket in a sketch from
1938. 'Pinocchio', arguably one of
Walt's most advanced animated
features, was initially a disappointment at the box 
office because of the loss of 
the European markets
during World War II

It unquestionably took all the resolve Walt could muster to recover from the twin blows of the strike and World War II. The strike had shaken his faith in his staff. The war -- and the accompanying loss of European markets -- had turned even a masterpiece like "Pinocchio" into a financial drain. At war's end, the studio was under a mountain of debt, and Roy was nervous about plunging into new, expensive projects. While Walt lived in a world of fantastic new ideas, Roy had to confront the  bankers and anxious stockholders. "The company was about two inches from going under," said Roy's son, Roy Edward, who remembered his father's sleeplessness at the time. "He had a bicycle downstairs and he would get up in the middle of the night and ride the bicycle for an hour." In the next several years, Walt produced some of the most disappointing works of his career -- grab-bag films that consisted of packages of short pieces tied together by negligible plots. Even "Song of the South" was not well received, and it was the most ambitious effort the studio was to mount for several years after the war. Although he and Roy had bitter arguments, the disappointments only toughened Walt's resolve to diversify and improve. These years in the doldrums were followed by a growth burst as the studio got involved in live-action films, True-Life Adventures, and three ambitious animated features: "Cinderella," "Peter Pan," and "Alice in Wonderland." 
As the energy level in the studio returned to a higher level, Walt's own desire for play seemed to reach a new high. By the late 1940s, Diane was getting a little old to be her daddy's playmate. But Sharon was still happy to follow him around wherever he went. Generally, that just meant trips to the studio or excursions to museums. But in August 1947, she almost followed him off the edge of the earth. The Disney family had been invited on a flying tour of Alaska by a friend named Russell Havenstrite. Diane was away at camp, and Lilly thought the trip too difficult to make herself. So Walt and Sharon went off into the wild blue yonder together. By and large it was a wonderful adventure, but at one point on their way to the tiny community of Candle, things turned a bit alarming. The plane was in thick clouds,  the pilot told them that the radio had gone dead and there wasn't sufficient visibility to land. Meanwhile, Walt and Havenstrite drank. In part they were toasting the recent birth of a grandson to Havenstrite, but Diane later speculated that their drinking was also out of concern "that they might not ever see any of their loved ones again." A half-hour trip turned into two hours, and the plane was running low on fuel. So the pilot took his chances and descend into the clouds. When Earth came into view, the plane was right over Candle. Walt emerged from the plane, tripped, and fell on his face. Later he said, "I don't know whether I kissed the ground -- or fell on it.""
Walt with his daughter Sharon in Alaska

Walt with his daughter Sharon in Alaska. On the way to the village of Candle, their small plane nearly crashed.
 

 
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