Walt before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919-1928

by Timothy S. Susanin, Diane Disney Miller (Foreword)

For ten years before the creation of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney struggled with, failed at, and eventually mastered the art and business of animation. Most biographies of his career begin in 1928, when Steamboat Willie was released. That first Disney Studio cartoon with synchronized sound made its main character―Mickey Mouse―an icon for generations.

But Steamboat Willie was neither Disney's first cartoon nor Mickey Mouse's first appearance. Prior to this groundbreaking achievement, Walt Disney worked in a variety of venues and studios, refining what would become known as the Disney style. In Walt before Disney's Early Years, 1919–1928 , Timothy Susanin creates a portrait of the artist from age seventeen to the cusp of his international renown.

After serving in the Red Cross in France after World War I, Walt Disney worked for advertising and commercial art in Kansas City. Walt used these experiences to create four studios―Kaycee Studios, Laugh-O-gram Films, Disney Brothers Studio, and Walt Disney Studio. Using company documents, private correspondence between Walt and his brother Roy, contemporary newspaper accounts, and new interviews with Disney's associates, Susanin traces Disney's path. The author shows Disney to be a complicated, resourceful man, especially during his early career. Walt before Mickey , a critical biography of a man at a crucial juncture, provides the “missing decade” that started Walt Disney's career and gave him the skills to become a name known worldwide.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Family, Audiobook, Media Tie In

340 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2011

Reviews

[Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is of a complimentary copy provided through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

“Walt Before Mickey” by Timothy S. Susanin is one of the, if not the, most exhaustive accounts of Disney’s early years that can be found. The research is thorough, and it shows.

I have mixed feeling on “Walt Before Mickey”. As a historian, and a huge Disney nerd, the facts presented are a treasure trove. Almost all of the information is rare, the sources are solid and well-documented, and it brings a feeling of closeness to Disney himself.

On the other hand, there is almost too much information. Every single person he met has a painstaking account of their looks and history. Not that those things are not important, but it slows it down and takes away from what is important. More than once I found my mind wandering during these descriptions, and it really is a shame that it mars what is otherwise an exceptional account of a great man.

I can highly recommend “Walt Before Mickey” to historians or those with an intense interest in Disney himself, but would recommend those with a casual interest to give this one a pass.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty straightforward with what I was expecting it to be. It is a nonfiction book about Walt Disney's life from after WW1 until his creation of Mickey Mouse in 1928. I've read two biographies on Walt Disney before reading this book, both the Bob Thomas version and the Neil Gabler Version. I've also read a historical collection of stories by Jim Korkis on Walt Disney. So most of this was not information I was learning for the first time.

What this book did that I really appreciated was take it's time to describe the story of Walt and the people he surrounded himself with. I really liked the effort Susanin put into giving a small backstory to every benefactor, every animator and every person Walt interacted with in this ten year span. Often times names flew by me in other books like Fred Harmen, Rudy Isling, Walt Pfeiffer. I had a vague idea of who they were and how they fit into Walt's narrative. But I never could really tell them apart or tell you much about them. Susanin's book changed that for me. He was able to slowly describe these people in more than just a throw away sentence or two. Because his focus is only on these first ten years of Walt's life in Animation and drawing, he can dedicate the time to these people's backstory that I was sorely lacking. That is the one thing that stood out about this book and that I will really appreciate.

I felt that this book did a very good job of sticking to the ancillary people in Walt's life. Not only does this book do it in the main narrative, but Susanin dedicated a whole 30 page Epilogue to detailing what happened to every one of these people after they left Walt's life. I found out what happened to Ubbe Iwwerks, Charles Mintz, even Walt's janitor gets a short epilogue! What a wonderful addition that was at the end.

Really my only criticisms of this book come from outside of the written material and is no fault (or appears to be no fault) of Timothy Susanin himself. My first critique is really minor and focuses on the artwork for this book and the movie "adaptation". It market's itself like it will focus on Walt's childhood as it portrays a little kid looking up at a cloud in the shape of Mickey, as if to say Walt always knew Mickey would exist one day even when he was a ten year old in Marceline Missouri. In reality, Mickey wasn't even an idea for Walt until his train ride back to L.A in 1928. It is really misleading to readers who may expect both stories of Walt's Childhood, which is not discussed as this book really starts at the end of WW1 with Walt as an 18 year old, or may expect the "creation" moment to have some point in Walt's childhood like a pet mouse or a friend named "Mickey". Both I think set unreal expectations and are disappointing to those who may not know what to expect when picking up this book for the first time.

My major complaint is really with the movie adaptation of this book, which does so much to paint a rose-colored narrative of Walt and his animators, that it comes off as a Hallmark Channel or Lifetime Movie. This book is a strict Historical narrative and does not paint a negative or positive light on any of the people it mentions, however the whimsical adaptation of this book takes many liberties including trying to shoehorn in one of those "Childhood Mickey" moments I mentioned earlier with the addition of a pet mouse for Walt when he was in Kansas City (something the book never mentions happening) as if to imply this pet mouse was what kept Walt going and inspired him to create Mickey.

Overall I think the book is great though. I think casual readers will enjoy it as much as Disney fans will. I don't recommend anyone waste their time with the movie adaptation or spend too much time allowing the cover art to influence your expectations on this book. It is a wonderful book in it's own right and honestly was a lot better than I expected it to be (I had watched the movie first and had low expectations as a result). This book deserves a hallowed place on any Disney shelf!

[AM · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was gifted a copy of “Walt Before Mickey” via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is no way changes my opinion or view of this book.

I enjoy biographies, autobiographies and memoires immensely, as it helps you grasp a person’s life truly. This book of course is none of the above, nor does it claim to be. However, I was hoping it would be a little more interesting then what it was. If you are looking for a timeline of Walt’s life, with a whole lot of detail about things that I personally do not feel relevant, than you may enjoy this book. However, it is not a book for everyone.

It is very obvious that the author did a great deal of research while writing “Walt before Mickey”, and in doing so, wanted to get every ounce of that research put into this book. Because of that, it is a bit overwhelming, and at times, dry.

If you are looking for a book about Walt that reads as a timeline pre-Disney (as the name states), then this is the book for you. Just know that about 50% of the book is actually research and the other 50% lists the resources used during said research.

[Laura]

As someone who has grown up watching Disney movies and shorts, I found this book to be pretty interesting. The author does go into quite a bit of detail at times and can make it hard to stay focused There were interesting facts I enjoyed learning and realizing the Disney Company continues to use names or places within their parks and films to honor former employees and business relationships Walt had while he was in Kansas City and his early days in Los Angeles. More of these connections will be noticed if you've traveled to Disneyland then Walt Disney World.

[Dianne Lipe · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I love reading books about Walt Disney and company, this one was so full of detail--even about minor characters in Walt's life--that it really bogged down the story for me. It seemed as though the author did the research and was bound and determined to put every bit of that research into the book. There was 98 pages of Notes. That says something in itself.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting topic, but the writer seems more interested in rehashing everyone's weekly wages and how many blocks they are from each other at all times, instead of anything interesting. Did provide a good look at the people around Walt and the people who helped him get started.

[Richard Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘It all started with a Mouse,’ they say – although it really started with a hand-drawn criminal being booted out of Kansas City. It’s rare that a writer can shed new light on a topic that’s been exhaustive retold over the years. As the title would imply, here are two figures so iconic that they don’t even need last names to be instantly recognisable. Yet in Susanin’s meticulously researched volume we see a figure in stark contrast to the fatherly host who entered our living rooms on a weekly basis. We see a scrapper who hustled into and crafted his own fate. Susanin creates a vivid picture of his Kansas life, and even if you haven’t seen the pre-Mickey animated shorts he is referring to – although many are available on YouTube if you go looking – you’ll still get a sense of the craftsmanship. Despite the title, there’s an extended coda of the legacy of Walt during and after Mickey’s prime years, one that has culminated in Disney being a cultural empire unto itself. Essential reading for any Disney fan.

[Sarah Uthoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book wasn't exactly what I thought it was when I picked it out -- and completely ignored the dates on the end of the title. I thought this would include Walt's time in Marceline growing up in Kansas City. Instead this is what Walt did post-war and pre-Hollywood. The interesting thing is that this isn't really from Walt's point of view. It's from everybody else's. The information comes from the people and the families of the people that Walt knew. There is information from the people who worked with him and for him, his bosses, people who lent him money, people who loaned him money. This is better information than you'll find from Walt's point of view and has the answers to all sorts of little questions and explanations for things from Walt's story that don't make sense that you'll most likely never find any other way.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book Susanin retells the story of Walt Disney's first animation experiments and the four studios he led before he invented Mickey Mouse. This is by no means unknown material, so what does Susanin add to the canon of Disney literature? Well, much, much more detail. Some of the detail is frustratingly superfluous: at several points Susanin tells about the backgrounds, exact addresses and family life of Walt's acquaintances, of some he even describes their height(!). I've no clue what this information adds to the knowledge of Walt Disney. More insightful are Susanin's detailed descriptions of the finances of Walt's studios, of his hiring of personnel and of what happened to his studios, acquaintances and characters after 1928. These all form valuable and well-researched pieces of information, but do not necessarily lead to an engaging read. On the contrary, Susanin's book is on the dry side, and even manages to downplay the famous Mintz break into a rather boring episode.

Thus, in the end, 'Walt Before Mickey' is for Disney aficionados only. More casual fans and interested people should suffice with one of the three major biographies (by Thomas, Barrier, and Gabler) and with the superb 'Walt in Wonderland'.

[Kirstie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative

I chose to read this after watching the film and doing a project on entrepreneurs at university based on my choosing of Walt and it got me wanting to read further into his life & career. Could not have bern more impressed with this book. Excellent read and i am craving to read further into the life after Mickey

[Ranette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this true book about Walt Disney, a very poor boy who lifted his life through his drawings and imagination.

[lizeindisney · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Audiobook] Really detailed look at Walt’s career before the creation of Mickey Mouse

[Deyth Banger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Genius Work, its all about how to start being motivated, following your dreams.

One beginning and how everything starts!

[Ashby Dodd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Walt Before Mickey tells the story of one of the greatest, imaginative minds of all time, Walt Disney... before the creation of Mickey Mouse.

When I started reading Walt Before Mickey, I had high hopes; I'm a huge fan of biographies as well as anything to do with the Disney empire. I knew a lot about Walt after the creation of Mickey, but knew very little about his time between WWI and Steamboat Willie. While I learned a lot of facts surrounding Disney's partnerships and working relationships, the story felt like just that, a list of facts rather than a retelling of Disney's life.

Below is a review of the 2014 non-fiction book by Timothy Susanin. If you plan to read the Walt Disney biography for yourself, you may not want to read any further...

Susanin's book is an account of Walt Disney's life in his early to late 20s. Walt is young and optimistic, having survived his time in World War I. But as Walt and Roy Disney try to get a studio off the ground, Walt finds the road to success a very difficult one.

From Disney's days at Laugh-O-Gram studios through Walt Disney Studios, Disney surrounded himself with good friends and talented people. He hired some of the best men (and women!) in the industry and the studio talent was recognized almost immediately. Despite creative success, cash-flow was often a problem; this often left the Disney brothers, as well as their employees, living on the edge of poverty.

The book by Susanin is informative and gives an account of a time period in Disney's life that is often overlooked. And while the information is well thought out, the writing often feels cold and more like an Wikipedia article than a biographical retelling. This could be a matter of personal preference; I prefer biographies that read more like a novel and this read more like a high school history book. Still, I learned a great deal about one of the most creative men in entertainment.

[Karen]

I am interested in Disney history, but I could not get through this book. There were just too many extraneous details in the text, and I say that as lover of details. Here's a sample from the chapter on one of the early studios Walt founded:

"Laugh-O-gram made two more purchases from Shroer Brothers that month (and a final purchase in August) and five purchases, starting on July 10, from the Schutte Lumber Company, which claimed to have the 'Largest and Most Modern Yards in the Southwest.'"

The text goes on to list what products were in each of the five purchases and where they got delivered (but oddly, not what they were used to build). It's like someone deciding to write a book based on the receipts I put into Quicken.

I wanted to learn more about what made Walt, then a very young man, decide to start a studio, decide to keep spending money when there was no income, and not be crushed by the failure of two businesses in about three years. I don't want or need to know the street addresses where he lived and worked, how many blocks those addresses were from other street addresses, or the living arrangements and ethnic background of everyone Walt dealt with in those years. I gave up about two chapters in and skipped ahead to look at the photos and read their captions.

[Stories Unfolded (aka Danielle Olson) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Walt Disney is quite inspirational for me. Even though at times he had no money, he still believed in what he was doing. He believed that he would be successful even when it seemed like everything was crashing down on him. He is living proof that when you fail at something you love just keep on going because sooner or later your hard work will pay off. When I start submitting my books to get published, I will try to remember Walt’s journey and not let rejection get to me.

His story also shows that having people who believe in you makes all the difference. Many people are mentioned in the book who helped Walt during those years before he created Mickey. Whether it was loaning money or letting him use equipment, there was always someone who believed in what Walt was doing. His biggest supporter seemed to be his brother Roy Disney. Personally, having family and friends that support my ambitions makes me work that much more to be successful.

The only thing I didn’t like about the book is that it included a lot of addresses and building locations (i.e. this building is located on the corner of..). I don’t think that was necessary, but it could be for other people.

If you’re a Disney fan (like me), I would recommend reading this book. I’m not sure if someone who doesn’t enjoy anything related to Disney would want to read about how the company began.

[Sally Hannoush · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to imagine the early 1900's as being 100 years ago when some people still live from that era. So much has happened in that time frame. While reading this book I really felt the time difference on how things worked, how much things cost and the trust and willingness people put into each other and their work. So many people can and have changed the world with or without being famous or acknowledged. This detailed book of Walt's early life is a history of his life, his work and some notation of his personal words. His status as a "starving artist" while he pursued his artistic passion seem so far from where he ended. I enjoyed the photos/illustrations/cartoons/posters available to see in this book and it was my favorite part. The short paragraph explanations held my attention. This is a wealth of information on anything and everything about him during that time period. It is marked by dates and locations in his adventure. I can see this as a wonderful documentary but it was way too long a read for me personally. The end of the book holds several pages of where the author received the information to put this book together. It was done by correspondence and some of his earlier interviews. I believe this would make a great hardback but is unsuited as a digital copy.

[Angelnet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walt Before Mickey isn't a book for the casual Disney fan. This is a veritable tome and at times had a bit of a textbook feel to it. Its not overly lengthy at 373 pages but the level of detail that the author goes to can feel a bit too weighty at times. I must admit that I did find myself skipping to the end of sections that I wasn't finding particularly interesting.

I don't want to detract from the information contained it because it was genuinely interesting but it almost looks too closely at Walt's daily life and the people that influenced him. If you are studying Film or Pop Culture at university then I thoroughly recommend it. If, however, you are just looking for a more casual read about the man behind the mouse then this isn't the book for you.

That said, I am glad that I did read it. It does give you a very good feel for the man himself and the choices that he made. I actually wanted to give it three and a half stars but Goodreads doesn't let you do that!

I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

[Curtis Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, at times overly-detailed, look of The Disney Brothers work before inventing Mickey Mouse.

Sometimes the author gets a bit long-winded giving family history of all the people involved up to 1928, but a good, detailed look of how Walt Disney started in the animation business shortly after WWI up to the train ride home from New York where he came up with the idea of Mickey Mouse after he just lost Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

The page length of 300+ pages is somewhat misleading as the actual story is only about 50% of the book, with the remaining being acknowledgements, glossary, and references throughout the book.

[Q2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of a bland read--the author chose to recount Walt's early professional life as a sort of list of facts and figures. He includes inane details (like how much Walt spent on this or that, how much he was getting paid at his first jobs, etc.) and the whole thing really drags. The tidbits that would have been more interesting to the reader--for example, which characters were standbys and regulars in his earliest cartoons--were lost among the boring litany of other details. Walt's story is still an inspirational one (man, he kept at it, lol!), but the way his story is written isn't inspirational in the least. I loved the included pictures though! :( Thanks to NetGalley for this read.

[Anna Kay]

I just cannot make myself continue reading this book. It sounded like a really interesting premise (especially for a Disney and general film history nut like me) but the execution is sorely lacking. It's overly wordy and presents way too much superfluous information under the pretext of necessary detail - it's NOT. The majority of it is made up of boring, montonous details that deal with random crap. Not needed for the overall picture. For this reason I'm giving up and marking this book as DNF (did not finish).

*Courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent read, but it starts off slow. Susanin includes a few more details about Walt's early years that aren't in Bob Thomas's "Walt Disney: An American Original" or Neal Gabler's "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination," but if you're new to Disney biographies, I'd start with those two books before reading any others.

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

An obviously thoroughly researched but ultimately unreadable look at the very early years of Walt Disney's career. Having read a few other biographies, I did not feel like I learned anything new here.

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is far more robust than the subsequent movie that takes the book's title for its name. Susanin has the detail of an investigative journalist and tells you details you'd never considered exploring. This is a great read and an excellent addition to any Disney-ophile's library!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will weed out the die hard disney fan from the casual one as this is the most in depth bio of Walt I have ever read

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book. I thought it was going to be boring but turned out to be very interesting.

[Julissa Perdomo · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the story, Walt Before Mickey they explain the life of Walt Disney.It begins at his birth and it explin his adventures throughout his life.

[Reemash · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got too emotional reading the journey of Walt and I never knew it was that tough. He failed so many times and was betrayed and hurt. But he is Disney now and forever!