Roy O. Disney: Part 2

For my second blog post on Roy, I went through the index and marked every instance of Roy O. Disney being mentioned in the book. Upon inspection, a number of these had to do with letters that Walt had written to Roy, which didn’t really give me much insight. Beyond that however, the text really seemed to give a good picture of who Roy was in terms of his relationship with Walt and his relationship with the company.

                Roy’s influence on Walt started extremely early. Elias, Walt’s father, moved the family from Chicago to an area near Marceline to try his hand at farming in 1906. Walt was only 4 or 5 at the time, so he didn’t have many duties on the farm, but his older brothers, Ray, Herbert, and Roy had to take on any of the backbreaking farm work their traditional Christian father laid on them. The tension between the eldest brothers and their father grew quickly, and when they became tired of the stranglehold of their father, Ray and Herbert left the family to make it on their own. From then on, it was just Roy and Walt, and as the only remaining brothers, they formed a tight bond. (pg 8)

                After the Elias’s farming venture fell through, the family was relocated to Kansas City. It was here that Elias bought paper routes, forcing his two remaining sons to serve as little more than indentured servants. The boys did the work of folding and delivering the papers, while Elias was paid by the paper companies. The boys “rose every morning around three-thirty” and “attended a full day of school after this work.” (pg 9)Their working together on this daily project requiring strenuous physical labor brought the brothers extremely close. It was after two years of this newspaper delivery work that Roy decided had had enough, and in 1912 he took his leave from Kansas City.

                This event influences Walt in a few distinct ways. In working closely with Roy, the two formed a strong connection which would last throughout their professional careers. This also cemented in Walt a hatred for physical labor. For the rest of his life, Walt was rarely employed as manual labor, instead working as a problem solver or in some other creativity driven position. And after this newspaper job Walt tried his hardest to avoid finances. Elias’s miserly grip on his family’s funds caused a great rift between family members, playing a large part in the decision of Herbert and Ray to leave the family. (pg 8) One tale even suggests Flora, their mother, was look upon as a “heroine” when she would slide the boys their bread butter-side-down, to hide their butter consumption from their father. (pg17) The impression Walt got about the negative side of financing drove him away from the subject, but Roy was able to fill that hole in Walt’s repertoire, which is why he was so valuable to the company in later years.

                The next tale of Roy’s influence on Walt I gleamed from just a sentence within a paragraph recounting an anecdote from their childhood. In this story, Walt, about 14 at the time, was accused of “insolence” and his father was marching him and Roy downstairs to be beaten. As they descended the staircase, Roy whispered to Walt “that he didn’t have to take it anymore.” (pg 20) When Elias raised his fist to hit Walt, Walt caught his wrists and didn’t let go. Elias broke down into tears and never struck Walt again.

                Although it only appears for an instant, Roy is seen in one of his first roles as a supportive brother who would enable and empower Walt. To give Walt the courage to stand up to their father, Roy must have had great influence on Walt, even at such an early age. This was one of Roy’s talents, being able to recognize when Walt was doing the right thing, and to get him to follow through with it.

                The next set of stories also follows this line of thought that Roy was extremely supportive of his younger brother. When Walt came back from France after World War 1, he reunited with Roy, who was living in Kansas City. “At Roy’s suggestion, Walt … applied for work at the Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio.” (pg 27) This was Walt’s first official job as an artist. After a shot at independent work through Walt’s first studio, Laugh-O-Gram Films, which produced the first Alice Comedies. This fell through, but Walt was determined to make it, so after talking with Roy, he decided to move to Hollywood. This combination of events was essentially inspired by Roy. That is to say, that Walt’s first job as an animator and his move to California may not have occurred had Roy not supported Walt’s decisions to enter into entertainment.

                Roy was now deeply ingrained in the inner workings of the Disney machine that would come to be. After Walt had lost Oswald to Charles Mintz and Universal Pictures, he “held a number of secret, intense brainstorming sessions with Iwerks … and his brother Roy.” (pg 29) The product of these meetings was Mickey Mouse. After Mickey gained popularity, there was another debacle over distribution, which was solved by Walt “huddling with Roy”. (pg 31) In these two instances, Roy became both a creative entity, which is a role he doesn’t often play, and a negotiations powerhouse, which is a role he reprises many times throughout his time with Disney.

                I’m sure there are countless stories about Roy’s prowess as a negotiator and financier, and I think Watts does a good job of putting the most important ones in his book. For instance, Roy was the leader of the group that went into negotiations with the major networks in New York. These negotiations resulted in Disney’s original partnership with ABC, its first television series, Disneyland, and the funding to build its first park, also called Disneyland. (pg 265) Roy also was a driving force within the company regarding integration and distribution. He is quoted as saying “Integration is a key word around here: we don’t do anything in one line without giving a thought to its likely profitability in our other lines.” (pg 372) This statement was made in 1958, and is most likely referring to the new opportunity within the company to have a character in three places at once: on the screen, in the consumer’s home, and at their vacation destination. As far as distribution is concerned, Roy helped a great deal in convincing the company that it should distribute its own products. With the establishment of the Buena Vista Film Distribution Company, Disney was able to cut out the middle man between itself and the consumer. As Watts put it, “Disney gained nearly complete control over its vast entertainment process, from production to consumption.” (pg 373)

                Roy’s final show of financial brilliance was during the Walt Disney World fundraising period. If I understand correctly, Roy sold bonds redeemable for stocks. Knowing that these deals were underway, the price of Disney stock then rose well beyond the conversion price for the bonds, which means that they would make extra money on the bonds. Disney then issued common stocks, at the increased price, which were bought due to the existing belief of future returns, making money in three ways in one series of actions. All in all, Disney was able to pay off $50 million in debt to Bank of America and build the $230 million Florida Project debt-free because of Roy’s strategy. (pg 434)

                Roy’s influence on Walt as an individual was apparent at an early age, and his influence on Disney as a company was seen more once Walt was an established animator. Even though each instance of Roy’s presence in Walt’s life plays toward either company or personal influence, he was always Walt’s brother. When Walt showed a preview of Snow White to his staff and asked for replies, one of the cards, secretly written by Roy, read “Walt, stick to shorts!” (pg 426) Although he was the “quiet, prudent, security-minded steward of studio finances”, (pg 426) Roy never forgot that Walt was family. Just from reading the limited passages in Watts’s book, you feel the camaraderie between the two brothers and come to understand their relationship as one of respect. Hopefully this blog entry gives similar insight into the brothers’ dynamic.