| In 1923, twenty-one-year-old Walt Disney arrived | | | | press pass to sneak into Universal Studios. This |
| in Los Angeles fresh from the disappointment of | | | | was exciting filmmaking! Men dressed like |
| his first cartoon studio going bankrupt in Kansas | | | | cowboys pretending to shoot at each other and |
| City. He went to see his twenty-nine-year-old | | | | falling over. And a castle. It reminded him of Paris |
| brother Roy in the Veteran's Hospital were he | | | | where he had driven an ambulance for the Red |
| was recovering from tuberculosis. Roy, a former | | | | Cross after World War I. Curious, he walked over |
| bank teller and navy man was concerned about | | | | to question some workmen about the structure. |
| his brother's skinniness. "Hey kid, haven't you been | | | | It turned out they were building the Court Of |
| eating? I'm supposed to be the sick one. So now | | | | Miracles set for The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, |
| that you're in L.A. what are you are going to do | | | | starring Lon Chaney. Walt who remained star |
| with yourself?" "I don't know. I've given up on | | | | struck all his life, began looking around for the |
| animation. But I've got to get into show business | | | | famous actor who was known for playing |
| somehow. I'll think I'll try and become a | | | | characters who were deformed, sometimes |
| director."Walt who had filmed some newsreel | | | | armless and legless with incredible body |
| footage in Kansas City, printed a business card | | | | contortions.Back in the twenties there was a |
| stating he was a member of the press, which he | | | | saying, "If you see something unusual on the |
| used to finagle his way onto studio lots. He had a | | | | floor, don't step on it might be Lon Chaney." |
| meeting with a secretary at Metro. "Yes, I had | | | | Suddenly Walt felt a tap on his shoulder. Sitting on |
| my own studio in Kansas City, I made cartoons | | | | a horse behind him was the famous Austrian |
| and live action films perhaps you heard of me?" | | | | director Eric Von Stroheim, known as the man |
| "No I can't say that I have. And we really have a | | | | you love to hate. Completely bald with a monocle, |
| lot of people coming here looking for work and no | | | | riding crop and thick boots, which early film |
| jobs." Metro was in a state of chaos, Rudolph | | | | directors working in the Hollywood hills wore to |
| Valentino was demanding more money and they | | | | protect from snakes, Von Stroheim made an |
| had frozen his salary. Because of the movie The | | | | imposing figure. "What are you doing here". Walt |
| Four Horseman Of The Apocalypse (1921) | | | | confessed he snuck in and asked if there was |
| Valentino was now an international star who was | | | | any work. But he was talking to a man who used |
| surviving by hunting rabbits in the Santa Monica | | | | to twist the arms of his leading ladies when he |
| Mountains. Walt, who would later know great | | | | wanted them to cry in his films. "Get out now and |
| fame combined with money trouble could have | | | | never come back." Years later, when he had his |
| identified, but he had his own problems.Turned | | | | own studio, Walt went out of his way to give |
| away at Metro Walt decided to go to Charlie | | | | young people a chance to show what they could |
| Chaplin's studio in Hollywood and ask the great | | | | do.With no other prospects Walt decided to get |
| star for work personally. Chaplin had been Walt's | | | | back into animation but this time he would get |
| hero, when Disney was thirteen he had won a | | | | some help. One night in 1923 he returned to the |
| two dollar prize imitating the tramp on stage, not | | | | Veteran's Hospital where Roy was feeling better. |
| an easy trick. One time Charlie Chaplin had | | | | Excitedly Walt told his brother about his plans |
| entered a similar contest and lost.Walt waited all | | | | awakening other patients in the ward," But I can't |
| day on the sidewalk for Chaplin to come out but | | | | do it alone. I don't have your head for numbers." |
| he never did. Disney didn't know that Chaplin | | | | "I don't know kid, cartoons that's risky. I was |
| buried himself in his work, afraid to go home | | | | thinking about getting a safe job at a bank, |
| where his 16 year old pregnant wife Lita and her | | | | getting married. I mean I think your talented but. . |
| mother were filling his mansion with unwanted | | | | ." "Ah come on Roy, forget about a job. We'll |
| relatives, turning the Beverly Hills estate into the | | | | work for ourselves. This is better than a job, we |
| 1923 version of the Jerry Springer show. Or that | | | | can do this thing." "I don't know. . ." "Ah please." |
| the liberal Chaplin was infuriating his United Artist | | | | Walt would not take no for an answer. Roy finally |
| partner the conservative Mary Pickford by taking | | | | agreed to the new venture when one of the |
| forever to finish his films, sometimes emerging | | | | soldiers in a nearby bed sat up and said, "Roy will |
| from his editing room with a long beard looking | | | | you go with him already so we can get some |
| like Robinson Crusoe. Walt had his own | | | | sleep! |
| concerns.Once again, Walt used his makeshift | | | | |