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Walt Before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919-1928 by Timothy S Susanin, Diane Disney Miller
karend's review
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.
"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.
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