The Uncle Walt Podcast

After the success of Walt Disney’s second recording session led to the finalization of the synchronized sound track to Steamboat Willie, Walt turned his attention towards securing distribution for the film. As was common in Walt’s early career, options available to him were at a premium. He soon entered negotiations with Universal Pictures, but, the talks did not go as Walt had initially hoped. Here this story and more, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

As Walt Disney entered a New York recording studio in September of 1928, he believed he had everything ready to successfully record the synchronized soundtrack to his newest Mickey Mouse cartoon ‘Steamboat Willie’. However as the recording session played out, the success Walt had hoped for would slip through his fingers. He refused to leave the east coast empty handed though and set up a second recording session. This time, he had is studio staff devise a clever way of ensuring the recording session would successfully capture the synchronicity he was hoping for. Hear this story and more, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

In September of 1928, Walt Disney traveled to New York City in an attempt to secure the technology needed to combine a synchronized soundtrack to the recently finished animation of his latest Mickey Mouse cartoon. He ultimately decided on a piece of equipment named the ‘Power’s Cinephone’ which was being pushed by a slick talking salesman named Pat Powers. Unbeknownst to Walt, Powers was not quite the man he sold himself to be. Without this knowledge, Walt Disney and Pat Powers closed the deal and the two men, along with conductor Carl Eduarde, forged ahead with plans to record the soundtrack to ‘Steamboat Willie’ in a small New York City recording studio. Hear these stories and more, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

In early 1928, Walt Disney was failing in his attempts to secure distribution for a series of animations that would star his newest creation, Mickey Mouse. When the Warner Brothers live action film ‘The Jazz Singer’ ushered in a new era of sound films, Walt decided to move ahead with the Mickey Mouse animations utilizing a synchronized soundtrack. The problem however was that because this was something that had never been done before, Walt had no idea exactly how to implement that vision. On this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast we discuss exactly how the Walt Disney Studio forged a new and unique way of creating a soundtrack to an animated film, and the trials and tests they would employ to accomplish their goal.

After the loss of his hit character Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney had to regroup and come up with a new series if his studio was to stay in business. Along with Ub Iwerks he came up with a little mouse, whom he called Mortimer, and a rough outline for a short he called ‘Plane Crazy’. Due to contractual obligations, the studio still needed to produce the final Oswald films, but a group of loyal employees would simultaneously begin working on this new project in complete secrecy. In this episode we’ll discuss the steps Walt took to keep his new idea under wraps and his efforts to sell his new character once the film was completed.

Charles Mintz was stonewalling Walt Disney in the ongoing talks to renew their contract in early 1928, partly because he held all of the leverage in the negotiations, and partly because he knew he had an ace up his sleeve. Not only was Mintz stealing Walt Disney’s staff behind his back, but he was also stealing his character as well, as Walt Disney did not legally own the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. When Mintz used this fact to try and coerce Walt into relinquishing control of his studio, Walt stood firm and walked away, even though it meant starting from scratch all over again. Hear all this plus the story of possibly the most significant train ride in animation history, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

Walt Disney personally traveled to New York City, in early 1928 to conclude a new deal with Charles Mintz to continue producing their hit animated series ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’. Before he left California, Walt had heard some rumblings about unhappiness within his staff, but he did not realize just how deep the issues ran. When he arrived back east, Walt found that Charles Mintz was playing hardball in the negotiations. Somehow Charles Mintz had gained leverage over Walt Disney, and that is when Walt realized something catastrophic had taken place. Hear this and more, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

Early in 1927, Walt Disney wrapped production on his long time animation/live-action combination series “Alice’s Wonderland”. As that series was coming to an end, both Walt and his distributor Charles Mintz began thinking about what their relationship would be post Alice. Mintz entered into negotiations with Universal Pictures to distribute an all new, all animation Walt Disney produced series. This new series presented Walt with a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on the success of the Alice films and to continue his studios growth and evolution in the animation field. Hear this and more, including the early concepts and design for their new star, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

Walt always faced adversity while growing his studio in the 1920’s. Usually it was financial, sometimes it was creative, other times it was business related. For the first time however Walt started experiencing trouble with his staff. After moving his operation to the new Hyperion Blvd. location, many of Walt’s employees would notice a distinct change in his demeanor. This would lead to some unplanned departures at the studio. We’ll discuss all of this, plus Walt wraps up the most important project of his career thus far and looks ahead to the future of his studio, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.

Walt Disney’s stalemate with Charles Mintz over the future distribution of his Alice comedies was still unresolved. Despite this, Walt and Roy forged ahead with several key changes at the studio. There would be new places, new faces and new names in the world of Walt. Some of these changes were by choice, and others by necessity. Join the discussion on all of this and more, on this episode of The Uncle Walt Podcast.