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14 The Search for Direction By THE MID-1940S, Walt Disney was ill-tempered to the point of acrimony. This work-driven, temperamental man, operating under mounting stress, became increasingly cranky, even bitter, and lashed out with greater frequency and intensity at his employees. Ofcourse, he had never been easy to work for, even in the flush days of the studio, because of his high standards and volatile moods, but now his bad habits worsened. Frank Thomas observed that he now made it a habit to neutralize any compliment he might give out with some harsh remark. Moreover, as many employees testified, their leader began to distance himself as he grew increasingly preoccupied with studio problems. According to one, a grouchy and unattentive Disney once concluded a story meeting by muttering half apologetically, "You haven't got anything to worry about. It's me, I'm the one that has to worry. Goddamn, I've got to stay up all night thinking about things for you guys to do:'l 1. The Wounded Bear In the postwar era, some studio staffers began to call their boss "the wounded bear" because of his increasingly cross temperament. Indeed, some of Disney's professional relationships began to unravel under the strain as he clashed openly with the artists. During the making of Melody 264 I Trouble in Fantasyland Time, for instance, when composer Ken Darby presented his music for the Johnny Appleseed segment during a staff meeting, Disney snarled contemptuously , "It sounds like New Deal music!" Bridling, Darby snapped back, "That is just a cross-section of one man's opinion!" While the others held their collective breath, Disney raised his eyebrow and glared, but he said nothing. Darby's comeback quickly made the rounds as an example of foolhardy courage, but after a couple of brief projects, he left the Disney Studio. Even T. Hee, one of Disney's favorites for many years, became a professional fatality of his boss's wrath. At a story meeting in the late 1940s, Hee argued that a movie's plot line needed to be altered. Disney initially disagreed, but as he mused out loud he began to adopt the ideas, which caused several sycophants to jump in and praise their boss's originality. In T. Hee's words, "I got a little upset and said, 'Walt, that's what I've been trying to tell you for the last half-hour: And he looked at me and gave me the eyebrow, the elevated eyebrow. He didn't say anything, but he sure looked right into me. And after that I was put on a film that I didn't like and didn't want to do." A few months later, T. Hee was dismissed by the studio.2 In an extended 1956 interview, Walt gave his own account of the unhappy postwar years. It was, he admitted, "a big period ofindecision, and you can't run an organization with indecision:' Trying to pick up the pieces, he struggled to diversify the business in a context of economic privation. The package films, he remembered, were not very successful, but he didn't have enough money to venture into big feature films. Moreover, he admitted, he began to clash with Roy. More cautious than Walt, Roy worried even more about finances and tried to restrain his sibling's new projects. But when Roy tried to rein him in, Walt fought back, insisting that "we're going to either go forward, we're gonna get back in business, or let's liquidate and sell out:' In this tense atmosphere, Roy browbeat Walt into attending a stockholders' meeting to see for himself the danger they were in. But when the moviemaker arrived and saw a room full of somber, dark-suited businessmen he described the typical one as "some little character who just loves to attend stockholders' meetings like people do funerals" - his bile rose. So he stood up and read a letter from a small stockholder in Florida who praised Disney movies, told him to keep up the good work, and claimed not to care if the company ever paid dividends. Walt then said, "That's the kind of stockholder I like. It's been very nice to appear before you. Now ifyou don't mind, I'd like to get back and try to get this company on its feet!" He walked out.3 But such bravado flared only intermittently. More often, Disney was mired in a...

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