Hiroyuki Ohno's "Disney and Chaplin: Giants that Gave Birth to the Entertainment Business" Summary and Impressions - The birth of Mickey was influenced by the enormous influence of his mentor Chaplin! An exciting work that also gives us an insight into the historical background
I would like to introduce "Disney and Chaplin: Giants Who Gave Birth to the Entertainment Business" by Hiroyuki Ohno, published by Kobunsha in 2021.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
Disney's lifelong ambition was to be "another Chaplin." Instead of giving up his acting career, he created "another Chaplin" in the world of animation. Mickey Mouse. --The two men had a solid friendship and a separation that was tossed about by the times. A wealth of material reveals the unknown relationship between master and apprentice! This book can be read as a chronicle of the creation of the entertainment business.
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This book, "Disney and Chaplin: Giants Who Gave Birth to the Entertainment Business," is a recommended work to learn about the mentor-student relationship between the king of comedy, Chaplin, and Walt Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse.
The author states the following about this book in the introduction
For Walt Disney, Charles Chaplin, 12 years his senior, was a god. He had admired him since he was a small child and even stood on stage in his impersonation contests. When he moved to Hollywood later in life, he even wandered around in front of the Chaplin studios, hoping to somehow meet him. However, there was no chance for a novice animator to meet the world's king of comedy.
After all the twists and turns he went through to bring Mickey Mouse into the world, the moment he had been waiting for for many years came.
Disney was elated to have Chaplin in front of him, but how must he have felt when he was unexpectedly told, "I'm a fan of your work, too.
Chaplin, however, was no ordinary "world king of comedy. At their first meeting, he saw that another genius had emerged besides himself, and he gave him cool-headed, concise advice, not on artistic matters, but on business. The quote at the beginning of the book, "Never put the copyright of your work in someone else's hands," would define the rest of Walt's life, and that of the Disney Corporation.
The king of comedy, with his familiar mustache and cap, he has brought laughter and tears to the hearts of the world.
The king of animation who brought joy to children with his lovable characters and created a dreamland in this world.
Both are, needless to say, unique geniuses and cannot be compared to any other.
An examination of newspaper articles from around the world over the less than 100 years since the two men came into the world reveals some interesting things. The word most often compared to "Charles Chaplin" is "Walt Disney," not any other comedian, and the word most often compared to "Walt Disney" is "Charles Chaplin," not any other director of comedy. In other words, the only person who can be compared to these two geniuses, Chaplin and Disney, is themselves.
Surprisingly, however, there has been no serious comparative study of the "only two real geniuses" (Frank Lasky) that the film has produced.
The success story of two people born and raised in completely different environments who went on to conquer their respective genres can be seen as the history of entertainment in the 20th century itself.
Kobunsha, Hiroyuki Ohno, Disney and Chaplin: Giants Who Gave Birth to the Entertainment Business, p. 5-7.
Previously on this blog about Walt Disney by Neil GablerThe Madness of Creation: Walt Disney.and by Christopher Finch.The Art of Disney."and various other books, and as I said, those books also described the relationship between Walt and Chaplin. However, as mentioned in the quote above, those books did not go into that much depth. This book, on the other hand, provides an overview of Chaplin's and Walt's lives, as well as an in-depth look at their creative philosophies and their connection to each other. This is exciting.
Since we are here, let's watch the actual video of the two.
The Chaplin image is from his masterpiece "Modern Times" (1936), and below is Mickey Mouse's debut film "Steamboat Willie" (1928).
Steamboat Willie" was a talkie film using the most advanced technology of the time. It was a perfect fusion of music and animation that catapulted Mickey to stardom. I have seen this and other early Mickey films, and it is true that the movements of the characters are reminiscent of Chaplin.
However, in my previous article.Mickey and His Rivals."As mentioned in the previous section, the Chaplin-like or Buster Keaton-like movements had already been introduced in the animation world at that time with "Felix the Cat". In other words, Walt Disney did not create Mickey Mouse from nothing.
The book goes into detail on how Mickey Mouse was able to become so popular that he even surpassed "Felix the Cat," which was very popular at the time, and this is exactly where Chaplin comes in. Walt and Chaplin had the ultimate in perfectionism and idealism that no one else could imitate, as well as a natural talent for bringing characters to life and giving them personality. I can't go into specific examples here because it would take too much time, but they are very interesting.
And one of the most memorable episodes in this book is the one about "Snow White," released in 1937. This was Walt's first full-length, full-color animated feature, a challenge unprecedented in the industry. This is a long story, but it is a very interesting part of the book, so we will read it carefully.
Disney's next challenge was to produce its first animated feature film. In 1934, the year after the success of "The Three Little Pigs," Disney's annual sales had reached $600,000. However, the majority of the company's sales were already coming from merchandise, and Disney was feeling the limitations of animated shorts, which were expensive but not very profitable. In addition, the number of screenings of animated shorts was declining because movie theaters after the Depression were increasingly showing "double feature films" instead of the traditional "feature film plus short film" combination in order to create a sense of value by allowing viewers to see more for the same price.
Of course, the ambition to make a feature film was not only for financial reasons. It was from Disney's artistic ambition, always seeking "what no one had done before. He was beginning to think that short films, although they could beautifully depict fantasies of animals, plants, and flowers, could never achieve the storytelling and realism he sought.
After considering various myths and folklore as the basis for his first feature film, he decided to animate the Grimm's fairy tale "Snow White" around May 1933.
However, the people around him, including the staff, were very opposed to the production of a feature-length animated film. The purchasing power of consumers in the U.S. was declining after the Great Depression, and the overseas market was shrinking due to Hitler's rise to power in Germany. The common opinion among those around them was that it was not the time to take risks and venture out.
In the midst of all this, only Chaplin supported Disney's adventure. Disney recalled in an interview in 1964.
Charlie was very kind to me. He encouraged me to move forward when everyone else was skeptical about my first animated feature film."
Chaplin once had the same experience as Disney. At the end of the 1910s, when he was enjoying great popularity with his short comedies, he began producing a feature-length comedy, The Kid. Distributors were opposed to producing a feature film because they only needed a lot of short comedies that would always be a hit when shown. However, Chaplin kept his faith and spent more than a year to complete "The Kid. As a result, within a few years of its release, "The Kid" was screened in more than 100 countries around the world and, as noted above, became the first film to be shown almost simultaneously on a global scale, changing the course of cinema history.
Based on this experience, Chaplin gave Disney a lesson on how to make a feature film. The importance of a main character, story, and theme that people can relate to.
Charlie taught me that in the best comedies, you have to feel for the main character. You have to shed a tear for the protagonist before you can laugh at his or her deeds."
Confident that he had received advice from the king of comedy, Disney gathered a staff of 50 people at his studio one winter day in 1934. Then, under a single spotlight in a pitch-black room, he performed all the roles in "Snow White" from beginning to end for three hours in a Chaplin-inspired performance. When the solo performance was over, the crew was said to be in tears. The entire crew would spend the next three years of production always remembering Days Two's performance.
However, an unprecedentedly large project was faced with a major obstacle. First, what to do with the huge production budget of $400,000, or two-thirds of Disney's annual sales at the time (which would eventually grow to $1.5 million). Moreover, sales would decrease because the production of animated shorts would have to be curtailed during that time. Again, brother Roy negotiated with Bank of America and received a loan of $250,000 in August 1935, $630,000 in May 1936, another $630,000 in March 1937, and $327,000 in September of the same year.
Despite these daunting debts, the film was finally completed, but Dysney did not have the know-how to release a feature film. UA, which was the only one that could be relied upon, decided not to release "Snow White". All directors except Chaplin were against it. In negotiations with the new distributor, RKO, there was a risk that Disney would be forced to take unfavorable terms.
It was also Chaplin who helped me at that time. He encouraged Disney and said, "Your films will live for a long time. My advice is to own the rights to all your films. If you don't own the rights, buy them back. Chaplin believed in the success of "Snow White" and said, "I want you to know what I did. They may buy your film. You should accept nothing but the best terms," he said, opening his books and showing Roy the figures for the best terms, "Don't sell it for less than this. You should take more."
And to his surprise, he generously provided Daisney with a complete set of materials from his distribution of "Modern Times. "Disney, who was able to negotiate a business deal with RKO based on Chaplin's terms, expressed his gratitude to Chaplin in a letter dated May 31, 1938. (omitted).
Chaplin said, "Don't let those cynics and bankers underestimate you about 'Snow White. This film will be your biggest hit," and he was right.
True to Chaplin's teaching that "in the best comedy, one must sympathize with the hero," Disney created Snow White as a beautiful princess whom everyone loves, but who is subjected to unjustified persecution by her stepmother. At the same time, it was Disney's "allegory of boyhood. Frightened by the jealousy of her parents and the oppression of her transient mother, Snow White escapes into her own world (the fantasy of animation), where she finds compassion, love, independence, and trust. Snow White is the story of Walt Disney's growth. (omitted).
In terms of characters and gags, Chaplin's influence can be seen especially in the Seven Dwarfs. The gag in "The Life of the Dog" in which the leader of the group stops suddenly when all seven are walking together and the six walking behind him bump into each other in turn, and the scene in the cabin in "The Golden Age" in which Sneezy sneezes and a strong wind blows and the other dwarfs try to run against the wind but cannot move forward, are exact copies of the scene in the cabin in "The Golden Age. It is a perfect copy of the scene in the cabin in "The Golden Age of Madness. Above all, by introducing only one character, Dopey, who does not speak, the film takes over the gags of the silent comedy.
Attending the premiere of "Snow White" on December 21, 1937, Chaplin commented that Dopey, one of the Seven Dwarfs, was "one of the greatest comedians of all time. He must have recognized that animation was his successor.
Snow White" was an unprecedented hit, grossing $4 million in the U.S. and $4 million internationally. Some time after its release, Disney boasted for the rest of his life that Chaplin, who had taught him about the movie business, had gone out of his way to visit the Disney Company's books.
Kobunsha, Hiroyuki Ohno, Disney and Chaplin: Giants Who Gave Birth to the Entertainment Business, p. 147-153.
One of the first books I read when I started learning about Disney, by Christopher Finch.The Art of Disney."I was astonished to learn that "Snow White" had already been screened in full color in 1937 at the "Snow White" Film Festival, and I was even more surprised to learn that Chaplin had been so involved in the release of this film.
Chaplin not only influenced the content and philosophy of the films, but also provided Walt with business advice.
This book provides a detailed look at the relationship between these two people.
Unfortunately, Chaplin and Walt would cross paths in later years, but this book is very valuable to learn more about that history. This book is a very exciting way to learn about Disney from a different perspective.
I would highly recommend this book.
The above is "Hiroyuki Ohno's "Disney and Chaplin" - Mickey was born with the huge influence of his master Chaplin! An exciting work that also gives us an insight into the historical background.
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