Walt Disney---Taking a Stand???

[AC7179]

MY daughter is doing History Fair this year---and the theme is taking a stand in history. She would really like to do Walt Disney, and I know there is arguing he is an important figure in history--but is there anything he really took a stand on? If anyone can help get her started I'd be eternally grateful!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

He decided that family's don't have to go to seedy amusement parks any more.

Perhaps looking into how and why he did develop Disneyland.

Other than that--he did what any successful struggling person did with a dream. Worked hard and persevered. Not sure I would call that taking a stand though.

 

[mcnuss]

I have a feeling they are looking for someone more along the lines of Martin Luther King than Walt Disney, although Disney would be a lot more fun to research!

 

[Pagan Moon]

He had a dream, persued it, and saw it develope into something amazing.

He als had a strong sense of "family"

 

[AC7179]

yeah, me too......but MLK and Rosa Parks seem so obvious. Thanks for the help.

 

[va32h]

I seem to remember something about Walt Disney not getting the profits from his first few cartoon characters - and making sure he owned the rights to his future creations even though this was a more costly and risky proposition business-wise.

I also remember reading about the early days of Disneyland - the way he ran the company being unique and hands on...some kind of early profit-sharing program??

You'd have to research those more - my recollections of those stories are very vague.

 

[gr8tpanther]

He made it ok for adults to be children again....

He brought stories to life and shows us what your imagination can really do!

 

[DeLaMer]

I don't know the details, but I'm pretty sure Walt Disney took some flack for demanding perfection over cost control at Disneyland. I would call that taking a stand. Wish he was still 'Standing'

 

[AngieBelle]

He was very much into promoting "American Values." The cold War was going on when Disneyland first opened. If you watch the tv special Dateline Disneyland, there is a lot of emphasis on everything American. We discussed this in my American studies class that I took on the 50s. Walt was a very complex man- there are books about him. I think there's one called The Dark Prince.

 

[DawnCt1]

I believe that he testified voluntarily before HUAC. (House Committee on UnAmerican Activities) in the 1950's. He was a staunch anti communist.

 

[2BigKIdz]

Sorry, please no bashing me as I am not sure about this, but doesn't the Disney Company have something to do with Gay rights. I have some female friends that are a "couple" and have been for many years. One of them worked for Disney and was able to get insurance on herself and her partner, Disney recognized them essentially as being married. This was several years ago before gay marriage was big in the news. I'm sure that would be seen as taking a stand but may be hard to research.

 

[DawnCt1]

Sorry, please no bashing me as I am not sure about this, but doesn't the Disney Company have something to do with Gay rights. I have some female friends that are a "couple" and have been for many years. One of them worked for Disney and was able to get insurance on herself and her partner, Disney recognized them essentially as being married. This was several years ago before gay marriage was big in the news. I'm sure that would be seen as taking a stand but may be hard to research.

If you are talking about Walter Elias Disney, that would have been long after he passed away. "Gay rights" wasn't a political or out in the spotlight public issue during his life time.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Sorry, please no bashing me as I am not sure about this, but doesn't the Disney Company have something to do with Gay rights. I have some female friends that are a "couple" and have been for many years. One of them worked for Disney and was able to get insurance on herself and her partner, Disney recognized them essentially as being married. This was several years ago before gay marriage was big in the news. I'm sure that would be seen as taking a stand but may be hard to research.

I heard of this as well...but I thought that this was within the past 10 years or so.

Walt died over 30 years ago....so not sure how this would relate to how he took a stand..but would be a good wrap up point of perhaps how the Disney company continues to take stands in his legacy?

(I may be stretching it a bit--hey it's late and i have a cold ).

 

['Canes Fan]

Sorry, please no bashing me as I am not sure about this, but doesn't the Disney Company have something to do with Gay rights. I have some female friends that are a "couple" and have been for many years. One of them worked for Disney and was able to get insurance on herself and her partner, Disney recognized them essentially as being married. This was several years ago before gay marriage was big in the news. I'm sure that would be seen as taking a stand but may be hard to research.

Walt had nothing to do with this obviously, but the Disney company took an enormous amount of bad press due the decision.

 

[DawnCt1]

I heard of this as well...but I thought that this was within the past 10 years or so.

Walt died over 30 years ago....so not sure how this would relate to how he took a stand..but would be a good wrap up point of perhaps how the Disney company continues to take stands in his legacy?

(I may be stretching it a bit--hey it's late and i have a cold ).

I think it would be stretching it a bit. It is unknown what stand he would have taken.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I think it would be stretching it a bit. It is unknown what stand he would have taken.

I have a cold ...work with me here


(just kidding--I think the whole taking a stand is a stretch and would involve a lot of research).

 

[2BigKIdz]

Yeah, sorry, I really don't know anything about it except what I posted. I have no idea when this would have started or whose idea it was originally and honestly I don't have a clue about Walt Disney's life or how long ago he died.

 

[georgina]

MY daughter is doing History Fair this year---and the theme is taking a stand in history. She would really like to do Walt Disney, and I know there is arguing he is an important figure in history--but is there anything he really took a stand on? If anyone can help get her started I'd be eternally grateful!

We've got the same topic - it's the theme of National History Day. Maybe I'll start a new thread looking for unusual topic ideas.

 

[DawnCt1]

I have a cold ...work with me here


(just kidding--I think the whole taking a stand is a stretch and would involve a lot of research).

Absolutely. Walt Disney's politics was far from liberal. His politics was definately to the right. He was staunchly pro American and voluntarily went before HUAC without a regret. He was a staunch anti communist. Being involved in Hollywood and the movie business, I am sure that he had gay friends, just as Ronald Reagan did, but don't think that he would have seen them as a political action group. With regard to his HUAC testimony, he talked about how he thwarted an attempted labor movement financed by the communist party. He named names that he felt were "commies" and labeled those people as anti American. He felt that Hollywood and the movie industry were at risk of being taken over my communist influences. He would not sell cartoons to the Russians and he made pro American public service messages, particularly for tax collection during the war. Not exactly like the Disney Company of today.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

Well, if you consider all the hoops any other person would have had to go through to build the world's first theme park, you'd be amazed.

Disney could have easily gotten the funds if he would have carried Anheuser Busch beer in the park. Other potential investors wanted a slice of the park. The only way he was able to fund the park (aside from putting up the house morgages on the line) was to get ABC on board. Walt agreed to do a weekly hour long show for a year. ABC didn't expect much from the park, but knew Disney's TV show would bring in the cash. Walt worked this to his advantage too, by making the building of the park a year long show that was really a commercial if you think about it. By the time Disneyland opened it was one of the most anticipated events that year & millions watched.