Where the magic began
LINDSAY SUTTON takes a Disney break – but not to a theme park or on a cruise ship
THE magic of childhood never left Walt Disney. All the adventures and experiences of small-town America were only too real for the man who became the world’s greatest animator.
Even Mickey Mouse was said to be based on him watching a real-life one scuttling across the floorboards.
‘Uncle Walt’ had the knack of being able to connect with children, and their parents, across the globe. Little wonder that he earned the title: ‘Keeper of Childhood Magic.’
He instinctively realised the importance of laughter and joy – and he captured it in his cartoon characters, and in his films.
The world may beat a path to Disney World in Florida’s Orlando, or Disneyland in California’s Anaheim, but a visit to Walt’s hometown in the middle of America gives you a remarkable insight into the real Disney. It was in little Marceline, in the heartland state of Missouri, that he drew his ideas for ‘Main Street, USA,’ which became the entrance theme at all his Disney resorts.
Marceline’s wide and long Main Street may not be as prosperous and diverse as it was when he was a boy in the early 20th Century, but you see what shaped him during his formative years.
You get a looking-glass view of those homely, childhood influences that made such an impression on young Walt between the ages of four and nine years old – influences that set the pattern for his highly creative adult life.
It may seem a bit of a ‘Mom and apple pie’ image of America, but if it seems over-idealistic, then pop into Ma Vic’s Corner Cafe to taste the real thing.
Home-made apple or pecan pie, complete with Dusty Miller’s Ice Cream, made to the same recipe as it was exactly 100 years ago, around the time when Disney was born. The ice cream’s sprinkling of Missouri malt is the key, just as it was when Walt bought one with money from his paper rounds.
Another famous Missouri boy – one Mark Twain, from Hannibal just down the highway, on the banks of the Mississippi River – summed it up when he said:
“I grew up with Missouri morals, and then added Connecticut culture.”
For Walt, the culture and sophistication of Hollywood played a big part in his development, but throughout his creative career, the down-to-earth values of his Missouri childhood shone through.
Marceline does a great job to give you an insight into Walt’s childhood – and it’s fitting that you start your journey in the Walt Disney Hometown Museum.
It’s housed in the red-brick Santa Fe Railroad depot, the very place where Elias and and Flora Disney first arrived with their children from Chicago.
They were met by horse and buggy when they alighted from the Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe train, in 1905.
More than 70 trains a day still pass through, and the level-crossing bell, and the trains’ plaintive horns, add that all-American authenticity as you tour the museum.
It, too, is the real deal. It contains more than 2,000 items donated by Walt’s younger sister Ruth. It’s a treasure trove of history and insight – and reveals the warmth of his local, community-based background. As Walt himself admitted: “More things of importance happened to me in Marceline than have happened since, or are likely to in the future.”
You learn that young Walt earned his first quarter dollar by doing a drawing of a horse called Rupert, which pulled the buggy of the local doctor as he did his rounds.
“He clutched that quarter more closely than any of the 22 Academy Awards he received in his lifetime,” says museum director Kaye Malins. “He never forgot that first recognition in Marceline.”
Kaye, now in her sixties, first met the great man when she was eight. Walt – “he insisted on being called that, even back then” – came back to town to open its first swimming pool. He arrived with his wife, Lillian, and brother Roy, his much-valued business partner from the start. As Kaye says:
“If Walt was the flash, Roy was the cash.”
Museum entry costs a mere $10 and is well worth it. It houses a unique collection of memorabilia from the Disney family farm, where they lived until illness forced his father to quit farming for life in Kansas City two hours away. Walt’s wooden school desk is there, along with a recording of him talking to his parents.
Family letters and photographs give an insight into his childhood down on the farm. Tellingly, Kaye Malins now owns and lives in the property, revealing that it was Disney’s dream to open a working farm there for the public, to showcase old-style farming, its values, and his idyllic childhood.
Sadly, the ‘Dreaming Tree’ that Walt used to sit under as a child was hit by lightning and died. However, saplings are now growing in its place: the dreaming goes on.
You can wander round the farm’s lake, and go into the barn where he put on his first public show. With farmyard animals, he ‘conned’ his school pals into paying to watch his amateur production. His mother forced him to return the cash – and a valuable lesson for life was learned. Be professional, and give value for money.