The Break With Walt

The Jungle Book Standoff

The friction peaked on The Jungle Book, which was Bill’s own pitch and his “secret plan” for one last feature before “my getaway.” A standoff over a leopard’s “Brooklyn accent” voice escalated until Walt stalked out with a parting shot: “If you want to see some real entertainment, then see Mary Poppins!” It was the last time Bill ever saw him.

A Birthday Resignation

The date was January 29, his 49th birthday. Driving home, he gave himself a present: “Happy Birthday! I’m not ever going back there!!!” Margaret, who had watched him walk the tightrope of Disney by day and books by night, “was not the least bit surprised. After twenty-seven years it was time for a new beginning.”

After Walt

Walt died less than three years later. Bill learned of it from a driveway headline, “WALT DISNEY, WIZARD OF CARTOON FILMS, DIES,” and was quietly grateful he had never roared back at him in their last bitter exchange. The two men had pushed each other hard for a quarter of a century. Whatever the grievances over credit and control, Bill never doubted that he had spent those years in the company of a genius, nor that the studio had given him the canvas on which his own talent finally bloomed.