| Warren Beatty once observed," That if you get | | | | |
| married in Hollywood, you should always do it | | | | Lillian didn't worry about Walt cheating on |
| before noon. That way if it doesn't work out, | | | | her with another woman but would sometimes |
| you don't kill your evening." But in 1925 | | | | get jealous of his work. Often he would come |
| Walt Disney, still getting his feet wet in | | | | home late, choosing instead to spend the |
| Tinseltown was not interested in pampered | | | | night at the studio prowling around his |
| starlets. His eye was on a employee of his | | | | animator's desks, even going through their |
| named Lillian Bounds, originally from | | | | trash cans to pull out their best ideas. One |
| Lewiston, Idaho who worked for him as ink | | | | time he arrived late for a date and drunk. |
| paint girl making fifteen dollars a week. She | | | | Angrily she locked him out of the house. He |
| reminded him of the hard working girls he | | | | made amends the next day by presenting her |
| knew growing up in Missouri. For her part she | | | | with a female puppy in a hat box. That event |
| found him charming, the way he grew a | | | | later became the basis for the Disney classic |
| mustache to look older in business meetings, | | | | Lady And The Tramp (1955). |
| and how he refused to call on her until he | | | | |
| could afford a new suit. Since he was more | | | | The Disney's were world travelers. Lillian |
| gentile around women than men, she was spared | | | | was thrilled to get the call from Walt to |
| from the temperamental swearing that he did | | | | pack up for their next surprise vacation and |
| around his animators. Walt later joked," I | | | | marvel how he would turn their experiences |
| didn't have enough money to pay her, so I | | | | into Disneyland attractions. They fell in |
| married her instead." | | | | love with skiing in Switzerland and it lead |
| | | | to the Matterhorn Bobsled Ride. They enjoyed |
| Early in their marriage Lillian loved going | | | | buying antiques in the French Quarter, |
| to movies with him and would listen | | | | inspiring the creation of New Orleans Square. |
| attentively as he criticized his competitor's | | | | They learned about hidden treasure on a |
| cartoons and shared his own exciting ideas. | | | | island near Cuba sparking the construction of |
| But as time went by she became more | | | | The Pirates Of The Caribbean, which Walt did |
| challenging. Perhaps she understood he needed | | | | not live to see completed. |
| a sounding board, he was surrounded by yes | | | | |
| men who were frightened of him. I don't like | | | | Lillian fell short of her own dream. She did |
| the name Mortimer, she told him in 1927. Why | | | | not share Walt's love of classical music, |
| don't you call your mouse Mickey? She agreed | | | | preferring to listen to Lawrence Welk. But |
| with his business partner and brother Roy in | | | | she felt his pain when Fantasia (1940) failed |
| 1934 that making the first feature length | | | | at the box office. In 1987, 21 years after he |
| cartoon, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs | | | | passed on, she donated fifty million dollars |
| would ruin them. When it turned out to be a | | | | to build the Walt Disney Concert Hall which |
| smash hit, Walt took great pleasure in | | | | would be the new home for the Los Angeles |
| hearing Lillian admit she was wrong. But then | | | | Philharmonic. What better legacy than to |
| he scared her again. "Why would you want to | | | | bring Beethoven and Mozart to the masses just |
| build an amusement park?" She asked him. | | | | like Walt wanted. But she became discouraged |
| "Amusement parks are dirty. They don't make | | | | when her idea for a simple brick building |
| any money." His reply didn't make her feel | | | | became much more elaborate in the hands of |
| better. "That's the whole point. I want a | | | | architect Frank Gehry. Soon the fifty million |
| clean one that will." But she was at | | | | was gone and she wanted it back fearing she |
| Disneyland the night before it opened with a | | | | had wasted her money on an incomplete |
| broom, sweeping up the dust off the Mark | | | | boondoggle. Her daughter Diane convinced her |
| Twain Steamer. | | | | that Gehry's design was wonderful but she |
| | | | died six years before the hall opened. |
| Walt was a good provider for Lillian and | | | | |
| their two daughters even if he had to be in | | | | One great thing about Walt building |
| debt to do it. It pained her when he had to | | | | Disneyland was that he and Lillian got to |
| sell his Mercedes during the depression to | | | | play tour guide to world leaders. But Mrs. |
| meet the studio payroll, or when old friends | | | | Disney was very disappointed when the head of |
| would call on him for a loan and he was so | | | | Russia Nikita S. Khrushchev and his wife |
| tapped out he had turn them down. They were | | | | failed to come to the park in 1960. The |
| both content to spend evenings at home | | | | Anaheim police said they could not provide |
| avoiding the publicity glare of Hollywood | | | | enough security. The Soviet Prime Minister |
| parties. When times were better she put up | | | | grumpily settled for a star studded luncheon |
| with Walt called his "one sin" owning six | | | | at Twentieth Century Fox instead. During the |
| polo ponies, which he paid for dearly by | | | | meal Frank Sinatra was informed of Mrs. |
| taking a nasty spill. He became a life long | | | | Khrushchev's disappointment at missing out on |
| scotch drinker to dull the reoccurring pain | | | | The Magic Kingdom. Old Blue Eyes slammed his |
| in his neck. His next hobby annoyed her more, | | | | fist on the table. "Screw the cops. I'll take |
| a miniature railroad in the backyard that ran | | | | the old broad down there and watch her |
| through her flowerbed. She gave in only | | | | myself." He grabbed her by the hand and was |
| because the it seemed to give him a release | | | | near the door when he was stopped by the KGB. |
| from studio pressures. Sometimes she thought | | | | Back at Disneyland Walt made Lillian smile by |
| maybe he was using the rides to hide out and | | | | telling her he was just as disappointed as |
| avoid facing overwhelming problems. Later, | | | | she was. He was dying to show the Communist |
| Disneyland would provide him with a bigger | | | | ruler his new submarine fleet. |
| train giving Lillian more peace at home. | | | | |