June
23, 2006
Hearst
and Disney: A Comparative Study
My two preceding write-ups have given
thumbnail sketches of these two great men of California
whose gigantic monuments – the Hearst Castle
and the Disneyland - stand testimony to their super-human
achievements. Both were colossal human beings who
were driven by an uncanny, preternatural energy
to fulfil their respective dreams and carve out
prominent niches in their respective realms of work.
Hearst, at six feet two and some 250 lbs in weight,
was physically a colossus too but with a tiny voice,
almost of a girlish timbre, which caused his knees
to shake every time he had to address a public meeting.
It handicapped him in his political ambitions.
Disney was also a tall and handsome person but not
obese. And, he had full command on his voice almost
like a ventriloquist. For a quarter century he himself
furnished the voice of Mickey Mouse.
Disney was born in poverty and had for years to
labor hard as a commercial artist to eke out a living.
Hearst, on the other hand, was born to riches being
the only son of a millionaire Senator. But, he refused
to run his father’s mines, ranches or other
established businesses. He wanted his father to
give him just the daily San Francisco Examiner,
an insignificant paper that had perennially been
in the red, to show “what he could do with
it.”
Hearst had discovered at Harvard the power of the
written word and his own precocious mind in building
and using his vocabulary to create the desired impact.
He wielded a powerful pen till almost the end of
his life.
Disney too continued to use his prolific vision,
brush, cameras and other technical devices till
his debilitating lung cancer confined him to bed.
Both men accepted nothing as impossible. It is kind
of fun, declared Disney, to do the impossible. Hearst
thought that impossible was a bit more difficult
than possible.
Walt Disney won 32 personal Academy Awards –
a record. By the time of his death at age 65, he
had produced 21 animated feature length films, 493
short cartoon films, 47 live action films, several
TV and other shows.
Hearst’s publishing empire at its peak comprised
32 dailies, 13 magazines, King Feature Syndicate,
several radio and TV stations, some film and book
companies.
Several years back when I first visited the Hearst
Castle and the Disneyland, I had formed the view
that while Disney had concentrated on purveying
happiness to others, Hearst had focused on fostering
the means of his own happiness - others counted
only as far as they served this purpose.
I have lived in Anaheim – the city built around
Disneyland - for some 15 years now and have watched
the continual growth of both. I have studied two
volumes on the creator of this “Happiest Place
on Earth”, have also glanced through three
biographies of Hearst, and have seen recently the
1941 Orson Wells film ‘Citizen Kane’,
a caustic and distasteful parody of Hearst. These
studies have confirmed me further in my first impressions
of these two great men of California - Disney lived
for others, Hearst thought others lived for him.
Biographers normally develop a sympathy for their
subjects. But, in the case of Hearst each one of
those I have read has pointed out his ego-centric
nature and his penchant to manipulate people and
events to serve his aims. He built his media empire
by constantly indulging in crusades – mostly
spurious - to expand circulations of his papers.
His constant aim was to startle, stupefy and amaze
his readers and to convulse them with excitement.
Biographer Swanberg has remarked: “Hearst
was not a newsman at all in the conventional sense.
He was an inventor, a producer, an arranger. He
lived in a childlike dream world, imagining wonderful
stories and then going out and creating them so
that the line between fact and fancy was apt to
be fuzzy.” No wonder, he came to be called
the “king of yellow journalism”.
When there was an insurgency in Cuba in 1895 against
the Spanish rule, he sent his artist, Frederick
Remington, to cover it. Remington cabled to Hearst,
“There is no trouble here. There will be no
war. Wish to return”. Hearst replied: “Please
remain. You furnish the pictures, I’ll furnish
the war.” His papers carried highly exaggerated,
if not totally false, stories on the maltreatment
of American citizens in Cuba. He kept the emotions
of his countrymen on the boil till a war did erupt
in Cuba.
His critics accused him of recklessness, insatiable
greed, and megalomania, suggesting that he ignited
the Spanish-American War just to sell his papers.
Readers too grew wary of Hearst’s tactics,
boycotting his papers in the wake of the assassination
of President McKinley in 1901 as they believed that
the relentless articles and editorials against the
President had inspired the assassin.
Public distrust of Hearst thwarted his biggest ambition
in life – to occupy the White House. He wasn’t
elected even in the preliminaries. Not only that,
he failed to win the votes for the Governorship
of New York. Not even for the office of the Mayor
of that city. He did, however, get elected to the
House twice. The voters did not trust him for any
higher public office.
But, at his castle on the top of a hill in San Simeon
– half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco
- he was the lord of all he surveyed. He was the
Caesar, Czar or Sultan of his estate. His castle,
loaded with his collection of statues, tapestries,
huge carpets, paintings and other works of art,
has managed to survive as a museum maintained by
the state. It couldn’t survive of its own
momentum, like the Disneyland.
His ideas and conduct conflicted with the conventional
values; he perhaps enjoyed defying them. He married
a stage dancer and maintained simultaneously an
actress as his mistress. There was no Howard Stern
or Jerry Springer to applaud him for defying the
Victorian values.
Walt Disney in contrast was a virtuous man. His
work’s moral values and optimistic perspectives
have helped shape the personalities, hopes, and
dreams of children who having imbibed the virtuous
value at an impressionable age cherished them in
their adult years too. What a service and to how
many millions!
Disney was not a greedy person: he was always willing
to invest all he had on an idea. He was not a grabbing,
but a giving man.
The Time magazine published, after a worldwide poll,
a list of 100 most prominent persons of the 20th
century. Walt Disney figures on the list: Hearst
doesn’t. Hearst’s empire exists in the
form of corporations and foundations. But, it does
not thrive, throb and expand as it did during the
lifetime of the colossal man. Walt Disney’s
entertainment setups keep expanding and purveying
happiness to millions at home and abroad. He deserves
a salute for having lived and worked for others,
and for fostering virtue and healthy values through
all his products.
