Reddit mentions of Walt Disney: An American Original (Disney Editions Deluxe)

He really wasn't anti-semite, it's a rumor that people just love to believe because hey it's Walt Disney, a guy who made films for the family. People don't like that and want to see a dark side to someone and refuse to believe someone can be genuine. He wasn't exactly the jolly Uncle Walt the media portrayed him as but he wasn't either of those especially when he worked closely with the Sherman Brothers, who are most famous for their work with Walt on Mary Poppins and had a black animator who spoke highly of Walt.

Another reason it was easy for Walt to be accused of anti semitism was because of the prevalence of Jews in Hollywood during the time. One notable Hollywood Jew was Charles Mintz, then distributor at Universal. Walt had a handful of disagreements with him especially when it came to production costs and creative ideas. The last straw was when Walt and Ub Iwerks decided to create Oswald the Lucky Rabbit who turned out to be a huge success. Walt would go to New York to discuss a raise with Mintz only to learn that Mintz was going to cut Walt's salary and that Mintz owned Oswald's rights. Disney didn't take the cut, left Oswald's rights and quit.

When Walt and Iwerks created Mickey who would become incredibly popular, studios were lining up to have Mickey's rights including Mintz/Universal. Walt told them no and accusations and problems against Walt in Hollywood would rise from there the more succesful he became.

edit: For anyone who's interested on reading more into Walt check out Walt Disney: An American Original by Bob Thomas. Great bio on Walt especially since Thomas was given unrestricted rights to the Disney archives. It basically gives a look on Walt's life from a brief info about his ancestral family to his death and Disney World's completion in 1971 (iirc I think it even mentions the moustache burning!). Really inspiring to read of all the downs he had to go through till he got to the status of what the Disney Company is known for today. It's also the "official" biography for Walt (Diane Disney wasn't too fond of Neal Gabler's bio on Walt)

another edit: biography, whoops

By far, the definitive book is Walt Disney: An American Original. It's recognized as the official biography by D23.

http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-American-Original-Editions/dp/0786860278

I just finished reading An American Original about Walt Disney. I knew very little about his life story but I have a good understanding now. Very inspirational.

I am currently reading the Haunted mansion Imagineering book.. I haven't gotten extremely far into it, but so far it's given great insight into what went into creating the original Disneyland ride. I finally understand references I always heard about the original pirate storyline that the mansion was supposed to have, as well as how it was supposed to be a walking guided tour attraction.