The Uncle Walt Podcast

The Uncle Walt Podcast


Latest Episodes

Episode 46 - Game of Cat and Mouse
September 24, 2019

After the success of Walt Disney’s second recording session led to the finalization of the synchronized sound track to Steamboat Willie, Walt turned his attention towards securing distribution for the film. As was common in Walt’s early career, options av

Episode 45 - Follow The Bouncing Ball
June 04, 2019

As Walt Disney entered a New York recording studio in September of 1928, he believed he had everything ready to successfully record the synchronized soundtrack to his newest Mickey Mouse cartoon ‘Steamboat Willie’. However as the recording session played

Episode 44 - Pat Powers
May 03, 2019

In September of 1928, Walt Disney traveled to New York City in an attempt to secure the technology needed to combine a synchronized soundtrack to the recently finished animation of his latest Mickey Mouse cartoon. He ultimately decided on a piece of equip

Episode 43 - Synchronized Sound
March 15, 2019

In early 1928, Walt Disney was failing in his attempts to secure distribution for a series of animations that would star his newest creation, Mickey Mouse. When the Warner Brothers live action film ‘The Jazz Singer’ ushered in a new era of sound films, W

Episode 42 - The Mouse
January 15, 2019

After the loss of his hit character Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney had to regroup and come up with a new series if his studio was to stay in business. Along with Ub Iwerks he came up with a little mouse, whom he called Mortimer, and a rough outline

Episode 41 - A Hard Lesson Learned
November 18, 2018

Charles Mintz was stonewalling Walt Disney in the ongoing talks to renew their contract in early 1928, partly because he held all of the leverage in the negotiations, and partly because he knew he had an ace up his sleeve. Not only was Mintz stealing Walt

Episode 40 - Double Crossed
November 09, 2018

Walt Disney personally traveled to New York City, in early 1928 to conclude a new deal with Charles Mintz to continue producing their hit animated series ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’. Before he left California, Walt had heard some rumblings about unhappiness

Episode 39 - Oswald The Lucky Rabbit
October 22, 2018

Early in 1927, Walt Disney wrapped production on his long time animation/live-action combination series “Alice’s Wonderland”. As that series was coming to an end, both Walt and his distributor Charles Mintz began thinking about what their relationship wou

Episode 38 - New Opportunity
October 05, 2018

Walt always faced adversity while growing his studio in the 1920’s. Usually it was financial, sometimes it was creative, other times it was business related. For the first time however Walt started experiencing trouble with his staff. After moving his ope

Episode 37 - That's The Way It Will Be
September 19, 2018

Walt Disney’s stalemate with Charles Mintz over the future distribution of his Alice comedies was still unresolved. Despite this, Walt and Roy forged ahead with several key changes at the studio. There would be new places, new faces and new names in the w