Walt Disney's European Travels

Walt poses by Red Cross truck, 1918

Walt Disney first traveled to Europe at the age of sixteen after joining the Red Cross with a forged birth certificate at the end of World War I. He celebrated his seventeenth birthday shortly after arriving in St. Cyr, France. By running errands, shuttling workers back and forth, gathering commissary provisions, and chauffeuring VIPs, Walt got to know Paris so well he became an in-demand tour guide for visiting dignitaries. It is no wonder that later in life, when he and his family took annual trips to Europe, he enjoyed driving them aimlessly through the French countryside, visiting those familiar bivouacs.

June 7, 1935, was Walt’s first trip back across the pond. The production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had been unrelenting, and Walt had grown weary. His brother Roy suggested as a reprieve they take their wives on an extended tour of Europe. Hesitant to leave the studio, Walt agreed to go in celebration of both of their tenth wedding anniversaries. For six weeks, the Disneys traversed the countryside, driving to Scotland and the Lake Country, then going to Paris and on to Germany. They crossed the Alps to Switzerland and took a train from Venice to Rome. The Disneys’ popularity in Europe surprised them as crowds greeted them and press hounded them at several locations. They were even privileged to hold audience with Pope Pius XI and Benito Mussolini!

Walt and Lilly in London, 1935

When the Disneys returned home, Walt was indeed rejuvenated. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs did eventually see completion and arrived on the big screen a huge success in December of 1937. Two years later, World War II interrupted the film industry and postponed any more tours of Europe for a number of years. After the war, in attempts to heal the post-war economy, the British government imposed a 75 percent import tax on American films and ordered that 45 percent of the films shown in British theaters be made in England. They and the French government also blocked funds earned by American studios on films shown in those countries and insisted the earnings be spent there. This ended up being a blessing in disguise for Walt as it forced him to film his first completely live-action feature in England, thus forcing him and Lillian on a European vacation to (uh-hem!) supervise the filming.

Walt took Lillian and their daughters to London and played tourist with his family. They spent five weeks of the 1949 summer months in England, Ireland, France, and Switzerland. The family took a repeat trip in 1951 again under the pretense of overseeing film production, this time adding Denmarks’s Tivoli Gardens to the itinerary. The trips became a yearly event. They even shipped their Cadillac overseas one year to avoid the glare of publicity.

Today’s Takeaway:
When Walt and Lilly returned from their 1935 tour, they were asked their opinion of the political unrest in the European nations regarding the rise of Adolf Hitler’s power in Germany. Walt expressed no alarm but hinted instead at exaggerated reports by the press. He told columnist Louella Parsons, “I found that all over the world people want to laugh.” I think that explains the success of the Walt Disney Company!

They say laughter is good medicine and that laughter is good for the heart, so let’s see just how laughter works.

Discovery Health says adult humans laugh an average of 17 times a day. Laughing feels good, and it seems natural, but what’s really funny is that humans are one of only a few species that laugh. Marshall Brain’s “How Laughter Works” says, “Laughter is actually a complex response that involves many of the same skills used in solving problems.” So, in a sense, laughter solves problems!

Laughter is a two-part physiological response to humor: a set of gestures and the production of a sound. When we laugh, both activities occur simultaneously, and sometimes they involve many parts of the body. Here’s the scientific description of what actually happens (reading it makes me laugh!):
Fifteen facial muscles contract and stimulation of the zygomatic major muscle (the main lifting mechanism of your upper lip) occurs. Meanwhile, the respiratory system is upset by the epiglottis half-closing the larynx, so that air intake occurs irregularly, making you gasp. In extreme circumstances, the tear ducts are activated, so that while the mouth is opening and closing and the struggle for oxygen intake continues, the face becomes moist and often red (or purple). The noises that usually accompany this bizarre behavior range from sedate giggles to boisterous guffaws.

OK, this article is great, but when I keep reading, I keep giggling. It goes on to say that the study of laughter is difficult, because just when the scientists sit down to study laughter, it disappears. (You know you’re laughing now too!) Researcher Robert Provine has discovered that there are certain sonic structures of laughter. “He discovered that all human laughter consists of variations on a basic form that consists of short, vowel-like notes repeated every 210 milliseconds,” and he says that those variations cannot occur together. You may laugh a ha-ha-ha then a ho-ho-ho, but the two will not combine.

So, my activity for you today is to LAUGH! Record your children laughing. Play it back to them and have them see if they can pick out the sonic structures of their laughter. Are they ha-ha-ha-ers or ho-ho-ho-ers or maybe they’re even snort-ers! Go for it! Laugh, giggle, cackle, and chortle! Snort, chuckle, and crack up til your sides ache.

SCHOOL SUBJECT: Anatomy
SKILL LEVEL: All

[1] Neal Gabler, Walt Disney (Vintage Books, div. of Random House NY, 2006), 223.

**This post is part of the Disney Blog Carnival. Be sure to stop by and check out more great Disney-related posts and articles.**

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