Leonard Maltin traces Disney's rise from commercial artist to producer of his first Mickey Mouse cartoon, "Plane Crazy," through more than thirty years of phenomenal worldwide acclaim. Everything Disney undertook blossomed under his careful guidance—early silent cartoons, live-action short subjects, over eighty feature films, hundreds of television shows, even a wealth of public service and wartime films. The author carefully examines and explains why they succeeded, how Disney himself felt about his work, and why the public was so eager to pay him homage.