Storyteller. Dreamer. Businessman. Model-train enthusiast. Republican. Walter Elias Disney was all these and more. But if, before his death, you’d broken into the great man’s house in the middle of the night, shaken him out of his slumber, and asked him his occupation, there is no doubt what he would have answered: “Restauanteur.” Pose the same question to Max Fleischer, Tex Avery, Paul Terry, Fred Quimby, or any of an interminable list of other animation greats, and you’d have gotten precisely the same response.

If you’re only familiar with these legends’ work as animated film motion picture screen cartoonists, this may startle you. You won’t find chapters on their contributions to American cuisine in Of Mice and Magic, Disney Animation: the Illusion of Life, or The Great Cartoon Directors. In fact. you may not even know that every one of the great cartoon studios plunged into the restaurant business between 1935 and 1950. If this article does anything to publicize this shamefully-overlooked aspect of our animated heritage, I’ll consider my job done.

As usual in the cartoon biz, it was Walt Disney who blazed the trail. Walt’s, the restaurant he opened in 1935 on Hollywood Boulevard (next door to Graubstein’s Peruvian Theater) was, as far as anyone knows, the first eating establishment to be operated by an animation studio. (Felix’s Dinette, the legendary Felix the Cat-inspired Manhattan diner of the 1920s, was an unauthorized spinoff that earned the eternal ire of Pat Sullivan, not to mention Otto Messmer’s surly contempt.)

Little if anything is known about what inspired Disney to enter the food trade. The Disney Archives, when contacted for this article, denied possessing any records on the matter and, indeed, questioned the restaurant’s very existence. But we do know something about Disney’s eating habits in the mid-1930s. Bob Thomas, in Walt Disney: an American Original, writes that Disney ate a grilled cheese sandwich nearly every day for lunch, and snacked on fresh fruit from time to time. He enjoyed a full breakfast most mornings (omelets, or the occasional poached egg) and devised a special pancake recipe of his own creation, folding a quarter-cup of maple syrup into the batter. He was known to frequent Los Angeles steakhouses, and sent fruitcakes to employees and friends.

Fine Dining at its Finest The only photo of Walt’s exterior known to survive; circa 1936. Housed in the former location of a self-serve drycleaner, the restaurant boasted innovative design features including double-decker stools, an automated condiment facility capable of dispensing a thousand gallons of mustard an hour, and the first pay toilets in North America.

With this proven track record as an eater, it was probably only a matter of time before Disney entered the restaurant field. Walt’s was initially a small, lunchcounter-style operation, with eight stools, two tables, and limited outdoor patio seating. Although few early photographs survive, a 1936 newspaper article reported that the restaurant was festooned with murals of Disney characters and was famous for its sparkling tile floors and immaculate kitchen. A projector played Mickey Mouse cartoons in a continuous loop, with a two-cent earphone charge. Disney himself manned the counter while artists, waylaid from other projects, did the cooking. The fare was simple but hearty: grilled cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit, omelets, poached eggs, pancakes prepared with maple-syrup batter, steak, and fruitcake. It was an immediate smash.

“Your Change, Madame!” Walt Disney himself could often be found working the cash register at Walt’s in the early days. Here, he concludes a transaction with an aged patron who appears to admire the cut of his jib.

Although evidence suggests that Disney had originally expected his clientele to consist mainly of workingmen who required a quick lunch or an early dinner, Walt’s quickly became a fashionable watering hole for Hollywood’s top stars. Mary Pickford was so smitten with Walt’s that she ate every meal there for weeks at a time and became combative at closing time. W.C. Fields, Janet Gaynor, Pola Negri, and a young Bob Hope were all regulars, as was Shirley Temple, who often tap-danced down the counter to provide entertainment. And it was at Walt’s that Cary Grant and Edward Everett Horton became engaged in an altercation over Hedy Lamarr that remains one of Tinseltown’s most legendary fistfights.

On to part two

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