BUILDING A COMPANY: ROY O. DISNEY AND THE CREATION OF AN ENTERTAINMENT EMPIRE

BUILDING A COMPANY: ROY O. DISNEY AND THE CREATION OF AN ENTERTAINMENT EMPIRE Bob Thomas (Hyperion, $24.95) This clumsy chronology of the struggles and triumphs of the brothers Disney refuses to be either a full biography of the sensible sibling who kept the more artistic Walt financially afloat or an in-depth business book about their pioneering ventures in animation and theme parks. Instead, it sits stubbornly on the fence, trying vainly to be both. If you read between the bland, authorized lines, you might deduce that the Disney boys rebelled against their hardscrabble childhood and their stern, Socialist father by becoming wealthy California Republicans. But no such view is offered in the chunks of laudatory quotes slapped together here. And Disney fans hoping for inside info on the making of classic films like Fantasia, Cinderella, and Mary Poppins will come away emptyhanded. C- -- Charles Winecoff