I have discussed
before the attempted deification of Walt Disney by some writers and many
fans. While I have not had the
opportunity to discuss it directly with Walt’s surviving daughter Diane [Disney
Miller], I do know these endeavors to deify her father are of serious concern
to her. It was one of the motivating
factors for the establishment of the Walt
Disney Family Museum to show Walt
more as the man (albeit a very talented and influential man), and less of the
myth that surrounds him today. As
example, we all see Walt Disney’s Animated Features as hugely successful, and
in most cases, over time they have become so.
But, how many of you know that of Walt’s first five features, only two
were financially successful. Snow White
was, of course, a huge success at the box office, and allowed Walt to build the
studio that exists to this day in Burbank.
Though primarily due to WWII, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi lost money
for Walt’s fledgling studio. Only Dumbo
returned a very modest profit for the studio.
How many know that had the 1950 release of Cinderella was a make or
break moment for Walt and the Studio? A
failure there and we may have never known the joy of Disneyland. To this day, you will find people adamant in
their belief that Walt Disney was a god-like individual whose every touch
turned to gold. There have been many
other failures or marginal events in Walt’s History where every potential
existed for him to go another direction and what we know today would be entirely
different, but he persisted. The company
that bears his name today has indeed and continues to profit from Walt’s early
endeavors. But, many refuse to see that
in Walt’s day, many of these products were failures or only marginally
successful. Many also profess Walt
Disney to be master business administrator.
Few know that the real business genius, who provided Walt with the
resources and business leadership to allow the Disney Brothers Studio, and
later Walt Disney Productions, was really his brother Roy. Instead, more than a few people choose to
believe and as proselytize Walt Disney as almost god-like in his art and
business skills, and with a Midas touch.
It has been my
experience that we tend to deify or demonize people or events we don’t understand
with mysticism. Interestingly, Walt Disney, while having a huge group of people
who just enjoy what he has created, has been both deified and demonized by
small fringe group, because they believe, good or bad, that Walt had to have
something supernatural or clandestine helping him to achieve thing no normal
human would be capable of accomplishing.
The problem is that as these fringe groups (probably more accurately
described as fringe individuals) long ago invaded the public perception of Walt
Disney, the man, I think somewhat fuel by his initial storytelling medium,
fantasy and fairy tales. I think looking
back throughout the history of the human race you can find many examples of
fantasy, fairy tales, and mysticism invade and eventually dominating the public
views on these many examples. I have
written this before, but I know, personally, the public perception of Walt
Disney has been invaded by this tendency toward mysticism; I can frequently be found in public sporting
my WDFM regalia, and it is not uncommon that I am approached by individual with
questions about Walt, rarely are they questions not involving the myth or urban
legend that surround him. My goal, and
that of many other amateur or professional Walt Disney Historians to whom I’ve
spoken, is to dispel these mystical claims and urban legends, with accurate
information and details and thoughtful reasonable analysis based on the data.
So now on to Sam
Gennawey’s book WALT
AND THE PROMISE OF Progress City and
what I found to be revelatory. Sam wrote
of a concept in architecture of “a quality without a name.” You can’t explain it, you just know it’s
right when you see it. Well, I think we
can expand the concept of that ‘quality without a name’ well beyond
architecture, to life or human existence overall. Every day, often without even realizing it,
we see, hear, or in some way experience that ‘quality without a name’ in so many
different aspects of our lives. We have
some experience, and without understanding why, it just feels right.
Without trying to
invoke any canonical theories, I think Walt Disney, consciously or
instinctively, understood this quality better than many, if not most, people of
his era. He expressed that vision, not
only in the projects he chose, but the people he chose to work on those projects,
and the final product. He just knew when
his vision was right, and being presented the way he saw it. I have heard many of the people, who worked
with Walt, claim that he would ask them to do things they had never done before. Not just things within their respective
discipline, but things that were complete outside their area of expertise. I’ve heard a couple of time from Disney Legend X Atencio, a Disney Animator and later WED Imagineer, of Walt
tapping him to write the music and lyrics for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride
at Disneyland. X has been quoted as
saying, “I didn't even know I could write music, but somehow Walt did. He
tapped my hidden talents." Do you
think Walt was just guessing, or did he see something no one else saw? Given all that I have learned, I don’t think
Walt was guessing. Additionally, to the
best of what I’ve heard… Walt never
showed any disappointment to those who tried and failed to bring his visions to
life, only those who said they couldn’t do it, without at least trying. And…
He always understood that his visions were limited by available
technologies, and always had his people pushing the envelope of what they
thought was possible.
Where Walt Disney express
the belief that when a movie was finished and in the can, he considered himself
done with it and ready to move on to the next project, his theme park ideas
were living and breathing… evolving things.
I do wonder if he’d have felt the same way today, as we seen some of the
early 90s animated features being released in the 3D format? I’ve seen a number of movies from other
producers re-released in 3D, and I have been generally disappointed. These many of these movies have had scenes
redone, and storylines changed even a little to exploit the advantages of 3D,
and throw images at the audience. Disney
has been doing type of 3D for years at the theme parks. Muppets 3D, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, and
Mickey Philharmagic come to mind, with Honey and Philharmagic throwing in a 4th
D with scents and water added for interesting effective. Because of this, and my experience with other
3D movies, many of which I find be produced just for the 3D effective and
having weak a story at best. Even
Disney’s A Christmas Carol was a bit of a disappointment because of what I
considered to be the use of 3D for 3D alone, adding little if anything to the
story. The only saving grace there was a
very good story. But, as I reported in
an early post, I recently had the opportunity to see the re-release of Beauty
and the Beast in 3D, and was very pleasantly surprised to find the Walt Disney
principle of plussing an attraction was at play. The 3D effects enhancing the story and not
taking it over. I think I will have to
look to watch more of these re-releases.
I have to wonder if
Walt Disney wouldn’t have chosen to re-release some of his now classic films,
if he could have plussed them with newly available technologies. Most people, who know Walt’s story, know that
he temporarily shelved Mickey’s first cartoon, “Steamboat Willie” while he
and his guys figured out how to apply the new sound technology becoming
available. But, many are unaware that “Plane
Crazy”, Mickey’s second talkie, was
in the can before “Steamboat Willie” as a silent
cartoon. “Plane
Crazy” had fared poorly in an early
test viewing, and failed to pick up a distributor, so Steamboat Willie became
the first Mickey cartoon. Or was it? J After the
success of Steamboat Willie, and following the releases of “The Gallopin’ Gaucho” and “The Barn Dance”,
“Plane Crazy”
resurfaced as a talkie and Mickey’s fourth appearance. So, at least in my opinion, I think that Walt
would have considered re-releasing his canned features, if he thought he could
honestly plus the story and experience.
Since I’m having
such a wonderful time focusing more on Walt Disney himself, and I’ve learn so
much about Walt during the last year or so, when next we meet, I’m going to be looking
at this ‘Quality without a Name’ in Walt’s visions for Disneyland and beyond.
Your comments or questions
are always welcome. If you have a
correction or something you think I should look at in my research, please feel
free to contact me at mr.grumpyguy@gmail.com
