Moose: Chapters From My Life by Robert B. Sherman

Yes, I have been away for awhile.  Some might say that I lost my muse, but, more appropriately… My focus and activity has been necessarily elsewhere.  More about that in another future post…  For now, I am fulfilling a promise made a while back:

Anyone who knows me, know of my interest in and love for all things Disney.  That love and interest lead to a membership in the Walt Disney Family Museum, and a rare opportunity to meet and hear from many Disney Legends and Luminaries.  One such Legend was in the person of Richard Sherman:  One half of the Sherman Brothers team of Disney lore.  Think “It’s A Small World” or maybe you remember a little movie they wrote the music for: “Mary Poppins.” Richard has been most kind and generous with his time and stories to members of the Museum, and served to remind me just how much he and his brother Robert B. Sherman had really influenced my life from a very early age.  Actually, if you have visited a Disney theme park, viewed any number of films or stage plays, you have been influenced in some way by the Sherman Brothers’ magic.    Meeting Richard left me with a great desire to one day meet his brother, Robert.

In the 2002 Robert, with his youngest son Robbie, moved to London after losing his beloved wife Joyce the year earlier.  In March of 2012 we lost Robert and the age of 86, and thus dashed my chances of ever having the privilege of meeting Robert, in this life.  However, shortly after learning of Robert’s passing, I was fortunate to be accepted in to a group on Facebook dedicated as a tribute site to the Sherman Brothers, run by Robert’s youngest son Robbie.  I have been able to learn much more about the Sherman Brothers, and in particular Robert through this site and my interactions, and somewhat to my surprise, I have been able to provide some of my own insights that have been found of value to some.  I am most thankful that Robbie, in particular, has found value in some of my input.  The relationships that I have had the great and rare fortunate chance to grow out of my association what that site are amazing, and would fill a post all by themselves.  All I can say right now is a deep and personal Thank You to Gregg, Jeff and Wendy, Laurie, and very especially to Robbie for the kindness, generosity, and friendship you have all shown me over the last couple of years.  It has meant more than any of you might realize.  Tracy, you are still on my “Still to Meet” list.

Anyway, to the book, it was through my association with the Sherman Brothers page that I learned that Robert had written and autobiography – Moose: Chapters From My Life, and the Robbie, as editor, was working toward getting it published for his Dad, posthumously.  I have two copies of this book in my collection, a working copy that I use for research, and a 2^nd hard bound copy which is part of my treasured signed collection of Disney related books.  As I said earlier, I was never able to meet Bob in person, so his book is most fittingly signed by the person, whose tireless efforts got it published, the editor… Robbie Sherman – Thank You again!

I am not going to reveal many, if any, details from the book, you should read and discover for yourself the truly amazing history of this man and to some degree his Brother and the team we know today as the Sherman Brothers.  This is not what many would consider a traditional biography, auto or otherwise.  It is a personal story, told by a master storyteller; about a life lived in both private and public, sometimes even very publicly, one of the challenges of being a publicly known figure.  This is the story of a man of many lives and many talents, some that not many know much about.  This is the story about a man who was often more charitable of his assessments of others than he was his own person experiences.  Yet, even so, he exposed what he felt were his own flaws with an honesty that is both charitable and understanding tone.  If you want to learn about a man, from the man himself, and more about what made him the incredible individual he was than just all that he did, this is the book for you.  And to the editor ;-), I disagree; I think the last chapter is as important a read as the first.  This is more than just a story about a man we should all want to know more about, it is a story about a man who all man should aspire to emulate.

As you might gather, I highly recommend this book for any Disney fan, or Sherman Brothers fan, and remember, “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” 

Finally, for those of you who what to know even more about The Sherman Brothers, you can check out a copy of The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story a documentary about this legendary team, or Walt's Time - From Before to Beyond, a book done in 1998 by Richard and Robert with editorial help another legend – Bruce Gordon.

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

You can find us on Facebook at:  Discovering Disney History on FB

D23 Expo – Day 1

Here we are at the end of Day 1 of the D23 Expo.  Yeah, I know the expo starts tomorrow, but, I’m counting the travel day as Day 1.  My story… my rules.  J

Day started by hitting the road at 6 AM.  We actually got out 10 minutes ahead of schedule…  WOW, how’d that happen?  To the guy on 101 southbound in the Coyote Valley, who had to apply his brakes rather quickly…  You’ll find that happening frequently when you tailgate 4 feet off my bumper at 70.  Dude!!! Learn to back off.  Other than that, it was clean sailing all the way to Paso Robles and our traditional breakfast stop at Jose’s – damn those sausage patties are big, double quarter pounder has nothing on Jose.

By now you’ve all realized, I don’t use I-5 to make my transit to Disneyland.  I prefer the coast route, as its more scenic, and it doesn’t take me all that much longer.  Besides, my grandparents and cousin resident permanently at Conejo Mountain Cemetery, and as I am the only one the travels south regularly, I use the opportunity to stop, visit, and place flowers on just about every trip.  Love you always Nana, Grandpa, and Sean.  So, score first real bonus of the day…  I stop at the same florist on every trip – Camarillo Flower Shop.  Pam called ahead just outside Ventura and ordered our normal three little bouquets.  While Pam was getting some sandwiches next door, I went in to get the flowers.  The gal that owns the shop was working to today and running a little behind.  So, while she was finishing up we were just shooting the breeze, talking about Disneyland, yup, she knows by now where we’re head, and a recent trip with her young  ones, and how she likes that I take the time to stop a visit the family…  not many people do that these days.  Anyway, as she comes out from the back she hands me the flowers, and tells me these are on the house.  She said she was sorry for making me waiting…  really it was that long, but I really appreciate the gift.  I think a little Mickey and Minnie are going to make a stop on the way home.  AND, if you ever find yourself in Camarillo and in need of Flowers, may I strongly recommend Camarillo Flower Shop, 77A Daily Drive, 805-482-2320.  They’re right off of Las Posas Road.

After a nice visit, it was back on the road to Anaheim, and really uneventful, which when driving is pretty good.  Since I’ve started taking 405 down to Katella, its much shorter, time wise.  Have I mentioned I’m not fond of I-5?  Through the central valley or L.A.!!! J

We get to the Paradise Pier Hotel at about 2:30, get the bag, park the car, and check-in.  After waiting about 10 minute for our room to be finished, we head up to the 8^th floor.  Who should get on the elevator right behind us, but ¼ of Mousetaglia, truthfully, it was 2/5’s.  It’s always a pleasure to see Becky, and little Button looked to be plum tuckered out.  But, it was great to see them.  After resting for a few minutes, we headed over the Convention Center to do our Premiere ticket check-in and check out the shopping.  DreamStore was a bit of a bust because we weren’t schedule of admittance until 5:30, and I, nor the girls, want to hang around until then.  So, I trucked it up to the 2^nd floor and checked out the Archive Treasures Store.  Not a couple of nice things.  If anyone shows any interest, I may down a pictures page for the blog???  As I was headed to the escalator, I ran into Don Iwerks.  How do I know this?  I’ve seen him a few times up at the Walt Disney Family Museum.  Very Cool!!!

Just finished watching World of Color from our room, couldn’t see any of the projections, but the fountains and lights are really color sync’d to the music pipe in to our room.  The one thing that stuck me was how amazingly well timed the music is to the water show.  It escaped me when I first saw World of Color, but, seeing it from up high and not seeing the projections made it very apparent, and very cool!

Something new at the Paradise Pier Hotel, maybe at the others too, but, I’m just noticing it.  The shower has a rotating head on it.  As you stand there, the water spray kind of massages your body, again… VERY COOL!

Well, I’m off to bed to get rest for a very busy day to tomorrow.  I’ll try to post as the Expo progresses, but, may well be too tired after very full days.

Hope everyone else is having as Disney-rific days as I am experiencing.  J

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

You can find us on Facebook at:  Discovering Disney History on FB

WDFM – The Art of Tyrus Wong

The session today (June 11, 2011) at the Walt Disney Family Museum was “The Art of Tyrus Wong.”  While Tyrus’ tenure at the Disney Brothers’ Studio, later to become the Walt Disney Studio, was short, it has had a lasting impact on artists and animators to this day.

Disney Legend Tyrus Wong was born on October 25, 1910, and we are fortunate that he is still with us today at 100.  So fortunate, so, that we were actually graced with his presences at today presentation.  While waiting outside the Museum theater, waiting for the afternoon program to start, those of us who arrive early to secure good seats – actually there are no bad seats at this venue, but we do like to get down front – were treated to an early appearance by Mr. Wong as he entered the theater.  Crowd of a about a dozen and half people erupted in applause has Tyrus enter lobby to theater.  At 100, he walked in with the help of a cane, but walking just the same.  Alert and attentive Tyrus, seeming somewhat surprised by this show of affection, stopped momentarily to acknowledge this small crowd before enter the theater proper.  I hope that I am lucky enough at age 70, an event that is not too far off for me, to be as vital as Tyrus appears at 100.  All I can say is, “WOW!!!”  For a little more in-depth profile of Tyrus Wong; Tyrus worked at the Disney Studio for a very short time (1938 to 1941), with his primary contribution being the inspiration artist for the “Bambi” feature.  He started at studio as an Inbetweener.  Inbetweeners will draw in whatever frames are still missing in between the other animators' drawings, and Tyrus noted during an earlier interview with Charles, that he did not enjoy this work.  But, after one of the other animators saw some of Tyrus artwork and took it to Walt, Walt decided that this was exactly the look he wanted for Bambi which was currently in production.  Interestingly, Tyrus was no recollection of ever actually meeting Walt.  After leaving Disney, Tyrus went on to design greeting and Christmas cards, and worked at Warner Bros. from 1942 to 1968 as a production illustrator drawing set designs and storyboard for several movies. Including a few John Wayne movies, which will no doubt please my youngest daughter.  I will repeat what I say earlier;  at 100 Tyrus is an amazingly alert and vibrant individual, the only thing I can say is WOW!!!

Waiting for the theater to open, I got the opportunity to visit with some of the friend I’ve made as a Museum member, like Jeff from Mousetalgia.  Jeff was the 25% of the Mousetalgia crew who made it to this session, as the other 75%, Dave, Becky, and Kristen were at a meet-up at Disneyland.  Thank you Jeff for penning me for the second time, Kristen will always be my first, but, yours’ is just as special.  But to make our wait in line even better, I discovered that the gentleman standing right beside me in line was none other than Disney authority Don Peri, author of such books as Working with Walt: Interviews with Disney Artists, Walt Disney's First Lady of Imagineering Harriet Burns with Harriet’s daughter Pam Burns-Clair, and most recently, Working with Disney: Interviews with Animators, Producers, and Artists.  Getting the chance to spend time talking with a Disney authority of Don’s caliber was just one more amazing opportunity in what has become a seeming less string of amazing opportunities.  Thanks Don for spending a few minutes few me, and thank you Michael for introducing me.

The afternoon’s presentation started off with, the Museum’s Director of Visitor Experience and Interpretation, Donna Tuggle introducing the session Moderation, Charles Solomon, and announcing to the audience – for those not lucky enough to be in the lobby early – that Tyrus Wong and his daughter were special attendees for today’s session.  Charles Solomon is a prominent critic and authority on Animation and its history, and considered a notable and very knowledgeable Disney authority.  We had the honor of attending another session moderated by Charles, where Disney Legends Alice Davis and Marge Champion this last December.

After his foreword; Charles proceeded to introduce the two guest panelists, joining him on the dais – Ralph Eggleston, and Paul Felix.  While you may not recognize the names, I am sure you will be acquainted with their works.  These are two truly talented artist.

Ralph’s filmography includes such Pixar productions as:

·   Up (2009 - Art Director)

·   WALL-E (2008 - Art Director / Production Designer)

·   The Incredibles (2004 - Art Director)

·   Finding Nemo (2003 - Production Designer)

·   Monsters, Inc. (2001 - Visual Development / Story)

·   For the Birds (2000 - Director / voice of Bird)

·   Toy Story (1995 - Art Director)

Paul worked in animation at the Disney Channel, his credits include such programs as:

·   Aladdin (TV series)

·   The Little Mermaid (TV series)

·   Darkwing Duck (TV series)

·   TaleSpin (TV series)

And in Features Animation at Disney, his credits include:

·   Winnie the Pooh (2011 - Art Director)

·   Bolt (2008 – Art Director)

·   Lilo & Stitch (2002 – Production Designer)

·   Brother Bear (2003 - Visual Development Artist)

·   The Emperor's New Groove (2000 – Production Designer)

·   Tarzan (1999 - Principal Location Designer)

·   Mulan (1998 - Character Designer/Visual Development) 

Charles started the session, talking about some of Tyrus’ inspiration as an artist, and show some slides of the Chinese art.  This is where writing becomes difficult; it is a challenge to describe for you the breath taking images that appeared on the screen throughout this session.  I have always been a fan of the Oriental art forms, there is, for me, a natural serenity in the images portrayed, images that emphasize nature and the environment and minimize the importance or dominance of humankind in nature.  Charles went on to display some of Tyrus’ drawings, and any attempt by me to sufficiently describe these works, would be feeble at best.  While these images that, at first blush, may appear to be simple and lacking in detail, they are full of color, depth, and action, with your eye draw right to artist’s desired location in the frame.  It is a truly amazing talent and even more amazing to me, the effect on one’s mind as you observe these creations.  But, instead of this meager attempt to describe this man’s art, I’ve managed to find a web link for Tyrus Wong images where you can see it for yourself.

As the presentation proceeded, Ralph and Paul both spoke of Tyrus’ use of color (warm and cold) and framing a scene to perfection with the use of voids and negative space.  They have both been inspired by Tyrus in their own art, and display examples of where they were inspired.  Ralph even relate how he, and his director of photography on Finding Nemo, made many Xerox copies of Tyrus’ Bambi drawings and hung this all round their office.  They were not sure how they were going to show their underwater world, and studied these Bambi drawings trying to figure out how Tyrus conveyed his images.  Ralph then show us some of his drawings and clips from Nemo, demonstrating how he tried (quite successfully IMO) to emulate Ty’s work.  Paul showed us some of his work, including a watercolor of his from Lilo and Stitch.  Charles pointed out how, when using watercolors or pastels, one wrong stroke and you have to start over.  These are not easy mediums to work in, and again, these are two truly talented artists, as well as the amazing Tyrus Wong.

I believe I have said this before, but it bears repeating;  I now watch animated features and cartoons with a completely new appreciation, know the real effort and talent it takes to bring them to us.

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

On Facebook: Discovering Disney History on FB

A profile of Ron Miller

Ronald William “Ron” Miller was introduced to Diane Disney on a blind date while he was attending USC, where he played left-end on the football team.  After dating for awhile and with the approval of Diane’s parents they were married on May 9^th 1954 in Santa Barbara.  Shortly after marrying, Ron was draft into the Army.  Diane related a story one evening at the Museum that, at her father’s request, she was even there on Disneyland’s opening day.  She was at Fort Ord, in Monterey, where Ron was stationed at the time.  The Miller’s have seven children, Christopher, Joanna, Tamara, Jennifer, Walter, Ronald, and Patrick.  Walter being named after his Grandfather – Walter Elias Disney Miller.

After leaving the military, Ron played a season of professional football for the Los Angeles Rams as a tight-end.  Walt attended two games, seeing his son-in-law get pretty seriously laid out on the field.  Ron related one incident where he was laid out cold in the 1^st quarter and didn’t wake up until the 3^rd.  Walt was pretty sure Ron was going to wind up dead or worse crippled playing pro football, and recommended that Ron come to work for him.  Ron took him up on the offer and went to work at Walt Disney Production as a production assistant.  His first job as a PA was to pick up Tommy Kirk from the studio and deliver him to the location set for old yeller.  Ron learned the movie business from the ground up from his father-in-law, becoming a director, and producer (assistant to executive).  He rose through the company ranks to the position of President in 1980 and Chief Executive Officer in 1983.  Only to be ousted in 1984 by his cousin-in-law, Roy E. Disney, in favor of having the team of Eisner and Wells come in to run the company.

I’ve heard many claims that Ron Miller was an inept manager, and that the studio was bleeding cash from many failures at the box office, and that this was what led to his ouster.  I have found this information on several fan boards, where you can find a wealth of personal opinion on the anything Disney but a real dearth value and accurate data on this particular era in Disney History.  Ron was in the top executive leadership positions of the Walt Disney Productions for a very short time, President for about 4 years, and the top spot - CEO for a about a year. Let’s look at some of the accomplishments of Ron Miller during his very short tenure as President and even shorter term as CEO:

To start with, in 1980 Walt Disney Home Entertainment had its first releases, with Dumbo being the first animated release in 1981.  Disney had its first co-produced picture with Paramount Pictures – Popeye in 1980.  Epcot opened in 1982 with Tokyo Disneyland opening the next, and the Disney Channel, the cable network concept that began in 1977 and was announced in 1981, finally launched in 1983.  But the two events of 1983 and 1984 that I think laid a significant foundation for TWDC and Eisner’s early successes when he came in as CEO and Chairman of the Board, were the creation of Touchstone Films in 1984 and Silver Screen Partners in 1983.

Touchstone Films, later to be renamed Touchstone Pictures was created to the Disney Studios to create films that catered to an different audience then the traditional Disney animated and family friendly fare.  Disney’s earlier attempts to release movies targeted toward more adult audiences under the Disney banner failed to perform even marginally well at the box office, since audiences expected something different from Walt Disney.  With the other studios unencumbered by the expectation of producing a particular film genre, they had a pretty significant advantage competing for the audiences of the period.  While I rather doubt the hyperbolic claims that the Walt Disney Studio was hemorrhaging cash, the financial data doesn’t support this contention.  But, if the studio was losing money, it very well could have been the partially the result of releasing these adult oriented films under Walt Disney Pictures.  One also has to wonder if the movies had any negative impact on the normal stable of movies from Disney because of audience confusions.  Creation of the Touchstone label gave the Walt Disney Productions more options.

Silver Screen Partners is a Limited Partnership created to provide financing and ownership for movies of Walt Disney Pictures and Touchstone.  After associated offering cost and fees, the public offering raised $74 million available for investment in films.  Seven films were produced with Silver Screen Partners investment funds.  Flashpoint, released 8/31/1985, Heaven Help Us, 2/8/85, Volunteers, 8/16/85, Sweet Dreams, 10/2/85, Head Office, 1/3/86, The Hitcher, 2/21/86. And Odd Jobs, 3/7/86.  Total investment from the partnership for these pictures was $73.8 million.  I can’t find box office figures for the first and last film, but the middle 5 grossed about $45 million.  Giving more credit than if probably due, and assuming a simple average of the other 5, I’ll estimate the box office for the first and last of about a rather generous $8.1 million.  I only do this to demonstrate that, with a rather generous estimate, these films grossed about $61 million, well short of the $73.8 million invested.  One might look at this as an abject failure, however, from Walt Disney Productions’ perspective this was a win.  Disney got to produce these movies, on the chance they would be box office smashes, without having their resources or income statement, on the line.  Why was this possible?  While I haven’t done a detail investigation of SSP, I suspect that it was formed to take advantage of tax codes of the period.  Now with a bit of tip to my proletariat upbringing, these tax codes allow people with too much money to invest in activities suspected to be losing ventures, what we all know are tax shelters.  This limited partnership was successful enough from TWDC point of view that the partnership saw an SSP II, III, and IV offered, and stayed active until the tax laws changed in 1998.  There will be more on this in future articles about the next period in Disney history.  But for now, I think Ron Miller deserves a great deal more credit for laying a solid foundation for his successors’ and the company’s financial success in his short 4 years at the helm, instead of the bashing he seems to take among uninformed detractors that he was inept or ineffective as Disney President of CEO.  Would the Eisner/Wells team have succeeded so quick, had Ron taken a different coast before he was deposed?  I don’t think so.

Then there was the greenmail and corporate raid that was being attempted in 1984 by investor Saul Steinberg, with the intention of breaking up the company and selling off the pieces.  Roy E. resigned his board position and mounted his first “Save Disney” campaign leading to Ron’s ouster and replacement with Michael Eisner and Frank Wells at the head of the company.  Again this takeover attempt is touted by many as evidence of Ron’s ineffectiveness in leadership and a failing company.  While this may be a popular notion of corporate raids, fostered by movies like Pretty Woman and Wall Street, the truth in this case is that the Disney Company was worth more in separate pieces than as a whole operation.  The studio was probably being the weakest performer at the time, not surprisingly because Ron’s initiatives to correct the studio’s performance issues had only recently been instituted and yet to produce any real results.  Again, I have to challenge whether Eisner and Wells would have been able to enact their “turn around” strategies as successfully without Touchstone and SSP in place upon their arrival.  So, the takeover attempt was not a result of a failing company, but rather, and solid success company experiencing a momentary downturn and undervaluation in the market.  Those conditions create a perfect and prime target for corporate raiders.

I would content the Ron was a victim, so to speak, of his own success, not the inept or ineffective leader, as many claim.  It is impossible to say now, but, it is my opinion that The Walt Disney Company we all know today would not exist today with the actions of Ron Miller back in the earlier 80’s.  He deserves far more credit the he is receiving today.

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

Company History – The Next Chapter

Let spend some discussing what brought the Walt Disney Company to current incarnation.

Sadly, we have reached a point where our two founding fathers or brothers in this case, have passed on.  Walt Disney in 1966, while planning for his next great adventure in Florida, and Roy O. Disney in 1971,  shortly after completely the first installment of his brother’s dreams for Florida.

In 1968 Donn Tatum was promoted to the position of President at Walt Disney Productions (later to become the Walt Disney Company), it appears that Donn shared the duties of President with Roy O until his death in 1971.  This would make sense, as Roy was busy bringing Walt Disney World’s first park, The Magic Kingdom, from dream to reality.  I imagine Donn was more responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Company as a whole, but there is a void in the information available for the Disney Company during this period.  Upon Roy death in 1971, Donn ascended to the top leadership role for, the then, Walt Disney Productions, become the CEO and Chairman of the Board, with Esmond Cardon “Card” Walker assuming the post of President.  Prior to becoming President Card served as Executive Vice President and COO. When Donn retired in 1976 Card assumed the role of CEO, with Ronald W. Miller, Walt Disney’s Son-In-Law, ascending to the position of President a few years later, in 1980, and the CEO in 1983 upon Card Walkers retirement.  Donn Tatum remained Chairman of the Board until 1980, with Card Walker holding the position from 1980 until 1983.   Ron Miller never achieved the COB position, and with a major shake-up, and some family strife, was ousted from all leadership responsibilities in favor of the incoming management team of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells.  More on the Eisner/Wells era later.

Unfortunately, there is not a much else to be said factually about the Disney history for the years 1972 through 1984.  Apparently, Donn Tatum and Card Walker, who have both passed on, did not leave memoires and the time at Disney, and no one has been able to get Ron Miller to sit down and talk while he is still with us.

Note for Ron Miller if you happen to read this…  I would love to be the person you sit down with to relate your Disney experiences too, but please, do sit down with someone.  You are an amazing person, and an invaluable well of information for a period in the Disney history where little is available now.

So unless TWDC (The Walt Disney Company) green lights a book or access to the Archives for a book on the Disney history of this era, there is not much information available to do a reasonable assessment of this period, and we’ll need to examine the rumor and innuendo that have become the pseudo-facts of the period, trying to make some sense of the period.  I have tried to piece together a coherent analysis of the period with the extremely limited information available.

The couple of actual facts we can address are, one, there were 58 feature movies released between 1972 and 1983, and three of which were animated.  In comparison there were 60 features released in the preceding 11 year period, with 4 being animated.  No significant difference there, but, I think it should be noted that with film production schedule taken into consideration, some of the movies released during the early Tatum/Walker period began production during the preceding management’s reign, as well as movies released in the early Eisner era were green-lit during his predecessor’s administration.  Since I have been unable to find any consistent or reliable financial documentation online to assess individual film success, I’m am left to assume for now that the financial success of film released between 1972 and 1988 is relatively comparable to the period of 1960 to 1971.  I have heard claims on a few fan boards that the Disney Studio was hemorrhaging cash during the time that Ron Miller was president, but I can’t find evidence to support that claim, and the historical stock price for that period do not support that contention either.  In 1984, before his departure, Ron Miller is credited with creating the Touchstone label to allow the Studio to get into the productions of movies not normally associated with the Disney name.  Touchstone’s first release was the resounding success, Splash.

During Card Walker time as CEO, Epcot opened at Walt Disney World as its second gate, at a cost estimated to be between 800 million and 1.4 billion dollars.  While Epcot never approached the level of Walt Disney’s original concept for EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow), I think Epcot along with the opening of Tokyo Disneyland the following year, and the recreation of Touchstone really set the stage for the creation of the entertainment mega-corporation known today as The Walt Disney Company (TWDC).

Before we start looking at what became TWDC a few years after Ron Miller, the last Disney family member. left the executive management of Walt Disney Productions.  It should probably be noted that Roy E. Disney, Roy O’s son, had, in 1977, resigned the board position he’d held since 1967 and left the company.  But, I’ll be doing a more in depth profile of Roy E in a later posting.  But for now, what lead to Ron’s departure?

Since I don’t have memoirs or other documentation of the period to know exactly what happened, I’ve got to use more subjective information.  Fortunately, the best I could find is pretty good.  I was able to find historical stock price information from 1962 to present.  While it doesn’t tell you what was going on, fluctuation in closing prices and timing to known events can give you a pretty good idea.  With a split adjusted price of about $37 a share in January 1962, the stock rose to a price of about $100 a share in October of 1967.  This would indication to most analysts that the company’s financial performance was good.  In Oct ’67 the company announced to 2 for 1 stock split.  For those who may not be financial savvy, that would give each shareholder one additional share of stock for each one he or she owned before the split.  The value of your holding doesn’t change, just the number of shares you own.  Shares are revalued to account for the new shares available, so a stock valued at $100 before a split would now be worth $50 post split.  I only point this out because I have seen analysis done by untrained individuals that conclude a serious financial problem when witnessing a significant drop in stock price related to a split.   So through the end of the 60’s the stock continued to do quite well, and another 2 for 1 stock split occurred in March of 1971.  This is fairly easy to assess this we know several fact of the period.  Shortly before his death in 1966, Walt Disney announced the acquisition of several 1000’s of acres in central Florida, about 27,000 acres, which has grown to almost 33,000 today.

With the major addition to the corporate balance sheet created by the land acquisition, Walt and Roy’s penchant for proving financial people wrong, and the prospect of the associated increase in future earnings, it is relatively easy to understand why the stock continued to rise into the early 1971, even with the passing of one of the founders, and creative force behind the company earlier successes.  Armed with Walt’s plans, Roy was able to muster the creative forces Walt had developed be bring an east coast Disney experience to life, and the company was rewarded amply for the effort in increased stock value.  Even though Roy O passed away shortly after the Magic Kingdom open at Walt Disney World, the success of the park provided for the company’s performance to continue to increase stock value, and another 2 for 1 stock split occurred in January 1973.

After the 73’ stock split, the stock dropped to a low of $19 in beginning of December 1974.  As memory serves, we were in a recession around that timeframe, created by the 1973 oil crisis and the costs from waning gasps of the Vietnam War.  So, barring actually documentation to the contrary, one would assume that this recession, coupled with nothing in the way of significant advancement from the company, was the majority contributory factor to this decline in stock value.  Tracking Disney stock prices against the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) of the time we can see a direct correlation, with Disney actually performing better than the Dow on several occasions.  This would lead me to conclude that, while there were no really significant positive corporate events that would elevate stock prices during this period, there were also no negative events as well.  Much like any sitting President of the United States gets credit or blame for current events that are really outside of his (one day soon I’ll have to use the his/her describer) control, the same often befalls the presidents and CEO’s of corporate organizations.  Stock prices is one of those items considered to be under a CEO’s controlled, even though these stock values are as much controlled by the current global economic conditions, as by a company’s executive leader.

So now we move to the rift that led to a family to a Disney family split. 

In 1977, Roy E. Disney left the company, citing poor product quality and issues with manager as his motivation, but did maintain his board position.  So, he was not there for day-to-day operations when Cousin-In-Law Ron Miller became President in 1980.  One does wonder if Roy may not have been in line for that promotion, had he stayed.  With the company, his Father and Uncle founded, was facing a corporate raid and greenmail attempt in 1984, Roy from the Board of Director in 1984, a position he’d held since 1967, to launch his first “Save Disney campaign, citing lack of creative quality, poor use of company resources as his reasons for pursuing an ouster of current management – his cousin-in-law, Ron.  The campaign which was successful, led to the installation of the Eisner/Wells team as the new management team.

In our next blogisode, we’ll profile Ron Miller, who in my opinion is probably the least appreciated of the Disney company leaders.

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

WDFM - The Evolution of Mickey Mouse

Since I’ve seen a number of threads on various fan forums about a new talking Mickey being testing at Disneyland, I figured it was time to get this piece finished and posted.

In November, the Walt Disney Family Museum welcomed Walt Disney Company Executive Vincent Vedrenne to the Museum to talk about the “Evolution of Mickey Mouse.”

The session opened with Museum Executive Director, Richard Benefield telling us that Mickey Mouse was about to turn 82, and that the first Mickey cartoon showed on November, 18^th 1928.  As Richard is telling us just how important Mickey is to the Museum, and about a potential symposium on him (that would be so cool) and how much Mickey has been study during his life, he showed us a copy of Natural History magazine from 1979, with a picture of Mickey on the cover.  The magazine contained an article from, as Richard described him, “rock star” scientist Stephen Jay Gould, discussing Mickey Mouse’s neotenic features.  Where else are you going to be challenged with terms like neotenic or neoteny?  Okay since it was hard to write fast enough to capture Richard’s definition, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Neoteny (pronounced /niːˈɒtɨniː/), also called juvenilization, is the retention, by adults in a species, of traits previously seen only in juveniles (a kind of pedomorphosis), and is a subject studied in the field of developmental biology. In neoteny, the physiological (or somatic) development of an animal or organism is slowed or delayed (fallaciously, seen as a dilation of biological time). Ultimately this process results in the retention, in the adults of a species, of juvenile physical characteristics well into maturity. The English word neoteny is borrowed from the German Neotenie, the latter constructed from the Greek νέος (young) and τείνειν (tend to). The standard adjectival form is "neotenous",^[2] although "neotenic" is often used.

Who knew?  Well, I guess Stephen Jay Gould knew, and he made the association with Mickey Mouse.  I really do learn something new every day, and Richard went on to introduce our guest speaker: Vincent Vedrenne is a Walt Disney Company vice president in Corporate Franchise Management, overseeing the business and creative strategy of Disney’s core character franchises; Mickey, Pooh, Princesses, Fairies, and Cars, and responsible for creating consistent business strategies for the promotion of Disney’s most beloved characters.  Vincent has been tasked, by Bob Iger and John Lassiter, to focus on optimizing and protecting, as he puts it, “the world’s most beloved characters.

Vincent opened by telling us that Mickey Mouse was an almost instance success.  His name appearing on movie house billboards in lettering as big as the feature films.  The Disney Brothers Studio received 1000’s of fan letters within the first three week.  And that Mickey Mouse was not just a big hit in the USA, but a worldwide phenomenon.  Mickey is probably one of the most studied animated characters in our culture; academia is still trying to understand his appeal, with no one theory winning out. After watching all 346 cartoon shorts, Vincent has some of his own theories, and broke down the periods in the development of Mickey Mouse.

Our first period of examination Vincent called, Mouse gags – 1928 to 1942 – 87 Shorts were produced.

During this period Mickey was the primary subject of these shorts, with appearance and interaction with Minnie and Pluto.  Two of the shorts mentioned were Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy.  Mickey smoked, drank, and, as Vincent put it, brutalized animals.  These were acceptable activities during this period in our history.  We got to see some of the examples of cartoons from this period.  Vincent explained that Mickey Mouse in “Steamboat” Willie was modeled (as Walt wanted) after Charlie Chaplin, whereas Mickey in “Plane Crazy” was modeled (by Ub Iwerks) after Douglas Fairbanks.  Ultimately Walt’s Charlie Chaplin model won out.

Next we move to the Comic Trio period of 1936 to 1940, where 16 shorts were produced.

Here with so many other Mickey Mouse shorts done, to broaden available subject material and keep the audience engage, Donald Duck and Goofy were created.  Both characters were alter egos of Mickey’s former self, Donald being the tantrum throwing, angry little rascal, and Goofy the personification of ignorant bliss.  To demonstrate this interaction we got to see a clip from 1938’s “Mickey’s Trailer”

In 1939 the studio started making character specific cartoons, and from 1939 to 1953 Mickey got another 14 shorts. During this period Donald became very popular and from 1939 to 1956 he got 135 shorts of his own, with Goofy getting 23 shorts from 1941 to 1953, which Vincent called Goofy’s Lessons and 16 shorts from 1951 to 1953 he called Goofy the Family Man.  Interesting note from the Goofy’s lessons period, we learned that during the production of these shorts, the voice actor (Pinto Colvig from my research) for Goofy had left the studio.  Without the voice for Goofy, Disney decided to use Goofy as the subject of these lessons while using a narrator to explain what was happening.  Finally from 1937 to 1951 we see 55 short produced which Vincent called Pluto’s Misadventures.

We learned that the last Mickey Mouse cartoon was short was made in 1953, and another interesting fact was revealed by Mr. Vedrenne.  The studio stopped regular production of cartoon shorts because the theaters stopped paying for them.  Theater owners and distributors felt that audiences were now coming for the main features and not the shorts, so they discontinued paying for the shorts.  If the studios wanted to include shorts as a bonus feature, that was fine.  Without a revenue source, there was no incentive to produce new shorts.  Disney also released they had a large library which they could begin to recycle.  So with the exception of “The Prince and the Pauper” in 1990 and a “Runaway Brain” in 1995 there has been little Mickey Mouse production in the last 30 years.

Disney (the company) understands the value of Mickey and his friends, hence Mr. Vedrenne’s position at the company, and is looking at how to address the desire from the fans to see more of these characters today.  One of the things they are doing to address this desire, is to repackage the Disney character cartoon in a program called “Have a Laugh” the first two DVD’s have been released (yes, they are already in my collection), and the “Have a Laugh” cartoons have started running in-between popular show on the Disney Channel.   Disney has found that for most viewers today, they lose interest after about three to 4 minute.  So the “Have a Laugh” shorts on the Disney Channel have been edited down to about three minutes.  On the DVD’s both the shortened and original versions of the shorts are included.  It is very cool!

And finally, the reason I decided to finish this one up.  As I opened, there has been a bit of post traffic on several of the fan forums about the new talking Mickey at the Disneyland Park.  They have been testing a new articulated Mickey head which is also able to talk in Mickey’s voice.  We got to see a little 3 minute video of one of the test sessions.  What appeared to be a toddler of about 3 or 4 went rushing up to Mickey as he welcomed him verbally.  The smile from the child was ear-to-ear, but the look on the mother’s face was priceless! 

I think we have a lot to look forward during our future trips to the Parks.

And I’m always anticipating my time at the Museum!

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