Recent Thoughts of Walt Disney

I have been away from my blogs for quite awhile now.  Quite contrary to the thought that I have nothing to write, the truth is that there are so many things happening in our world today, that focusing on a particular thought has become quite a challenge for me.  I have still continued to do my research and association with the people that help to spur on my fascination with the amazing individual.  So today I am going to try to concentrate on some thoughts on Walt Disney that have had an impact on my life and how I see it.

Walt Disney has become, truly, an enigmatic figure in our culture. People have studied him and his life for years trying to pinpoint that quality that would best description the man and his life.  It seems that, of late, there has been an approach in the general public to portray his life’s activities in as negative a light as possible by interpreting events of his historical activities though a lens of current day standards.  Most of these conclusions are draw on rather singular events in Walt Disney’s life.  Yes, there are people who have dug up factoids in support of their claims, and I am not going to discuss them here other than to point out some of the fallacies in their claims.  If you want to review any of these claims, they can be found quite easily via Google searches.

 Instead of discussing these spurious claims and the supporting evidence, both pro and con, I am going to discuss what I believe to be the essence of who Walt Disney was and some of why some people try so hard to damage that view.  First the more negative aspect because I, selfishly, want to leave this piece with more positive note of what my many years of research has left me with understanding.

Unlike many research historians, I don’t approach any single topic with a singular focus.  Time and experience has taught me, I believe, that the world we live in is so interconnected that, to truly understand history we have to approach each and every event with a much more open mind of how many multiple, seemingly unconnected, events effect the accurate interpretation of a person.  One of the great challenges with historical interpretation is that we tend to want to view historical events through the prisms of our own lives and experiences, and there are some interpretations that have become so ubiquitous that we apply their principles to our views without much thought.  I won’t discuss what those pieces might be, as I think most people are either aware, or will find offense with the notion.  But, even more in recent years we have found these principles taking hold in our thinking about many things.  I wrote a piece earlier in this blog about the Apotheosis of Walt Disney, and I think that view has spurred others to produce interpretations to counter it.  I don’t necessarily think these people are trying to malicious, but rather, see what they do as a defense of their own God(s) by pointing out their perceived fault of Walt.

True of the matter is that Walt Disney was a man and nothing more.  Talk to anyone who knew him, or has researched his history with an open mind, and that fact will quite often be born out.  I have had the great honor and opportunity to talk with a number of these individuals, and never come away with any thought other than Walt Disney was a man with an incredible thirst for knowledge, and a consummate storyteller, with an almost uncanny ability to understand what his audiences wanted, and the ability to encourage those around him to produce to levels that even they didn’t see in themselves.  Was he always right, no…  but,

I think I have discovered that one word that best describes the man and his legacy, HOPE!

Whether it is his films, animated or live action, his theme park, his dreams of EPCOT, or any of his many other activities that I have had the honor to learn about…  I am, and I think many others who are honest with themselves, left with a feel of hope.

 

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

Answer to a reader

I recently receive the comment below from a reader, I am not going to publish the name here, but if you choose to go digging, you can find the reader’s Name.  I try diligently not to censor comments, except where I find them completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.

Hi, I know you wrote this back in 2011, but I had to comment because I can't understand how you don't see why people say he was a mason. Ok, first of all, have you ever seen Disney's animations? I imagine you have. Every single one of them contain subliminary messages with sexual content, mostly. There are hundreds of videos on YouTube to back me up. The connection I can make between WD and freemasonry without even trying hard is that the last one clearly worships the devil. A man who fills (or allows people to fill) his work with filthy content can't love God. Another thing I believe you've found out by now, since it's one of your hobbies. Believe me, they do not worship God, so you can easily realize who they really worship. Just to be clear, I'm not a conspiracy theory believer, but I do believe you can't deny what's right on your face. Sorry about my poor English. What I want to say to you is, please don't be so naive to think he was just a sweet, brilliant and respectable old man, it's clearly more complicated than that. Maybe not a mason, ok, but he was obviously connected with something bad, which is what really matters here.

To this reader, I don’t see why people continue to say Walt Disney was a Mason.  Having been raise around a few Mason in my youth, I know that, while somewhat secretive about what happens in the lodges regard their craft, I have never found Mason to be deliberately secretive about their association with the craft.  Most Masons that I know freely display the symbolic trappings of their association.  With that said, and my 10+ years of research, I have found only two verifiable Masonic associations.  One is the reference by Roy Disney, in his biography by Bob Thomas, which he states he was a Mason and gave up his membership in order to avoid creating any conflicts with his future Daughter-In-Law’s Catholic views.  The second being a single DeMolay membership card for Walt on display and the Walt Disney Family Museum.  In all the pictures I have seen over the last decade, I have not seen one displaying the symbolic association that I see regularly on display with other Masons I know.  Given all my research and unless someone can present real evidence to the contrary, I will stand by my assessment that Walt Disney was not a Freemason.  I think the whole Masonic association has been created in order to square stories people want to believe about Walt Disney and the rather secretive nature of the Masonic Order make the fabrication easier to sell.  As to whether others in the Walt Disney organization were Masonic members, as that has never been a topic of interest or research to my knowledge.  So I too have not bothered to pursue it.

As for the claim of filthy content, I think this claim, while somewhat accurate, is seriously overblown.  I think many people have made some associations with art work in some releases that is more than is present.  In others there is a frame here and there that may be of a more risqué nature.  However, I think it’s important to note that in the average theatrically released animation feature, there are around 130,000 individually created cells.  If we look at those features release while Walt was alive, that would put the cell count at in excess of 2 million piece of artwork.  I think it is a ludicrous notion to assume that Walt Disney himself reviewed every single cell that went into each of his features.  Now, I know found my research that animation artists can have a rather interesting sense of humor, and have from time to time admitted to sneaking risqué frames into their animations. According to my research, when Walt did discover the inclusion of this risqué content, he made sure it was removed, and I think we do a disservice to history when we try to judge past events based on currently morals and standards.  There are many cases where something that was acceptable behavior long ago, are no longer acceptable by today’s norms.  Also interestingly, most of the more sexually oriented ones have been in features release years after Walt’s passing, and I think unfairly attributed to Walt.

Finally, with regards to what I think of Walt Disney, I do not delude myself into thinking that Walt Disney was a saint.  He was a very creative and talent, forward thinking individual, but he was a man, just a man and fallible like any other man.  I think that we have many individual who have attempted to deify the man, and as such has caused many in the religious community to try to demonize him in defense of their particular God.  Anyone who has really done the research on Walt Disney, I think will tell you that, while he was a very detail oriented individual; he had some many different interests and activities, that he didn’t allow himself to get bogged down in the day to day minutiae of his businesses.

My job as an historian, amateur or not and Disney relate or otherwise, is to present my findings as unbiased as possible.

 

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

 

 

News from the Walt Disney Family Museum

I haven’t written much about the Museum lately, as I’ve been spending more time exploring and trying to deal with a few of my own demons.  But, there has been some big news from there in the last couple of days.  The now former CEO of the Walt Disney Family Museum resigned her position early last week.  I know it’s pretty recent because, until just the other day, Gabriella Calicchio was still listed as the CEO on their website.

I have remained pretty mum on the management of the Museum, and in particular, Ms Calicchio’s tenure which I have had some real concern about.  However, those who may have read my reviews of the Destination-D event this last August, will remember that I was none too please with Ms. Calicchio’s presentation at that event.  At the time, I said I was addressing my concerns through other channels, and I did … But, I can say now that there were many Museum members in that audience, and most express their concern and rather hurt feeling that we completely overlooked in amongst her other audience acknowledgements, and were very disappointed to learn of the rather important Snow White exhibition coming to the Museum through the D23 event and not through Museum communications.  One would have thought that the Museum members would be the first to learn of such an event.  After that session, I seemed to become a lightning rod for questions from the members in attendance, wonder WTH that was that we had just witnessed.  I addressed those concerns from the presentation directly to the Co-Founder of the Museum.

Not that I want to pile on, but, now that she is gone I can address all of my concerns more publicly.

First, my very first encounter with the New CEO was after one of the first presentations at the Museum that she introduced.  After the program had concluded and the theater was clearing, Gabriella was down in front at the podium so I went down to introduce myself and welcome her to the Museum.  I felt her curt “Thank you,” and then quick departure was rather cool, but at the time I just chalked it up to be new.  But then, when I did encounter her during other visit, I noticed almost always that she had a cell phone to her ear, or in the company of someone and talking while they walked.  From this and my first encounter, I got the distinct impression that she was cool and unapproachable to the visitors and members.  The former Director – Richard Benefield – always seemed to make time to stop and talk with the Museum’s frequently visitors, and was very approachable.  One of issue which has been on the tongue of many frequent visitors, are the presentation and program offering under Ms. Calicchio’s leadership.  While the program offering have seem to be on the increase, or at least returning to the levels offered during the first year of operations, they seem to be moving away from a Walt Disney centric group of topics.  And finally, there is a serious lack of communications with the Members of the Museum.

One of the things that was always pleased and amazed me about the Museum has been the absolute joy and friendliness of the Museum’s staff and volunteers working the events and galleries.  Again, very approachable, and ready to do whatever they can to make your visit a pleasure.  After a few months on the job for the New CEO, I noticed a difference in the attitudes and personality of most all of the staff and volunteers I encounters.  It was subtle, and probably not visible to all, but the most frequent of visitors.  Then there was the Mad Tea Party event.  Ms. Calicchio had her children in attendance with her at the party, and for the most part, all went well.  However, when her youngest child lost at one of the games that was part of the festivities, and began to sob almost uncontrollably, I saw an expression of tension and fear apparent on the faces of almost all the staff and volunteers present.  There might not be that much to this, but with all that I had already seen in the changes in the staff, this was a bit telling of the CEO’s impact on the organization.  But, probably the most amazing deficit, besides never running a museum, for any person running a Museum dedicated to Walt Disney was the fact that she, until a few months before being appointed CEO, had never visited to one of Walt’s greatest creations – Disneyland.  Now couple, what I consider an epic fail, the Snow White Exhibit presentation panel at the Destination D event, and an almost equally poor public performance during the Snow White Exhibit opening reception for VIP’s and Members at the Museum, and I can say quite publicly that my opinion that Gabriella Calicchio was the wrong person to run the Walt Disney Family Museum, an opinion born out as accurate given her recent abrupt departure.  It should also be noted that the former Director, Richard Benefield, was not very knowledgeable on the subject of Walt Disney, which I believed hampered his effectiveness as the Museum’s leader, even with his strong background in museum development and operations.

To end my review of Ms. Calicchio’s tenure as CEO of the Museum, I’ll close with a few positive notes from her tenure.  During her tenure, the membership roles at the Museum have almost doubled from 1100 to a bit over 2100 members.  An impressive increase, but still lower than I believe they could or should be if a more creative marketing was conducted.  The most impressive improvement is the increased visitors to the Museum’s galleries, given as just over 32,000 visitors in the first quarter of 2013.  A 71% increase over the first quarter in 2012.  These greatly improved numbers are, I think, a result of some changes in policies for those visiting the galleries.  First, the ‘No Photography’ in the galleries has recently been rescinded, and second two benefit visitors with young children, strollers are now allowed in the galleries.  So, I will admit that Ms. Calicchio has had some positive influence during her tenure.

As the search for a new leader of the Walt Disney Family Museum commences, I think it is important for the family to realize that the one issue which created the greatest challenges for its leaders is their lack of knowledge and understanding of legacy and impact of Museum’s primary topic – Walt Disney.  I really hope that the next CEO/Director, or as some of us would prefer – Curator, chosen by the family will be someone with a true understanding and passion for Walt Disney and his legacy.  It would seem to me that a Museum dedicated to Walt Disney needs a leader that can see and promoted a telling of Walt Disney’s life and legacy in a creative way, like the master might have done himself.  Oh all my interactions with the Museum during the last few years, I can think of one person who could fit that bill quite nicely. 

That would the person of Jeff Kurtti, Producer, Director, Author, and noted Disney Authority.  I have had the opportunity to get to know Jeff over the last few years, and have been able to attend most all of Museum programs and panels he has moderated.  I have the pleasure of counting Jeff as a friend today, but would endorse him regardless of that friendship as one of the best qualified to be the Curator of Walt’s legacy.

 

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

 

 

Another Hatchet Job

Every morning there is an email in my inbox that provides me with a list of links to the most recent information to hit the web about anything Disney.  Most mornings it just the last news and rumors about the goings on in the house that Mickey built, but yesterday morning there was something different, and online article at the UK’s Daily Mail site:  Revealed: How the CIA helped Disney conquer Florida and buy super-cheap land that is 'above the law' The article is about a new book “Finding  Florida: The True History Of The Sunshine State” by  investigative journalist Timothy T.D. Allman.  The article provides extract attribution about the book to an article on the Daily Beast.  You can get a feel for the leaning of the article simply by its title, and that of course piqued my interest.  As some will know, at least any of my frequent readers will, I have written about what I called the “Darker side of Walt,” though it should more accurately be call an effort to create a darker side to Walt Disney.  Was Walt a Mason?  Nothing but unsubstantiated claims and innuendo, coupled with a DeMolay membership card from his young adulthood, and a claim in one book that Brother Roy might have been one.  Now know a few Mason in my time, and while they don’t talk about their craft, they also do not hide away the symbolic trappings of their brotherhood.  Illuminati?  Don’t think so!  I don’t think anyone, but the fertile minds of many conspiracy theorists, believes that this group existed, other than a brief period in the late 18^th century.  There’s more, but…

So now we have these new claims from Mr. Allman (my personal opinion withheld) that Walt Disney was in league with, or received help from the CIA in the acquisition of the Disneyworld land in Florida.  The CIA apparently assisted Walt Disney and Company to establish an unconstitutional (Florida and United States) government for the development of the property.  Let’s look at these claims:

Copied from the article:

In Finding Florida he claims that Walt Disney conspired with William 'Wild Bill' Donovan - the so-called 'Father of the CIA' - to establish a state-within-a-state where he could 'control the overall development' of Disney World.

Donovan, founding partner of New York law firm Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, whose attorneys included future CIA director William Casey, provided lawyers to help Disney distract attention from its plans, says Allman.

These attorneys, it is claimed, provided fake identities for Disney agents, set up a secret communications centre and organised a disinformation campaign to make sure sellers had no idea who was buying their property.

In this way, Disney was from the mid-Sixties able to snap up 40 square miles of land in the Sunshine State for a knockdown price of less than $200 an acre.

This very first claim, that Walt Disney conspired with William “Wild Bill” Donovan to create or establish his own government within the Disney World project would seem to be a dubious claim at best.  You see, William Donovan died in February of 1959, and 1959 was the year the Walt Disney started looking for an east of the Mississippi home for Mickey and his friends.  It seems rather unlikely that Walt and “Wild Bill” would be wasting valuable time conspiring to build this clandestine governmental unit when the location of the site was unknown.  Yes, Walt’s company used several law firms, Donovan’s included, to pursue acquisition of the Florida site very quietly, and yes you could say in a clandestine manner.  This would make perfect sense given Walt’s experience with the development of Disneyland.  Anyone, with more than a casual interest in Disney history, knows that Walt Disney became rather disturbed with how the land around Disneyland was snapped up at highly inflated values, and developed rather haphazardly, to take advantage of the current rendition of “Walt’s Folly” because of its rapid success.  The claim at the end of this except is that Disney got the Florida property at a “knockdown price” of less than $200 an acre, when in reality Disney acquired the property for what I think would be considered a “fair market” value, instead of an overly inflated prices which would have accompanied the knowledge that Disney was the buyer.   Coincidentally, a price which also would have almost assuredly dealt a death knell to the project.   

Copied from the article:

Disney and his advisers then sought a way to 'limit the voting power of the private residents' of the area, to control the impact that local democracy might have on the company's plans.

They employed a scheme devised by senior CIA operative Paul Helliwell to establish two phantom cities populated by hand-picked Disney loyalists around which Disney World would be based.

The cities were based around Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, two artificial reservoirs Disney engineers created by obstructing the area's natural water flow.

The company could then 'use these fake governments to control land use and make sure the public monies the theme park generated stayed in Disney's private hands,' Allman writes.

Teams of Disney lawyers working out of Donovan's New York law firm drafted the legislation to establish the two pseudo-cities, which was passed by the Florida legislature in 1967.

Again, a claim of dubious distinction.  As a student of Disney History, I have studied the development of Disney World, later renamed Walt Disney World by Roy O. Disney to honor his decreased Brother.  Yes, there was an effort to limit the bureaucratic influence of a political agenda on the development of the Florida property, but one should be reminded of one of Walt Disney’s primary goal for the Disney World property – EPCOT (Experiment Prototype Community of Tomorrow).  Not the Epcot we know today as a theme park, but rather, Walt’s desire to build an experimental multi-use city using the latest and greatest of new technologies for the benefit of its residents.  I will try to have more on Walt’s EPCOT later, but you can get a feel for his goals in the Walt Disney's Original Plans for Disney World (1966) video on YouTube.  While the entire video is a good view, Walt’s  EPCOT plan starts at about 10:20.   So, I think, contrary to Mr. Allman’s claims, the purpose of the local government entity(s) was to support Walt’s EPCOT goals, by controlling the bureaucratic political influences we see at so many levels of government today in the planning and execution of urban planning today.

Copied from the article:

However, in violation of both the U.S. and Florida Constitutions, the carefully drafted laws specified that any elected office holder must own property within the cities.

The law, which states that each candidate for office 'must be the owner, either directly or as a trustee, of real property situated in the City', ensured any local politician would be intimately linked with Disney.

On the day of the magic kingdom's inauguration, Walt Disney, speaking from beyond the grave in a recorded presentation, boasted of creating a new kind of America.

'Of course he was right about creating a new kind of America,' Allman writes. 'By turning the State of Florida and its statutes into their enablers, Disney and his successors pioneered a business model based on public subsidy of private profit coupled with corporate immunity from the laws, regulations, and taxes imposed on actual people that now increasingly characterises the economy of the United States.'

This allegation of constitutional violation at both the state and federal level would seem to me to be false, since there is no supporting case law that I can find support Mr. Allman’s claim.  Surely there would have been some ruling against it, if it were truly unconstitutional.  Mr. Allman’s book seems to be taking some veiled “facts” to draw a direct connection between Walt Disney, the CIA, and some conspiracy.  I don’t see it, but then, I don’t possess the conspiracy theorists’ ability to make blind leaps of faith that anyone with secrets has something malicious to hide. While I have not read Mr. Allman’s book, and probably won’t, it would seem to me that with the Disney inclusion in his book, he has created something sensational in order to spur on sales.

It is unfortunate that Walt Disney did not live long enough to see his dreams for EPCOT become a reality, and yes it was a rather utopian view of the potential for city life.  I don’t even know if he could have pulled it off, but, if anyone could, it would have been Walt Disney.  And… unfortunately, after Roy O’s passing in 1971, more political forces began to take control of the company that these incredible brothers had built.  Sadly I think, at that point, the dream of Walt’s EPCOT expired, as neither brother was there to champion it.  Has the company taken the fullest advantage of the environment created to support Walt’s plans?  Most definitely, but, should Walt’s reputation and accomplished be smeared because of it, and that some people don’t like it?  I don’t think so.  One of the concerns I’ve had, since my Disney History journey began, is the discovery of all the negative content being circulated about Walt Disney.  It seems to me that there are just some people who have to find ways to tear down successful individuals that they don’t understand or dislike for their achievement.  In everything I have read or listened to, regard Walt Disney – the man, I see a man who really did not have an political or social agenda other than to entertainment and help people with the stories and technologies he enjoyed and discovered throughout his life’s journey, and his inquisitive nature.  Is he a perfect human?  No!  Were there people he irritated, for whatever reason? Yes!  But, none the less, he is a man to be admired and celebrated for effort, not berated.

I write this because I know that, neither the Company Walt built nor his family will address these new found accusations, nor should they.  It would only serve to provide more speculative claim about their agendas to hide the truth.  However, I have no such agendas, I seek the truth, and I am not claiming T.D. Allman’s claim a false.  What I am saying is that, in my experience, claim such as these need documented evidence supporting them, not claims that would not be considered even good circumstantial corroboration.  In my opinion, Mr. Allman’s little treatise is nothing more than another attempt to diminish a great human being.

Next time, as time is available, I’ll try to do a better job of exploring Walt’s EPCOT and what he was thinking about, but in the meantime, the video link is a good start, as are two books on the subject:  WALT and the Promise of Progress City by Sam Gennawey and Project Future by Chad Emerson.  Much more objective journalistic presentations in my opinion

 

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

Creating a Classic Exhibit - Reception and Preview

I was lucky to attend Tuesday night’s opening reception and preview of the new Special Exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic.  It might be better stated, Creation of ‘The’ Classic, for had Walt Disney not had the vision and determination, we wouldn’t be celebrating the 75^th anniversary of Snow White or animation as a feature film storytelling medium.  One could claim that someone would have eventually thought of it, and that is probably true.  Up until the 1970’s Walt Disney Productions was just about the only studio in America producing feature length animated films.  To date, Disney has produced 52 animated features, with 19 being done under Walt Disney’s personal direction.  So, one could genuinely ask, “what classic and which anniversary would we be celebrating this night?” 

The evening started with our normal run up the peninsula from San Jose to San Francisco, only this time it was during the evening commute.  Luckily, I had my lovely wife with me, so through use of the commute lane, our journey was greatly expedited.  So, our arrival at the Museum was about 40 minutes earlier than I expected.  As we walked up to the Museum, people were already lining up at the front door.   I know that Disney fans tend to be early for events, given the day and time of the event, I was a bit surprised until I learned from one of my favorite volunteers (Trish) explained that the people in line now were other VIPs going in earlier than the others who had RSVP’d.  I was surprised because after providing my RSVP, there was no further communications regarding this event or its associated activities, even after being informed that such communications was forthcoming.  

One of my grievances, since the new CEO has taken charge, over the last few months has been a quantity and quality of member communications coming from the Museum.  Ms. Calicchio, this really needs to be address, as I am not the only one concerned about this issue.

The reception:  Shortly after the VIP’s were ushered into the event, Membership Coordinator – Pam Spedus (a woman of inestimable value to the Museum staff) came out to usher the half dozen or so Founding/Friends Member who had arrived early.

While I always look forward to seeing all the friends I have made through the Walt Disney Family Museum, there was one person, I knew she would be present, who I was anxious to see, as I had promised her a great big hug the next time I saw her.  So, while I may have appeared somewhat distant to many others, I walked through the crowd, scanning for Sheri.  You see, she is the person responsible for my recent visit to Club 33 (post for that coming soon), and I will never be able to thank her enough for her generosity.  After a few minutes of scanning the rooms, and a query of one of the volunteers, I spotted her, and that great big hug was delivered.  Note to self:  self don’t wait soon long to say thank you in the future.  My night could have been considered complete at this point, with the exception of visiting the Special Exhibition building and Snow White, but, it got even better.  While working the room (actually I wasn’t, but it probably looked that way to some) and visiting with other people I’ve met of the last few years, I came upon Disney Legend and recent Window on Main Street recipient, Alice Davis having a conversation with another person.  I’d seen her enter the building early, but did not get a chance to say Hi, and tell her what a fan I was of hers and Marc’s work.  I’ve been a big fan of Alice’s, and her husband, Disney Legend Marc Davis, for a number of years.  Her husband Marc brought my favorite crush to life – one Ms. Tinker Bell.  Alice created, with Mary Blair, the costumes for “It’s A Small World” and later “Pirates of the Caribbean.”  I’m not the type to interrupt someone while they are talking, so, I figured I hang in the group around her for a moment to see if I could get a chance to just say hello.  While I was standing there, I noticed a gentleman over my shoulder, who I’ve been trying to meet for three years, and one of the Co-founders of the Museum, Walt Elias Disney Miller – Walt Disney’s Grandson.  He too, was talking to someone else, so there I was waiting between two people I admire waiting to the chance to say hi to either, when from behind me Diane Disney Miller comes into view.  So, I said hi to her!  Just about then some nice gentleman behind me shepherded me before Alice, telling her that he thought I was waiting to speak with her.  Thank you kind stranger, whoever you were…  I not only got to say hi, but we talked for about 5 minutes.  As I was reaching to shake her hand before moving on she said, “Come here.  You need a hug.”  Then proceeded to give me one wonderful hug!  What a sweet woman!  Next, I was able to get a few minutes with Walter.  I also got to see Ron Miller and daughters, Tammy and Joanna again as well.  So, I haven’t even made to the Exhibit that this night was all about, and evening is a completely awesome day in my life.

It’s now time to head over to the Special Exhibition Building and the ”Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic” exhibit.  Low and behold, as we are walking down the sidewalk, who is coming up the sidewalk toward us?  None other than John Lasseter!  Wow… aren’t I clever, “Hey you’re John Lasseter!”  But, he stopped and shook my hand anyway.  On to the exhibit… If you get to do one thing in San Francisco between now and April 14^th, this exhibit is it!  There are two floors of concept art, film cells, live action modeling, and other production documents, paintings and information related to the making of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, broken out into about 10 mini galleries.  This exhibition is a small but spectacular compilation of the effort, art, and talent that went into creating this animation classic. To add even more joy to this experience, I met and talked with animator, artist, and future Disney Legend Andreas Deja, a key contributor to the animated features of Disney’s second golden age of animation.   If you are even a passing Disney fan, you will enjoy this experience.  You may remember my recent piece about my experience at Disney’s Animation Research Library in Glendale, and my comment to one of the managers there, about my emotional response to my visit.  I was overcome with similar emotions during my tour of this exhibit.  Which should really be much of a surprise, as the ARL was a key partner with the Museum staff in bringing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic to life.

Because of my emotional reaction, any real descriptive attempt would pail in comparison.  But, since I have my own young artist in my house, I will be making other visits to this exhibit over the next few months.  So, I will attempt a more effusive piece in the near future.  But, for now, that was my Tuesday night, and a marvelous night it was…

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

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Yes – Yet Another Walt Disney Studio Tour

Weekend before last was a busy one.  First, nothing would have it, but we had to see Brave on Friday night’s opening.  Excellent movie, but have we come to expect anything less from PIXAR?  You can see my review posted just before this one, but, it’s a great movie and I’m looking forward to seeing it again… and again… and again…  J

Saturday was a bit less busy than originally planned, as my buddy Libby let me off the hook for a ride to SJO early in the morning, but, the wife and I spent the afternoon at the Walt Disney Family Museum, listening to Author and former manager of the Walt Disney Archives Robert Tieman talk about “Selling Walt: The Business (and Fun) of Movie Promotion.”  We spent the hour and a half talking about what the Studio did to help theater owners promote Disney movies coming to their establishments.  I’ll try to having another piece on this after I get a chance to go over my notes.

Finally the weekend’s main event was on Sunday.  A third trip to the Walt Disney Studio in Burbank for a tour of the Studio, this time with my youngest daughter.  Someone asked me, “don’t you get bored, see the same stuff?”  Simple answer, NO!!!  It kind of the same with the Walt Disney Family Museum; no matter how many times I visit, I always manage to learn something new each time.  This is helped on the Studio tour by the fact that in three visits, We’ve had three different tour guides.  While there is a defined tour guideline for what we get to see, there is no set script.  So, each guide can add their own special stories that they relate to the Studio and Walt. 

More on the tour in a moment, but first, back to beginning…  Since this was a one day trip, departure time set for 5:00 AM.  Tee must have been anxious because we were on the road at 4:58, and the trip progressed nicely until we were about an hour and a half into it.  For some reason I tapped the right front pocket of my jean, and gasped…  DAMN!!!  Actually, I think my word choice might have been and little different, but…  Tee’s eyes slammed open with a WHAT???  I had remembered everything for the trip except one critical component… one of my wallets, the one that has all my credit cards and my D23 membership card in it.  No credit cards, no gas…  No D23 card, no entrance to the Studio tour.  As we turn back north, thinking the trip and event may well be over, Tee calls her Mom to see if she can meet us about have way back with said wallet?  Fortunately, was up to the task, and hopped into the other vehicle with our oldest as navigator, and headed south, as we were headed back north.  We met up in Gilroy, I got my wallet and a quick Mickey D’s breakfast, we exchanged goodbyes and thanks, and were headed back south again…  hoping that I could make up enough time not to miss the tour.  Again, fortunate with Pam bringing me my wallet, we didn’t lose the full hour and a half’s driving time.  I pedaled it a little harder than I normally would have, and the quick breakfast stop in Gilroy, so, just a single gas stop in Buellton (of Anderson’s Split Pea fame), and we made Burbank with a half and hour to spare…  cutting it close, by my travel standards.  A quick stop to let Tee change clothes, a quick tour around the studio lot, and we were driving into the Buena Vista Gate at the Walt Disney Studios at the prescribed no more than 30 minutes before our scheduled tours.  WHEW!!!  J

As we are checking in for the tour - D23 card required – in front of the Hyperion Bungalow, who should come around the corner but Jeffrey Epstein.  I have had the pleasure of meeting Jeff on several occasions, including most recently at the Walt Disney Family Museum’s presentation of the D23 Fanniversary.  Jeff is one of those many truly friendly Disney Cast-members who is just a joy to be around.  Well, guess who turned out to be the guide for our 1:30 tour, none other than Jeffrey.  J  While waiting for our tour to start, Tee and I got a chance to look through the D23 Merchandise Store in one of the rooms of the Hyperion Bungalow, where I pick up a few items, and then a quick troll through the Employee’s store across the walkway.  Jeffrey gathered his tourists together at the prescribed time, and ushered us to shady spot – it was, of course, and normal warm and sunny afternoon in Burbank.   From our nicely shaded location in front of the Employee Store, Jeffrey began to explain some of the sites around us:

·         The Hyperion Bungalow behind us, one of several buildings that were moved from them original Hyperion Avenue studio in the Silver Lake district.  The bungalow now has two rooms, fittingly called the Hyperion and Silver Lake rooms, and is used for meetings, and as the check-in point for the tours.

·         Next to us was the Employee Store, which had been redone since my last visit, and the Employee credit union behind it.

Next, a look across the street was the Mickey Mouse topiary.  The Mickey topiary was a anniversary gift to the Studio from Walt Disney World, and Michael Eisner declared that the Walt Disney Studio should become the West Coast capital for topiaries.  Until…  The plant started to die and the studio landscaping staff had to spend a bundle of cash to develop an internal watering system so this Mickey could flourish.  Today, the Mickey topiary is the singular nod on the Studio lot to what seems so natural in Florida.  A few yards to the right of the topiary stands one of two flagpoles from the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, where Walt Disney was the Chairman of Pageantry and responsible of Opening and Closing ceremonies.  This first flagpole was acquired by Walt after the games, its sister flagpole, a few more yard down, was donated by another company so that the Studio could have the pair.  Behind the topiary and the flagpoles sit the Studio Commissary.  In 1940, when the studio first opened, there weren’t a lot of eatery options in the area, so Walt made sure that his people were taken care of for meals with the commissary.  To this day, the commissary still serves Walt’s favorite meal… Chili.  I couple of years ago, I was fortunate to attend an event at the Studio which included dinner at the commissary.  I had the chili, and it was – while not my Texas Red – a very good bowl of chili.  Actually, if you want the recipe, it’s on the D23 website – Walt’s Own Chili recipe.

Now we move on down the street to the corner of Mickey Avenue and Dopey Drive, or have we?  If you have seen “The Reluctant Dragon,” then you know the street sign right next to the old Animation Building.  If not and you are a Disney fan, you’ve probably seen a picture or two of the street sign for Mickey Avenue and Dopey Drive.  This sign was installed as a prop for the 1941 short film “The Reluctant Dragon,” where Robert Benchley (yes, that is Peter Benchley’s… of JAWS fame… father) dashes around the studio in search of Walt Disney to pitch him a story.  As travels the Disney lot, we learn different aspects of the animation process.  An interesting note about the street sign… if you follow the sign to the several department, you’ll find yourself even more lost… as they point the wrong direction.  Right next to the street sign is a fire hydrant with a sign painted on the curb “Pluto’s Corner.”  In the cement next to the hydrant are three distinct paw prints… wonder where that fourth paw is???  J

Standing on the steps of the Animation Building, we look across the walkway to the studio theater.  This theater has been used over the years as a screening theater and a sound mixing studio for putting the finishing touches on films.  A few years ago, the company finished a complete retrofit and remodel to the theater.  Today, it is used to screen new film for employees and to hold special screening for the public.  I had the good fortune to event a couple of those special screenings, and the inside is as beautiful as the outside.  The walkway outside was where they once place the cement encased handprints of recent inducted Disney Legends, much like they do outside of Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.  Years ago it was discovered that these cement tributes were slowly degrading with all the foot traffic, so the Archive team preserved them, move them to the Archive and install replicas in the new Legends’ Plaza.  The Plaza was close for this a special “Brave” reception, so we didn’t get to go in.  Moving on, we entered the Animation Building, and tour the first floor main hallway, looking at many examples of the animation and storytelling process.  The Animation Building was specifically built for Walt’s Animators.  It is a three story building running north and south, with eight wings, four on either side east and west.  When Walt was build this new studio after the success of ‘Snow White’, he ask is artists what the needed most… the clear answer was LIGHT!!!  With the eight wings, the Animation Building has lots of light.  On the third floor in the north east corner is where Walt’s offices were located.  In that wing Walt had his formal and working offices, and a reception area.  On second floor, one wing south was where Roy had his offices.  The running joke for Walt was that, “this was so that he could look down on Roy and keep and eye on him, but Roy couldn’t look up and see what he was doing.”  Unfortunately, the D23 Studio tours don’t make a trip to the 2^nd or 3^rd floors, but, if you keep your eyes open, there are a few events that do.  J

Moving on to Disney’s first utilidor… Utilidor, you say…  What the heck is a Utilidor?  Well, it is a utility corridor, and how many of you know that there is a whole subterranean world under Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom?  Well, actually it isn’t subterranean, because of Florida’s high water table; Walt Disney World is really built one story above sea level, with much of the Parks unseen operations conducted in the first floor utilidors.  I’ve been told that there are a couple of small utilidors at Disneyland, but nothing like the complex at Walt Disney World.  Maybe I’ll do an essay on the Magic Kingdom Utilidors and why they came to be, but, the Walt Disney Studios had the first Utilidor.  The Animation Building has a basement that was used primarily for storage, with a utilidor that accesses the Ink and Paint building next door.  While this passage has been used as a prop in several Disney productions (think Alias for one), it had a real function meant for its design.  This was the path that animators’ cells took in route to be painted and finished, before moving on to the Camera department, keep the cells protected from potential weather or dust from being outdoors.

After and quick tour through the Short building, the third and final building (well in reality, its two buildings that were combined into one on the new lot) moved over from the from the Hyperion lot, we made our way through the sound stages.  Not really much to say are or seeing but, the outside of these huge buildings where much of the Disney magic is produced.  During the development of Disneyland, several of these stages were used to build mock-ups.  One interesting note for fans of Mary Poppins, all of the live actions scenes for the movie were done on a sound stage, nothing was done outdoors or on location.  Out of the sound stages as walk by the iconic water tower (built with 6 legs, instead 4 or 5, because it was more esthetically appealing to Walt’s Brother Roy), we emerged onto what was once the studio’s backlot… the Zorro parking structure, over by the Riverside Gate, stands where the sets for the Zorro T.V. show once stood, along with other western sets.  As we walk along the street, we see the only remaining backlot structures at the Studio today, a row of store fronts. Within a short walk we come upon the backside of water (sorry for the Disneyland reference) err… of the Ink & Paint, and Camera Departments.  The most important building here was the machine shop where Roger Broggie took on an interesting apprentice… his boss, Walt Disney.  It was in this machine shop that many of Walt’s innovation were brought to life, and where Walt with Roger’s help created the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, a miniature train which he operated around his Holmby Hills home in the earlier 50s.

Now for one of the special treats of these tours, a trip to the Main Office of the Walt Disney Archive, and some face time with the one and only Dave Smith.  As we were told on a couple of occasions during the tour, Roy O. asked Dave to create the Archive in 1970.  One of Dave’s first tasks was to catalog and document Walt’s offices in the Animation building which had been shuddered since his death in 1966.  An exhibit of Walt’s Office has been on display at One Man's Dream - Walt's Office in Disney Hollywood Studio at Walt Disney World.  Also as I understand it, Walt’s formal office has been recreated for the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archive exhibit which opens July 6 at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley.  Well, we got to spend about a half an hour with Dave, as he showed us some of the artifacts he has discovered over the last forty years.  Items such as, the ticket and parking pass for the Disneyland opening day media event, the first year ticket book for the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and one of Walt Disney many Oscars.  I’ve seen some of the exhibits from the Archive at events like the D23 Expo, but, there is nothing like being in the same room listening to the man who started the Archive.

From the Archive, we moved past the Legends Plaza (no visit there today) to the Rotunda of the Team Disney building that sits on the corner of the lot at Buena Vista Street and Alameda Avenue, and houses Disney’s executive management team.  In the rotunda lobby are two large tiled pictures of the company founders… Walt and Roy.  As we leave the rotunda, we pass by the Roy Oliver Disney Building.  Built the 80s, on our last visit to the Studio, this building was an ivy covered box which looked a little out of place between the new Team Disney and the old Animation Buildings.  On this trip, the building has been completely remodeled and refurbished.  Gone is the ivy, and the old ugly cross beam support structure has been pleasantly disguised by clean concrete, smoked glass windows, and a lattice of natural woods covering the lower half of each floor.  This building now looks like it belong on the lot, and is a much more fitting tribute to the man it is named after.  And a few minutes later, we are back at the Hyperion Bungalow, and with some sadness, an end to our tour.  A hearty thank you to Jeffrey, and a quick trip into the Employees’ Store, and we were on our way home with our trinkets and memories.

As it turns out, the trip home turned out to be as eventful as our travels down.  First, yours truly flubbed again and took the wrong freeway exit and to turn around.  Wound up heading back to the Studio.  After getting my direction squared away, and heading north, we made our way to Camarillo and a stop for fuel, for both auto and human. Finished with dinner, we were again headed north, only to be slowed to a crawl a few miles north of Santa Barbara.  It took us 2 hours to make it three miles, because (as I discovered later) a drunk took out another vehicle and completely blocked both lanes northbound.  After getting passed the accident, Tee and I decided the meal stop was a good decision, had we decided to just drive through, we’d have been at that spot at right about the time the accident happened and could have been involved, instead of gripping about the slow crawl, and arriving home after 12:30 AM

All and all, another great trip with one of my girls, but, stay tuned... I have a run south planned for August and event at Disneyland.  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

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