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Alfred and Elma Milotte shot the fascinating footage that formed
the beginning of the True-Life Adventure series. Walt had hired
them to do some filming for him in Alaska, but as he studied the
footage they sent back to the Studio, he zeroed in on the seal
footage as having the most promise. So he asked them to emphasize
the life cycle of the seals and not show any indication of man's
presence. The resulting film did not appeal to RKO, the Disney
distributor, who felt that no one would want to sit in a theater
for half an hour watching a nature film, so Walt had a friend
of his, who ran the Crown Theater in Pasadena, run the film for
a week in order to qualify for an Academy Award®. Sure enough,
it won the award for Best Documentary. According to legend, Walt
took the Oscar® down to Roy Disney's office and said, "Here,
Roy, take this over to RKO and bang them over the head with it."
As one could expect, RKO was soon clamoring for more of the True-Life
Adventures.
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