Remembering Walt: Favorite Memories of Walt Disney ~ The Unpublished
Treasures
By Amy Boothe Green and Howard E. Green
In their years working with the Walt Disney Company, Amy Boothe
Green and Howard Green have taken on a role that you won't find
in their corporate biographies: They have been unofficial ambassadors
to many of the men and women who helped make the Disney name world-reknowned.
They've enjoyed countless dinners, trips, phone calls, and casual
conversations with such veteran artists and animators as Ollie Johnston,
Frank Thomas, Ward Kimball, Marc Davis, and Joe Grant. Unlike some
who covet the companionship of greatness, Amy and Howard established
and built these relationships for the best of all reasons: They
enjoyed and respected these men and women, and the feeling was mutual.
Fortunately for all of us, the husband and wife team realized
that many, many others would relish the opportunity to read some
of the stories they were lucky enough to hear. As they write, "Through
the eyes, hearts, and memories of others, we came to feel as though
we knew Walt, too. We felt privileged to have so many one-degree-away-from-Walt
encounters that we wanted to share the wealth with others."
The result was a book, "Remembering Walt: Favorite Memories of
Walt Disney."
This month, the Walt Disney Family Museum is fortunate to be able
to share a lengthy sampling of anecdotes about Walt that didn't
make it into the book. For those of you who have read and enjoyed
"Remembering Walt," these stories will extend that happy experience.
Those of you who have not are luckier still; the stories that follow
are just the beginning. "Remembering Walt" is now being released
in paperback, and you can buy a copy in the Museum Gift Shop.
First, a few words from the Greens about the creation of "Remembering
Walt":
"We felt it vital that Walt be remembered not as the name
of a corporation, but as a man with a dream, who had the courage
to bring his dreams to life and in the process, changed the world
for the better, for generations to come.
"Additionally, we hoped to dispel myths that had become Hollywood
legend. Is Walt frozen in a vault somewhere? Was he anti-semitic?
Was he a brute of a boss? An opportunist?
"We began to accumulate stories and more than 200 photographs,
some rare and at the time unpublished. Among the photo highlights
are several faded color snapshots of a relaxed Walt on his last
family holiday in July 1966; the photos were found stored in his
desk drawer at the time of his death from lung cancer, only four
months later.
"In all, we interviewed more than 100 people - family members,
including Walt's daughter Diane Disney Miller; artists; animators;
Imagineers; filmmakers; celebrities, including Julie Andrews, Dick
Van Dyke, Fess Parker, and more - all who knew, loved, and worked
with Walt. In addition, we accumulated extensive archival material
from the Disney Studio Archives and generous biographers who had
gone before us.
"Talking with people, we were astonished how some so readily
shed tears of love and appreciation for him, more than 30 years
after his death. Among them were Annette Funicello, who recalled
being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 1990s and how
her thoughts first turned to Walt; she wished he were still alive
so she could ask him what to do. 'He would know ...,' she says.
"Some stories about Walt are funny, quirky even, while many
are inspirational, reflecting Walt's passion, creative genius, and
even his moods. Above all, Walt Disney was a human being, down to
earth, yet otherworldly at the same time. As Joe Grant recalls,
'
He had the voice of a prophet. He was so damned intuitive.'
"Walt was also changeable, forthright and focused
always
focused on 'how' to create the dream. How to make the 'impossible'
possible.
"As futurist and author Ray Bradbury, who penned the foreword
to 'Remembering Walt,' writes, 'Walt Disney was more important than
all the politicians we've ever had. They pretended optimism. He
was optimism. He has done more to change the world for the good
than almost any politician who ever lived.'
"The task of determining which of the many hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of stories to keep and which to leave out of 'Remembering
Walt' was a challenge, to say the least. Here we share with you
a few of our favorite candid memories of Walt, which were left on
the cutting room floor."
Lloyd Shearer, who wrote for "Parade Magazine," went to interview
Walt at the Studio and brought his daughter along. To keep the child
busy, while the interview was going on, Walt arranged to have somebody
take her on a tour of the back lot.
Along the way, she ran across a pair of little Sardinian donkeys
that Walt had discovered while touring Europe. Walt had decided
they were the cutest things he ever saw and brought them back for
Disneyland. So the little girl was petting a donkey when one of
them promptly bit her on the hand and drew blood. She was raced
to first aid, bandaged up, and taken to see Walt.
She was still in tears and Walt said, "Oh, honey. Those are
the sweetest little animals you ever saw. I can't believe they'd
hurt you. Now, come on, let's go down and see them together."
So he took her back and said, "See honey
" and the
donkey promptly bit him on the hand. Before anybody could blink,
the donkeys were gone. I mean they were gone right away
Charlie Ridgway
Theme park publicist
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