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Page
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Vision
of the Future: |
Walt's
Grandchildren |
Walt adored his grandkids,
and spent time with
them
whenever he could.
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But by and large, their memories
of him are remarkable mainly in how unremarkable
they are. Any grandchild remembering a loving
grandparent might have similar recollections.
All of the older grandchildren describe their
grandfather as a calm, undemanding man, fun
to be with, who seemed to derive a great deal
of pleasure from just watching them play.
Joanna: "We rarely had babysitters. Mostly
Mom and Dad would leave us at their house.
He just seemed to love having us around. We
would sit out in the lawn. We would make towers
and pile up his patio furniture, and we'd
be making forts and rocket ships out of it,
and he'd just be sitting there on the lawn,
and it seemed like he loved having us there."
Tamara: "He just seemed to enjoy us interacting
in front of him. We were a group of kids,
rather a wild bunch. And I think my grandmother
was overwhelmed. She'd end up with one child
at a time, and it was often Jenny (the youngest
at the time). But he enjoyed the commotion.
He seemed to be a guy who craved commotion."
Christopher: "He was so interested in us.
I drew like crazy when I was a kid. And I
remember his advice. He was an artist himself,
of course, and he'd tell me how to improve
my technique. I remember him showing me how
to get effective-looking smoke. Because most
of my drawings were typical boy stuff: disasters,
train collisions, mine explosions. He was
always there -- and he took a big interest
in my developing artistic skills." . |
Jennifer: "There was just an
overall feeling of warmth and love. The fact
that you walked in the door made them happy.
Nobody remembers him getting angry at us --
except if we were arguing with each other.
I remember one time in Palm Springs, we were
fighting about something. I remember hearing
him yell from over the house, 'Knock it off!'
and freezing. I hadn't ever heard him yell
before." Joanna: "I remember once, we were
staying at the hotel in Disneyland. We were
watching scary movies on the television at
the hotel; Chris and Tam and myself. It was
a movie like "The Blob" or something. And
I was really afraid. So he took me out of
the room and we went for a walk. I was about
eight at the time, and he took me up in the
elevator to the bar there; and of course everyone
knew who he was. He introduced me as his girlfriend.
And I was embarrassed that people should think
my grandpa had a girlfriend."
Christopher:
"As I recall, the firehouse apartment was
just one room. So we'd be sleeping in the
same room. The neat thing about that was getting
up in the morning before the park opened.
The view was unobstructed -- which is wonderful
from a kid's point of view. I remember one
time, the Submarine Ride was under construction.
And he took us to see the undersea world in
dry dock. He explained the stuff to us, the
processes, the fiberglass coral reefs." Tamara:
"He always had a camera with him -- always
and he had a tendency of handing the
camera to a child, whether it be Chris, Walt,
or me. We have photographs of him, one is
a picture of me with him and the head is missing
because a child took the picture. There's
a great series of him crouching lower and
lower as a child took the picture." |
Walt on a skiing vacation
with Joanna, Tamara and
Christopher.
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Fred MacMurray in the 1963
production of 'Son
of Flubber'. Walter Miller appears as a
baby in the picture.
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On a couple of occasions, Walt
got his grandchildren involved in his films.
Chris did a walk-on in "Bon Voyage," and little
Walter appeared as a baby in a television
commercial in "Son of Flubber." "I can remember
him trying to talk us into venturing into
what he was doing at the studio," says Tamara.
"I remember one dinner I made some wild, funky
face where I had my eyes going in different
directions. He said, 'If you do that again,
I'll put you in a movie.'" In 1964, Ron and
Diane had their sixth child -- named Ron,
after his dad (a seventh, Patrick, would be
born after Walt's death). And in 1965 Sharon
became pregnant, and Walt wrote Ruth, "We
have another grandchild on the way come January.
. . . Needless to say, we're all looking forward
to the event. Diane's brood continue to be
a great pleasure to Grandpa and Grandma Disney."
After Sharon's child, Victoria, was born,
Walt was the first one at the hospital. "Oh,
she's going to have great eyes," he announced.
"I can tell she has great eyes."" |
While Walt's grandchildren remember
him as a paradigm of loving calm, studio employees
had a very different impression. He seemed
to be quicker to snap than ever, even chastising
trusted employees like General Joe Potter,
one of Walt Disney World's chief engineers.
For years, animators whispered about the stroke
30-year veteran Ken Anderson suffered after
Walt reacted to his work on "101 Dalmatians."
Whether or not Walt was the direct cause of
the stroke, Anderson recalled how Walt treated
him afterward: "He must have sensed that it
was the result of something that he had said
that made me have this thing because -- talk
about being good to me -- I made more money
and made more stuff when I was in the hospital.
Walt would send me every sort of thing. Couldn't
be nicer . . . He said, 'When you come back,
don't ever think about punching the clock.
Don't ever think about having to be here at
any time. . . . All I want for you to do when
you come back is just sit there and create.' |
Veteran artist Ken Anderson
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