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Buddy Baker, one of Walt's premier in-house composers, scored more than 50 feature films and over 150 television features during his lifetime. He produced an astonishing quantity of memorable music for Walt, and then for the Disney Studio, following Walt's death. This included work on Disney's films, beginning with "Toby Tyler" in 1960; television shows, including "Davy Crockett" and the "Mickey Mouse Club"; and scores for Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Epcot, and Tokyo Disneyland.

Buddy died on July 26, 2002.

He seemed destined for a career in music at an age when most children are still having their meat cut for them. He was able to make sense of sharps and flats before he could read words. Piano lessons started at age four. His formal training included a Doctor of Music degree from Southwest Baptist University. In 1938 Buddy moved to Los Angeles, where he began writing arrangements for well known "big bands," and radio performers. He also taught arranging and orchestration at the Los Angeles City College, beginning in the late 1940s. In 1954, he began his work with Disney.

Following are some excerpts from an interview Buddy did for the documentary "Walt: The Man Behind the Myth."

Bob Gurr

 

Q. Do you recall the first encounter you had with Walt?

A. I had been at the studio three days and I stepped on the elevator one morning and who steps in, right after me, was Walt. And I said, "Good morning, Mr. Disney." And he says, "Why don't you call me Walt? All the secretaries do."

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Q. In your years at Disney you worked on an incredible variety of projects, didn't you?

A. That was the great thing about being at the studio at that time. It was probably one of the most creative periods of the whole studio, because we were starting not only the "Mickey Mouse Club," but we were starting Disneyland, and besides the "Mickey Mouse Club" and Disneyland, we were starting television, besides all the pictures and shorts. So it was a busy time.

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Q. Walt had a good sense of music himself, didn't he?

A. It was uncanny really. He always knew what was right. . . He would say "Buddy, does this sound like a big symphonic treatment through here?" And he'd be right. I'd say, "Well, yes, that sounds right."

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Q. How could you tell if he was displeased with something you were demonstrating for him?

A. It was easy. He had a way of patting the arm of a chair, and you knew that this is not very good. It wasn't a good signal when he was tapping on the chair.

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Q. Your parking space was close to his, and that led to some interesting encounters, didn't it?

A. Well, the way the parking lot was laid out at the studio was that Walt had a space on the end of the row. And then we had parking spaces adjacent to that, down the way. And there was a walkway down the middle. And my car was parked just two cars away from Walt's, and I always tried to avoid pulling in exactly the same time that Walt did. But sometimes that happened. The walk from the parking lot into the studio was a long, long way if he wasn't in a good humor. And there were times when I got out of my car, met Walt and I said, "Good morning, Walt." And we would walk the whole distance and I wouldn't say anything and he wouldn't say anything, and we'd just walk side by side and not a word uttered. And that makes it a long, long walk.

We had signals there at the studio with the guards. If Walt looked like he was in a bad humor when he came in, the guard would say, "Bear suit." And we all knew that this is not a good day to antagonize Walt at all. In other words, try to avoid him that day, because it might not be that pleasant.

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Q. What was the origin of the phrase "bear suit"?

A. He was kind of like a bear when he walked in: grumpy.

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Q. Walt had a real sense of loyalty and dedication to his staff, didn't he?

A. Yes. I know of one person who was there who had a drinking problem. And Walt made the remark to someone that, "When you can do as well as he does when he's loaded, I'll listen to you."

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Q. And there was a time when he was personally worried about your work habits?

A. One night I was sitting up in my work room and Walt came by, this was like 9:30 or 10:00 at night. And he turned this straight back chair around and put his arms up on the back of it and it felt like he wanted to have a little chat. And he said, "When have you had your vacation?" And I said, "Well, I haven't had a chance to do that yet. I've been too busy . . . " He said, "Well, I have time to take mine, so you make time to take your own vacation." So, he was concerned about that. I think he was worried about burnout. So I took my vacation.

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Q. You've mentioned in the past that he didn't care much for some of your apparel. Can you tell us about that?

A. Woolie Reitherman and I both had red shirts. Mine was one of those with a little alligator on it. And Walt would walk by me and he'd say, "I suppose that red shirt makes you feel younger." Or some remark like that. He just hated the red shirt and every time I wore it, he would make a remark. One day, Reitherman had his red shirt on and he said, "Have you seen Walt today?" And I said, "No, not yet." He said, "Well, don't!" Because I had on my red shirt too.

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Q. After Walt passed on, you continued to dream of him?

A. Yes. I used to have dreams of meeting him down by his place in Palm Springs. I had that dream for at least five or six years after he passed on. I think all of us at the studio felt that he was still there, because I know in some of the meetings somebody would say, "Well, Walt wants this." And Walt was long gone. To the day I left the studio, I always felt Walt was still there.

 

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