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Feature of the Month

Book Excerpt

 

Back...

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

 

We were plugging "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and I said, "Walt, we can't take a whole hour to plug the picture!"

He said, "Yeah, we can." And we did. In the end, he was right. By then, I was thinking, "Walt's in touch with something from outer space!"


Bill Walsh
Producer

 

During "Poppins," I got some kind of a viral infection and was in bed and off work. I remember Walt coming to the house on Coldwater Canyon to see if I was okay. In retrospect, I didn't really appreciate it. I mean, it was great to see him, but I didn't know what a sacrifice it was for him to take the effort to come and say "hello." I expected it of him because I loved him so much.

Karen Dotrice
Disney child star

 

Once he gave me a book about ants. I thought, "My heavens, that's the oddest thing …" I didn't care two figs about ants and gave it away. Then a few years later he called and asked if he could borrow the book.

Dorothy Puder
Niece

 

Sometimes I think Walt's greatest achievement was getting us [artists] all to work together without killing each other.

Marc Davis
Animator

 

My brother Bob and I were writing "The Ugly Bug Ball" song for "Summer Magic" and Walt didn't like the world "ugly." He didn't think anybody was ugly …

Richard Sherman
Songwriter

 

For "Nikki, Wild Dog of the North," there was a scene where the dog was trying to survive in the Arctic wilderness and having a heck of a time of it. I wrote the narration and recorded it very seriously, as a survival problem.

Walt said, "Hib, that's depressing. An animal trying to survive doesn't have to be a great tragedy. The guy misses everything he goes after. He misses the rabbit. He tries to take on an elk that charges him. Finally, he winds up chasing a mouse that escapes in the snow. It's pretty funny, so tell it in a lighter vein."

Winston Hibler
Producer

 

Before they really started clearing the orange groves, one morning, Walt asked me to come down to the [Disneyland] site. Walt drove. I had been brooding over something and now I had Walt alone, so I asked him, "Walt, I've been doing some renderings of the two restaurants on the Hub [called Red Wagon and Pavilion] for two weeks. I don't have anything good and I'm feeling guilty. What should I do?"

Walt's reply, "Well, Herb, I'll tell you. I've been broke four times in my life and once more is not going to hurt." What he meant was - go ahead - play! This was the basic heart and mind of the man.

Herb Ryman
Artist

 

We went down to Palm Springs to stay with Walt and Lilly at Smoke Tree. I had heard Americans loved gadgets and as I walked into their home, I remember Walt being so proud of a lever on the side of his bed, which would raise the mattress when he wanted to read.

Pauline Annakin
Artist

 

Walt was always experimenting and never for commercial reasons …

Frank Thomas
Animator

 

Walt had a habit of talking about the same project or idea with several people so he could compare their responses and round out the concept. One day he stopped by my office to talk about the title sequence for "Zorro." I suggested we enliven the "Z" with animated fire and use a sound effect, "whit-whit-whit," the sound of a narrow sword whipping through the air for each stroke forming the "Z." Walt thought this was a great idea and decided to have a pick-up shot with Guys Williams wielding the sword as a test.

I wandered back to the sound stage where Guy was acting the title sequence, but he wasn't doing what I'd expected. He was supposed to make a large "Z" movement with his sword and we'd add that "whit" sound effect later. Instead, he kept making a little "z" and saying "ha-ha-ha" with each jab of the sword, which lacked drama.

"That's all wrong!" I said. Immediately, the director stopped the scene and said, "Just what's wrong?" I explained and he called the script girl and asked me to read the page aloud. The script called for "dialogue" and was written "ha-ha-ha." I insisted it was a mistake.

The director, who was enjoying himself by this time, sent for the scriptwriter, Bill Walsh, who arrived in a cloud of cigar smoke. I explained to Bill that a sword whipping through the air doesn't sound like "ha-ha-ha." Anyhow, it was a sound effect, not dialogue.

Bill said, "Well, Walt's been going from office to office using a yardstick as a sword and challenging everyone to a duel - all I've been hearing for the past few days from Walt is 'ha-ha-ha' as he makes that little 'Z' shape."

Two groups seemed to form over the controversy - the "ha-ha-ha's" and the "whit-whit-whits." We even made buttons that we wore around Walt - "ha-ha-ha" and "whit-whit-whit" buttons.

Walt looked at my "whit-whit-whit" button and said, "I never said 'ha-ha-ha!'"

John Hench
Artist


Walt outlined what he wanted in a Mickey Mouse short. He played all the parts himself. He described the mouse and did all the posing. There was no doubt in my mind what he wanted. All I had to do was go back to the board and animate what I had just seen.

Walt saw the scene and was very upset with me. "You've got the tail all wrong. Look, Mickey's mad all over. His tail is tense, not a limp thing hanging there. What's the matter, Jack? Didn't we talk this over?"

Wilfred Jackson
Animator

 

There was a beanery on Hyperion Boulevard where a group of animators lunched regularly. Walt would eat with us frequently and chit-chat.

One time we were all having wedges of watermelon. Walt pointed out that each one of us attacked the wedge in a different way from holding it directly to the mouth and chawing away to a more refined variation with knife and fork. He said we revealed our characters in these small actions.

Izzy Klein
Artist

 

He took his failures in stride. He wasn't proud of them, but he didn't brood about them. He just kept trying to do better.

Diane Disney Miller
Daughter

 

Walt complained that he was often taken too literally. "Don't do everything I say," he'd tell me. But in a conference or a sweat box, he'd make a passing remark about something and I'd forget about it. Later, when we'd look at the material in a sweat box, he'd complain, "Why wasn't that in? We discussed it, didn't we?"

The big part of my job was to decide when Walt meant it and when he didn't mean it. He was always thinking ahead and sometimes it was hard to get him pinned down to the present.

Wilfred Jackson
Animator

 

He was so full of ideas that there wasn't a lot of room for conversation. So if he asked your opinion, you gave it. A shorthand answer was best. I learned to get to the point with him very quickly and the quickest point you could usually make was by drawing. When we were working on the idea of "Lady and the Tramp," Walt could pick out such great possibilities from the least sketch.

Joe Grant
Story artist

 

Walt had been up late the night before and was pretty grouchy when he came into a story meeting. He apparently wasn't listening to the presentation and when it was all over, whoever it was that was presenting was very disenchanted and worried. Walt looked at him and said, "Don't worry … it's me. I'm the one who has to worry. I've got to stay up all night thinking about things for you guys to do."

T. Hee
Animator

 

He'd raise his voice, but he'd do that with everybody. He was just keeping people on their toes, that's all. You never felt it was personal with him. It was strictly business and besides, he was usually right about what he was raising hell about.

Norman "Stormy" Palmer
Film editor

 

What impressed me about Walt was he was never interested in what anybody had done before. He was only interested in what they were going to do. Walt was always willing to give young people, and anybody with ideas, an opportunity.

Marty Sklar
Imagineering executive

 

On Fridays, the executives would typically start their weekends early, usually leaving after lunch. Walt would stay until the end of the work day because to him, every day was the same. He'd ask me to get so-and-so on the line.

So I'd call that office and say, "Walt, they've left for the day." He'd ask me to try another executive.

"They've left too, Walt." We'd keep striking out and he'd say, "That's all right. They're working all the time. Creative people work all the time." He never got angry with them.

Lucille Martin
Walt's secretary

 

When it was necessary to cut down expenses to get a picture out, Walt would go for several weeks without taking a paycheck. He was very erratic about paying himself.

Frank Thomas
Animator

 

Walt did not have "yes" men hanging around. He liked what he called "enthusiasm." He, however, certainly preferred men who would not argue with him once he made up his mind what he wanted.

Peter Ellenshaw
Special effects artist

 

Anything Walt got enthused about, everyone had to do it. Once, he had a problem with being too nervous or something and his doctor told him to drink a can of sauerkraut juice every morning. So Walt would say, "We're all in the same boat, you guys! Everybody's got to drink sauerkraut juice in the morning!" If you didn't, he'd look at you like you're the guy who won't drink the sauerkraut juice!

Frank Thomas
Animator

 

He could be surprisingly rough. He had a muleskinner's vocabulary and he used it with verve and originality. But always under circumstances that were socially acceptable.

Jack Spiers
Writer

 

When I was designing and building the ship Columbia, I was about to tell Walt that in the old days they put a coin under the mast of the ship for good luck. I'd already procured a silver dollar when Walt said, "Have you got a coin to put under the mast? We want this to be a lucky ship!" I hadn't told him about this. There wasn't anything he didn't know.

Joe Fowler
Disneyland executive

 

You couldn't be in awe of him because he was down to earth. In fact, when he returned from a trip to Atlanta, he rolled up his pant legs and showed us his chigger bites. He had good ankles, very good ankles, but that was how informal he was.

Harriet Burns
Artist

 

Walt wasn't a Congregationalist; he wasn't a Presbyterian; he wasn't a Catholic in church membership, but there was a spirituality that emanated from his life. Walt acted with faith and by spirit. He wasn't perfect, but who is? I think his spiritual qualities shine in everything he did. Walt had a good moral compass and held the same regard for everybody who named the name of God. Let's just say, Walt didn't "talk the talk," but he sure "walked the walk."

Rev. Glenn D. Puder, D.D.
Nephew


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