The Animated Man (76 page)

34
. “Disney to Use 'Scope Widely on New Films,”
Motion Picture Daily
, November 23, 1953, 1.

35
. Thomas,
Building a Company
, 184.

36
. Leonard H. Goldenson with Marvin J. Wolf,
Beating the Odds: The Untold Story Behind the Rise of ABC: The Stars, Struggles, and Ego That Transformed Network Television by the Man Who Made It Happen
(New York, 1991), 122–23.

37
. “Its Deal with Disney Precludes ABC Tapping Theatrical Film Lode,”
Daily Variety
, April 6, 1954, 1.

38
. “Disney Warns Major Studios Entering TV Not to Give Medium Stepchild Treatment,”
Daily Variety
, May 11, 1955, AMPAS.

39
. A request to the California secretary of state produced only Disneyland incorporation papers of later date, but according to David R. Smith of the Walt Disney Archives, “It was in business on August 17, 1953, when the Division of Corporations issued a permit to authorize the sale of securities.” Smith to author, e-mail, January 13, 2006. By October 1953, Disneyland, Incorporated, was officially housed in the downtown Los Angeles law offices of Lloyd Wright, who was Disneyland's president.

40
. Walt Disney Productions, proxy statement, December 30, 1964, BU/RH.

41
. “Disney Chosen Chief of $9,000,000 Project,”
Los Angeles Times
, May 14, 1954, AMPAS.

42
. Price,
Walt's Revolution!
29.

43
. Randy Bright,
Disneyland Inside Story
(New York, 1987), 52.

44
. “Interview with Harper Goff,” 6–7.

45
. Roger Broggie, 1968 Hubler interview.

46
. Broggie,
Walt Disney's Railroad Story
, 222. According to David R. Smith of the Walt Disney Archives, the Disneys “apparently vacationed in rented cottages at Smoke Tree Ranch beginning as early as 1941. They agreed to buy lot 39, unit 2 on Sept. 19, 1946, with the deed dated Jan. 10, 1949, and the architect hired Apr. 8, 1950.” Smith to author, e-mail, November 8, 2005.

47
. Hal Adelquist, story inventory report, May 28, 1947, RKO. According to David R. Smith of the Walt Disney Archives, Benton was never a Disney employee. “He did prepare a rough outline for us in March, 1946, of a Davy Crockett-themed musical production subtitled ‘Hunter of Kaintucky.' Nothing ever came of this . . . and it was totally different from our later TV production (whose production number was opened in July 1954).” Smith to author, e-mail, October 25, 2005.

48
. Hedda Hopper, “Disney's Dreams Come True,”
Chicago Sunday Tribune
, May 9, 1948, AMPAS.

49
. Peter Ellenshaw,
Ellenshaw Under Glass
(Santa Clarita, 2003), 127.

50
. “Showman of the World Speaks,”
Motion Picture Exhibitor
, October 19, 1966, AMPAS.

51
. Bob Greene,
American Beat
(New York, 1983), 233.

52
. Dave Kaufman, “On All Channels,”
Daily Variety
, May 13, 1955, AMPAS; “Disney Warns Major Studios.”

53
.
Hollywood Bowl Magazine
(concert program), July 12–16, 1955.

54
. Bright,
Disneyland Inside Story
, 68. For an anecdote similar in substance but different in detail, see Broggie,
Walt Disney's Railroad Story
, 200.

55
. Bright,
Disneyland Inside Story
, 76.

56
. Bright,
Disneyland Inside Story
, 92.

57
. “Disney's Live-Action Profits,”
Business Week
, July 24, 1965, 82.

58
. “Interview with Harper Goff,” 7–8.

59
. “Creating the Disney Landscape: An Interview with Bill Evans,”
The “E” Ticket
23 (Spring 1996): 9.

60
. Roger Broggie, Hubler interview.

61
. Leon J. Janzen, “Walt Disney and Ward Kimball . . . On Track to Disneyland,”
The “E” Ticket
12 (Winter 1991–92): 29.

62
. Cash Shockey to Marty Sklar, memorandum, July 26, 1968, BU/RH. Shockey's was one of many anecdotes submitted to Sklar by Disney employees in response to Roy Disney's request in a July 10, 1968, memorandum for material that Hubler might use in his biography.

63
. “Creating the Disney Landscape: An Interview with Bill Evans,” 9.

64
. Bright,
Disneyland Inside Story
, 99.

65
. “Disney, Disneyland and Davy Crockett . . . A Talk with Fess Parker,”
The “E” Ticket
33 (Spring 2000): 12.

66
. “ ‘Walt's Happy Place': An Interview with Michael Broggie,”
The “E” Ticket
39 (Spring 2003): 10.

67
. “A World Walt Disney Created,”
New York Times
, July 31, 1955, sec. 2, 17.

68
. Menen, “Dazzled in Disneyland,” 70 (see ch. 3, n. 69).

69
. Price interview.

70
. “Walt Disney Speaks at Dane Festival,”
Los Angeles Times
, July 5, 1961, AMPAS.

71
. Menen, “Dazzled in Disneyland,” 106.

72
. Gladwin Hill, “The Never-Never Land Khrushchev Never Saw,”
New York Times
, October 4, 1959, sec. 2, 11.

73
. Price interview.

74
. Thomas,
Walt Disney
, 274.

75
. The Moeller Collection at the Anaheim Public Library includes two 1980 letters from Wood to Moeller describing in detail what was involved in acquiring the Anaheim property. On Wood's career and personality, see Price,
Walt's Revolution!
129–39. On Wood's last days at Disneyland, see Van Arsdale France,
Window on Main Street: 35 Years of Creating Happiness at Disneyland Park
(Nashua, 1991), 49–50.

76
. France,
Window on Main Street
, 116.

77
. Jack E. Janzen, “The Original Snow White Dark Ride,”
The “E” Ticket
13 (Summer 1992): 24–25.

78
. Bright,
Disneyland Inside Story
, 111.

79
. John Hench,
Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show
(New York, 2003), 21.

80
. “Disneyland Art Director . . . Bill Martin,” 17–19.

81
. France,
Window on Main Street
, 44–45. For a slightly different version, see Bright,
Disneyland Inside Story
, 115. Nunis's own version, exactly the same in substance but briefer and considerably drier, is in Greene and Greene,
Inside the Dream
, 126–27. France's version has a stronger flavor of what it must have been like to get a Disney tongue-lashing.

82
. France,
Window on Main Street
, 69.

83
. Walt Disney Productions, 1955 annual report, 5, RKO.

84
. Those notes are reproduced in Keith Keller,
Mickey Mouse Club Scrapbook
(New York, 1975), 21.

85
. Murray Horowitz, “Disney Finds TV, Alone, Is Not Profitable,”
Motion Picture Daily
, November 16, 1955, AMPAS.

86
. Walt Disney Productions, 1956 annual report, 4, Baker.

87
. Paul Jones, “Disney Camera Crews Begin Clayton Shooting,”
Atlanta Constitution
, September 27, 1955, photocopy, Kurtz Collection, AMPAS.

88
. The William Beaudine Collection, AMPAS, includes a budget breakdown and daily production reports for
Westward Ho the Wagons!
The film was based on
Children of the Covered Wagon
, the book proposed to RKO as an all-live-action feature in 1947.

89
. “Decree Led Disney into Distribution of ‘Desert,' ‘Ben and Me' Package,”
Motion Picture Daily
, November 23, 1953, 1.

90
. “Disney to Sell Pix Package Independently of RKO Deal,”
Daily Variety
, July 1, 1953, 11.

91
. Roy Disney to J. R. Grainger (RKO's president), September 17, 1954, RKO; Grainger to Tom O'Neil and Dan O'Shea, memorandum, September 20, 1955, RKO. O'Neil had bought RKO from Hughes earlier in 1955.

92
. Lillian Disney, Martin interview.

93
. Robert Stevenson, interview with Hubler, August 20, 1968, BU/RH.

94
. Walt Disney to Fred Gipson, January 8, 1957 (misdated 1956), Fred Gipson Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

95
. Harry Tytle,
One of “Walt's Boys”
(Mission Viejo, 1997), 151.

96
. Fess Parker, interview, September 26, 2003.

97
. Michael McFadden, “Bill Beaudine and ‘the Business,' ”
TV Guide
, December 21, 1963, 14. Disney had written a warm letter to “Bill” on July 27, 1959 (Beaudine Collection, AMPAS):

I see by the Trades you are celebrating your 50th Anniversary in the film business having started as a general helper, set sweeper, etc., and now you are completing the cycle by sweeping up the bits and pieces at the Disney Lot and making them into one hour shows!

However, if it's any consolation, I want you to know that I am not far behind you—next February will make my 40th year as part of the motion picture business! I know you're not that much older than I am—you just got started earlier!

Anyway, my congratulations and best wishes for whatever in hell you want in the future.

Love,

[Walt]

P.S.—Please don't let this go to your head!

98
. De Roos, “The Magic Worlds of Walt Disney,” 185 (see ch. 2, n. 4).

99
. “
Peter Pan
: Real Disney Magic; Real Animals Also Make Money,”
Newsweek
, February 16, 1953, 99.

100
. Winston Hibler, interview with Hubler, May 7, 1968, BU/RH. Hibler said:

“If squirrels died, they died, I know, from disease. But I think that the deaths were not anything more unusual than any zoo animals that would be confined.”

101
. Tytle,
One of “Walt's Boys,”
144.

102
. Walt Disney to Ruth Disney Beecher, December 4, 1957, posted on the Walt Disney Family Museum Web site in 2003.

103
. “Disney to Film ‘Banner,' ”
Variety
, July 22, 1957, AMPAS.

104
. Annakin,
So You Wanna Be a Director?
97–98.

105
. “Disney's ‘3d Man' Ends Swiss Filming,”
Daily Variety
, September 24, 1958, AMPAS.

106
. Walsh, Hubler interview.

107
. November 9, 1964, Hopper interview notes.

108
. Tytle,
One of “Walt's Boys,”
122.

109
. Walt Disney Productions, 1959 annual report, 5, AC.

110
. Goldenson,
Beating the Odds
, 124.

111
. Kimball, 1976 interview.

CHAPTER 9
“Where I Am
Happy
”

1
. A sheet dated December 7, 1967, and headed “Remarks made by Tommie Wilck” includes notes about Disney's cars and his commuting route added by George Sherman of the Disney publications department, BU/RH.

2
. Roy Disney, 1967 interview.

3
. Peter Barnes, “Who Will Take Disney's Place?”
Los Angeles Times
, December 24, 1961, AMPAS.

4
. Walt Disney Productions, 1960 annual report, 3, AC.

5
. “A Conversation with . . . Ollie Johnston,”
The “E” Ticket
19 (Summer 1994): 13; “Early Illusions for the Haunted Mansion: An Interview with Rolly Crump,”
The “E” Ticket
9 (Summer 1990): 28.

6
. Frank Thomas, Bob Thomas interview (see ch. 7, n. 28).

7
. Frank Thomas, Bob Thomas interview.

8
. Johnston, 1987 joint interview with Frank Thomas.

9
. October 22, 1934, outline and December 26, 1934, continuity.

10
. Frank Thomas to author, October 11, 1989.

11
. Peet to author, January 20, 1988; Eyvind Earle, interview, May 30, 1983.

12
. Tytle,
One of “Walt's Boys, “
219.

13
. Tytle,
One of “Walt's Boys,”
41–42.

14
. The members of the board were the subjects of a two-page spread in Thomas,
Art of Animation
, 134–35 (see ch. 3, n. 7).

15
. Thomas and Johnston,
The Illusion of Life
, 159–60.

16
. Davis, 1976 interview; “Chantecler” Storyboard Meeting with Walt—Opening Seq., August 24, 1960, photocopy, AC.

17
. Peet to author, circa April 1979. This was not unusual; Winston Hibler, a writer on
Alice in Wonderland
, directed Kathryn Beaumont's recording sessions for Alice's voice, for instance.

18
. Ken Peterson to Walt Disney, memorandum, May 21, 1958, WDA.

19
. Anderson, 1990 interview.

20
. Cutting, 1986 interview.

21
. Anderson interview.

22
. Bob Carlson, interview, November 25, 1986.

23
. Peet, interview, August 15, 1978.

24
. Thomas and Johnston,
The Illusion of Life
, 379.

25
. Peet, January 20, 1988.

26
. Floyd Norman, telephone interview, December 8, 2003.

27
. Don Graham to John Rose, memorandum, April 1, 1940, WDA. A staff member named Diana March assembled hundreds of pages of “research material” in June 1939, RH.

28
. Peter Bart, “The Golden Stuff of Disney Dreams,”
New York Times
, December 5, 1965, sec. 2, 13.