Figuring out what was wrong with Disney’s original Abraham Lincoln AA figure

Jim Hill

14 years ago

Back in the late 1950s, when Corky Wilds was working for
Mitchell Camera Corporation, he'd make the trek from his home in North Hollywood out to
Glendale.

"This was before the highway got built. So the only way to
get to Mitchell Camera's offices in Glendale was to drive up Riverside Drive.
Which took me right by Walt Disney Studios," Corky remembered. "And every day
as I drove by that place, I wondered about what it might be like to work there."

Walt Disney Studios circa 1959

Now jump ahead to November 1963. When Wilds was working for
Con Air on actuators that help control missiles & helicopters. And word got
back to Corky that one of his former co-workers had recommended him for a job
at Disney.

"They had just built the first Abraham Lincoln figure. But
because they built Lincoln's control system out of surplus equipment that
Disney bought from the military, he wasn't working properly. So they wanted me
to come on over and figure out what was going wrong with this figure," Wilds
said.

So after all those years of driving by Disney, Corky finally
got the chance to drive onto the Lot. And the memory of what Wilds saw once he
walked into one of those soundstages towards the back of Disney Studios still
makes him smile.

Walt checks out one of the cavemen that the Imagineers built
for the Ford Motor Company's "The Magic Skyway" attraction
at the 1964 New York World's Fair. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

"They were getting all of those shows ready for the New York
World's Fair. So there were dinosaurs and cavemen and singing dolls," Wilds
continued. "And for a guy who like me – who had previously been working on
things that were deliberately designed to hurt people – to suddenly be assigned
to work on projects whose sole purpose was to make people smile … Well, you
couldn't ask for a better job than that."

Mind you, it wasn't all that easy a job. It took Corky a
while to figure out what was actually going wrong with Abraham Lincoln's
control system ("It was the actuators they were using. They hadn't been sized
properly"). Plus the team from WED was under tremendous pressure to have "Great
Moments with Mr. Lincoln," General Electric's "Progressland," Ford's "The Magic
Skyway" and Pepsi-Cola's "it's a small world" ready for the New York World's
Fair's April 22, 1964 opening date.

We literally worked 'round the clock on those shows. With
one team coming in from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., while the other group worked from 6
p.m. to 6 a.m.," Wilds recalled. "It was tough but we finally made it."

Walt inspects some of the props that had been created for
Pepsi-Cola's "it's a small world" ride. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

And where was Walt when all of this work was going on?
According to Corky, the Head of Walt Disney Studios regularly made appearances
on that soundstage. Sometimes coming by two & three times a day to see how
the work was progressing.

"The first week that I was working for WED, I had built some
brackets for this stand that we used to hold the heads of the AA figures while
we were programming. And as I was installing those brackets, here comes Walt with
some guests that he's taking on a tour of the soundstage. He stopped by, asked
what I was doing, said that it sounds like a great idea and then continued on
with his tour," Wilds continued. "I must of seen him hundreds of times after
that. Walt was a great boss. Always quick to praise your efforts or come up
with a way to improve whatever you were working on."

Of course, what's kind of ironic about all this is the way
that Corky learned about Walt's passing. Which was while he was working on the
AA figure for "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln."

"I was down at Disneyland working on the version of that
show that we'd installed in the Main Street Opera House. And I remember someone
coming into that theater while we were working on that figure and telling us that
Walt had just passed away," Wilds said. "We obviously had to finish what we
were doing. But I remember the Park being awfully quiet and the Guests &
employees being very subdued once we finished working in the Opera House."

And after that … Well, Walt Disney Productions went through
a scary six months or so. When nobody knew for sure if Roy O. Disney would
continue with all of the projects that his brother had started. Or he'd just
sell the Company off to the highest bidder.

"That was a time of some real apprehension. A time when
Disney's stock price really didn't reflect what the Company was worth. So we
all wondered what Roy was going to do there," Corky said. "But he stuck in
there. Which is why all of the guys I was working with at WED & MAPO stuck there
as well."

And from the Summer of 1967 right through to January 1,
1991, Wilds had a hand in the creation of such classic Disney theme park
attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, The Country Bear
Jamboree, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Not to mention
spectacular theme parks like WDW's Magic Kingdom & Epcot Center as well as
Tokyo Disneyland.

"It was just an amazing job. As Superintendent of Ride
Manufacturing, I got to travel the world. For the Tokyo Disneyland project, I
actually relocated to Japan in March of 1980. And I stayed over there through
July of 1983. Just to make sure that Tokyo Disneyland got off on the right
foot," Corky said.

And when it came time to build Euro Disneyland, Wilds was
asked if he was interested in going back overseas to help the Imagineers turn
that 5000 acres of beet & wheat fields in Marne-la-Vallée into a
world-class resort. But Corky respectfully declined that assignment.

"I had a great time working at WED. I worked with this terrific
team of people who always made my job a whole easier to do. But by 1991, I
didn't want to go to the field anymore. I was ready to start having my own
adventures. So I retired on January 1st of that year and it was the best
decision I ever made. My wife and I got the chance to travel the world while we
were still in good enough health to enjoy these trips. So we went on cruises,
visited Alaska, flew to Ireland and Wales. I don't regret my decision to leave
WED in the slightest," Corky concluded.

Which isn't to say that Wilds doesn't like looking back at
the time he spent at the Mouse House. Reminiscing about the various projects
that he worked on and/or some of the talented artists & engineers that he
spent those 18+ years working with.

Which is why – on September 18th – Corky will be onstage at the
Disneyland Hotel. Where Wilds – along with Rick Berryman, Butch Borcherding,
Roger Broggie Jr. and Rudy Pena – will be taking part in a "MAPO Magic – The
History of Animatronics" panel. Which will be one of the highlights of that
"Marvelous Mechanized Magic Kingdom" event that Ape Pen Publishing & the
1313 Club will be holding at this Anaheim Resort.

So if you'd like to hear some Disney history directly from
the guys that actually made it happen, then I suggest that you snag a ticket to
this once-in-a-lifetime event. Which will feature dinner, displays as well as
great guest speakers like Corky Wilds.

For further information on the "Marvelous Mechanized Magic
Kingdom" event (including ticket prices, times, etc.), please click on this
link.