In honor of the 20th anniversary of Disney’s
Hollywood Studios (Which The Walt Disney World Resort will be celebrating this
Friday with a variety of events at that theme park), I thought it might be
interesting today to explore one of the great “What If” moments in Hollywood
history.
As in: What would have happened if – back in 1930 – Walt Disney
had agreed to let Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (i.e. Hollywood’s predominant studio for
much of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s) become the distributor of his studio’s “Mickey Mouse” and “Silly Symphony” cartoon
series?
According to a story that Frances Marion tells in her 1972
memoir, “Off With Their Heads: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood,” this
distribution deal actually came within a whisker of happening. Only to then get
derailed by MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer’s almost-paralyzing fear to mice.
Here’s the story as Frances tells it: Back in 1930, veteran MGM editors Blanche Sewell and Margaret Booth asked two of the studio’s top directors – Victor Fleming
and George Hill – to drop by one of MGM’s projection rooms. Sewell and Booth
wanted Fleming & Hill to see some reels of film that they thought showed particular promise.
Caption
Frances (who was married to George at that time) tagged
along for this screening. And as she entered this projection room, Marion got
her first glimpse of the man behind the movies that they were all about to see.
A “tall, shy youth” in “a shabby suit” who went by the name of Walt Disney.
“What was Walt doing at MGM?,” you ask. Well, after Pat
Powers had signed away Disney’s star animator, Ub Iwerks – Walt wants nothing more
to do with Pat’s distribution company, Celebrity Productions. Which is why
Disney began taking meetings with reps from all the major studios. Hoping to
find some company in town that might then be willing to take over distribution
of the “Mickey Mouse” and “Silly Symphony” cartoons.
Anyway … As Frances tells this story, Blanche & Margaret
first screened a Mickey Mouse cartoon. And as soon as this short was over, Fleming
(who – for those of you who don’t know – was the director of two of Hollywood’s
most celebrated films, “Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz”) supposedly stood
up and said “It’s terrific!” With his long arms flailing around that projection
room, Victor allegedly told Walt “Man, you’ve got it. Damndest best cartoon I’ve
ever seen! Let’s see the other one.”
The group assembled in this projection room was then
reportedly shown “Springtime,” which was the third Silly Symphony ever produced.
Marion remembered that Fleming & Hill “praised (this picture too), though
not with the (same) enthusiasm (that) they had lavished on (the) Mickey Mouse
(short).”
Frances then remembers that Victor went out and dragged
Louis B. back to this projection room. Insisting that the studio head sit down
right then and watch Walt’s cartoons.
But Mayer wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic as the others had
been. As “Springtime” unspooled, he seemed disturbed by all the dancing
flowers. And as soon as Mickey Mouse’s smiling face appeared on the screen,
Louis B. reportedly stood up and said “Goddamn it! Stop that film! Stop it at
once!”
Once the lights came up in that projection room, Mayer supposedly
turned to Fleming & Co. and said “Is this your idea of a practical joke? I’ve
a mind to fire all of you!” Victor then allegedly stood up to his boss, saying
words to the effect of “What’s the matter with you? Got elephant blood? (Are
you ) scared of a mouse?”
What follows is Marion’s recollection of what Mayer said in
his defense as to why Metro-Goldywn-Mayer would never distribute a Mickey Mouse
cartoon:
“It ain’t myself (that) I’m thinking about. It’s (those)
poor frightened women in the audience … All over this country, pregnant women go
into our theaters to see our movies and to rest themselves before their dear
ones are born … Every woman is scared of a mouse, admit it. A little tiny
mouse, admit it. And here you think that they’re going to laugh at a mouse on
the screen that’s ten feet high? (Well), I’m nobody’s fool. And (I’ll) not be
taken in by your poor judgment.”
And – with that – Louis B. allegedly gets up and storms out
of that projection room. Leaving a dejected Walt Disney in his wake. Who had
(at that time) supposedly dreamed of having his cartoon distributed by the
studio that – according to MGM’s slogan – had “more stars than there are in
heaven.”
This is admittedly a great old Hollywood story. But is Frances
Marion’s Tinsel town tale true? Not according to Michael Sragrow. Who just
wrote a terrific new book about Victor Fleming’s directorial career, “Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master” (Pantheon, December 2008).
So what did Frances get wrong? Well, for starters, if Louis
B. Mayer really was so afraid of mice that he’d refuse to allow his studio to distribute any animated shorts that featured
rodents … Then how do you explain the “Tom and Jerry” cartoon series? The first
of those cartoons – “Puss Gets the Boot” – was released by MGM in February
1940? And before Mayer was forced to step down as studio head in 1951,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had literally produced dozens of shorts starring this cat
& mouse team.
Hell, Jerry even danced with one of the studio’s top stars –
Gene Kelly – in MGM’s big release for 1945, “Anchors Aweigh.” (It’s worth noting
here that Kelly originally wanted to dance with Mickey Mouse in this live
action / animated sequence. Only to then have Walt refuse to give Gene permission
to use Mickey in a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical). So if Louis B. really couldn’t
stand seeing animated mice up on the big screen, then how did this happen?
There’s obviously something not entirely kosher with Marion’s recounting of this event. Especially when you consider that – by 1930 —
Mickey Mouse was already a full-fledged film phenomenon and Disney’s “Silly
Symphony” shorts were quickly becoming critical darlings. So acquiring the
distribution rights to Disney’s animated shorts would have been a real feather
in MGM’s cap right about then.
So what actually happened? According to Sragrow, it was most
likely Nicholas Schenck in New York (i.e. the head of MGM’s parent company,
Loews) who nixed the idea of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer distributing the “Mickey Mouse”
and “Silly Symphony” series. Supposedly over the amount of money that Walt was
asking for each short. More importantly, because Disney insisted on retaining
ownership over every animated cartoon that his studio produced.
Which is why Walt eventually decided to go with Columbia
Pictures instead (with screen legend Frank Capra reportedly brokering a deal
with Columbia studio head Harry Cohn which would then allow Disney to retain
ownership of his cartoons). And when that distribution deal went south in 1932,
Walt signed with United Artists. And UA handled distribution of Disney’s cartoons
through 1937. Which is Walt decided to go with RKO.
And RKO then remained Disney’s distributor ‘til 1957, when –
as Walt was sensing that this then-Howard-Hughes-owned company was about to spin
in – Disney set up the Buena Vista Distribution Company. Which finally gave
Walt complete control over his studio’s output.
But one wonders what would have happened if Walt had actually
been able to come to terms with MGM’s attorneys. With his shorts now being
promoted & distributed by Tinsel town’s top studio, would Disney still have
been able to maintain total creative control over all of his cartoons? Or would
Mayer (who was an infamous micro manager) have insisted on having some say when
it came to the animation that his studio was now distributing?
It’s a fascinating idea to ponder. Especially when you
consider that – if it hadn’t been for the enormous box office success that “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” had enjoyed – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer would have never
felt the need to turn “The Wizard of Oz” into this lavish musical. Which wound
up costing that MGM $2.8 million to produce in 1939. Which was an
astronomically large sum for a studio to spend on a movie back then.
Anywho … Given that The Walt Disney Company &
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s history continued to be interwined (With the Mouse signing
a 20-year deal with MGM back in 1985. Which then allowed the Imagineers to use
that studio’s name, logo and selected titles from its film library in a theme
park setting), one wonders how this would have all played out if Nicholas
Schenck had agreed to Walt’s terms back in 1930.
By the way, if you’re a Hollywood history buff, Michael
Sragrow’s “Victory Fleming: An American Movie Master” is definitely worth
picking up. There are lots of great stories in this 656 page hardcover that
debunk common Tinsel town myths. Like the Little-people-gone-wild myth that
have dogged the performers who played the Munchkins for over 40 years now.
According to Michael, this tale can actually be tracked back to a 1967 appearance
that Judy Garland made on the Jack Paar show. Where that “Wizard of Oz” star – in order to get a laugh out of the
studio audience – claimed that most of the undersized actors that Leo Singer
hired for this MGM release were “drunks.”
That’s the trouble with so many great Hollywood-related tales. Just because
these behind-the-scenes stories are so much fun to tell (like Louis B.’s alleged mouse phobia) doesn’t then
mean that they’re actually true.
Your thoughts?