I got a call the other day from A.C. A Chicago area Disneyana fan who also dabbles in precious gems.
“You’ll never believe what I just bought. Here, let me send you a picture.”
And — a few minutes later — this is what pops up in my inbox.
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you, folks. That is actually a dime-sized head of Mickey Mouse that’s been carved out of a mint-green stone. Ah, but that’s not just any mint-green stone. That — my friends — is a 14.55 carat emerald. With an estimated retail value of $60,000.
“Who would do such a thing?, ” you ask, Well, that was why A.C. was getting in touch with me. Both to show off his new trinket as well as ask if I had any info about this gem’s origin.
And — to be honest — I HAD heard about a jewel such of this. An emerald Mickey Mouse that was supposedly accompanied by a Donald & a Goofy that had also been sculpted out of precious stones.
“Who told you about that?,” you query. Actually, it was an Imagineer who had once worked on the original version of World Showcase. No, not that collection of themed buildings that you find clustered around Epcot’s World Showcase Lagoon. But — rather — WED’s very first pass on this project. Back when World Showcase was to have been located right next door to WDW’s Ticket Transportation Center.
This version of the plan dates back to late 1973 / early 1974. Back when the Imagineers were really just wrapping their heads around how to turn Walt’s last dream into something that could actually be constructed. At this point, the folks who were running Walt Disney Productions had pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that they’d never actually be able to pull a really-for-real “Experimental Prototype Communiuty of Tomorrow” (I.E. a real city) up out of the swamps of Central Florida.
But — that said — the public (not to mention the Florida legislature) was still expected the Disney corporation to eventually deliver on Walt’s last & best dream. So Mouse House managers wondered: How can we deliver on the promise of Epcot without actually having to build a full-blown city.
What these rather weaselly executives eventually decided to do was — rather than build an actual “community of tomorrow” — they’d just break Epcot down to its component parts. A series of themed satellite structures, if you will. That would each celebrate some aspect of the future.
Under this version of the Epcot plan, there would have been futuristically-styled structures built all around Disney’s 27,000-acre Central Florida parcel. With some of these buildings being envisioned as places where conventioneers (who were meeting on Disney World property) could go to learn the latest about manufacturing techniques or corporate training. While still other structures will house state-of-the-art learning centers for medicine, communications and the arts.
But those doesn’t sound like places that would be all that fun to visit, now do they? Particularly when you’re on vacation. And — given that the then-managers of Walt Disney Productions were more concerned about creating compelling reasons for tourists to return to Disney World rather than honoring Walt’s last wishes (Which — when you come to think of it — doesn’t make Disney’s old management team all that different from Disney’s current management team. Anyway … ) — they knew that they had to come up with a public component of Epcot. Some sort of gated attraction that would sound so interesting, so entertaining that WDW visitors would be happy to pay to get in.
This is where World Showcase came in, folks. Which — according to its description in Walt Disney Productions’ 1974 annual report — was supposed to be:
” … a permanent international showcase through which the nations of the world may creatively communicate their history, their culture and their commerce.”
Okay. I know that description sounds kind of vague. So let’s get to the specifics, shall we?
This World Showcase plan called for two enormous semi-circular structures. (“How enormous?,” you ask. Well, at full build-out, this version of World Showcase was supposed to have occupied an area that was almost as large as WDW’s Magic Kingdom. So perhaps that will give you some idea of how truly big these horseshoe-shaped buildings were supposed to be.) Inside each of these “wings” there was supposed to have been room for 17 different international pavilions. Which means that — if everything had gone according to plan here — World Showcase would have played host to 34 separate countries.
Sounds kind of ambitious, doesn’t it? Well, this World Showcase plan had its clever aspects as well. Take — for example — how the Imagineers planned on dealing with the international competition aspect of this project.
Now anyone who’s ever been to a World’s Fair will tell you what an architectural nightmare those places can be. With each country building what it hopes will be an eye-catching structure. All because (out of some perverted version of national pride) they want their pavilion to be the most popular attraction at that year’s Fair.
The end result — as you might imagine — is that most World’s Fairs ended with this truly odd collection of international pavilions. Each of them competing for attention. Well, Disney wanted to avoid that. Which is why the Imagineers came up with an idea that would have forced all the countries who actually took part in this version of World Showcase to come across as equals. At least in the eyes of WDW visitors.
The key was that the entrance to each pavilion was to have looked virtually identical to its next door neighbor. Here, let me show you how.
Here’s a shot of the model of the proposed entrance areas for the Great Britain & France pavilions. Notice that their facades are virtually the same shape & size. This was done deliberately, With the hope that WDW visitors (from the outside of these international pavilions, anyway) would get the idea that Great Britain was any greater than France.
Of course, once you got inside a particular international pavilion, the actual size of the interior of the structure (as well as the variety of rides, shows, shops and restaurants to be found there) … Well, that would depend on how much each participating nation had agreed to put up in order to fund the construction of their particular World Showcase pavilion. Put up a small pile of dough and you’d probably get an itty-bitty building built out behind your country’s slice of this giant horseshoe-shaped structure. Put up a large amount of money and the Imagineers would be happy to create an enormous wedge-shaped building that paid tribute to your nation.
The large projected cost of building these two enormous horseshoe-shaped structures was obviously a factor in this particular version of World Showcase not becoming a reality. But that’s not to say that Mouse House officials didn’t give it the old college try.
Toward that end, Disney Production representatives traveled the globe in the mid-1970s. Seeking out world leaders who’d (hopefully) be eager to sign up the countries up to become part of this most ambitious project.
These senior company officials went from (quoting from Disney’s 1976 annual report now) “Manila to Moscow to Mexico City.” At each turn in the trail meeting with kings, queens, ambassadors and foreign ministers. All with the hope of getting these countries to commit to becoming participants in WDW’s World Showcase project.
As part of their sales pitch, the Imagineers would often put together elaborate presentations at WED’s headquarters in Glendale, CA. Below, you’ll see a photo (also from Disney’s 1976 annual report) where company officials are trying to persuade his excellency Ardeshir Zahedi, the ambassador of Iran, to get his nation to take part in the World Showcase project.
And — of course — as part of the courtship process, Walt Disney Productions would often treat these foreign dignitaries & their families to trips to Disneyland and/or week-long Disney World vacations. All in an effort to close the deal.
And — as a show of appreciation — these dignitaries would sometimes present gifts to Disney company officials. Which is where that Mickey-shaped emerald finally re-enters today’s story.
You see, according to the story that this (now deceased) Imagineer once told me, an un-named member of Disney Productions management was once gifted a set of jewels just like these as a “Thank You” gift by some foreign potentate (Who was particularly thrilled that his country had been selected to be part of the original version of the “World Showcase” project).
Anywho … For some odd reason, this Disney company official opted not to hang onto these amazing gifts. But — rather — sold off the pieces to an unnamed individual in the mid-to-late 1970s. There the jewels stayed until earlier this year. When this collector (for some reason or other) decided to put the Mickey emerald on the market and A.C. quickly snatched it up.
Of course, half the fun of owning a piece like this is trying to get a sense of its real history. Trying to determine whether or not this gem really does have a tie to the early, early history of WDW’s World Showcase. Which is A.C. turned to me. Which is why I — in turn — am now appealing to JHM readers for help.
Now I know that I heard this story about some Disney-themed gem from this old Imagineer friend of mine a few years back. But — given that this gentleman is no longer with us — I’m no longer able to confirm if the precious stone that A.C. now owns was actually part of that collection. Which is why I was hoping that some other WDI veteran (or some well-informed JHM reader) might now be able to come forward to corrobrate this part of the story. Let A.C. know if his latest find really does have a truly unique tie to Disney Company history. Or if this highly unusual piece was just the creation of some Disneyana fan who had WAY too much time on their hands.
Also — if anyone out there might know whatever became of the Donald & Goofy-shaped gems that were once rumored to accompany this piece — Well, A.C. would be happy to hear about those pieces as well.
Either way, I figured that this oddily shaped emerald offered a unique opportunity to talk about the early, early days of the Epcot project. Which is why I decided to write today about when World Showcase was supposed to be a separate gate, built on 100-acres of land right next door to WDW’s Ticket & Transportation Center.
Your thoughts?