General

Walt in his own words

JHM favorite Wade Sampson returns with a transcript of Disney’s last public speeches. When Walt accepted the “Showman of the World” award at the National Association of Theater Owners in October of 1966.

Published

20 years ago

April 5, 2005

Jim Korkis

Next year will mark forty years since Walt Disney passed away and yet we are still fascinated by him and what he thought. After listening to some audio cassettes of the speeches I have that Walt gave to radio listeners back in the 1940s, I thought it might be nice to try to capture some of these speeches in print as just another insight into Walt Disney.

One of the last speeches Walt ever gave was on Saturday, October 1, 1966 when he received a new award from the National Association of Theater Owners. NATO was the result of a union several months previously between two massive exhibitor organizations, Allied States and the Theater Owners of America. The newly combined NATO represented more than ninety percent of all movie theaters in the United States or roughly fifteen thousand showcases.

On the evening of October 1, in New York’s Americana hotel, nearly two thousand exhibitors and their wives from throughout the United States and Canada gathered together as Walt was presented with what NATO claimed was a salute “to dramatize the impact of his artistry and showmanship upon the entire world.”

In fact, the award was designed especially for Walt and bore the following inscription:

“In a universe of unlocking secrets, creativity, diversion and recreation become symbols of man’s civilized state. To bring us to this plateau, science and religion have probed the mind and the soul. Entertainment has ministered to the emotions. Above all others in a global configuration of The Showman of the World is one man. He stands alone. His sensitivity to the visual delights is unequalled; even unchallenged. His total involvement of the family is a credo. His uncompromising wholesomeness of subject matter and presentation give a mighty industry dignity and respect and recognition. But most of all his uncanny ability to bring joy and gratification to young and old alike set him apart. He is known and loved in every land, in every tongue. He is, indeed, the first…perhaps the only…Showman of the World. He is, of course, Walt Disney.”

Pretty flowery stuff. It was preceded in September by a joint statement by Sherrill C. Corwin (the new president of NATO) and Marshall H. Fine (the retiring president of NATO who actually presented the award to Walt) that “Variety” called a “citation in itself”.

Corwin and Fine, on announcing Walt as the recipient for the Showman of the Year Award, stated:

“The reasons why Walt Disney should receive unprecedented recognition and honor from the nation’s theater owners are far too numerous for complete enumeration. Even the name Walt Disney is synonymous throughout the world with the highest level of creative entertainment. His brilliant and imaginative creations transcend all language barriers and geographic boundaries to brighten the world with the warmth of delight and laughter.”

Walt’s speech, probably prepared by Studio publicity man Joe Reddy, was constantly interrupted by outbursts of applause and laughter. Walt, who would pass away almost two months later, appears relaxed and happy in the photos that were taken and even Walt’s wife, Lillian, seems very happy as she and Walt posed with Sophia Loren (NATO’s Star of the Year award recipient) and her husband Carlo Ponti.

There is a lot of Walt Disney in the speech. Even when he was working with prepared material, Walt was such a natural storyteller that he would go “off script” and make the material his own. I know this speech appears in at least one website and one book (“Walt Disney: A Bio-Bibliography” by Kathy Merlock) but still may be fresh for the majority of the readers of this website as I kick off this new series of reprinting Walt’s speeches:

Walt Disney’s Speech Accepting the Showman of the World Award
from the National Association of Theatre Owners

October 1, 1966

Truly an imposing title. It makes a man wonder where do we go from here? For this occasion, I propose to go backwards-almost forty-five years ago to Kansas City, Missouri. Now don’t let this frighten you, because I intend to hop, skip and jump through those forty-five years in ten minutes-if it takes longer you can accuse me of hamming it up-so here we go.

I was all alone then. I didn’t even have a mouse. But I had some ideas. One was to do a sort of animated cartoon commentary on local topics for the Kansas City screen. Frank Newman- who owned three theatres in Kansas City was the first-in a long line of showmen-who gave me a helping hand. He bought those early efforts of mine at thirty cents a foot. Newman’s treasurer at the time was Gus Eysell-later to become director of Radio City Music Hall. Gus was the one I had to catch to collect my thirty cents a foot. During the next few years I expanded several of my ideas trying to crack the animated cartoon field and I finally came to a great conclusion. I had missed the boat. I had got in too late. Film cartooning had been going on for all of six or seven years.

My only hope lay in live action movies. So, I packed all of my worldly goods in a pasteboard suitcase… and with that wonderful audacity of youth, I went to Hollywood-arriving there with just $40 as my total cash assets-with $200 worth of liabilities from my Kansas City ventures.

I didn’t figure on setting the town on fire-at least not for a year or two. But I had to start with a job, for two months I tramped from one studio to another. Anything to get through those magic gates of big-time show business. But nobody bought.

My big brother, Roy, was already in Los Angeles as a patient in the Veteran’s hospital. When he got out, we had more in common than brotherly love. Both of us were unemployed-and neither could get a job. We solved the problem by going into business ourselves. We established the first animated cartoon studio in Hollywood.

Several years after producing one series after another on a shoe-string budget for the state rights market followed. Then sound on film panicked the industry and Mickey Mouse came into our life.

At first, it looked like he was going to have a harder time crashing show business than I had. Nobody wanted Mickey.

Then a second great exhibitor took a chance on a Disney project. He was Harry Reichenbach, who managed the Old Colony Theatre on Broadway. We didn’t yet have a release for Mickey, but Harry wanted to book him in the Colony regardless.

At the time we were in desperate need for $500. To put it briefly, everything owned by Roy and me was mortgaged to the hilt. So I asked Harry for $500 for exhibiting the first Mickey Mouse one week. I knew that the price was pretty steep. So did Harry. But fortunately for us, he said, “Let’s compromise.” I’ll give you $250 a week-and run the cartoon for two weeks.”

Reichenbach had a great talent for showmanship and exploitation. If it was a picture Harry would sell it-whether it moved or not. He was the man who sold the public on that famous, naughty painting-‘September Morn’. And this was back in the day when it was considered a mortal sin to peek at The Police Gazette-and even Mack Sennett had never dreamed of a bikini.

It was a far cry from ‘September Morn’ to ‘Steamboat Willie’, but Harry sold the public Mickey Mouse in just two weeks. Our red ink took on a blacker hue.

By nature, I’m an experimenter. To this day, I don’t believe in sequels. I can’t follow popular cycles. I have to move on to new things. So-with the success of Mickey-I was determined to diversify. I had another idea which was plaguing my brain. It was The Silly Symphonies. A series without a central character which would give me latitude to develop the animated cartoon medium. The first was ‘The Skeleton Dance’. The reaction was-“Why does Walt fool around with skeletons? Give us more mice.”

So, for a while, it looked like the first Silly Symphony would not get out of the graveyard. But once more, a showman came to the rescue. Fred miller, who was managing director of the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, took a chance on the film.

“The Skeleton Dance’ got a wonderful reception, and wonderful reviews. So another showman-the legendary Roxy-took up the ball. He booked the short into his Roxy Theatre of New York. Thus was the series launched.

In those days, we were like the bumblebee who didn’t know how to fly-but we were flying anyhow. We kept fooling around with the Silly Symphonies until we came up with ‘The Three Little Pigs’. I could not possibly see how we could top pigs with pigs. But we tried, and I doubt whether one member of this audience can name the other cartoons in which the pigs appeared.

The success of The Silly Symphonies gave us the courage for ‘Snow White’. And you should have heard the howls of warning! It was prophesied hat nobody would sit through a cartoon an hour and a half long. But we had decided there was only one way we could successfully do ‘Snow White’-and that was to go for broke-shoot the works.

There would be no compromise on money, talent or time. We did not know whether the public would go for a cartoon feature; but we were darned sure that audiences would not buy a bad cartoon feature.

As the ‘Snow White’ budget climbed, I did begin to wonder whether we would ever get our investment back. At this critical period, another great showman gave me the needed assurance.

W.G. Van Schmus-the General Manager of Radio City Music Hall-came to the studio. After seeing bits and pieces of ‘Snow White’ be booked the picture right on the spot-months before the film would ever be completed.

Then came a shocker. Roy told me that we would have to borrow another quarter of a million dollars to finish the movie. ‘You’ve got to show the bankers what’s been completed on ‘Snow White’ as collateral.’ I had always objected to letting any outsider see an incompleted motion picture. And bankers to me were men after the fact. But Roy went ahead with the arrangements.

However, on the appointed day my big brother had found something to do elsewhere. I had to sit alone with Joe Rosenberg of the Bank of America and try to sell him a quarter of a million dollars worth of faith. He showed not the slightest reaction to what he viewed. After the lights came on he walked out of the projection room, remarked that it was a nice day-and yawned! He was still deadpan as I conducted him to his car. Then he turned to me and said, “Walt, that picture will make a pot full of money.” To this day, he’s my favorite banker.

Well, we had been stuck with mice and pigs. Now with ‘Snow White’ a huge hit, the shout went out for more dwarfs. Top dwarfs with dwarfs? Why try?

So as you may recall we experimented with-‘Pinocchio’-‘Fantasia’-‘Dumbo’-and ‘Bambi’-before the war intervened and our studio with all its talent and skills was taken one hundred percent producing hundreds of thousands of feet of vital film for the war effort. It was here that we learned the true meaning of diversification. We produced thousands of insignia for the various fighting units-hundreds of films on such subjects as-

How to Hate Hitler
The Vulnerability of the Jap Zeros
Fighter Tactics
Bomber Tactics
Meteorology
Briefing Films on the Hundreds of Islands to be Captured in the Pacific…

And our series on simple sanitation with such alluring subjects as:

How to Control the Malaria Mosquito
How to Avoid the Hook Worm
How to Get Rid of the Body Louse
How to Build and Where to Locate a Privy So as Not to Pollute the Drinking Water...

And many more I don’t care to mention in spite of the new liberalized production code. You might say we didn’t come out of the war smelling like a rose-but we had acquired a wonderful education and a determination to diversify our entertainment product.

So we started experimenting with the living nature subjects and live-action features. Just as we were beginning to get rolling with this new program the panic over television struck. We studied the medium carefully and decided it was here to stay. But never in the foreseeable future would it replace motion pictures. Meanwhile, why not use it? If television could sell soap, couldn’t it sell movies? So with this thought in mind, we went into television.

For one of our early programs we tried a little experiment. Our feature Jules Verne’s ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ was being readied for release. So we built an hour-long television show around the making of the movie. In a sense it was pure exploitation. But we felt the public would not mind exploitation so long as it contained sufficient interest and entertainment.

More than any other single factor this television show helped us to sell ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ to motion picture audiences. Furthermore, the show won an Emmy as the best single television program of the year. Even Jules Verne might have found this hard to believe.

But it was Bob O’Donnell-the late, great exhibitor of Texas-that gave us a lesson in daring showmanship. Our Davy Crockett series had been a hit on television. So Bob suggested we take three of these episodes, tie them together and release the package as a picture.

I was inclined to ask O’Donnell is he had lost his mind. But I had too much respect for his judgment. So we did exactly as he suggested. Bob exhibited the movie in his theatres and broke house records in over half of Texas.

After a long concentration on live-action and cartoon films, we decided to try something that would employ about every trick we had learned in the making of films. We would combine cartoon and live-action in an enormous fantasy-‘Mary Poppins’. And what a far cry that was from ‘Snow White’! As the original ‘Mary Poppins’ budget of five million dollars continued to grow, I never saw a sad face around the entire studio. And this made me nervous. I knew the picture would have to gross ten million dollars for us to break even.

But still there was no negative head-shaking. No prophets of doom. Even Roy was happy. He didn’t even ask me to show the unfinished picture to a banker. The horrible thought struck me-suppose the staff had finally conceded that I knew what I was doing?

The suspense was too much. It was I who finally asked David Wallerstein of Balaban and Katz-to take a look at the completed ‘Mary Poppins’. This magnificent showman, exhibitor and friend always leveled with me. And he could smell a hit-or a flop-through a six-foot wall. Dave said, “You can relax, Walt. The picture will be a tremendous success.” So I started smiling right back at the staff.

After seeing the completed ‘Mary Poppins’ another friend-a great showman and a champion of clean, quality pictures-Sam Goldwyn-called me and said, “Walt, don’t let your distribution group settle for less than a thirty-five million dollar gross.”

Now there’s nothing wrong with my imagination, but a thirty-five million dollar gross seemed to out-fantasy the picture itself. However, when I tried to lower the figure on Sam he became so emotional he hung up on me.

Some months later, on being informed by our distribution team that Sam’s prediction was coming true, I called Sam to give him the good news. There was silence on the other end of the line. I said-“Sam, are you listening?” he replied-“I’m thinking. I’ve been thinking on it since I gave you that figure and I now estimate it will gross eighty-five million dollars before it is through.” This made me so emotional I nearly hung up on Sam.

Most of this talk has been about me and big brother Roy and a few of the exhibitors-but actually, in my hopping, skipping and jumping I have landed on only a few of the milestones along the way. There were many other exhibitors who lent us a helping hand throughout our career. And, also, there is the Disney organization with its three thousand employees. Many have been with us well over thirty years. They take pride in the organization which they helped to build. Only through the talent, the labor and the dedication of this staff could any Disney project get off the ground.

We all think alike in the ultimate pattern. And right now, we’re not thinking about making another ‘Mary Poppins’. We never will. Perhaps there will be other ventures with equal critical and financial success. But we know we cannot hit a home run with the bases loaded every time we go to the plate. We also know the only way we can even get to first base is by constantly going to bat and continuing to swing.

Now I could tell you of another little project. You might say that we’ve been doing a little moonlighting with our left hand. It’s called Disneyland… you know, out in Anaheim… the home of the California Angels. But that’s another story.

Now before sitting down to count my blessings I want to make you a promise. I promise we won’t let this great honor you have paid us tonight go to our head-we have too many projects for the future to take time out for such a thing. On top of that-after forty some odd years of ups and downs in this crazy business of ours we know too well-you are only as good as your next picture.

So a great big thank you-to all of you-from all of us… and God bless.

General

Seward Johnson bronzes add a surreal, artistic touch to NYC’s Garment District

Published

10 years ago

June 23, 2015

Jim Hill

Greetings from NYC. Nancy and I drove down from New
Hampshire yesterday because we'll be checking out
Disney Consumer Products' annual Holiday Showcase later today.

Anyway … After checking into our hotel (i.e., The Paul.
Which is located down in NYC's NoMad district), we decided to grab some dinner.
Which is how we wound up at the Melt Shop.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is this restaurant that only sells grilled cheese sandwiches.
This comfort food was delicious, but kind of on the heavy side.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is why — given that it was a beautiful summer night
— we'd then try and walk off our meals. We started our stroll down by the Empire
State Building
…

Photo by Jim Hill

… and eventually wound up just below Times
Square (right behind where the Waterford Crystal Times Square New
Year's Eve Ball is kept).

Photo by Jim Hill

But you know what we discovered en route? Right in the heart
of Manhattan's Garment District
along Broadway between 36th and 41st? This incredibly cool series of life-like
and life-sized sculptures that Seward
Johnson has created.

Photo by Jim Hill

And — yes — that is Abraham Lincoln (who seems to have
slipped out of WDW's Hall of Presidents when no one was looking and is now
leading tourists around Times Square). These 18 painted
bronze pieces (which were just installed late this past Sunday night / early
Monday morning) range from the surreal to the all-too-real.

Photo by Jim Hill

Some of these pieces look like typical New Yorkers. Like the
business woman planning out her day …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the postman delivering the mail …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the hot dog vendor working at his cart …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the street musician playing for tourists …

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention the tourists themselves.

Photo by Jim Hill

But right alongside the bronze businessmen …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and the tired grandmother hauling her groceries home …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there were also statues representing people who were
from out-of-town …

Photo by Jim Hill

… or — for that matter — out-of-time.

Photo by Jim Hill

These were the Seward Johnson pieces that genuinely beguiled. Famous impressionist paintings brought to life in three dimensions.

Note the out-of-period water bottle that some tourist left
behind. Photo by Jim Hill

Some of them so lifelike that you actually had to pause for
a moment (especially as day gave way to night in the city) and say to yourself
"Is that one of the bronzes? Or just someone pretending to be one of these
bronzes?"

Mind you, for those of you who aren't big fans of the
impressionists …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there's also an array of American icons. Among them
Marilyn Monroe …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and that farmer couple from Grant Wood's "American
Gothic."

Photo by Jim Hill

But for those of you who know your NYC history, it's hard to
beat that piece which recreates Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph of V-J Day in Times Square.

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, a 25-foot-tall version of this particular Seward
Johnson piece ( which — FYI — is entitled "Embracing Peace") will actually
be placed in Times Square for a few days on or around August 14th to commemorate the 70th
anniversary of Victory Over Japan Day (V-J Day).

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, if you'd like to check these Seward Johnson bronzes in
person (which — it should be noted — are part of the part of the Garment
District Alliance's new public art offering) — you'd best schedule a trip to
the City sometime over the next three months. For these pieces will only be on
display now through September 15th.

General

Wondering what you should “Boldly Go” see at the movies next year? The 2015 Licensing Expo offers you some clues

Published

10 years ago

June 10, 2015

Jim Hill

Greeting from the 2015 Licensing Expo, which is being held
at the Mandalay Bay
Convention Center in Las
Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

I have to admit that I enjoy covering the Licensing Expo.
Mostly becomes it allows bloggers & entertainment writers like myself to
get a peek over the horizon. Scope out some of the major motion pictures &
TV shows that today's vertically integrated entertainment conglomerates
(Remember when these companies used to be called movie studios?) will be
sending our way over the next two years or so.

Photo by Jim Hill

Take — for example — all of "The Secret Life of
Pets" banners that greeted Expo attendees as they made their way to the
show floor today. I actually got to see some footage from this new Illumination
Entertainment production (which will hit theaters on July 8, 2016) the last time I was in Vegas. Which
was for CinemaCon back in April. And the five or so minutes of film that I viewed
suggested that "The Secret Life of Pets" will be a really funny
animated feature.

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, Universal Pictures wanted to make sure that Expo
attendees remembered that there was another Illumination Entertainment production
coming-to-a-theater-near-them before "The Secret Life of Pets" (And
that's "Minions," the "Despicable Me" prequel. Which
premieres at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival next week but
won't be screened stateside 'til July 10th of this year). Which is why they had
three minions who were made entirely out of LEGOS loitering out in the lobby.

Photo by Jim Hill

And Warner Bros. — because they wanted "Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice" to start trending on Twitter today — brought
the Batmobile to Las Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention full-sized macquettes of Batman, Superman and
Wonder Woman. Just so conventioneers could then see what these DC superheroes
would actually look like in this eagerly anticipated, March 25, 2016 release.

Photo by Jim Hill

That's the thing that can sometimes be a wee bit frustrating
about the Licensing Expo. It's all about delayed gratification. You'll come
around a corner and see this 100 foot-long ad for "The Peanuts Movie"
and think "Hey, that looks great. I want to see that Blue Sky Studios production
right now." It's only then that you notice the fine print and realize that
"The Peanuts Movie" doesn't actually open in theaters 'til November
6th of this year.

Photo by Jim Hill

And fan of Blue Sky's "Ice Age" film franchise are in for an even
longer wait. Given that the latest installment in that top grossing series
doesn't arrive in theaters 'til July
15, 2016.

Photo by Jim Hill

Of course, if you're one of those people who needs immediate
gratification when it comes to your entertainment, there was stuff like that to
be found at this year's Licensing Expo. Take — for example — how the WWE
booth was actually shaped like a wrestling ring. Which — I'm guessing — meant
that if the executives of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. didn't like
the offer that you were making, they were then allowed to toss you out over the
top rope, Royal Rumble-style.

Photo by Jim Hill

I also have to admit that — as a longtime Star Trek fan —
it was cool to see the enormous Starship Enterprise that hung in place over the
CBS booth. Not to mention getting a glimpse of the official Star Trek 50th
Anniversary logo.

Photo by Jim Hill

I was also pleased to see lots of activity in The Jim Henson
Company booth. Which suggests that JHC has actually finally carved out a
post-Muppets identity for itself.

Photo by Jim Hill

Likewise for all of us who were getting a little concerned
about DreamWorks Animation (what with all the layoffs & write-downs &
projects that were put into turnaround or outright cancelled last year), it was
nice to see that booth bustling.

Photo by Jim Hill

Every so often, you'd come across some people who were
promoting a movie that you weren't entirely sure that you actually wanted to
see (EX: "Angry Birds," which Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia
Pictures will be releasing to theaters on May 20, 2016). But then you remembered that Clay Kaytis —
who's this hugely talented former Walt Disney Animation Studios animator — is
riding herd on "Angry Birds" with Fergal Reilly. And you'd think
"Well, if Clay's working on 'Angry Birds,' I'm sure this animated feature
will turn out fine."

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, there were reminders at this year's Licensing Expo
of great animated features that we're never going to get to see now. I still
can't believe — especially after that brilliant proof-of-concept footage
popped up online last year — that Sony execs decided not to go forward
with production of Genndy Tartakovsky's
"Popeye" movie. But that's the
cruel thing about the entertainment business, folks. It will sometime break
your heart.

Photo by Jim Hill

And make no mistake about this. The Licensing Expo is all
about business. That point was clearly driven home at this year's show when —
as you walked through the doors of the Mandalay
Bay Convention Center
— the first thing that you saw was the Hasbros Booth. Which was this gleaming,
sleek two story-tall affair full of people who were negotiating deals &
signing contracts for all of the would-be summer blockbusters that have already
announced release dates for 2019 & beyond.

Photo by Jim Hill

"But what about The Walt Disney Company?," you
ask. "Weren't they represented on the show floor at this year's Licensing
Expo?" Not really, not. I mean, sure. There were a few companies there hyping
Disney-related products. Take — for example — the Disney Wikkeez people.

Photo by Jim Hill

I'm assuming that some Disney Consumer Products exec is
hoping that Wikkeez will eventually become the new Tsum Tsum. But to be blunt,
these little hard plastic figures don't seem to have the same huggable charm
that those stackable plush do. But I've been wrong before. So let's see what
happens with Disney Wikkeez once they start showing up on the shelves of the
Company's North American retail partners.

Photo by Jim Hill

And speaking of Disney's retail partners … They were
meeting with Mouse House executives behind closed doors one floor down from the
official show floor for this year's Licensing Expo.

Photo by Jim Hill

And the theme for this year's invitation-only Disney shindig? "Timeless
Stories" involving the Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm brands that
would then appeal to "tomorrow's consumer."

Photo by Jim Hill

And just to sort of hammer home the idea that Disney is no
longer the Company which cornered the market when it comes to little girls
(i.e., its Disney Princess and Disney Fairies franchises), check out this
wall-sized Star Wars-related image that DCP put up just outside of one of its
many private meeting rooms. "See?," this carefully crafted photo
screams. "It isn't just little boys who want to wield the Force. Little
girls also want to grow up and be Lords of the Sith."

Photo by Jim Hill

One final, kind-of-ironic note: According to this banner,
Paramount Pictures will be releasing a movie called "Amusement Park"
to theaters sometime in 2017.

Photo by Jim Hill

Well, given all the "Blackfish" -related issues
that have been dogged SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment over the past two years, I'm
just hoping that they'll still be in the amusement park business come 2017.

Your thoughts?

General

It takes more than three circles to craft a Classic version of Mickey Mouse

Published

10 years ago

June 9, 2015

Jim Hill

You know what Mickey Mouse looks like, right? Little guy,
big ears?

Truth be told, Disney's corporate symbol has a lot of
different looks. If Mickey's interacting with Guests at Disneyland
Park (especially this summer, when
the Happiest Place on Earth
is celebrating its 60th anniversary), he looks & dresses like this.

Or when he's appearing in one of those Emmy Award-winning shorts that Disney
Television Animation has produced (EX: "Bronco Busted," which debuts
on the Disney Channel tonight at 8 p.m. ET / PT), Mickey is drawn in a such a
way that he looks hip, cool, edgy & retro all at the same time.

Looking ahead to 2017 now, when Disney Junior rolls out "Mickey and the
Roadster Racers," this brand-new animated series will feature a sportier version
of Disney's corporate symbol. One that Mouse House managers hope will persuade
preschool boys to more fully embrace this now 86 year-old character.

That's what most people don't realize about the Mouse. The
Walt Disney Company deliberately tailors Mickey's look, even his style of
movement, depending on what sort of project / production he's appearing in.

Take — for example — Disney
California Adventure
Park's "World of Color:
Celebrate!" Because Disney's main mouse would be co-hosting this new
nighttime lagoon show with ace emcee Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Goldberg really had
to step up Mickey's game. Which is why this master Disney animator created
several minutes of all-new Mouse animation which then showed that Mickey was
just as skilled a showman as Neil was.

Better yet, let's take a look at what the folks at Avalanche Studios just went
through as they attempted to create a Classic version of Mickey & Minnie.
One that would then allow this popular pair to become part of Disney Infinity
3.0.

"I won't lie to you. We were under a lot of pressure to
get the look of this particular version of Mickey — he's called Red Pants
Mickey around here — just right," said Jeff Bunker, the VP of Art
Development at Avalanche Studios, during a recent phone interview. "When
we brought Sorcerer Mickey into Disney Infinity 1.0 back in January of 2014,
that one was relatively easy because … Well, everyone knows what Mickey Mouse
looked like when he appeared in 'Fantasia.' "

"But this time around, we were being asked to design
THE Mickey & Minnie," Bunker continued. "And given that these Classic
Disney characters have been around in various different forms for the better
part of the last century … Well, which look was the right look?"

Which is why Jeff and his team at Avalanche Studios began watching hours &
hours of Mickey Mouse shorts. As they tried to get a handle on which look would
work best for these characters in Disney Infinity 3.0.

"And we went all the way back to the very start of Mickey's career. We began
with 'Steamboat Willie' and then watched all of those black & white Mickey shorts
that Walt made back in the late 1920s & early 1930s. From there, we
transitioned to his Technicolor shorts. Which is when Mickey went from being
this pie-eyed, really feisty character to more of a well-behaved leading
man," Bunker recalled. "We then finished out our Mouse marathon by
watching all of those new Mickey shorts that Paul Rudish & his team have
been creating for Disney Television Animation. Those cartoons really recapture
a lot of the spirit and wild slapstick fun that Mickey's early, black &
white shorts had."

But given that the specific assignment that Avalanche Studios had been handed
was to create the most appealing looking, likeable version of Mickey Mouse
possible … In the end, Jeff and his team wound up borrowing bits & pieces
from a lot of different versions of the world's most famous mouse. So that
Classic Mickey would then look & move in a way that best fit the sort of
gameplay which people would soon be able to experience with Disney Infinity
3.0.

"That — in a lot of ways — was actually the toughest
part of the Classic Mickey design project. You have to remember that one of the
key creative conceits of Disney Infinity
is that all the characters which appear in this game are toys," Bunker
stated. "Okay. So they're beautifully detailed, highly stylized toy
versions of beloved Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm characters. But
they're still supposed to be toys. So our Classic versions of Mickey &
Minnie have the same sort of thickness & sturdiness to them that toys have.
So that they'll then be able to fit right in with all of the rest of the
characters that Avalanche Studios had previously designed for Disney Infinity."

And then there was the matter of coming up with just the
right pose for Classic Mickey & Minnie. Which — to hear Jeff tell the
story — involved input from a lot of Disney upper management.

"Everyone within the Company seemed to have an opinion
about how Mickey & Minnie should be posed. More to the point, if you Google
Mickey, you then discover that there are literally thousands of poses out there
for these two. Though — truth be told — a lot of those kind of play off the
way Mickey poses when he's being Disney's corporate symbol," Bunker said.
"But what I was most concerned about was that Mickey's pose had to work
with Minnie's pose. Because we were bringing the Classic versions of these
characters up into Disney Infinity 3.0 at the exact same time. And we wanted to
make sure — especially for those fans who like to put their Disney Infinity
figures on display — that Mickey's pose would then complement Minnie.

Which is why Jeff & the crew at Avalanche Studios
decided — when it came to Classic Mickey & Minnie's pose — that they
should go all the way back to the beginning. Which is why these two Disney icons
are sculpted in such a way that it almost seems as though you're witnessing the
very first time Mickey set eyes on Minnie.

"And what was really great about that was — as soon as
we began showing people within the Company this pose — everyone at Disney
quickly got on board with the idea. I mean, the Classic Mickey that we sculpted
for Disney Infinity 3.0 is clearly a very playful, spunky character. But at the
same time, he's obviously got eyes for Minnie," Bunker concluded. "So
in the end, we were able to come up with Classic versions of these characters
that will work well within the creative confines of Disney Infinity 3.0 but at
the same time please those Disney fans who just collect these figures because
they like the way the Disney Infinity characters look."

So now that this particular design project is over, does
Jeff regret that Mouse House upper management was so hands-on when it came to
making sure that the Classic versions of Mickey & Minnie were specifically
tailored to fit the look & style of gameplay found in Disney Infinity 3.0?

"To be blunt, we go through this every time we add a new character to the
game. The folks at Lucasfilm were just as hands-on when we were designing the
versions of Darth Vader and Yoda that will also soon be appearing in Disney
Infinity 3.0," Bunker laughed. "So in the end, if the character's
creators AND the fans are happy, then I'm happy."

This article was originally posted on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on Tuesday, June 9, 2015