First up, Tom M. writes in to ask:

Jim,

I really enjoy all the information you and your staff share. One thing I haven’t heard yet has been Roy Disney’s reaction to the purchase of Pixar and probable changes associated with it. If you have any information could you please share it.

Tom,

Well, based on the statement that Roy released back on January 25th …

” Animation has always been the heart and soul of the Walt Disney Company and it is wonderful to see Bob Iger and the company embrace that heritage by bringing the outstanding animation talent of the Pixar team back into the fold.

This clearly solidifies the Walt Disney Company’s position as the dominant leader in motion picture animation and we applaud and support Bob Iger’s vision.”

… I’d have to say that Walt’s nephew seems fairly pleased with the way things eventually turned out.

But — that said — I have to wonder how Roy really feels about all this. Given that it’s Disney’s new CEO Bob Iger who’s now getting all the credit. Bob’s the one who’s now being hailed as a hero by both Wall Street as well as Disneyana fans because Iger was the guy who brought Pixar back into the Disney fold.

You see, back during the very height of the “Save Disney” campaign, there were all these rumors flying around that Roy Disney & Stanley Gold had Steve Jobs in their back pocket. Meaning that — once Disney & Gold finally succeeded at ousting then-CEO Michael Eisner — that Roy would then cut some sort of deal with Steve. Giving Jobs whatever he wanted in order to secure the continuation of Disney & Pixar’s co-production deal.

Mind you, none of the parties involved here ever made a public statement to that effect. But — back in the late winter / early spring of 2004 — there were all these whispers about the “understanding” that Roy & Steve supposedly had. More to the point, it always seemed awfully co-incidental that — just eight weeks after Disney & Gold resigned from the company’s board of directors and started complaining loudly about the way Eisner was running the Disney corporation — Steve would suddenly break off Pixar’s negotiations with Disney. Insisting that he too has had enough of Uncle Mikey’s antics.

If things had just gone a little bit differently (I.E. If Eisner had actually stepped down following that 43% “No Confidence” vote that he received back in Philadelphia two years ago today. Rather than opting to tough things out ’til September 30, 2005), I’m guessing that it would have been Roy that we’d now be hailing as the guy who actually brought Pixar back into the Disney fold. Rather than Bob Iger.

Speaking of Walt’s nephew, I’ve had a number of e-mails over the past few months with questions about Roy. You see, what with “Save Disney” ‘s July 2005 settlement with the Walt Disney Company (During which Roy was named as a director emeritus as well as being awarded a consultancy with the corporation), many JHM readers seemed to think that Walt’s nephew should have had a much higher profile within the corporation by now. That Roy should have already been making appearances at Disney film premieres and/or theme park attraction openings. So they’ve been wondering about what actually became of Walt’s nephew.

Well, the way I hear it, it’s not that Roy hasn’t been making any appearances (EX: Back on January 18th, Jerry Beck of CartoonBrew.com reported that he had recently seen Walt’s nephew at a screening of “The Poor Little Match Girl.” Which is one of the pieces that Disney’s animators had originally put together for the now-cancelled “Fantasia 2006”). It’s just that Roy is being very carefully about where and when he makes public appearances these days.

Meaning that A) Walt’s nephew really doesn’t want to do anything right now that might possibly upstage the Mouse House’s new Big Cheese. You see, Roy & Bob are still feeling their way here, folks. Trying to forge some sort of working relationship that would then allow Disney & Iger to get past some of the bad feelings that were built up during the “Save Disney” campaign and B) Roy’s 76-years-old now … And a man of that age (Particularly one who’s a millionaire several times over) is entitled to kick back on occassion & enjoy himself. Rather than getting right back into harness and going straight back to work.

And — yes — I’ve also heard the rumors about Walt’s nephew possibly having some health problems and the role that these may have played in Roy & Stanley’s ultimate decision to shut down the “Save Disney” campaign. But until someone from the Walt Disney Company and/or Shamrock Holdings (I.E. Disney & Gold’s investment firm) is actually willing to go on the record about that subject … I think that we all should probably steer clear of the alleged illness topic.

Anyway, that’s all I know (to date), Tom M., about Roy Disney, what he’s been up to lately and — more importantly — what his thoughts are about the Pixar acquisition. Maybe (if we’re lucky) some other well-informed JHM reader will now come forward with additional information about Walt’s nephew.

Next up, Yuji N. writes in to say:

Jim —

I really loved that cartoon of Marty Sklar that you ran on JHM yesterday. But who the heck is Hani El-Masri?

Yuji N.

Hani El-Masri is an extremely talented artist who started working at Walt Disney Imagineering back in March of 1990. During his five year stint at WDI, Hani helped design projects as wide and varied at Mickey’s Toontown, Tokyo DisneySea and Westcot.

Eventually, Mr. El-Masri left Imagineering’s employ to literally go across the street to work at DreamWorks Animation‘s Glendale campus. Once there, Hani was a visual development artist on films such as “The Prince of Egypt,” “The Road to El Dorado” and “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmarron.”

Mr. El-Marsi eventually left Dreamworks Animation to return to his country of origin, Egypt. Where Hani now makes his living as a highly regarded freelance illustrator, working on assignments that range from consumer products to children’s books to theatrical productions.

That said, Mr. El-Marsi still has a real soft spot when it comes to his days at WDI. And given that it was Marty Sklar himself that used to ask Hani to create all of the farewell cards for departing Imagineers (Among the people that El-Marsi crafted tributes for were Bob Weis, Mickey Steinberg and Maggie Elliot) … It only seemed fitting that Hani would also put together a goodbye card for Marty as well.

Anywho … As a  personal favor to Mr. El-Marsi, I’m now posting a copy of the note that Hani crafted to go along with Marty’s going away card. With the hope that this message finally makes it to Mr. Sklar:

Drawing courtesy of Hani El-Masri

NOT TO BREAK A TRADITION

Dear Marty,

This is truly the end of an era. I consider myself lucky not to be anymore at Walt Disney Imagineering without you at the helm.

You can’t imagine (Or maybe you can. After all, you ARE the ultimate Imagineer) the ripple effects of your departure from our beloved Alma Mater. All the way across the globe, I have received quite a stack of e-mails, memos and messages telling me about it. Of course, I was following up on the situation, being myself the ‘de facto’ WDI’sambassador in Egypt.

It’s true I only spent a few years at Imagineering. But if you add to them the years dreaming to be part of it, the amount of friends I made there, the growth of my personal work, the things I learned, the projects I was part of, the designs I left behind, the great people I met and all the wonderful memories, WDI has always been a home to me and a place I’ll always carry in my heart. Rivaled only by my old Jesuit school in Cairo.

During all these years, and even later after I left, you have been an inspiration to me and a father figure away from my dad. I always felt I was welcome to talk to you, as I often did, and knew all the time I could count on your support when, as artists sometimes do, I would depart from the beaten path, wether in artistic creation or personal behavior. My only fear when I left in ’95 was to disappoint you, but I also knew you would understand and, as every good father, let mefollow my star even if it led me away from you.

So, not to break a long tradition (to me anyway), even from my sunny Heliopolis, I had to draw a farewell card for you. You’ll probably get an official one (if they still do this at all) but I’m sure it won’t be quite the same. It’s in fact a cartoon that represents not only my own feelings but also those of scores of old Imagineers who, like me, left their hearts at 1401 Flower Street, when life took their steps to other places.

Well, Marty, maybe now I can really expect you to stop by Cairo, on your way from Paris to Tokyo, on one of your ‘Diplomatic’ missions.

All my best wishes to both Leah and yourself.

Hani

Okay. Getting back to our regularly scheduled program here. Tom Morrow next drops by to ask:

Hello Jim

I LOVE your site. I know everybody says that but please trust these words. It’s one of the very few sites where I can read good behind-the-scenes stories about the Disney’s theme parks.

And I have a question… Yesterday I reread your epic tale “California Misadventure” with absolute delight, learning once again how we jumped from an amazing Westcot to a… well, to DCA (Being French keep in mind dear folks that DCA is top notch when compared to our Walt Disney Studios…)

Anyway, I wanted to ask, I read somewhere that in the middle of the 80s a second gate was already in the process: Discovery Bay – THE THEME PARK. Yes, the park, not the proposed expansion north of Big Thunder Mountain. I never heard of this previously, do you have any pieces of information Jim? And why not some juicy concept arts… I think this project would have been as exciting as the Westcot park, don’t you think?

I thank you in advance, you and all the JHM crew !

Au revoir !

Dear Tom —

You know, I’ve only ever seen one piece of concept art for “Discovery Bay: The Theme Park.” And to be honest, the person who had this particular piece of art … really shouldn’t have had that piece of art. Meaning that it was probably stolen right out of WDI’s IRC (I.E. Information Resource Center).

So while I can’t share any imagery with you, Tom, I can give a brief overview as to what “Discovery Bay: The Theme Park” was supposed to have been like. As I understand it, this story dates back to the early 1980s. Back when Michael Eisner had just come on board as Disney’s new CE0 and was quite anxious to turn Anaheim into another Orlando.

Anyway … The key to that happening was that someone had to come up with a workable concept for a second gate for Anaheim. Something that would be similar to Disneyland, compliment the “Happiest Place on Earth.” But — as the same time — feature a different enough assortment of rides, shows and attractions that it wouldn’t just seem like some Disneyland clone.

So here’s Tony Baxter with his “Discovery Bay” project that he couldn’t ever get WED management to greenlight. And here’s Joe Rohde with his “Mythia” project (I.E. Yet another Disneyland expansion that was supposed to be located along the Rivers of America. Approximately where that waterside Indian village is now located ) — which celebrates the creatures of myth (EX: Dragons, unicorns, satyrs, nymphs) … And Joe couldn’t get his project greenlight either.

And then — to add to the mix — Skip Lange had come up with all of these great ideas of “Indiana Jones” -based attractions for Disneyland’s Adventureland. The only problem was that Skip had come up with far more “Indy” -based rides, shows and attractions then would possibly fit into that part of the theme park.

So … Here you had all of these great ideas for new additions to Disneyland that were just languishing at WED. When some brilliant Imagineer came up with the idea of combining all three of these projects into one single property. And that’s how the idea for “Discovery Bay: The Theme Park” came into being.

The basic premise of this particular theme park was that this was where adventure and fantasy had free reign. Where you could fly off in an airship and discover a lost civilization high up in the Arctic, or dive to the depths of the ocean with Captain Nemo and battle a giant squid, or join Indiana Jones as he searched for ancient artifacts in a temple guarded by evil spirits and/or have a far-too-close encounter with a fierce dragon guarding a huge horde of treasure.

Getting back to that piece of concept art, Tom: As I remember it, It showed a mist-covered mountain toward the upper left hand corner of the proposed theme park, a burned-out hulk of a castle toward the center of the property, a Mayan temple rising out of the center of a thick jungle in the lower left hand hand corner of the map. And to the right was this enormous version of Discovery Bay, which hugged the coast of this picturesque harbor.

Admittedly, it was a very impressive looking piece of property. At least in concept art form. But the harsh reality was that “Discovery Bay: The Theme Park” — while it was ambitious — just wasn’t different enough from the “Happiest Place on Earth.” The way Disneyland management supposedly saw it, in order for the DL Resort to become the next WDW (I.E. A place where people would come for a multi-day vacation and stay in an on-property resort, shop in Disney-owned stores and eat in Disney-operated restaurants), Anaheim’s second gate had to be something truly spectacular. Not just more of the same.

At least, that’s what Disneyland management thought back in the 1980s. Which is why the “Discovery Bay: The Theme Park” concept was then tossed aside and the Imagineers eventually went on to design Westcot.

As to why Westcot  never got built … Well, some of that I covered in Part III of my “California Misadventure” series … And as for the rest of that story, I eventually hope to tell that here at JHM. After I finish up my “Remembering Light Magic” series AND my “Star Tours Saga” AND my “Tower of Terror” series …

And speaking of finishing things, Brian F. writes in to say:

So Jim, we’re coming up on the 6 month anniversary of my payment for your Unauthorized History of Disneyland CD – that’s longer than half of Britney Spears’ marriages.

How solid is the latest release date of March 1 (the date my wife and I will be taking our twins to Disneyland for the very first time). Which makes me realize – when I paid for the CD, my kids were 15% younger than today.

They’re not getting any younger, Jim.

Brian —

My apologies. Both to you as well as the now-hundreds of JHM readers who are still patiently waiting for their copy of my unauthorized Disneyland history CD. I wish I could say that I actually made that March 1st deadline … But I didn’t.

You see, in that fine Jim Hill tradition, I’ve been postponing delivering of a finished product because it’s been hard for me to wrap up this story. There’s always more colorful detail that I want to cram into this recording, one more amusing ancedote that I think will add immeasurably to the finished disc.

Of course, all this endless fixing & futzing is making my significant other — the lovely Nancy — absolutely crazy. She’s the one who’s on your side, folks. She’s the one who keeps telling me that “These people ordered your CD months ago, Jim. You can’t keep stringing them along like this. Otherwise, they’re going to hunt you down and shoot you like the dawg you are.”

Which will probably be totally unnecessary at that point. Given that — if I don’t deliver a finished version of my unauthorized Disneyland history CD sometime very soon —  I’m pretty sure that Nancy is going to take matters into her own hands & beat me to death with a baseball bat.

And given that … Well, I don’t want to be beaten to death with a baseball bat (Why For? Because I’m fairly certain that getting beaten to death hurts) … I guess I’d best get started on finally wrapping this thing up.

So Brian (as well as all you other nice folks out there who ordered my CD), if you can just wait another few weeks (I’m currently adding some new material to the disc that touches on the most recent changes at the Walt Disney Company. Marty Sklar’s exit, John Lasseter’s arrival. Events that I think — in the long run — are going to have a huge impact on the Anaheim theme parks), I promise that I’ll finally get these things shipped out next month.

Which means that I’ll no longer have to lie awake at night, wondering if — once I close my eyes — Nancy will quietly slip out of bed, grab a Louisville Slugger, and then …

Speaking of scary stuff in the dark, Kate V. brings us our final “Why For” question for this week. Which touches on that classic MGM sci-fi film, “Forbidden Planet.”

Jim:

I got into a really discussion on the id creature in forbidden planet. I maintained it was created and credited to two disney illustrators. The others said that the two monsters were distinctly different and not at all alike. I am thinking that the one of the illustrators was “black listed” therefore never recieve credit for the illustation of the monster. Also, I think there was a short bit in the credits of the movie which stated that the Id character was from the Night on Bald Mountain. Is any of this true? Thank you for you time and your energy.

Kate V.

Dear Kate V.

Actually, the way I’ve always heard this story told, only one Disney animator played a key role in the creation of the Id monster for “Forbidden Planet.” And that was veteran special effects animator Joshua Meador.

Meador actually started at the Mouse Factory back in the 1930s, working on Silly Symphonies like “The Old Mill.” However, given the obvious talent that he showed, Joshua quickly made the jump to features. Doing special effects animation on such films as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia.”

By the time the 1950s rolled around, Meador was operating at the very top of his game. Leading his special effects animation team to greater & greater technical heights on pictures like “Cinderella,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Peter Pan.” So when MGM came a-calling, looking for an animator that could basically do the impossible (I.E. Create a truly memorable movie monster, something that appeared to be huge and powerful, but could only be seen once it tried to breach a force field and/or when it was blasted by ray guns), Walt volunteered Joshua for the job.

Meador really out-did himself with the Id monster for “Forbidden Planet.” Creating a creature that was thought to be so frightening that some state censor boards actually insisted that the Id monster’s attack on United Planets Cruiser C-57D be snipped out of the picture.

As for being blacklisted … If you read the film’s credit, Kate V., you’ll clearly see Joshua Meador’s name  listed among the other visual effects artists who worked on “Forbidden Planet” … So I’m not sure where exactly that blacklisted story came from.

As for the Id monster supposedly being based on Chernabog from “The Night on Bald Mountain” sequence in the original version of “Fantasia” … Nope. I never heard that story either.

Though — speaking of “Forbidden Planet” — I was wondering how many of you “Lost” fans out there have noticed what I’ve noticed. That that black-cloud-of-smoke-monster that wanders around the island seems to make the exact same noise as the Id monster does in “Forbidden Planet.”

Can that be a co-incidence? I mean, is anything actually a co-incidence on “Lost”? I don’t think so.

Anyway … I’ll leave you folks to ponder that question ’til next Monday morning. When I’ll be back with another brand-new pile of Disney-related stories for you.

Til then, you take care, okay?

jrh