Walt Stories

[General Grizz]

Welcome to "Walt Stories" - a small collection of the most interesting recounts of the great man from those he met.

By Roy Williams, an animator:

"I was the fifteenth guy ever hired. I went to this little one-room building and a secretary said, "Walt will see you in a few minutes and you may go into his office" - which was nothing but a pile of junk in those days. I went in and waited. A traffic boy - just my age at the time - came in and shuffled some papers around and I got to talking to him about the weather and how I wanted to work for Walt Disney. We had a nice ten-minute conversation, then I said, 'Maybe Mr. Disney is busy. I'd better come back another day.'

The young man said, 'I'm Walt Disney.' I had some drawings in my hand because I respected him so much based on what I had seen in his pictures, I just dropped them all on his desk and blushed. He picked them up and held them over his face to keep me from seeing his smile. It was that closeness - in those few minutes when I thought he was a traffic boy - that made me and him become friends."

Next up: Walt Disney's gag of putting an Audio-Animatronics Figure in an airplane.

[SirNim]

What nice tableaux into the history of (the) Walt Disney (Co.).:D :)

[Maria]

Originally posted by grizzlyhall

Next up: Walt Disney's gag of putting an Audio-Animatronics Figure in an airplane.

When will you post this one? :D

Nice thread! Keep the stories coming please! :)

[General Grizz]

Sorry, Maria! I chew more than I can swallow. Here's the story:

Before the fair in 1964, Walt Disney asked Ms. Davis (Marc Davis' wife) to come and look in his truck. She looked in and saw a quiet old lady sitting in the backseat. She immediately recognized it - it was the Carousel of Progress grandmother animatronic!

Mr. Disney, who seemed like 'a kid with the neatest, newest toy', was excited about a trick he was going to play with Grandma. He wasn't going to ship her to New York - he was going to fly her there. (After all, she's the grandma to have more performances than any other!)

Ms. Davis thought Walt was silly, but Mr. Disney pulled his fun idea off. He put Granny in a wheelchair on the plane and as they were boarding off in New York, passengers commented: "Now isn't that a sweet little lady."

[Maria]

LOL! That was good! -and of course, the animatronics were new then...- hehe... ;)

I wanna hear more! :D

[General Grizz]

Okay, Maria...here are a few more for you!

Marty Sklar - Imagineering Executive:
"Walt asked a question in a meeting and I answered it. When I got back to my office I looked up the answer and learned I had given him the wrong information. I made a big mistake because I didn't call or send a note saying, 'I gave you the wrong information. Here's your right answer.' A year later, a smiliar subject came up and I gave the right answer this time and he looked at me and said, 'Last time you said...' "

Diane Disney Miller - Daughter:
"Dad was very earnest, but he could contrive things too - lite 'cute-isms.' I had read in several sources this story that my Dad told - 'Walt asked his daughter Diante what girls her age would like to see in Disneyland and she said, 'Boys.' ' I called Dad on that - 'I didn't say that!' 'I know,' he said, 'but it's cute!' "

Richard Nunis - Theme Park Executive:
"We were redoing the Storybook Land attraction and trying to cut its budget. One of the art directors said, 'Walt, we can just use regular glass rather than stained glass.' Walt said something profound, 'Look, the thing that's going to make Disneyland unique and different is the detail. If we lose the detail, we lose it all.' "

More coming soon!

[Maria]

Thanks! Can´t wait for more! :sohappy:

[smilez4011]

Those are great. Thanks so much for sharing. I can't wait for more!

[General Grizz]

Bo Foster - Sunkist Employee
When I was in chrage of Sunkist Citrus House on Main Street, Walt would come into the shop on Sunday monrings and have his orange juice. He'd put the oranges in the machine and the mechanical arms would slice them, ream them, and pretty soon juice would come roaring out of the spigot.

I put a juicer in his apartment for him and kept his apartment refrigerator stocked with oranges. He'd come into the shop from time to time, however, and say, "Bo, the juice just doesn't taste the same. I'd rather have your juice fresh from the spigot!" I think he liked putting the oranges in the big, old juicing machine.

Ollie Johnston - Animator
I think it was Christmas of 1948. Ward Kimball came into my office and said, "Hey! Walt's got a Lionel train upstairs. Let's go see it."

While we were there, Walt came in and looked at me and said, "I didn't know you liked trains."

"Yeah," I said, "I got a backyward railroad."

And his exact words were "Hey, I always wanted a backyard railroad!"

So a couple of weeks later he came out to see my engine, while we were still building it. A few months later, he came out again and looked at the boiler and said, "That firebox door's too small. You'll have to put coal in with an eyedropper. Mine's gonna be bigger!" and he made his engine a half-scale bigger than mine.


NEXT WEEK: Walt takes dance lessons!

[JLW11Hi]

I think Ward Kimbal and his wife were the only family in America to own their own private train engine.

[General Grizz]

...well, and Walt!

[wdwmagic]

Great stories, thanks for posting! :)

[RickEff]

Thanks for posting these!:)

[General Grizz]

I think we all need to learn a little about the man who Walt was...besides him being a creative genius. :) Glad you like them!

[wannabeBelle]

Would it be greedy to ask for more?? I Love reading these stories. Walt was a grand gentleman and he deserves to be remembered in this way!!! Belle

[General Grizz]

As promised...WALT LEARNS TO DANCE!

From Frank Thomas (Animator)
Walt and Lilly had taken some dance lessons when the rumba or the mambo was just becoming popular. They came to a party where our band was playing. (Several of us, including Ward Kimball, formed a jazz band called the Firehouse Five Plus Two.) Walt came up and asked, "Hey, do you guys play that Bongo stuff? Lilly's been making me work on this new step - now we've got to see if I've got it down."

Then Walt took a spot back in the corner behind a palm tree. He was dancing stiffly and frrowning and continuing, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8..." He took it seriously; he didn't want to look like an idiot on the dance floor. He wanted to make Lilly happy because this was important to her.

= Here's a favorite of mine: =

From James Haught Jr. (Disneyland Employee)
Walt came into the warehouse one day smoking a cigarette and this new fellow instructed, "I'm sorry, sir, there's no smoking in the warehouse."

"Who said?" Walt asked.

"Walt Disney," the fellow sad, not knowing who he was talking to.

"That's good enough for me," and Walt put his cigarette out.

==

NEXT WEEK: Walt in the Tiki Room and the Robinson Treehouse!

***
DON'T MISS! Walt's Generosity! (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24106) An extended 'Walt Story' complete with tales you'll hear no where else!
***

[J.E.Smith]

Now, why didn't you tell me you were doing this?;)

Nice thread, and it's nice to see ol' Grizzu-san back in business here^_^.

[JLW11Hi]

Originally posted by grizzlyhall
...well, and Walt!

I think he just had the miniature railroad (Carolwood Pacific) that went around his house...I dont think he ever had a full size engine, did he?