Remember the OTHER Roy

[MKCustodial]

DVDToons! posted a nice article today shedding some light onto the life of Roy O. Disney, Walt's brother and father of Roy E. It's a fairly long, but very detailed article, and I think it helps us to put into perspective everything Roy E. has been doing lately.

http://www.dvdtoons.com/features/63

 

[barnum42]

I am a big fan of Roy O. Without him Walt would never have succeeded.

There is a terrific book about Roy that I heartily recommend – “Building a Company – Roy O Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire” by Bob Thomas.

 

[Tim G]

Originally posted by barnum42
I am a big fan of Roy O. Without him Walt would never have succeeded.

There is a terrific book about Roy that I heartily recommend – “Building a Company – Roy O Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire” by Bob Thomas.

These words are entirely yours...

Roy O, wasn't a dreamer, always bragged about the fact that he was bigger (in height), than his brother, Walt hated him for that, but brothers always fight about such things...
When a photo was taken from them together, Walt always stood on box, chest or something like that, to look bigger...
Roy O, the company's CFO at that time, has set foot in Imagineering exactly once.
Walt treated Imagineering as his private playground, doling out ideas for different attractions, prowling the hallways late at night to review work that had been done that day, even acting out the roles of the animatronic figures.

 

[Woody13]

Originally posted by Corrus
Walt treated Imagineering as his private playground, doling out ideas for different attractions, prowling the hallways late at night to review work that had been done that day, even acting out the roles of the animatronic figures.

Corrus, correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought the biggest problem between Roy and Walt was Walt's creation of "Walt Disney Incorporated" in 1952 (it later became WED Enterprises and then WDI). This company was separate from Walt Disney Productions and Roy had no control over WED. WED controlled all the copyrights and the "Imagineering" and all the profits went to the Walt Disney family (not Roy or Roy, Jr.). Walt owned it lock, stock and barrel.

My understanding is that Roy O. Disney really disliked WED because he had to deal with them just as he had to deal with any other outside contractor. In short, Roy had zero control over WED and he hated the situation because Walt had total control.

 

[barnum42]

I've no intention of turning this tread into another argument forum. My understanding of the brother's relationship is that without Roy, Walt would not have had the means to create the magic. Walt spent the money, Roy somehow managed to balance the books.

He also saw through the construction of Disney World and I think is credited with adding the name Walt to it's title.

Without Roy's Yang to Walt's Ying things would have been very different.

 

[Tim G]

Originally posted by barnum42
I've no intention of turning this tread into another argument forum.

Neither am I

My understanding of the brother's relationship is that without Roy, Walt would not have had the means to create the magic.

It WAS REALLY the other way around, Roy lacked the magic.

Walt spent the money, Roy somehow managed to balance the books.

Which was his job as CFO... that's what CFos are for...
That's the trouble with the current CFO (another story)

He also saw through the construction of Disney World and I think is credited with adding the name Walt to it's title.

Again that had nothing to do with Magic...

Without Roy's Yang to Walt's Ying things would have been very different.

I'm sorry, I have to disagree, so I'll step back

 

[Tim G]

Originally posted by Woody13
Corrus, correct me if I am wrong, but I always thought the biggest problem between Roy and Walt was Walt's creation of "Walt Disney Incorporated" in 1952 (it later became WED Enterprises and then WDI). This company was separate from Walt Disney Productions and Roy had no control over WED. WED controlled all the copyrights and the "Imagineering" and all the profits went to the Walt Disney family (not Roy or Roy, Jr.). Walt owned it lock, stock and barrel.

My understanding is that Roy O. Disney really disliked WED because he had to deal with them just as he had to deal with any other outside contractor. In short, Roy had zero control over WED and he hated the situation because Walt had total control.

It never bothered Walt that the Imagineers' day-to-day environment was loose and unregimented; in fact, he seemed to prefer it that way.
The practical jokes were legendary.
When janitors complained about having to clean dim rooms filled with ghoulish props for the Haunted Mansion, the Imagineers agreed to leave the lights on.
Then they quietly installed an infrared beam that would switch off the lights once the janitors entered and send ghosts floating around the room.
While Walt was alive, Imagineering was insulated from much financial scrutiny.
Roy O, the company's CFO at that time, only set foot in Imagineering exactly once, he never liked it...
Two of Walt's favorite mantras were "You can't put a price tag on creativity" and "If we lose our customers, it'll cost us twice as much to get them back." Roy always hated these lines...
It wasn't that the Imagineers operated without budgetary constraints, Walt often suggested ways to work more frugally. But after his death, WDI became just another part of the company, which was btw Roy's idea, one with a reputation for missing deadlines and exceeding cost estimates, so Walt didn't do it that bad...
Then under Roy, the Epcot park in Florida, based on an idea of Walt's and opened in 1982, cost an estimated $1.2 billion — an overrun of several hundred million dollars.

So far for My love for Roy O...

 

[HauntedPirate]

http://www.savedisney.com/news/features/fe061804.1.asp

A 'SaveDisney' article on Roy O.

I always thought of Walt and Roy as foils of each other - Walt was the idea man, Roy the money man. Each did what they did best, and left the other to do what he did best. And they couldn't do what they did best without the other.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Roy had nothing to do with Epcot or it's cost overruns, since he died in December 1971 and Epcot opened in 1982.