Progress City, U.S.A.

The first few decades of Walt Disney Imagineering were marked by a series of escalating technical innovations that built on previous achievements while preparing Walt Disney Productions for subsequent phases of development. Under Walt’s guidance the profits and knowledge gained from each new project were funneled into the next, with every step pushing the limits of the company in new and unexpected directions. At the time of his death, Disney was preparing for the greatest challenge of his career - the creation of Walt Disney World in Florida and the design process for the “city of the future” that he called EPCOT.

The original concept for EPCOT was a massive and risky undertaking, which sought not only to entertain or inform but to completely change the way the American public thought about their cities and communities. EPCOT would be a complete, functioning city designed to not only provide services for its residents and guests but to act as a testbed for new technologies and theories of urban design which could then be exported to the country at large. EPCOT would not be built so that one could travel to Florida and ride a monorail, it was designed so that guests might be able to one day ride a monorail in their own community. Corporations and designers would come to EPCOT to test and refine their designs, which would then become part of the urban fabric nationwide.

When Walt Disney died in 1966, the seeds of EPCOT’s own demise were sown. EPCOT was such an exotic and expensive project that many believed it couldn’t be built, but those same words had been spoken about many projects from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to Disneyland itself. Disney scholars will disagree to the end of time whether, had Walt lived, EPCOT would have been completed. Knowing Walt’s track record, though, I can’t help but to believe it would have happened. Without Disney himself at the helm, though, the project had no champion or unified vision.

Yet even after Walt’s death, Walt Disney Productions didn’t immediately abandon the plan for EPCOT. Walt’s brother Roy rededicated the company to the purpose of completing Walt Disney World in Florida by 1971, and in the process of creating the resort they developed and prototyped many of the technologies intended for use in EPCOT. The master planning process in Florida mirrored many of the guiding theories behind EPCOT, and even as EPCOT city itself faded into history a great number of the programs that had been created to prepare its design continued their work.

One of these divisions was Community Transportation Services, a branch of the company founded in 1974 “in response to numerous requests from cities, airports and shopping centers interested in applications of the company’s monorail and WEDway PeopleMover systems.” Disney had debuted both the monorail and PeopleMover in his theme parks with the intention of promoting both technologies for use outside the berm. The PeopleMover, which opened at Disneyland in 1967, was created specifically in preparation for EPCOT. A more refined design, which opened at Walt Disney World in 1975, would mark the first use of linear induction motors for public transportation. The CTS division would spin off these technologies for outside use, helping to fulfill the mandate of EPCOT even as plans for the city itself fell by the wayside. CTS would “consult in the master planning of new short-range intra-city mass transportation systems, license Disney-developed systems for these applications, and administer their construction and installation.”

The following document is dated to June 3rd, 1974, and both promotes the CTS division and gives a selection of its monorail-based designs. It appears that the main goal of the CTS designs was flexibility; the document touts their modular construction and the wide array of configurations available to customers. If you notice, designs were made for standard, medium and narrow gauge tracks. Trains were available with high or low ceilings, and wide, standard or narrow bodies. The modularity of the design allowed for cars to be as long as desired and feature any number of seating arrangements. Trains could have cabs on one or both ends, or could even operate without drivers.

Click below for some scans of the document; it’s a fascinating peek into a hopeful era of Imagineering and a time when Disney was still trying to forge into new frontiers and to lead instead of follow. With gasoline at record highs and more people longing for functional mass transportation in cities worldwide, wouldn’t it be nice to have a CTS-designed rail system to take to work in the morning?

(more…)

It’s been a while, eh?

First, a note on the Tron 2 buzz that’s circulated since our last story. Jim Hill posted a somewhat breathless tale this week about the film’s production and how original TRON director Steven Lisberger had been taken off the project by John Lasseter, scrapping the years of development work that he had put in on the production. Lasseter, says Hill, was inspired by the original TRON to pursue a career in computer animation and thus has a great deal of interest in the film’s success. According to Hill, Lasseter’s interest has led to a great deal of drama with new writers being brought in and Lisberger being replaced with director Joseph Kosinski.

What Hill’s potboiler tale of seething angst and intrigue left out is that many of these changes were made months, if not years, ago, as described here in March. Thankfully Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News had a scoop handed to him when, upon reporting on Hill’s article, he was contacted by Lisberger. Although Lisberger is not directing the project, he remains actively involved in the production as Producer and promises amazing things to come. Good news all around.

Old links for perusal:

- In the light of recent events, this seems even more germane. In fact, I might trot that visual out every time the P.R. machine puts up their typical smokescreen

- Remember when the Disney Channel was good?

- World’s oldest animation!

- Donald Duck’s family tree. Expect to see a great deal about the Ducks here in the future.

- When the new Spaceship Earth show opened last fall, there was a great deal of controversy about the new, oversimplified narration and (to put it politely) anticlimactic finale. While the first act of the attraction, replete with new animatronics, is indeed spectacular, the more objectionable changes are symptomatic of the problems endemic to WDI’s output in recent years. Re-Imagineering posted a very on-the-target analysis of this thematic drift.

- Alvy Ray Smith, though unknown to most Pixar fans, was one of the three founders of that company along with Steve Jobs and Ed Catmull. He has posted some documents from Pixar’s founding at his website.

- Taking a moment to reflect up the recent it’s a small world fiasco, I’d like to link to a rebuttal to Disney P.R.’s spin by John at the Disney Blog. I think it’s an excellent riposte to Disney P.R.’s highhandedness (also to be seen in last month’s Adventurer’s Club dealings) as well as an indictment of Disney’s corporate dependence on the fleeting popularity of trends.

Finally, since one cannot link enough to the fine writings of Foxx at Passport to Dreams Old & New, these stories:

- First, her thoughts on the small world issue. Not only does this mirror my own first thought about the Adventurer’s Club fiasco - I thought we were past this - but she also points out the complete breakdown of communication between Disney and its fans since the Toad Wars of 1998. Not only have certain elements within Disney corporate made no secret of their disdain for their most devoted fanbase, but they have repeatedly and publicly lied to said fandom. Those rifts will take a while to heal, and apparently there’s still need of some housecleaning at Team Disney.

- I encourage everyone to read this dissection of Walt Disney World’s film-based attractions. Although I far too often get distracted by current news or the state of the animation program, this is the Disney I am most in love with. The Disney of Walt Disney World, 1971-84. I only wish I had more time to write about it. These “Phase I” attractions were technologically advanced, thematically and tastefully sophisticated, and embodied that great era before “loud = FUNNY” became the watchword of the day. If I had one wish for WDI’s future, it would be that they could in some part return Walt Disney World to that wonderful holistic feeling of balance that made the resort “The Vacation Kingdom of the World”.

So, here’s something that I just found out.

While doing a little bit of fact-checking for my recent spiel about the 2003 Disney short Destino, I found that it was suddenly and mysteriously absent from Disney’s home video release slate. The film had previously been announced as part of this November’s Walt Disney Treasures Wave VIII release:

“Destino,” began in 1946 as a collaboration between Walt Disney and the famed surrealist painter Salvador Dali. A first-hand example of Disney’s interest in avant garde and experimental work in animation, “Destino” was to be awash with Dali’s iconic melting clocks, marching ants and floating eyeballs. However, “Destino” was not completed at that time. In 2003 it was rediscovered by Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, who took on the challenge of bringing the creation of these two great artists to fruition. In addition to the completed “Destino”, this exciting addition to the Walt Disney Treasures line also includes an all-new feature-length documentary that examines the surprising partnership between Dali and Disney plus two new featurettes; “The Disney That Almost Was,” an examination of the studio’s unfinished projects; and “Encounters with Walt,” which addresses the surprisingly diverse group of celebrities and artists who were attracted to Walt Disney’s early work.

Well, it seems that Disney Home Video has updated their press release and Destino is nowhere to be found. The two other planned releases, The Chronological Donald, Volume Four and Dr. Syn, Alias The Scarecrow, remain on target for their November 11th debut. So what happened to Destino?

Judging from statements by the host of the Treasures series, Leonard Maltin, it appears that early fan concerns were correct and there just wasn’t enough material present for this title to support a 2-disc Treasures release. Destino had originally been planned as a one disc “Legacy Series” release, only to be promoted to the Treasures line when the “Legacy” brand was abandoned. Destino was an odd fit for the Treasures line, and apparently despite the fact that the supplemental materials they announced sound fascinating, it all wasn’t enough to wrap a 2-disc DVD set around a six minute animated short.

Luckily, Maltin has been quoted as saying that Destino will receive its home video release in a one disc format later this year. This is great news as the short definitely deserves its time in the spotlight and I’ve been eager to get a copy for years. I only hope they take care to include all the planned extras from this set; they all sound very interesting.

In the meantime, Treasures fans need not despair - according to Maltin, a replacement release, centered around Annette Funicello, will readied in time for November. The once imperiled DVD line looks to continue next year, as well; Maltin hopes for a release of Zorro episodes in 2009.

Progress City has ground to a standstill over the last several weeks as I’ve traipsed up and down the eastern seaboard on various adventures. The true Disney scholar, however, is never off duty, and I was thankfully able to get my Disneyana fix on several occasions during a week-long stay in New York City.

Our first encounter was at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, which is hosting a traveling exhibition of illustration art to celebrate the recent 65th anniversary of the Little Golden Books series. The exhibit featured the work of several artists with Disney ties, most notably Swedish illustrator Gustaf Tenggren and Disney legend Mary Blair.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that the only posted prohibition was on the use of camera flashes, someone swooped down on my camera and I and put the nix on my photography before I could get any good pictures of the amazing Tenggren artwork or the whimsical Blair pieces.

The exhibit was small but fascinating; a variety of artists were represented and many of their most famous works were covered. Personally, I had no idea that Tenggren had illustrated the best-selling Poky Little Puppy.

From Mary Blair’s illustrations for the classic Little Golden Book I Can Fly

Another museum, another Disney encounter: MoMA is hosting an exhibition of art and media by renowned surrealist Salvador Dalí. Dalí: Painting and Film, which runs until September 15th, covers the entire span of Dalí’s career, but of interest to us is a very unique period in 1945-46 when Dalí found himself in California working for Walt Disney. Thankfully, MoMA devoted an entire section of the exhibit to their collaboration, Destino.

Dalí was an unconventional talent, to say the least, and many might be surprised to find that he had ties to the Disney Studios. Yet Dalí was an avid fan of Disney’s films and, after meeting at a party at Jack Warner’s house, Dalí came to the studio to work on Destino.

Dalí spent eight months at the studio, working with artist John Hench on storyboards and concepts for various sequences. According to Hench, Dalí would come up with the idea for a sequence or one of his trademark visual matches and it was up to Hench to help link those scenes within the larger work so that the transition between sequences would not be too jarring.

Storyboard sketches for the baseball sequence

Eventually a tale emerged of love lost and found, with many of Dalí’s trademark images in place and featuring a ballet that used baseball as a metaphor for love. Disney’s plan was to pair the animation with vocalist Dora Luz’s performance of Armando Dominguez’s Spanish-language ballad Destino for inclusion in a future package feature along the lines of Make Mine Music or Melody Time.

Sadly, the Disney Studios was suffering financially both during and immediately after World War II, and the package features were no longer profitable or desirable. By 1950, Disney would return to narrative features with Cinderella; there was neither money nor need for Destino. Hench tried to convince Walt to continue funding the project; 15 seconds of animation were completed to try and pique Walt’s interest. While Walt was still intrigued by the project, the money wasn’t there and so Walt canceled production. According to Hench, in later years Walt would regret that they had abandoned the short. Yet Destino remained unfinished, and most animation scholars assumed that it was lost for all time.

A still from the fifteen seconds of animation completed for Destino in 1946

Years passed. In 1999 while working on Fantasia 2000, Roy E. Disney began to consider the possibility of completing Destino. Allegedly working in part behind the back of Disney’s then-CEO Michael Eisner, Roy Disney delegated the project to French animator Dominique Monfrey and the animation staff of Disney Studios France. With the intent of including the short in another Fantasia sequel, animators began to piece together Dalí’s notes and storyboards. John Hench, still working with Disney fifty-odd years later, was able to help interpret the notes and explain Dalí’s visual metaphors. When plans for Fantasia 2006 fell through, it was decided to release Destino as a short. The film finally premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in the summer of 2003 - 58 years after it was greenlit.

Still from the completed Destino

While Dalí’s art was impressive, I found the highlight of the exhibit to be the completed Destino itself, which aired continuously on one of the walls of the gallery. I’ve wanted to see the short for five years now to no avail, so the MoMA gallery was a fantastic setting and occasion to finally sit and watch it.

The short was worthy of the acclaim it has garnered since its release; its animation manages to be both modern and classical at the same time, and although I quibble slightly with the decision to incorporate computer animation I feel that it was as effectively done as possible. The character animation is intriguing, as it tries to find a medium ground between Disney and Dalí’s styles - the result is vaguely reminiscent of Aeon Flux. I’ll admit that I’m an easy audience - I got chills at the simple title card, which consisted merely of Dalí and Disney’s trademark signatures side by side. All in all, a good day at the museum.

Kronos, God of Time, in this conceptual painting for Destino

From culture to commerce - our last stop on our New York tour:

This place is surreal. You go straight from midtown Manhattan into some Disney marketing fever-dream, and before long you feel you’re right on the shores of Lake Buena Vista. Sitting on Fifth Avenue near its intersection with 55th Street, the World of Disney has three floors of Disney merchandise divided into various departments. The selection isn’t too much different from what used to be found at the typical Disney Store, and sadly their selection of new Walt Disney World merchandise was nonexistent. It was nice to soak up the atmosphere a bit, though, and there was a selection of NYC-specific Disney merchandise.

Scary.

As the book and video selection wasn’t as fleshed out as I’d like, the highlight for me was the Art of Disney gallery on the third floor. The typical selection of figurines and fine art was present, and although their in-stock poster selection was disappointing they did have one of the “print on demand” kiosks. Having not seen one of these in action before, I was a little too excited at the variety of old attraction posters they’ve made available via this service. This won’t be good news for future paychecks. They also had these amusing fine-art pieces on show, which I hadn’t seen before:

The store was a nice slice of Disneyana and they even had a room where kids could get their pictures taken with costumed characters. Donald was walking around in his NYFD uniform, which was a little weird, but whatever.

So that’s it - New York City for the Disney obsessive. As I said to Teddi when we were having Bastille Day dinner in a French restaurant, “this is almost just like being in the real EPCOT!” She tolerates me - it’s cute.

Till next time…

Sad news today - Harriet Burns, Disney’s first female Imagineer, passed away this morning. Burns, who was inducted as a Disney Legend in 2000, came to the Disney Studios in 1955 and later joined WED Enterprises to work on theme park projects. In her thirty-one years with Disney she worked on a number of significant projects for the Disney parks as well as Disney’s attractions for the 1964 World’s Fair. From her Disney biography:

[Burns] helped create Sleeping Beauty Castle, New Orleans Square, the Haunted Mansion, and more. She also helped construct Storybook Land, which features model-size villages inspired by Disney animated movies, such as “Pinocchio” and designed all of the “singing birds” in the Enchanted Tiki Room, the first Audio-Animatronics® attraction at Disneyland.

Among other contributions, Harriet worked on everything from figure finishing to stage design for attractions featured at the New York World’s Fair in 1964, including Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and The Carousel of Progress. On occasion, when Walt would introduce new theme park attractions to television audiences, she would appear on segments of “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.”

Burns was a significant contributor to that first, legendary generation of Imagineers and, along with Alice Davis and Mary Blair, one of the few women to rise to Imagineering prominence at that time. Our thoughts go out to her family.