Jim on Film
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Walt Disney was also in control of his entire company. Of course, it wasn’t as large in the 1960s as it is now, but there was still much for him to keep track of, including animated features, live-action features, television productions, animated shorts, a theme park, and WED, among others. In commentaries on the Vault Disney releases of Pollyanna and The Parent Trap, David Swift, Hayley Mills, and Maureen O’Hara all discuss Walt Disney taking the time to view the dailies of their films and to stop by their sets. On the commentary for Swiss Family Robinson, director Ken Annakin recalled an incident while filming The Sword and the Rose in which he had cut a scene from the filming schedule due to budget concerns. While visiting the set, which was in Great Britain, Walt Disney noticed that the scene had been cut and addressed the issue with Ken Anakin. The scene was filmed and is likely in the final movie.

On the DVD of the documentary, Walt Disney: The Man Behind the Myth, Dean Jones talks about a producer who bullied a groundskeeper, and Walt Disney reprimanded him for his behavior, telling the producer that the groundskeeper had been working for him longer than the producer had. While this shows that Disney was very special, that he would be so high in rank and would know the names of his groundskpeepers or cafeteria workers, it also shows how in control Walt Disney was, that he could manage this major American company and yet be able to work with and relate to even someone whose contribution to the company was not directly felt on the screen or in the parks.

Walt Disney was also actively involved in all the areas of production. In animation, of course, he was intensely involved until he had felt as though his artists could manage without his daily presence. But even in other areas, Disney’s presence could be felt. In The Moon-Spinners, it is said that he insisted on hiring Pola Negri to play the colorful Madame Habib, even providing filming concessions to have her take part in the project. On the same film, Hayley Mills said in one of the film commentaries mentioned above that filming stopped for a whole day while the director sought Disney’s approval for changes to the storyboard. Among other known involvements, it was Walt Disney who told Annette Funicello that she was going to be a recording star. And in Funicello’s autobiography, she accounts how Disney personally told her that she was going to be in an episode of Zorro as a birthday present.

It was interesting to hear David Swift, who wrote and directed Pollyanna and The Parent Trap, say on one of the commentaries that once he approved the script, Walt Disney remained out of his hair. Disney still watched the dailies and visited the set, but it wasn’t until editing the film together that he re-entered the creative process. This reminded me of reports from the time Pirates of the Caribbean was released where lower-level executives went running to higher level executives with concerns about Johnny Depp’s performance. Walt Disney did have executives, but he also took care of matters himself. Much of this is probably because Walt Disney had his hand in everything early in the production process, and he handed over duties to those he could trust.

As an interesting contrast, look at Michael Eisner’s involvement in Treasure Planet. After scenes were animated and colored, Eisner then decided to become involved and ordered pirate swords to be removed from frames of the picture. To his credit, he also required Jim Hawkins’ character to be altered, which might have helped make the film one the studio’s richest; however, one cannot help but wonder why he wasn’t involved in the project from conception, rather than arriving so far into production.

Part of the reason why Walt Disney could be so involved in all aspects of his company was that he himself was an artist. He knew the craft of creating rich characters, compelling stories, and great visuals. He was a showman, and he innately knew how to put on a great show. He could read through the script for The Parent Trap or Summer Magic or Swiss Family Robinson and know it was a great script. Furthermore, he had a clear idea of his vision and what audiences would like to see, so he was able to help create it. While I am not familiar with the heads of most film studios, it seems from what I’ve read that most are not artists themselves.