Once we were inside, the rotunda of the Disney Animation building at DCA was filled with displays of artistic greatness. It was everywhere you turned, including being projected on the enormous screens that fill the space like great bites of ribbon candy floating in the belly of a whale. There is something genuinely magical about great movies on great big screens. They inspire and delight and you catch yourself holding your breath and smiling in wonder! Yes!!! Then the event for the kids started off with a local high school marching band that entered with precision if not the perfect pitch. Suddenly the new opening titles for the Wonderful World of Disney flashed overhead. An inspiring, magical and thrilling bit of marketing that was as sharp and special as the films that will be a part of the show’s lineup this season: THE LION KING, TARZAN and LILO & STITCH.

So where was the commanding presence required of a magician standing at the center of such magic? Surely the leader of a company capable of such wonders should exhibit a genuine pride when standing amidst all this gloriously original entertainment; with the leading practitioners of the craft standing at attention by his side, no less!

Mind you I have not forgotten that Michael Eisner had a very rough night. But was it so rough that a sense of indifference should be the face that hosts an event focused on what it is that makes Disney “Disney?�? Sitting before him were kids who wanted to believe in their future, and wanted to see how Disney could continue to inspire them. This was a day to set fire to imaginations. Michael Eisner’s finest animation producer and some of his most gifted artists and directors all rose as best they could to the challenge. There was a palpable measure of excitement in Glen Keane as he talked to the 100 young artists and their families, and the same was true for Andreas Deja. They had an easy, comfortable patter that was amusing and energetic and never condescending. Similarly, Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders were funny, self effacing and utterly charming. Even after Eamonn Butler made his presentation on how computers are used in animation - the lengthiest and liveliest presentation of the four, with exciting visual development, turn-around models and some animation all from the upcoming CHICKEN LITTLE as its focus - it was clear that Disney is not about to abandon their past, but is instead poised to shape the future and do some wonderful and creative things. Everything is in place - the talent, the technology, the history, the tradition, and ….wait…faith. Where’s the faith?

So help me, you could see that question on the faces of the people on the dais. I’m not saying that I know that for a fact, but I’ve seen these guys before, and where fuel for their fire was coming in by the cord from the front office in the past, man they weren’t even getting kindling tossed to them on Saturday. These guys know that the opportunity to take that curve with the wind in their hair, the tires gripping firmly to the asphalt with a thrilling screech, it’s just waiting on the test tracks over on Riverside Drive. But you can’t take the winning curve on an empty tank. It’s ripe. It’s ready to happen. And…�?by t’under�? it can!!! Can’t it? Michael? Say something! Reassure them of it, please, please say something!

That’s okay. He’s tired. He’s tired from the day before and he has a lot on his mind. He showed up, he did the right thing and he showed up. But I wonder, Michael did you want to be there?

I hope so.

I spent the past week researching more about Eisner than usual. I wanted to give him his due, and I listened to recordings from his most recent investor presentations, and carefully re-read his 1998 autobiography WORK IN PROGRESS (co-authored with Tony Schwartz.) I swear this was not the same man. I can read what is Schwartz’s carefully crafted working of Eisner’s accountings, and I don’t for a moment believe the book to be so objective as to be without any prejudice for its subject. But there is enough of Eisner on the page to see what made him perfect for the company, and deserving of praise for the vision he expressed and on which - I believe - he delivered at one time. I confess to having very mixed feelings about Eisner the visionary when it comes to how he’s handled animation these past few years. And I’ve both criticized him and defended him on various things regarding what I see as the heart of the company. But on Saturday morning, he didn’t seem to care anymore. It wasn’t something glaringly obvious so much as it was the unsettlingly absence of something. Instead of being the kind of sparkling event where we’re used to seeing Disney’s CEO beaming with pride, this had the uneasy feel of a dim and sputtering motel sign that’s strobing in the dark of the highway. From where I stood on Saturday morning, for the first time, it looked like the light was going out in Michael Eisner.

Discuss It