Thoughts on Walt
Page 10 of 26
Barry Braverman on Walt Disney
December 14, 2001
| I think it's encumbant upon us to keep reminding people that a person with imagination and courage and risk taking was able to do all this |
Barry Braverman is a Senior Vice President, Executive Producer at Walt Disney Imagineering. He most recently lead the creative team that created Disney's California Adventure. Barry was kind enough to talk to us at the Walt Disney 100th Birthday celebration at Disneyland on December 5th.
LaughingPlace.com: What was your first exposure to Walt Disney?
Barry Braverman: The television show. I was growing up in the Midwest in Grand Rapids Michigan and we used to watch Mickey Mouse Club and the Sunday night show, and was all we could think about was getting to California to get to Disneyland because he made it feel like he was designing it for you - for us - and we couldn't wait to get there to see it. I was a big Mickey Mouse Club fan, Spin and Marty and all that stuff growing up.
LP: What do you personally admire the most about Walt Disney?
BB: He was a visionary. You look at his career and his history - he was always looking a step ahead whether it was sound and what it would do to animation, creating feature length animation - no one had ever thought of that - inventing the theme park, something we take for granted. He invented it, he conceived of EPCOT. Everything with Walt - he was amazing. He just had an instinctive sense of how to communicate with people and of creating places that had meaning for people. You've got to admire that.
LP: Walt died 35 years ago. As someone working for the Company today, what do you think was the greatest thing he left the Company?
BB: I think the legacy of storytelling. The idea of how you create magical places, how you imbue them with story, the timelessness, the family values. Just this wonderful respect for the wonder of childhood that hopefully we can all carry on.
LP: What do you think is the greatest gift he left the world at large?
BB: I think it's everything . It's the classic animated films - they're timeless and they'll live forever. And probably the invention of the theme park. Now there are many of them by us and by others but you forget that somebody had to do it the first time.
LP: Do you think people today have a sense of what a visionary he was?
BB: Well, you know, it's interesting. Ceremonies like this are helpful because a lot of kids growing up today don't realize he was a person. they think of him as a corporate entity or a corporate symbol. I think it's incumbent upon us to tell that story, to keep reminding people that a person with imagination and courage and risk taking was able to do all this. You have to renew these things. You can't just expect people to always know.
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