For decades there was a wagon wheel mentality within Disney’s Feature Animation management – all spokes led to the center, and directly back out from there to the farthest outer rim, never crossing, never mingling like you might find on a bicycle wheel, into which you can stick a playing card now and then to make a little noise and add a little rhythm to the ride – no it was a dusty, dirty, muddy, rocky route founded on westward ho the way of Michael, by way of Jeffrey (and on down the line.) While Schumacher (and to a far lesser degree, Schneider) may have suffered too much criticism for following suit, the fact remains that they chose to simply continue the policy rather than clean it up and change approaches. Yes, in large part because Eisner grew more and more irrationally controlling and micro-managing, but also for lack of the kind of vision and tenacity required to break the mold. This Dickensian worst of times left most of Disney’s creative core tired, angry, bitter and disillusioned (and equally as unhappy were the ones who followed Katzenberg to the promised land just a few miles north, only to discover that he simply re-potted the same poison plant from which he still grows all projects.) As bad as that time was, it at least provided artists with a clear sense of policy, whereas folks are simply stumped about what to say for Mr. Stainton’s leadership. His vision for animation was …well…nobody knew exactly what it was, actually. It may have been hinted at when he fired VP of Animation and artist favorite Pam Coats, a minor miracle worker with better people skills than Tom Schumacher and at least an artistic perspective if not a vision. Stainton, a Harvard MBA, brought on Susan Butterworth to replace the creatively pesky Coats. Butterworth was a former Disney Consumer Products Marketing executive, an ideal choice to head creative development from Mr. Stainton’s business synergistic perspective. One story has it that Ms. Butterworth had to be taught how to read a script (“what does EXT mean?�?). Whether or not you believe that story (told by more than just a few) the fact is that we’ll never really know what either Butterworth or Stainton could have accomplished, as time has run out for them. The acquisition of Pixar brings with it the gentle restructuring of all of Disney animation that is, in essence, a return to old fashioned artistic family values.

Ed Catmull will be the new President of Pixar/Disney Animation, wisely leaving the creative problem solving of great story telling to a partner that he has known and trusted and worked with successfully for twenty years – John Lasseter, the new Chief Creative Officer for Disney/Pixar Animation. But best of all in the great chain of command – Lasseter directly to Iger, Catmull to Dick Cook, and Dick Cook again to Iger – there is not one single solitary MBA or Consumer Products wonk! Not one!

How wonderful it will be at long last to have animation guided by someone like Ed Catmull, a man with a PhD in computer sciences and a Bachelors degree in physics. I’m serious when I say wonderful because the more you know about art, the more you know how closely art and science are linked. As Disney advances into a brave new future I can think of nothing better for the creative flow of great ideas, worthwhile risks and dynamic thinking than to have someone who sees the world not as a profit and loss model on which to make your fortune, but as a wide open future, even embracing the idea of a little creative chaos as a magnificent pattern of order! This kind of thinker is far less likely to clamp down on the arterial highway flowing from the heart of Disney, and more importantly he’ll trust the recommendations of Lasseter and inspire rather than interfere in his job. Let the MBA’s dig the channels of financing and marketing and put those big ideas to work on the things MBAs should work on, and do it quietly, diligently, and well compensated without interfering in the creative process. Fire the synapses and dam the paint pots, full dream ahead!

So, as Mr. Iger and Mr. Jobs take to the floor in their first dance as a couple before an anxious press, take note that Robert Iger has massaged back to life the heart of the most original American art form in history. That’s a hell of a curtain ringer for act one of this revival of a classic, now with a re-vamped book. The real excitement is in the second act – when all our players will be tested to see if they can keep this heart beating to an equally founder-faithful and forward-focused tune.

TOMORROW: ACT II - The future of Hand Drawn Animation is in the Palm of Your Hand