The West Side of the Kingdom
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The Renaissance Man

This month, my column is a bit tricky to write, as it deals with a subject that must be tempered correctly so as to not come off as either self-glorification or a severe case of kissing-up.

In my profession as a writer, I often get the opportunity to meet people that I likely wouldn’t under any other circumstance; definitely not as just some rabid fan of the theme park industry. I’ve had to give my soul to the art of writing about entertainment in order to be able to interview and rub elbows with people who, in my mind, are the heroes of both my childhood and of the modern themed industry.

In doing so over the years, it’s very easy to become "jaded," in a way. Visiting with different individuals becomes less of an "event," and more of day-to-day friendships, etc. Only once in a while do I get hit upside the head with the reality that I am sharing the room with someone that has truly shaped the industry that I love so dearly; when that happens, it’s nothing short of magic.

Such an event took place just a week or so ago. I had the opportunity and honor of meeting Disney Legend Bob Gurr at his home in the Los Angeles area for a project that I am working on for Theme Park Adventure Magazine. It’s not Disney-related, so I’m not going to go into detail here. I will say that while we are working on a different aspect of his career outside of WED, the subject of Walt and many of Bob’s accomplishments did come up and continue to do so.

In my opinion, Bob Gurr is one of the true chameleons of the industry. I mean that both professionally and artistically. If you look at Bob’s body of work, it ranges from the very first days of Disneyland all the way through to Universal Studios and even to Las Vegas. He’s taken his abilities and has applied them from designing Autopia cars to the world’s largest Animatronics figures such as King Kong and Godzilla. He was even one of the fathers of the mighty T-rex for Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. Bob’s resume is humbling, to say the least; in my 10+ years in interviewing and documenting people in this industry, I can say that I have never come across anyone like Bob Gurr. While working with Bob on this latest project of ours, what is usually "routine" has become anything but.

I’m a huge theme park geek. I have to be, to do what I do. Now, imagine this from my point of view: Working with the guy that designed Lincoln for Walt Disney for the 1964-’65 World’s Fair suddenly on a daily basis via e-mail with 500 miles between his Mac and my PC. Bob’s completely Internet savvy; something that most people half his age are not. He is always friendly, very generous with his time and totally professional. When on a roll, he works faster than I usually do, which is also impressive. It’s a very surreal situation; one that I have to constantly pinch myself in!

I’ve worked with top industry executives and people just starting out with their careers. I’ve seen all kinds of personality traits and have learned how to deal with each accordingly to finish an article for the magazine, etc. Bob stands in a category all his own. While he puts everyone at ease and is as down-to-earth as they come, it’s hard not to feel your I.Q. dropping… rapidly… as he talks about designing large-scale animatronics and how he figured out how to breathe life into Abraham Lincoln under the watchful eyes (and pressure) of Walt Disney. He discusses complicated engineering elements and electronics unlike anyone I have ever known. Folks, it takes me three days to assemble a desk from IKEA; Bob Gurr designs world-class attraction vehicles and Audio-Animatronics figures. There is a difference there, and it’s staggering, to say the very least.

As I say, I’ve had the chance to work with heroes of mine, from my childhood to the movers and shakers of today. I have to say however, that most of them stick to what they know. If it’s attraction design from the ‘60s, then that is where these people usually remain. If they are company managers or executives today, many of them don’t know much about where the industry has been the past few decades. Often, I have had to explain to people what attractions existed at their parks before they were born. It’s a common situation, honestly; a sad reality of today’s corporate environment. That makes the type of work I do with TPA so difficult most of the time. If I am trying to cover or document an attraction or theme park from the ‘70s or before, I know that it’s going to be an uphill battle from the get-go. I do like that challenge, however.