Dream It! Do It!: My Half-Century Creating Disney's Magic Kingdoms Read online

  Dedication

  For Dad and Mom

  Leon and Lilyn Sklar

  and all those they taught ethics and a love of learning

  Professor Robert Sklar and Adrienne Harris

  Howard Sklar

  Katriina Koski Sklar

  Gabriel and Hannah Sklar

  and

  Leslie Sklar

  Rachel and Jacob Dahan

  For

  Helen and Bob Aaron

  and Harry Gerber

  and of course my one and only love

  Leah Gerber Sklar

  who made my career and life a dream come true

  Copyright © 2013 Marty Sklar Creative, Inc.

  Cover photo © 2013 AP Photos/Jae C. Hong

  Cover design by Winnie Ho

  The following are some of the trademarks, registered marks, and service marks owned by Disney Enterprises, Inc.: Audio-Animatronics Figure, Disneyland® Park, Disney’s Hollywood Studios® Park, Disney’s Animal Kingdom® Theme Park, Downtown Disney® Area, Epcot®, Circle-Vision 360TM, Fantasyland® Area, FASTPASS® Service, Imagineering, Imagineers, “it’s a small world,” Magic Kingdom® Park, Main Street, U.S.A. Area, monorail, Space Mountain, Tomorrowland® Area, Walt Disney World® Resort, World Showcase. Toy Story and A Bug’s Life characters © Disney Enterprises, Inc./Pixar Animation Studios. Academy Award® and Oscar® are registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

  Pages ix-xi: Excerpt from THE HIPBONE OF ABRAHAM L. by Ray Bradbury is published with the permission of Don Congdon Associates, Inc. as agents for the Ray Bradbury Living Trust ©1988, 1991 by Ray Bradbury.

  Pages 59-61, 141, 189: From the book DESIGNING DISNEY by John Hench with Peggy Van Pelt. Copyright © 2004 by Disney Enterprises, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Disney Editions. All rights reserved.

  Pages 79-80, 82-86, 236-337: From the book IN SERVICE TO THE MOUSE by Jack Lindquist. Copyright © 2010 Neverland Media. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

  Pages 126-127: From The Miami Herald, May 27, 1965 © 1965 McClatchy. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this Content without express written permission is prohibited.

  Pages 142-143: From The New York Times, October 22, 1972 © 1972 The New York Times. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this Content without express written permission is prohibited.

  Pages 171-173: From the book WORK IN PROGRESS by Michael Eisner. Copyright © 1998, 1999 by The Eisner Foundation, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Hyperion. All rights reserved.

  Pages 240-241: From EVERYTHING BY DESIGN © 2007 by Alan Lapidus. Reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Press. All rights reserved.

  Pages 186-188: From BUILDING TALL: MY LIFE AND THE INVENTION OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT by John L. Tishman and Tom Shachtman Copyright © 2011 John L. Tishman. Reprinted by permission of The University of Michigan Press. All rights reserved.

  Pages 241-243: From the book WORKING TOGETHER by Michael Eisner. Copyright © 2010 by The Eisner Foundation, Inc. Reprinted by permission of HarperBusiness. All rights reserved.

  All rights reserved. Published by Disney Editions, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Disney Editions, 1101 Flower Street; Glendale, California 91201

  ISBN 978-1-4231-8452-2

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Copyright

  Acknowledgements

  INTRODUCTION BY RAY BRADBURY

  INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD M. SHERMAN

  THE BLANK SHEET OF PAPER

  1. "WALT'S DEAD. WRITE SOMETHING."

  2. FORGOTTEN BUT NOT GONE.

  3. VEGAS CALLING—"CARD" IS ON THE PHONE

  4. "FAILURE TO PREPARE IS PREPARING TO FAIL." —COACH JOHN WOODEN

  5. "I'M NOT WALT DISNEY ANYMORE!"

  6. "JUST DO SOMETHING PEOPLE WILL LIKE!" —WALT DISNEY

  7. "THE GREATEST PIECE OF URBAN DESIGN IN THE UNITED STATES IS DISNEYLAND."

  8. "TWENTY-SIX! YOU'RE YOUNGER THAN MY SON!"

  9. THEY LEFT ME BEHIND—AND WENT HOME!

  10. "TELL IBM TO GO TO HELL!"

  11. LOST IN TRANSLATION WAS A LATE COMER TO OUR TOKYO EXPERIENCE.

  12. THE ELASTIC E: "I'VE BEEN KNOWN TO CHANGE MY MIND."

  13. EDIE'S CONFERENCE ROOM: "YOU ARE CARRYING MY LOGIC TO TOO LOGICAL A CONCLUSION!"

  14. THE FRENCH HAD A TERM FOR IT: "A CULTURAL CHERNOBYL."

  15. THE SUN NEVER SETS ON THE DISNEY PARKS

  16. RIDING MICHAEL'S ROLLER COASTER

  17. "YOU ARE THE HARDEST WORKING AMBASSADOR IN THE WORLD!"

  18. MICKEY'S TEN COMMANDMENTS

  19. THE BLACK SHEEP

  20. "I'M WAITING FOR A MESSAGE."

  Photos

  Acknowledgements

  When I retired from The Walt Disney Company on July 17, 2009, I announced that a primary goal would be writing this book. In the four years since, hardly a day has gone by when someone—Imagineering colleague, Disney fan, theme park industry associate—has not asked me: “How’s the book coming?” “When will your book be available?” I thank all of you who made it clear that what I have to say is something you wanted to read. And I thank some extraordinary people who helped make this book possible.

  For their introductions to this book, I am greatly indebted to two world-renowned talents who became friends through our Disney relationship. The stories and prose of the late, inimitable Ray Bradbury inspired me long before we met, and continue to, to this day. With brother Robert, Richard Sherman’s storytelling through songs and music brought new magic to Disney films and television, and to our Disney park attractions.

  Richard Curtis, president of Richard Curtis Associates, my literary agent, gave me early lessons in Publishing 101. I appreciated his honesty. This is good, Richard said, as a Disney park history, and as a business book. And then he dropped the other shoe: “But it still needs a good editor, and lots of work.” He was correct.

  When we contracted with Disney Editions, a key reason was the promise that Wendy Lefkon, editorial director at the Disney Global Book Group, would be my editor. Wendy and I had worked together on many successful books about the Disney parks—I often wrote introductions, setting the tone or the historical context—including two wonderful hardcover books about Walt Disney Imagineering, Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic Real; and a reprise of the same title, adding Making MORE Magic Real. Together, they have sold over 150,000 copies.

  As I anticipated, Wendy was the editor I needed: honest and direct, smart and clear, knowledgeable and supportive. Her structural flow, title, and content ideas were always reasoned, and usually reasonable. If you enjoy this manuscript, don’t forget to thank Wendy, too!

  My daughter, Leslie Ann Sklar, and my wife, Leah Regina Sklar, were big supporters—and very active critics. (Nothing new there!) Leslie took my handwritten copy—I wrote the whole manuscript longhand—and did lots of editing and suggesting as she computerized the manuscript. Leah, Leslie, and my son, Howard, have been “cleaning up my act” for many years (Leah and I were married in 1957); in this context, “my act” was my writing. I never want
ed for input from “the two Ls”—always direct, considerate, and fun to argue with. (Yes, we differed on a number of issues; they even won a few!) Howard, an excellent wordsmith, lives with his family and teaches in Helsinki, Finland, and was not available to defend me—or join the critique.

  Finally, I owe a great big debt to so many mentors, teachers, and colleagues who helped shape my fifty-four-year Disney career. You will meet them throughout this book. Walt’s best writers and songwriters could never have scripted the scenario of talented associates Disney wrote for my career. As I have written, “they were my mentors, my friends, and in their golden years, my staff,” as I grew up from staff writer to vice chairman and principal creative executive (my favorite title) at Imagineering.

  I owe them all a great debt. I only hope that I passed on their amazing standards to a new generation, and left the Imagineers at least as respected and admired as the organization they helped Walt Disney create. Walt created Imagineering, but the Imagineers made it sing and dance.

  Marty Sklar

  INTRODUCTION BY RAY BRADBURY

  Disney Imagineering artists thrive and pomegranate-seed explode inside a nondescript Glendale, California, building that looks as if it might house a thousand endless noon board meetings. There is no sign out front to indicate that at Christmas and Easter, here hides a madhouse of costumes and ambulatory self-wrapped gifts.

  No hint that, at Halloween, Imagineering becomes a ghost manufactory, a giant Ouija board that summons up ghouls, skeletons, a mirror with a grotesque mask frozen in it that runs about telling folks they “are not the fairest of them all,” while Maleficent the Dragon inflates herself to tower above the outside parking lot.

  Who are the maniacs in charge of this madhouse? John Hench, sent by Disney to study at the Sorbonne in 1939, and the nearest thing to Walt himself. Beyond eighty, John, as he chats with the inhabitants of this millrace, scribble-sketches blueprints and critters with a fine-artist’s hand.

  Marty Sklar, the quietest of maniacs, keeps Imagineering off the rails but on the tracks. Hired at age twenty-one, while editor of the UCLA Daily Bruin, Marty remembers that Disney gave him—a raw, untrained reporter—a chance to edit a Disneyland newspaper the month before Disneyland opened, thirty-six years ago. On Walt’s behalf, he gives other young people a chance to jump off cliffs and build their wings on the way down, at Imagineering.

  Between these two, Disney Imagineering has hired some fairly improbable, as I mentioned before, gentlemen golfers, to tee off mind-grenades instead of golf balls.

  Item: Tony Baxter, whose career was popping popcorn at Disneyland in his spare time, built a working model of a gravity-fall train. This 3-D calling card gained him the Imagineering job of creating the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that roars down mountain tracks at Disney theme parks. Its twin will soon be built at Euro Disney, and the chief designer for this new Magic Kingdom will be…Tony Baxter.

  Item: Harper Goff, lover and collector of miniature model railroads. Walt Disney and Goff met in a London railroad-model toy store and saw the glazed stare of an amateur locomotive fiend in each other’s faces. Goff wound up helping art sketch-design the Adventureland Jungle Cruise and making sure Disneyland’s locomotives ran on time.

  Future item: Tom Scherman. The young man was so enamored of Jules Verne that he secretly converted his Hollywood apartment into a clone of Captain Nemo’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea submarine with portholes, periscope, and seashell telephones. His landlady, unaware of the transformation, blundered into the apartment one day and, stunned, threw Scherman out and dismantled the submarine. Scherman wound up with Disney Imagineering, building Nautilus submersibles and dreaming up the Jules Verne Discover World.

  And so it went and so it goes.

  Sklar and Hench, then, are curators of a vast and vital storage hall of history, a living museum, a World’s Fair unto itself.

  In sum, the Renaissance did not die, it just hid out at Imagineering Inc. You need but ask for Sleeping Beauty’s castle, the turrets of Pierrefonds, Mad Ludwig’s towers, or touches of Vaux le Vicomte. So summoned, they will sprout in a Glendale back lot to be truck-transited down freeways to Anaheim, Orlando, or across the ocean airs to Japan.

  Ray Bradbury

  Glendale, California

  1991

  INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD M. SHERMAN

  It’s hard to believe, but half a century has passed since my late brother, Bob, and I first met and worked with a warm, affable, and brilliant young man named Marty Sklar. At that time, Marty was the literary right-hand man of our mutual boss, Walt Disney. As Walt’s staff songwriters, Bob and I had just finished a song for the Carousel of Progress Pavilion at the 1964–65 World’s Fair. Our song, “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow,” was the musical connecting link in this groundbreaking attraction. Marty, who was cocreator of the project, had written a script for General Electric (the corporate sponsor) in which Walt would present our song and then display how the pavilion worked. Marty provided one of the greatest thrills of our career, as we got to perform and sing on camera with Walt himself.

  Over the years, Marty continued to inspire all those around him, lending his taste and talent to countless Imagineering projects. Bob and I had the privilege of writing songs for many of these, including: “it’s a small world,” “The Enchanted Tiki Room,” and for the Imagination pavilion at Epcot, “One Little Spark” and “Magic Journeys.”

  As you will learn in this beautifully written and enlightening book, Marty Sklar, the man who rose to become vice chairman and principal creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, devoted his entire career to creating, enhancing, and expanding Walt’s magical empire. Upon his retirement in 2009, I had the pleasure of singing a special lyric I had written for an unforgettable party thrown by Disney Imagineers, honoring Marty’s half century of imagination and inspiration. I’d like to share it with you:

  (To the tune of “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”)

  TRIBUTE TO MARTY

  Verse I

  Before the doors of Disneyland

  Were opened to the world

  Young Marty Sklar was asked

  To have his writing skills unfurled

  The Disneyland newspaper

  Was first product of his skill

  Then PR and Publicity

  Young Marty filled the bill… He’s

  Chorus

  Never fearing, Imagineering

  Mar-ty-sklar-e-docious

  For years he’s led Imagineers

  With passion so ferocious

  Through stress and strains

  He’s held the reins

  With leadership precocious

  Never fearing Imagineering

  Mar-ty-sklar-e-docious.…

  Verse II

  For Walt he wrote his speeches

  And his annual reports

  Then moved to WED to help create

  Attractions and resorts

  From Small World to Space Mountain

  To eleven Disney parks

  Our Marty steered Imagineers

  With their creative sparks…(and his)

  Repeat chorus

  Verse III

  He’s first to give out credit

  To the great creative teams

  His one persisting goal

  Was to perpetuate Walt’s dreams

  Succeed he did, and so we stand

  As one to give three cheers

  To Marty Sklar, the champion

  Of all Imagineers.… He’s…

  Last Chorus

  Never fearing, Imagineering

  Mar-ty-sklar-e-docious

  For years he’s led Imagineers

  With passion so ferocious

  Through stress and strains

  He’s held the reins

  With leadership precocious

  Never fearing Imagineering

  Mar-ty-sklar-e-docious.…

  Richard M. Sherman

  songwriter

>   October 2011

  THE BLANK SHEET OF PAPER

  It may seem strange to begin a story about my Disney career with a flashback to 1974, but let me explain. That year was a scary year for the theme park and resort business. The worldwide energy crisis drove major gasoline price increases—regular gasoline skyrocketed from 38 cents per gallon to 54 cents—causing the enactment of extreme measures across the country. The national speed limit was lowered to fifty-five miles per hour, and daylight savings time began four months early. Newsweek magazine reported, “The one bad spot is Florida, where long lines—especially near the tourist centers of Disney World and Miami—have caused some counties to adopt odd-even programs” (dates for purchasing gas).

  Walt Disney World, in its third year and well on its way to being the country’s favorite family vacation destination, was strongly affected; attendance dropped by almost eight hundred thousand. So it was a surprise to me to receive a call from Disney CEO E. Cardon Walker about a signature project that had remained dormant since it was first unveiled a few months after Walt Disney’s death in December 1966. Walt had been planning the creation of what he called EPCOT—an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. “What,” Card Walker now asked, “are we going to do about EPCOT?”

  I had just been promoted to creative leader of Walt Disney Imagineering—the beginning of thirty years in that role for me. From day one, the challenge of that responsibility for what would become eleven Disney parks on three continents was daunting, even as I reminded the Imagineers of our role.

  “There are two ways to look at a blank sheet of paper,” I told the creative team. “It can be the most frightening thing in the world, because you have to make the first mark on it. Or it can be the greatest opportunity in the world, because you get to make the first mark—you can let your imagination fly in any direction, and create whole new worlds!”

  For the next eight years, the Imagineers, in partnership with the Operations staff at Walt Disney World, would test that axiom. As Epcot prepared to welcome its thirtieth anniversary on October 1, 2012, it celebrated being the sixth most-visited park in the world, trailing only Magic Kingdom Park, Disneyland Park, Tokyo Disneyland Park, Tokyo DisneySea Park, and Disneyland Paris in attendance.