Disney President and CEO Bob Iger, Walt Disney Studios President of Production Sean Bailey, Roy P. Disney and movie critic and Disney expert Leonard Maltin were just some of the luminaries that celebrated the Walt Disney Archives’ 40th anniversary at a very special D23 event held in the Studio Theatre at the Walt Disney Studio Lot in Burbank on June 25.
“We love celebrating milestones at this Company,” Bob told the audience at the beginning of the sold-out event, “but it’s rare that we get a chance to celebrate an individual which is what we are doing tonight. It was Dave who came up with the concept for our Studio Archives, and a few months after pitching the idea to Roy O. Disney, Dave walked into the offices of the Walt Disney Studios on June 22, 1970. Dave’s first office was in Walt Disney’s private wing in the old Animation Building, which then was the creative heart of Disney. That’s where Dave had his desk, can you imagine? Talk about good fortune in real estate!”
The Walt Disney Company looks to its past to create the future more than any other entertainment company, and, as Bob noted, “drives enormous value from our great heritage every day. The vast collections and reference materials Dave and his team gathered and preserved over the years has served to motivate and inspire employees and cast members in every part of the world who strive to create the same quality and achieve the same level of creativity and innovation that Walt did in his day.”
After an illuminating question-and-answer session with Leonard Maltin and Dave (in which Dave told dozens of fascinating stories, including how he came to up the official birth date for Mickey Mouse and how he exhumed the snow globe from Mary Poppins in a dingy basement office!), Archives Manager Becky Cline, after holding back tears while thanking Dave for all his hard work, hosted a stellar cast of Disney luminaries who bequeathed a bevy of breathtaking additions to the Archives. Lost Screenwriter and Executive Producer Carlton Cuse, fresh from the end of his show’s six-year run, gave the Archives a boarding pass from Oceanic’s doomed flight 8150 and John Locke’s iconic knife, which drew gasps from the audience. “I’m trying to contextualize this,” Cuse joked, “do you put this in the Archives next to Cinderella’s tiara?”
Sean Bailey presented the Archives with the Red Queen’s scepter, the one waved by Helena Bonham Carter in this year’s billion-dollar box office smash Alice in Wonderland, a high-tech disc from the upcoming Tron: Legacy and the actual chest from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. “It’s a great pleasure to donate the Red Queen’s scepter. This prop cost $9,000 and was used for all the hero shots and closeups,” Sean said to the dazzled crowd.
Other highlights included Karen Dotrice, who played Jane Banks in Mary Poppins, who donated the charming buttoned overcoat she wore in the film and Roy Patrick Disney, son of Roy E. Disney, who gave to the Archives the letter Walt wrote to Roy O. Disney at the end of a three-year estrangement between the two brothers.
After the festivities inside the Studio Theatre, it was time to head out to Dopey Avenue between the Studio Theatre and the Animation Building for sparkling champagne, scrumptious cake and some time under a pleasant evening sky taking a firsthand look at the latest artifacts to enter the Archives. D23 Members also enjoyed mingling with Disney Legends Richard Sherman and Bob Gurr and meeting the Archives team, both past and present. What better way to toast the Walt Disney Archives, a legendary resource and team of experts who carefully preserve Disney treasures and continue to support and inspire some of the world’s greatest imaginations as they create the future of family entertainment?