The husband/wife team of Alfred and Elma Milotte was hired by Walt Disney to film real life in the land of the midnight sun, Alaska. After viewing their filmed footage, Walt particularly felt that the seals sequences had the most promise and asked the couple to further shoot the life of the seal without indication of man’s presence. This became Disney’s first True-Life Adventures featurette, Seal Island. Disney’s distributor, RKO, felt that the half hour documentary would not appeal to audiences, so Walt had a friend, who ran the Crown Theatre in Pasadena, California, run the film for a week. This qualified Seal Island for an Academy Award®. The film was met with the Academy’s “seal” of approval and swam away with the Oscar® for Best Documentary. As for RKO, they were soon clamoring for more True-Life Adventures!
