By Courtney Potter
On Friday afternoon, August 14, at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, those who knew Walt Disney and legends who were directly inspired by him came together for an incredible, heartwarming hour at the Premiere Stage inside the Anaheim Convention Center. “Walt Disney: 125 Years of Inspiration” featured memorable stories as well as thrilling performances… all inspired by and in fun celebration of Walt himself!
The show kicked off with an opening set by Phat Cat Swinger, playing some iconic Disney songs with a swingin’ twist—including their thrilling opening number, “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast. Then our host, the official voice of Mickey Mouse and Disney artist Bret Iwan, welcome the assembled crowd. Referencing an image on stage’s LED screen of Walt alongside Mickey, Iwan said, “Both of them embody and reflect the best in all of us. We all want to believe in their can-do sphere of optimism, faith in happy endings, and a hope for ‘great big beautiful tomorrows.’ And isn’t it hard to look at them up there and not smile back? The goal of our show this afternoon is to share a little of Walt Disney’s inspiration through music, memories, and song.”
He then introduced Becky Cline, director, Walt Disney Archives, to bring on our first guest of the afternoon: Walt Disney’s granddaughter, Joanna Miller.
Miller reflected on the warmth and good nature of her grandfather, saying, “He had a very childlike sense of wonder himself, that he never really lost. It was imagination and his sense of wondering, curiosity, and I think he was very child-like himself in his soul.” She also told several stories about her and her siblings essentially having the run of The Walt Disney Studios Lot when they were young children: “He would go to his office and let us run around. So my brother Chris and my sister Tammy and I would kind of be free walking around—running around the old Zorro set… [later], the stage doors were not locked. We could walk right in—and Mary Poppins was happening, and that was so much fun to play on. There was a little incident once that no one ever knew about, where we accidentally knocked [over] a carousel horse. We never heard anything about it,” she added, eliciting laughter from both Cline and the audience.
Miller also movingly recalled walking with her grandfather around Disneyland: “He’d stop and talk to people and take photos and sign autographs. And then after a while, he would say, ‘You know, I’ve got the grandkids with me today and we just have things to do’. But he would sign a bunch of his office pads, these pre-signed autographs that he’d keep in his pocket. So he didn’t have to leave too many people without something. When you see him smiling in all these photos, I really feel like he felt the appreciation for what he’d done. So, even though he was gone so soon, I know that he knew he made a connection with people.”
She continued, “I just get moved every day with how he is so present in the world because of people that they keep him in their life. He touched your lives, even though you might not have been born when he was in the world… thank you so much keeping him present.”
After another performance by Phat Cat Swinger, Iwan returned to interview three more people deeply familiar with Walt: Disney Legends Bob Gurr and Floyd Norman, and iconic former Imagineer Tania Norris—all of whom personally worked alongside Walt to create some of the Company’s most legendary projects.
Asked how Walt inspired their careers, Norman responded, “It was very simple. He never gave orders and told people what to do. He’d walk around in the Studio, or any place, and he’d walk up to me or anyone and say, ‘Hey Floyd, what do you think about this? Do you think something like that would work?’ And then he’d go down the hall and talk to somebody else. ‘You know, we’ve got a crazy thing we’re thinking of…’ And then people would start talking. He was going around planting seeds, finding out by your reaction if he was crazy or not, thinking maybe this could work—if it was crazy, maybe he’d stop asking… and then pretty soon a few days later, we were talking in the halls: ‘You know, Walt asked the craziest question’ ‘Well he asked me too!’ And then pretty soon, a few days later, Walt’s going to have a small meeting… That was an entirely different [style].”
As Norris noted, “First of all, he was one of the kindest, most considerate bosses that you could have. He never said no to anything I asked, which is quite a thing. But also, he had a way of making me particularly very comfortable. I was a young woman from Scotland, with my training in London, and then arriving in America. A year later, I’m the interior designer for all these marvelous things that are going on in Disneyland, particularly in New Orleans Square. But his attention to detail, and thinking things through, and allowing you to express your ideas—he may not have agreed with all of them all the time, but he allowed you the freedom of thinking. And this to me, I think in any of us, is really something that is exceptional.”
“Walt would be the first person to walk up to you and find out what your name is,” Gurr explained, “and remind you, ‘Well, don’t forget—my name is Walt.’ And this would develop a natural way of talking [to him]… and he used ordinary language. There was no ‘highfalutin’ or anything about him. And he never, never talked down to people, ever. I personally watched him talk to the Vice President of the United States in the same tone of voice as he talked to the guard there on the Studio lot.”
He goes on, “There was a genuineness about [Walt] and I think young people today, they appreciate when the truth is told to them. And somehow you look back at everything Walt talked about or designed or wanted to see done–there’s a genuineness that comes from the heart more than it comes from the brain. And after a while, I would see it everywhere. We would do anything for him on any of these projects, because somehow, we just automatically loved him,” Gurr added, becoming visibly moved.
As a final “kiss goodnight” to the presentation, all of the afternoon’s guests gathered around the piano on stage and joined Phat Cat Swinger for a rousing rendition of “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”—reveling in the inspiration surely felt throughout the Premiere Stage hall… the audience joined in on the fun, especially delighting in the perpetually young-at-heart Gurr’s fabulous dance moves!
