Storytellers' Anachronism

[Ezra]

It is a young Walt Disney as you would have seen him when he just stepped off the train from Kansas City in 1923, arriving in California to pursue his dreams. - Imagineer Ray Spencer
—



—

The Storytellers' Anachronism

—

I have not seen Disney California Adventure's new Storytellers statue in person yet. I'm not likely to return to Disneyland Resort this year, sadly, but I do have a few observations to share about the new statue of Walt and Mickey. Walt Disney Imagineering informs us that this is the image of a young Walt just arriving in Hollywood in 1923. A quote by Walt Disney engraved on a nearby plaque reinforces this notion:
—

It was July 1923. I packed all of my worldly goods – a pair of trousers, a checkered coat, a lot of drawing materials and the last of the fairy tale reels we had made – in a kind of frayed cardboard suitcase. And with that wonderful audacity of youth, I went to Hollywood, arriving there with just forty dollars. It was a big day the day I got on that Santa Fe California Limited. I was just free and happy!

—

Sculptor Rick Terry and Imagineer Ray Spencer were faced with something of a dilemma: When depicting the scene, Walt had to be recognizably Walt Disney. The presence of an early, pie-eyed Mickey Mouse helps, of course. And the fact that the side of Walt's suitcase is an oversize image of Walt Disney's Kansas City business card helps too. Also, for you history buffs, the name Marcelline is imprinted in the sole of his shoe. But what I'm referring to is the image of Walt Disney himself.

That this Walt is more slender than the middle-aged "Uncle Walt" we know from television is so obvious as to barely be worth mentioning. He was "half starved" at that time. Still, this is certainly not the image of the Walt Disney who operated his studio out of a store-front on Kingswell Avenue. There are very few early photos of Walt Disney. Photography was a new and somewhat expensive art. If Terry had sculpted an image of Walt Disney, based upon his appearance at the time he left Kansas City, well, it would not have been a recognizable Walt....
—

—
...and even the image of Walt that appeared on the cover of the first Disney Twenty-Three magazine (which was actually taken in 1926) is hardly recognizable:

—

—
This Storytellers Walt looks a bit more like the Walt who introduced the world to the Seven Dwarfs...
—

—
...which stands to reason, as the statue is placed before a replica of Carthay Circle Theatre, where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered. But even this Walt still doesn't have the deep "crows feet" and "smoker's lines" we've come to associate with Walt's broad smile. Those started to show a couple of years later, after the flush of success from Snow White, when this photo was taken:
—

—
Now we have a "Walt" that is recognizable to most people; a "Walt" who hadn't changed too terribly much when he began working in television.

Of course, we suspected that this statue doesn't really depict Walt Disney's first arrival in Hollywood. Walt didn't arrive with Mickey Mouse, or even Oswald. Inside the suitcase was "the last of the fairy tale reels we had made" at the recently bankrupt Laugh-O-Grams in Kansas City; as well as the just-finished Alice in Cartoonland, the first of the Alice Comedies starring a live-action Virginia Davis. If this were really 1923, Julius The Cat (or Alice herself) would be atop the suitcase. It was five years of Alice, and a year of Oswald The Lucky Rabbit before Mickey finally hit the scene.

In a way, this statue could be thought of as depicting Walt's arrival in Los Angeles after his disastrous meeting with Charles Mintz, in which Oswald was stolen from Walt Disney and subsequently given to Walter Lantz (Woody Woodpecker). Legend has it that Walt Disney dreamed up Mickey Mouse on the train ride back, and therefore, would have "arrived" with him.

Also, Walt Disney was unmarried in 1923 when he arrived. He met Lillian Bounds when she came to work for Disney Brothers studio, and married her in 1925. And yet the "Walt" in the Storytellers statue is wearing a wedding band:
—

—
Which further supports the scene of his arrival with Mickey Mouse.

Really, Storytellers is an anachronism: a pastiche of elements from several periods of Walt Disney's early days in Hollywood. It could be said to represent an enthusiastic young Walt of the period 1923-1937.

[lpetiti]

Interesting. I don't know if I would have ever noticed that, even when I go to see it in person. Great job
I also think your right about it being a pastiche of elements from Walt's life. I haven't been down there yet, but I feel like that was the only way that the general, non-Disnerd public would recognize him.

[Executioner]

Wow.. Thanks you for the in-depth look at the Storytellers Statue. I too would have never guessed that. Only thing I sorta figured was the age as the statue does look older a bit than he was when he came here originally. I also should have known about the other cartoons being there and not Mickey. It is a nice statue, but knowing this do you think people will start to get their stories and ideas about Disney wrong even more so now? After all there is a vast majority out there believing other kinds of things about him.

[Ezra]

Only thing I sorta figured was the age as the statue does look older a bit...

That's what first got my attention. He looks slender, but not quite young enough. Then I noticed the wedding band... That's when I really started to give the whole thing the once-over twice over.

do you think people will start to get their stories and ideas about Disney wrong even more so now? After all there is a vast majority out there believing other kinds of things about him.

That sort of legend-weaving is hard to prevent, especially given that one of the worst offenders is Walt himself! Many of the anecdotes he recalls didn't happen quite the way he remembers them... He was a master storyteller.

[Disney Babe]

I would love it if Disney would have something on Buena Vista Street that would actually show folks the history and characters you wrote about - and the photos you posted. Is there anything like that? I have not been to DCA at all. Was looking forward to going this summer, but then decided to wait until a slower time of year so I can really see and get the feel, rather than looking through crowds of people.

I think it would have been nice to have something like a column with recesses that have installed in them photos, the history prior to Hollywood, coming here, the characters, etc.

[Ezra]

I haven't seen it yet either. There plenty of subtle references though, in how things are named: Elias, Los Feliz, Kingswell, Silver Lake, Hyperion etc.

[GoofyFlamingo]

There's quite a lot of history in the Carthay Circle Theatre, but I forget if there are specifically pictures of young Walt. Most of the pictures are from the 30s and have to do with the actual theatre or Snow White.

[PhineasTheGhost]

Don't know if this was mentioned or not, but if Walt's married this makes it 1928 and Mickey is proper to have here instead of Oswald. Personally, I like that more.