Walt and El Grupo Premiere
Page 1 of 2
September 2, 2009, 6:30pm at the Red Cat Theatre in downtown Los Angeles was held a private reception and viewing of the film Walt & El Grupo. This was an event for animation experts as well as associates, friends and family of Theodore Thomas (Writer/ Director) and Kuniko Okubo (Producer) but was not for press or public.
There was an open bar along with buffet style assortment of Latin American delicacies such as beef and chicken taquitos, accompanied by various sauces and a variety of raw vegetables which were ample enough to make a dinner meal. This was accompanied by sparkling conversation amongst the dignitaries of the animation world, such as Andreas Deja (famous animator), Antran Manoogian (President of ASIFA) with his wife, Leonard Maltin (famed critic), Tom Sito (vice president of the International Animator's Society (ASIFA/Hollywood), Howard Green (Vice President of the Walt Disney Company) with his wife Steinunn, Alice Davis (Disney Legend and widow of animation Disney Legend Marc Davis), Maggie Richardson (niece of Disney Legend Mary Blair and owner of magic of Mary Blair), Tim O�Day (best known as moderator of panel discussions for Disney), Stacia Martin (Disney artist and historian) and Jeannette Thomas (widow of Disney Legend Frank Thomas and mother of Theodore Thomas-writer and director of the film) to name just a few.
At 7:30pm the guests were ushered into the theatre to view the 106 minute documentary film Walt & El Grupo. The film married three themes, which were intertwined and are discussed below:
1. In 1941 the world was slipping farther into war. U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt recorded an address played during that year�s Academy Awards ceremony, �We have been seeking to affirm our faith in this Western World of ours, through a wider exchange of culture and education and thought of free expression among the various nations of this hemisphere.� There were serious fears about the rise of Nazi and Fascist influence among our neighboring countries within Latin America and the White House hoped that the movie industry could help swing the tide towards the U.S. Washington, D.C. requested that Walt and his team undertake a goodwill mission to South America using as an excuse a tour to represent the cultural side of things.
At first, Walt refused as he didn�t think he would be good at this. But when the trip added the opportunity to search for material for future projects, he changed his mind. He liked the thought of �going down and really doing something.� A few of the people with him were Ted Sears, head of story; Herb Ryman, layout and camera; Chuck Wolcott, composer; Larry Lansburgh, cameraman and his new bride, Janet Martin, publicist; Norm Ferguson, animator and producer; husband and wife Lee and Mary Blair, painters; and Frank Thomas, animator. They went to Argentina, Brazil and Chile and other countries in Latin America and were gone for nearly 10 weeks.
Without cell phones and the technology of today, the Walt Disney team had to wait in the lobby of their hotel daily for a phone call to advise them where to go that day. The bell boys in Rio de Janeiro would call out �O grupo Disney� (The Disney Group). The �O� later changed into the Spanish �el.�
This is where the name of the film was derived.