Bob Gurr's Designer Times: Working with Walt
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In one meeting, our Disneyland Vice
President Dick Nunis, a powerhouse and commanding leader failed to note the
warnings displayed by Walt. Now Dick was always quick in his answers with a
snappy "Yes sir, no sir." Walt leaned over the table and squinted at Dick. "Nunis,
I recognize your expertise, but you're full of s***." Yes Sir. It was a few
minutes before our disrespectful howling ceased!
Other times Walt would make cracks, but not with any cruelty, just a friendly
jibe. In early 1955 Walt was to give final approval to the full size model of
the Autopia Car body. The model had been built in a backyard garage a few miles
from the Studio and was very heavy. Walt said we'd all go see it rather than
ship it to the Studio. As Walt squeezed me into the front seat of brother-in-law
Bill Cottrell's old Cadillac between them, Walt put his arm up on the seat back
where some white upholstery stuffing got on the arm of his dark suit. "Bill, I
pay you a lot of money, fix your GD car." I was totally shocked. As a childhood
subscriber to Donald Duck comic books, I never knew the Ducks creator could
speak blue words.
Neal Gabler wrote of Walt's concern for the personal and family situations of
his employees. This I can attest to. Barely a few months after I began work at
the Studio, I was hit head-on by a wrong way driver on a narrow road near my
apartment as I was driving to work one morning. I called in to say I would be
late. Arriving around noon, Walt suddenly appeared..."Heard ya had a crackup...ya
OK?" I never figured out how he learned of this so quickly and came down to
where I was working in the old Zorro Building.
Walt also was noted for personally passing out gifts at Christmas time. Just two
months into my new job, I was madly at work on a Christmas Eve afternoon when
Walt dropped by and handed me a big bottle of Old Forester Whiskey. "Go
home...it's Christmas Eve." I was thrilled to accept the booze because when
those bottles were finally empty, folks would convert them into a classy looking
table lamp.
As to Walt's habit of never saying thanks to anyone's face, he had other ways to
express gratitude. We were building the 1959 Monorail Trains in a sound stage at
the Studio. I was busily designing and directing the workers at detail tasks.
Because we were so pressed for time and did not need intruders coming through
the big sound stage doors, I had placed a rope barrier in the doorway to keep
visitors out. Every day Walt would come by to see our progress, but would not
cross the rope line. One day when he and finance guru Mickey Clark stopped by,
Clark handed me an envelope saying that Walt didn't know how I was doing all
this. After they left, I opened the envelope. In it was $1,000.
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-- Bob Gurr
Bob Gurr began working with Disney in 1954. He retired in 1981 but occasionally consults for the Company. Since Disney he's worked on the sinking ship at Las Vegas' Treasure Island, Universal Studios' King Kong, Godzilla for the film by the same name and much more. Among his proudest accomplishments he lists "making Walt tickled pink that some of the things he wanted to build actually worked. You could tell how proud he was when he would show off things to his friends and the press. Lincoln and the Monorail were two big ones for him."
The opinions expressed by Bob Gurr, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future of Disneyland and the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted December 26, 2006
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