English poet Alfred Austin said, “Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are.” Our Consulting Historian Paula Sigman Lowery has turned the earth in the Disney garden, and her discoveries are pleasant revelations of Walt’s life at home.
Coming home from a visit to the 1948 Railroad Fair in Chicago, Walt told Lilly, “That was the most fun I ever had in my life.” He was determined to build and run his own miniature railroad. He began spending his spare time in the Studio’s machine shop, working on a one-eighth-scale model train.
Meanwhile, he and Lilly had been looking for property on which to build a new house as sort of a 25th anniversary present for themselves. Now the property would have to be big enough to accommodate the railroad he envisioned circling their home. “All in all,” he wrote to his aunt Jessie, “I think it is going to be a very happy set-up, and I am looking forward to spending more time at home than I have in the past.”
“Walt was not so much interested in a new house,” Lilly recalled, “as he was in the property so that he could build his train on it.” They found the perfect site in Holmby Hills, and as the architects drew up plans for the house, to be situated on Carolwood Drive, Walt had Studio employee Eddie Sargeant devise a system with a trestle, overpasses, and gradients that allowed eight operating miles of track. He was thrilled with Eddie’s plans, and rolled them up to show Lilly.
Lilly had thought the train would run around the lower portion of the property, and planned extensive gardens around the north side of the home. “I made it clear that I wasn’t thrilled because his train was going to run thought the middle of an area where I had planned to grow a beautiful flower garden.”
Walt had to come up with a solution that would save Lilly’s flowers and allow him to run his train. First, he consulted with Studio attorneys about devising a humorous “legal” document in which Lilly would grant him a “right-of-way” for his railroad.
The agreement, between “WALTER E. DISNEY (hereinafter called Walt), as first party; LILLIAN B. DISNEY (hereinafter called Lillian), as second party; and DIANE MARIE DISNEY and SHARON DISNEY, both minors (hereinafter called, respectively, Diane and Sharon), as third parties” declared Walt the owner of a parcel of land on which he proposed to build a residence “for the comfort, convenience, welfare and betterment of the Second and Third Parties (and incidentally, for himself).”
This original agreement set forth the following proposal:
WHEREAS, Walt is or is about to become the sole proprietor and owner of a certain railroad company known as the Walt Disney R.R. Co., which railroad company proposes to construct and operate a railroad in, on, upon and over the right of way hereinafter described and delineated, in the operation of which railroad Walt desires to have and at all times to retain complete, full, undisturbed, unfettered and unrestricted control and supervision, unhampered and unimpeded by the other parties hereto or by any of them, they having heretofore made known and asserted to Walt in various sundry and devious ways their collective intention to reign supreme within, and so far as concerns, the aforesaid residence, and
WHEREAS, the Second and Third Parties, in the future and notwithstanding Walt’s ownership of the fee title to the aforesaid parcel of land, and notwithstanding their many enthusiastic assurances verbally given to Walt in their present enthusiasm over said new residence and their anticipated pleasures and happiness therein, may, and probably will, seek to assert rights, privileges and authorities inconsistent with Walt’s reserved and retained control and supervision over said railroad company and the operation of said railroad company upon the right of way herein referred to, all to the detriment of said railroad and its efficient, profitable and pleasurable operation, and to the injury of Walt’s peace of mind (the presence and soundness of which mind Second and Third Parties hereby admit).
THAT WHEREAS, Walt and Lillian are husband and wife and Diane and Sharon are their children, in which family there presently exists an atmosphere of love, understanding and trust which all parents hereto are intensely desirous of preserving.
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the promises and of other good and valuable considerations the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged by Lillian, Diane and Sharon, the said Lillian, Diane and Sharon hereby jointly and severally quit claim, transfer, assign and set over to Walt all their right, title and interest in and to the right of way…
In her foreword to Michael Broggie’s book Walt Disney’s Railroad Story (available at the Museum shop), Lilly remembered fondly, “Most likely, it is the only railroad right-of-way agreement ever signed between two people who were married to each other!”
In exchange for Lilly’s signature on this “legal” agreement, Walt proposed modifying his track plans so that they would not interfere with her garden. He would build a 90-foot-long tunnel that would run beneath her flowerbeds. As was characteristic of their long marriage, they reached a compromise with mutual respect, love, and good humor. Lilly’s cherished flower garden was safe—and Walt got his beloved Carolwood Pacific Railroad.
(Incidentally, the gardens and grounds at Walt’s Holmby Hills home were landscaped and installed by third-generation horticulturalists Jack and Morgan “Bill” Evans. A few years after planting Lilly’s gardens and landscaping Walt’s railroad, Bill would go on to transform 80 acres of Anaheim orange groves into jungles, frontier forests, and fantasy woodlands.)
Lilly’s gardens flourished and grew, and were enjoyed for decades by the whole family. “There were always vases of flowers. We loved to pick flowers at their house, too,” recalled granddaughter Joanna. “Granny had a neat rose garden and their housekeeper Foo Foo would…take us out [so] we could pick flowers for Granny and Grandpa. We’d go out and pick flowers and come back in, put them in a vase. There were always flowers all over the place.”
© Walt Disney Family Foundation, All rights reserved.
[Images above: 1) Lillian and Walt Disney were a Hollywood anomaly: happily married for more than 40 years. © Disney. 2) The Lilly Belle steams toward the tunnel at the heart of an unusual legal agreement. © Disney. 3) Walt and his daughters, Sharon (left) and Diane enjoy a happy harmony of outdoor hobbies in their Carolwood Avenue home, 1955. © Disney.]
Paula Sigman Lowery will join horticulturalist Robert Hornback in "Exploring the Gardens of Wonderland: An Illustrated Talk" at The Walt Disney Family Museum at 3:00 p.m. on April 9, 2011. Their program will take a look at Lewis Carroll's original story, and the role of the gardens and flowers depicted in John Tenniel's original illustrations, before delving into Walt Disney's interest in Alice in Wonderland, and his adaptation of the classic work into the 1951 film we all know and love. The presentation will feature inspirational art by David Hall and Mary Blair, and the gardens and flowers as settings and characters; it will be followed by a screening of the film.
[Image: Mary Blair envisions a wondrous garden, c. 1949. © Disney.]