Recap: Walt's Fascination with Outer Space

Posted on Thu, 07/28/2011 - 06:00

Jim Korkis is no stranger to Disney History. His articles can be found all over the webisphere (including our own blog), but his first chance to see The Walt Disney Family Museum in person came this past weekend. During this time, on Saturday afternoon at 3pm, he also managed to enthrall a packed room of Disney aficionados with stories of Walt’s Fascination with Outer Space.

“Yesterday my plane got in at 10am, I dropped my luggage at the hotel without unpacking, hopped in a taxi, and spent the next seven hours going through the galleries over and over again. I’ve been active in Disney history for over 30 years, and I can tell you—you can go through these galleries a hundred times, and you will get a hundred different experiences!”

Both Diane Disney Miller and Ron Miller were present, eager to hear Jim tell how Walt helped change the public’s mindset, from the fantastical world of science-fiction to the possibility of a "science-factual" future for real people—and Jim didn’t disappoint. Not only was his performance training as Merlin the Magician (for the Magic Kingdom’s Sword in the Stone ceremony) in strong evidence, but he had also done an additional eight months of research for this event. His enthusiasm for sharing the details with the attendees was infectious.

Conspiratorially, he turned to the audience and said, “I’ve come up with some information that will only be available—ever—in this presentation. When you share it with your friends and family you can say, ‘Na nee na nee na nee, you should have come!’”

 

How else could you know that the character of Ludwig von Drake, the brainy expert on all things scientific, was a combination of two real people? Take the humor and flamboyance of rocket-scientist Wernher von Braun, and the encyclopedic memory of space historian Willy Ley. Add qualities of mispronunciation and poor English grammar recalled from a 1910 German caricature vaudeville act (Weber & Fields), and you get Donald’s famous Uncle, voiced by the fabulous Paul Frees.

There was much eye candy, too The audience saw artifacts spawned by the Disneyland TV series and the newly opened Park, including comics, record albums, and rare promotional materials. Jim also showed clips from the "Tomorrowland" episodes of theDisneyland TV show, often enthusiastically adding additional details, like who drew the animation of Tinker Bell in the series opening credits (Les Clark), and who was responsible for the sparkling pixie-dust stars (John Hench).

After the presentation, Jim signed copies of his new (and first) book The Vault of Walt, which is rich with information from his years of research and interviews, and contains a foreword written by Diane Disney Miller herself. Jim encouraged several of those in line who had their own desire to find and tell those stories: “You have to be the ones to keep this going!”

As Jim deftly drew Goofy inside a guest’s copy of the book, he was asked which Disney character was his favorite. Without hesitating he said, “The original black & white Mickey Mouse from the 1920s. Because that version of Mickey was so close to Walt himself.”

-- David Nadolski, Volunteer at The Walt Disney Family Museum

Images above: 1) Photo by Hillary Lyden, courtesy The Walt Disney Family Museum. 2) Walt and his robot friend Garco. ©Disney.